Hekiganroku / Biyan lu · CASE 93
Taikō's Dance
The Blue Cliff Record
Case
A monk asked Taikō, “Changqing said, ‘Celebratory praise on the occasion of the meal.’ What is the meaning?” Taikō performed a dance. The monk bowed. Taikō said, “What did you see that made you bow?” The monk performed a dance. Taikō said, “You wild-fox spirit!”
Setchō's verse
The first arrow is still light; the second goes deep. Who says yellow leaves are yellow gold? If Sōkei's waves were all alike, Countless ordinary people would sink on dry land.
About this version and its sources
- Full source citation
- Editorial title: 大光作舞. Base: CBETA T2003, T48n2003_p0217a01–p0217b08. Angle brackets represent inline notes. This case has no separate pointer block in the received T2003 division.
- Method
- Direct critical-edition translation from the cited received base text. Source claims, hagiography, uncertainty, and unresolved readings remain identified in the notes and project record.
- Editorial uncertainty
- Independent philological and reader review remain pending.
- Rights
- Project translation © Tulsa Zen Center Critical Edition contributors. Source text is cited by edition; redistribution policy requires final organizational approval.
- Revision identifier
- 0cc46cf4dfd2
Engo's commentary on the case
The twenty-eight Indian and six Chinese patriarchs transmitted only this small point. Do you know where it lands? Know and you avoid the fault; fail and you remain a wild-fox spirit. Some say Taikō twisted the monk's nostrils merely to deceive him. If that were really all, what principle would it make? Taikō knew how to work for people; his phrase had a road of emergence. A lineage teacher must pull nails, extract wedges, remove sticking, and free bonds to be a good friend. Taikō danced; the monk bowed; finally the monk danced. “Wild-fox spirit” does not merely turn him. The monk ultimately does not know what is exact. If you only keep dancing back and forth, when will it stop? Taikō's phrase cuts off Kingyū and is exceptional. Thus one studies a living phrase rather than a dead phrase. Setchō especially values “wild-fox spirit.” Is it the same as or different from “Zang's head is white, Hai's head black”? You lacquer bucket! Or from “Good monk”? Do you know? One meets it wherever one touches. Taikō's dance is the first arrow; “wild-fox spirit” the second. These are claws and fangs inherited from above. Kyōzan told the assembly: “Turn your light around and illuminate yourselves; do not memorize my words. Since beginningless eons you have turned from brightness to darkness, and deep delusive roots are hard to pull suddenly. Therefore expedient means remove coarse consciousness, like yellow leaves stopping a child's crying or honeyed fruit replacing bitter gourd.” Ancients established provisional means for people. Once crying stops, yellow leaves are not gold. The World-Honored One's lifetime teaching too is described here as crying-stopping speech. “Wild-fox spirit” aims to exchange the monk's karmic consciousness. Within it are provisional and real, illumination and function, and the handle of a patch-robed monk. Understand and it is like a tiger with wings. But if students from every direction all simply dance this way, countless ordinary people are submerged on land. What could rescue them?