Shōyōroku / Congrong lu · CASE 5
Seigen's Price of Rice
The Book of Serenity
Banshō's pointer
Jāti cut flesh from his body to support his parents, yet did not enter the Traditions of Filial Children. Devadatta rolled down a mountain to crush the Buddha—would he fear a sudden clap of thunder?3 Pass through the thorn forest and cut down the sandalwood tree. Wait until the year is spent and the season exhausted: early spring remains cold as before. Where is the Buddha's Dharma body?
Case
A monk asked Seigen, “What is the essential meaning of the Buddha-Dharma?” Seigen said, “What is the price of rice in Luling?”
Hongzhi's verse
The work of governing great peace has no visible form. The old villager's family way is utterly plain. He concerns himself only with village songs and drinking at the community shrine. How would he know Shun's virtue or Yao's benevolence?
Footnotes 2
- Jāti's self-injury and Devadatta's attempt to kill the Buddha are inherited religious narratives. Their appearance in the pointer does not commend self-harm or violence. ↩
- The Seigen–Sixth Ancestor dialogue and Huike “obtaining the marrow” belong to Zen lineage literature. They are preserved as Banshō's received accounts rather than treated as verbatim historical transcripts. ↩
About this version and its sources
- Full source citation
- Source title: 清源米價. Base: CBETA T2004, T48n2004_p0230a24–p0230b24. Angle brackets represent inline notes.
- 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
- 612392ad4e35
Banshō's commentary on the case
Zen Master Xingsi of Mount Seigen in Jizhou first visited the Sixth Ancestor and asked, “What should I attend to so as not to fall into ranks and stages?” The ancestor asked, “What have you done?” Seigen said, “I do not even engage in holy truth.” The ancestor asked, “Into what rank do you fall?” Seigen said, “When I do not even engage in holy truth, what rank could there be?” The ancestor valued him deeply. Although the assembly contained many students, Seigen stood first. This resembles the Second Ancestor saying nothing and being declared at Shōrin to have obtained the marrow.4 Judging from this monk's question about the Buddha-Dharma's essential meaning, he too was an authentic person newly entering the monastic forest, wanting to travel Iron-Ring Mountain with Manjusri. Seigen was someone who did not even engage in holy truth. Yet he merely greeted the monk in the ordinary way and asked, “What is the price of rice in Luling?” Some say the price of Luling rice permits no discussion. They do not realize they have already entered the shop of bushels and measures. If you want not to enter that trade guild, ask Tendō. In the sixth year of Taihe under Tang Emperor Wenzong, Niu Sengru was chief minister. The emperor asked when all under heaven would be at peace. Niu replied, “Great peace has no visible form. At present the peoples on the four borders do not invade one another, and the common people are not driven into dispersal. Though this is not perfect government, it may be called modest well-being. If Your Majesty seeks some other peace, it lies beyond this minister's reach.” After withdrawing, he repeatedly petitioned to resign and went out as military governor of Huainan. Banshō says: even this draws a model and makes a pattern. Thus the old villager's family way consists of beating the earth and singing. Rites, music, and literary display become something deliberately added. The price of Luling rice makes “deep mystery” laughable. Shun's virtue and Yao's benevolence: plain custom transforms of itself. Village songs and community drinking have found their place. Moon bright, wind clear, each rests within their share. Do you understand? Follow what is convenient and return to the hall.