Yakusan Ascends the Seat

Banshō's commentary on the case

It is easy to provide food for the hungry and drink for the thirsty. Thus the three families requested five times and the bodhisattva ascended the hall; for half a verse the yaksa gave his entire body and ascended the seat. How could they have treated the Dharma lightly?⁴ Zen Master Nan of Huanglong said, “Many people today readily take the Dharma lightly. One should imitate a farmer who from time to time lets the crop dry, making it withered and thirsty. Only after irrigating it can one obtain luxuriant fruit.” Yakusan's long absence from the seat, however, was not like this. Juefan said: Deep hidden in one hermitage, a thunderbolt tongue; let the myriad forms each explain itself. Yongjia said, “When silent, he speaks; when speaking, he is silent. The gate of great generosity opens without obstruction.” At every point the rector passed it by. He said, “The assembly has long desired your instruction. Please, Abbot, expound the Dharma for the community.” Along the road of benevolence and duty, and within the respective roles of host and guest, this was not yet beyond his part. Yakusan ordered the bell rung. They saw only thunder issue commands—how could they know that the stars displayed a brilliant composition? The assembly gathered. Yakusan ascended the seat, remained for a long while, descended, and returned to his quarters. Once he mounted, his spiritual power was no small thing. The rector followed and asked, “A moment ago you agreed to expound the Dharma for the community. Why did you not bestow a single word?” Zhi of Suigan said, “When Yakusan descended, the rector immediately blamed him for not expounding the Dharma for the community. He may be said to have misled all three armies.” Banshō says: precisely—their general was not fierce. Yakusan said, “There are scripture teachers for scriptures and treatise teachers for treatises. How can you blame this old monk?” Jue of Rōya said, “There is no harm in doubting Yakusan's descent from the seat. But when the rector pressed him, he lost one eye.” Banshō says: how many, having regained wholeness, are capable? The rector did not know that he had exchanged it for two eyes. Setchō said, “What a pity for old Yakusan! He fell on level ground, and everyone throughout the earth could not lift him.” Banshō says: Abbot, you too must put out a hand. Wuyu versified: Before leaving his room, he had already fallen; returning silently only increased his desolation. Scripture teachers and treatise teachers still informed one another; with one clear confession he implicated himself. Banshō says: the office is easy to investigate, but the public case is not yet complete. Hand it to Tendō—how does he judge it? The Nirvana Sutra says that when an infant cries, its mother takes a yellow leaf and says, “I will give you gold.” The child then stops crying. This versifies “has long desired your instruction” and “Why did you not bestow a single word?”² A non-Buddhist asked the Buddha, “I do not ask about speech; I do not ask about no speech.” The World-Honored One remained silent for a long while. The questioner bowed and said, “The World-Honored One in his great compassion has opened my clouds of delusion and enabled me to enter.” After he left, Ananda asked the Buddha, “What principle did that non-Buddhist see, that he said he had entered?” The Buddha said, “It is like a fine horse in the world that moves upon seeing the shadow of the whip.” Yakusan and the World-Honored One raised the whip alike. The rector and the assembled monks had a share in bowing and praising, yet instead complained that he had not bestowed a word. It may be said that patch-robed monks in the eastern land did not equal the non-Buddhist in India.⁵ Tendō's versifying this way and Banshō's explaining this way are all yellow leaves that stop crying. It is only because your fevered dreams have not ended. A light sleeper wakes at one call; a heavy sleeper must be shaken before becoming alert. There is another kind who, even when dragged upright, remains bleary and confused. Compared with Yakusan's clear-eyed crane nesting in the moon, too lucid to sleep, they are separated as clouds from mud. Even so, there has been no shortage of sleep-talk.