Mayoku Shakes His Staff

Banshō's commentary on the case

Long ago Kyōzan went to Chūyū to offer thanks for the precepts. Chūyū clapped his hands on the meditation seat and said, “Ah-ya! Ah-ya!” Kyōzan went from west to east, then east to west, returned to stand in the center, and only then expressed his thanks. Chūyū asked, “Where did you obtain this samadhi?” Kyōzan said, “I learned it from the released die-stamp at Caoqi.” Chūyū asked, “Tell me, whom did the Caoqi samadhi receive?” Kyōzan said, “It received the One-Night Awakened One.” Kyōzan then asked, “Where did you, Abbot, obtain this samadhi?” Chūyū said, “I obtained this samadhi from Great Master Baso.”³ Zen Master Baoche of Mayoku in Puzhou, just like Yongjia when he first met the Sixth Ancestor, came to Zhangjing holding his staff, circled the seat three times, shook the staff once, and stood imposing and erect. This too was like learning from Caoqi's released die-stamp. It is called the king-of-samadhis samadhi; every samadhi is born from it. Zhangjing said, “Yes, yes.” Banshō says: what could be wrong with that? Master Shengmoguang said: “Yes” has no affirmable yes; “no” has no real no. Yes and no have no master; the myriad good deeds return together. Owl and cock, day and night, only fragment themselves. I have no three-inch tongue—how can a soft-shelled turtle be called a tortoise? Kasyapa does not consent; let him knit his brows as he will. Banshō says: much worry makes one old early. Mayoku wanted to compare and test the matter with teachers everywhere. He once went to National Teacher Huizhong, circled the meditation seat three times, shook his staff, and stood. The National Teacher said, “Since you can do this, what need is there to see this poor monk further?” Mayoku shook his staff again. The National Teacher said, “You wild-fox spirit—get out!” Look at host and guest meeting: illumination and function, beginning and end. Familiar habits are hard to forget; practiced at it, he found his advantage. Then he went to Nansen, circled the seat, shook the staff, and stood as before. Nansen instead said, “No, no,” as though he had previously conferred with Zhangjing. Zhe of Dawei said, “When Zhangjing said yes, he fell within Mayoku's shooting range. When Nansen said no, he too fell within Mayoku's shooting range. Dawei would not act like that. If someone suddenly held a staff, circled the meditation seat three times, and stood imposing, I would merely say, ‘Before you reach this place, you deserve thirty blows.’” Banshō says: you cannot administer personnel affairs with your mouth and then strike him. Mayoku said, “Zhangjing said yes. Why do you say no?” There is no harm in doubting. Nansen said, “Zhangjing is right; it is you who are wrong.” Acting upon seeing the mechanism, at danger he pushed another forward. National Teacher Shan of Yuantong said, “Mayoku is right; Nansen is wrong.” This resembles Hermitage Master Yong of Dengfeng asking the monk Shenqi, “I have not seen you for a long time. What have you been doing?” Shenqi said, “Recently I met Head Librarian Wei and found a place of ease.” Yong said, “Try presenting it to me.” Shenqi described what he had attained. Yong said, “You are right; Wei is not yet right.” Unable to fathom this, Shenqi returned and told Wei. Wei laughed loudly: “You are wrong; Yong is not wrong.” Shenqi ran to question Zen Master Nan of Jicui, who also laughed loudly. Hearing this, Yong made a verse: Bright and dark interpenetrate—the mechanism that kills and gives life; the realm of a great person is known by Samantabhadra. Born on the same branch, not dying on the same branch— it makes the old awl in his hermitage collapse with laughter. Juefan said, “Observing their words, one can imagine the lingering resonance of their joyful play in the Dharma at that time.” Banshō says: the delight of Mayoku, Zhangjing, and Nansen was not shallow either. If you hear “turned by the force of wind and ultimately decays,” it is still more laughable. Old Master Wang not only held heaven and earth fast; he also had a road to emerge. Master Yong of Baoning versified: Color and form appear almost genuine; displayed before people, they shine fresher still. But once they enter fire and are smelted again, in the end they return to being counterfeit silver. At this point Mayoku broke like tile and melted like ice. To make a frozen river blaze and an iron tree flower, Tendō must give another turning phrase. This public case lies entirely in “yes” and “no.” People of the time all say that Mayoku was toyed with by Zhangjing and Nansen. Only Zhe of Dawei said, “When Zhangjing said yes, he too fell within Mayoku's range. When Nansen said no, he too fell within Mayoku's range.” Like a diamond jewel placed in sunlight, its color and light have no fixed character. Tendō says, “Look well at the hoop-snare.” Did Mayoku fall into the hoop-snare, or did Nansen? “Seeming to press down, seeming to raise up—hard to call elder brother, hard to call younger.” Tendō says that viewed once through, they seem to press down and raise up; examined closely, they are hard to rank as elder and younger brothers. In the Eastern Han, Yuanfang's son Changwen—Chen Qun—and Jifang's son Xiaoguang each discussed his father's virtue. Unable to settle their dispute, they consulted Taiqiu, Chen Shi, the father of Yuanfang and Jifang. Taiqiu said, “Yuanfang is difficult to make the elder brother; Jifang is difficult to make the younger.”⁵ This means Zhangjing's left eye weighs half a catty and Nansen's right eye eight ounces: exactly equal. “One shake of the golden staff—exceedingly solitary and lofty.” Yongjia's Song of Realizing the Way also says, “This is not empty concern with displaying a form; it personally traces the jeweled staff of the Tathagata.” Setchō said, “The ancient staff's wind is high through twelve gates; every gate has a road, empty and desolate.” The Staff Sutra says the twelve rings are used to recollect the twelve links of dependent arising and cultivate the twelve gates of meditation. The twelve links are readily known; the twelve gates are the four meditations, four immeasurables, and four formless concentrations. “The ancient staff's wind is high” is precisely “exceedingly solitary and lofty.” The Sixth Ancestor also said, “A renunciant possesses three thousand dignified observances and eighty thousand subtle practices. Worthy sir, from where have you come that you give rise to such great conceit?” Tendō's intention is that this is neither displaying form nor arrogance: “Three circuits of the rope seat—an idle game.” Zhangjing said yes; Nansen said no. The monastic forest seethes, running wild within yes and no. Without the eye that holds heaven and earth fast, all this is seeing ghosts before a skull. A monk asked Kyūhō, “What is the eye that holds heaven and earth fast?” Kyūhō said, “Heaven and earth are inside it.” The monk asked, “Where is the eye of heaven and earth?” Kyūhō said, “It is precisely the eye of heaven and earth.” The monk asked, “Why did you just say heaven and earth were inside it?” Kyūhō said, “If I had not said so, you would see countless ghosts before a skull.” Here Banshō has an exorcist. He struck his staff once and said, “Swiftly, swiftly, in accordance with the statutes and commands!”⁴