Shiso Does Not Understand

Banshō's commentary on the case

Zen Master Shiso of Unsei on Mount Zhongnan succeeded Nansen. Tendō mistakenly made him Roso; I distinguish the matter here so students will know. Master Baoyun of Mount Roso in Chizhou succeeded Baso and was therefore Nansen's elder brother in the Dharma. Moreover, Nansen calls Shiso by name. Because Shiso awakened through this case, there is no doubt that he was Nansen's Dharma son.⁴ His opening, “People do not recognize the mani jewel; one personally receives it within the tathāgata treasury,” comes from Zen Master Yongjia's Song of Realizing the Way. The monk Fan Tianqi comments: Sanskrit maṇi is translated “as-you-wish”; it is also called “stainless light” and “increase.” The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra says, “Cessation is called one mind; one mind is called tathāgata treasury.” It has three meanings: First, concealment: it covers and hides the tathāgata. Second, inclusion: it encompasses all sentient beings and lands. Third, production: it can produce undefiled causes and results and the practices of humans and gods. The first pertains to delusion, the last to awakening, and the middle determines its substance. The Śrīmālā Sūtra also has two kinds of tathāgata treasury: the empty tathāgata treasury, separated from all afflictions; and the nonempty tathāgata treasury, possessing inconceivable buddha qualities beyond the sands of the Ganges.² When Shiso first stayed with Nansen, he asked about “People do not recognize the mani jewel,” and then asked about the jewel. Nansen said, “Go! You do not understand my words.” From this Shiso entered through trust.⁵ National Teacher Yuantong said, “Is there anyone today who enters through trust? If there is, when Wangxiang arrives the light is brilliant. If there is not, where Lilou walks, waves surge to the sky.”⁶ Foguo said, “The whole great earth is the tathāgata treasury—where will you put the jewel? The whole great earth is the mani jewel—what will you call the treasury?” Setchō answered differently: “Danger!” Performing tricks atop a hundred-foot pole does not make a fine hand. If you can put an eye here, guest and host exchange and you can enter deeply into the tiger's lair. If not, even granting that Shiso awakened, he still had a dragon's head and a snake's tail. To see head and tail complete, you must look to the venerable Tendō. The Song of the Mind-Jewel and Chant of Playing with the Jewel say much about this jewel and call it the wish-fulfilling treasure, but seldom speak of the tathāgata treasury. Only Yongjia, “awakened in one night,” says it was personally received within the tathāgata treasury: Six kinds of wondrous functioning—empty, yet not empty; one orb of perfect light—form, yet not form. What is the treasury? What is the jewel? What goes back and forth is it; what does not go back and forth is also it. Here you must distinguish right and wrong and clarify gain and loss. “It responds in the heart and is obtained by the hand; I point it out on every palm” originally comes from the Analects. Nansen points out treasury and jewel as though placing them in your palm and showing them to you. Since going and not going are the treasury, calling and answering—and not answering—are all the jewel. Why doubt? Now say: does the treasury emerge from the jewel, or the jewel from the treasury? Are they beaten into one lump or divided into two pieces? In the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha tells Manjushri: “It is like a wheel-turning king who sees soldiers with great merit. His heart greatly rejoices, and he gives them the hard-to-believe jewel that has long been in his topknot and has not been recklessly given to anyone.”³ The Yellow Emperor sent Wangxiang to search for his jewel; this was already explained in the earlier verse on Shuzan's three phrases. Where the mechanism's wheel turns, even wisdom's eye is still confused. Without being able to work a device within no fixed device, Nansen could not have said, “Go! You do not understand my words.” Unsei awakened here. Dongshan said, “Joy is certainly present, like finding a bright jewel atop a heap of sweepings.” Banshō says: I am not like Dongshan, a beggar rejoicing at a petty profit. As for joy, I do not rejoice—just as though smashing one bright jewel within the tathāgata treasury.⁷