Shōyōroku / Congrong lu · CASE 95
Rinzai's Single Line
The Book of Serenity
Banshō's pointer
When Buddha comes, strike; when a demon comes, strike. With reason, thirty blows; without reason, thirty blows. Is this mistaking an enemy, or failing to distinguish the good from the bad? Try to say.
Case
Rinzai asked the monastery administrator, “Where have you come from?” The administrator said, “I have come from selling yellow millet in the prefectural town.” Rinzai asked, “Did you sell it all?” The administrator said, “I sold it all.” Rinzai drew a single line with his staff and asked, “Could you sell this too?” The administrator immediately shouted. Rinzai immediately struck him. Next the cook arrived. Rinzai related the previous exchange. The cook said, “The administrator did not understand your meaning, venerable.” Rinzai said, “And what about you?” The cook immediately bowed. Rinzai struck him too.
Hongzhi's verse
Rinzai's complete working—his pitch is high. The staff-tip has an eye, discerning the finest autumn down. Sweeping away foxes and rabbits, the house style is severe. Transforming fish and dragons, lightning fire burns. The sword that gives life—7 the blade that kills. Leaning against heaven, shining on snow, sharp enough to sever blown hair. The same command is carried out, yet its flavor differs. Who encounters the place of pain in full measure?
Footnotes 6
- The text praises Rinzai's indiscriminate striking as exact spiritual function. In actual communities, physical blows carry risks of injury, trauma, coercion, retaliation, and abuse of rank; literary prestige does not establish consent or ethical legitimacy. ↩
- Reward-and-punishment maxims come from hierarchical governance. Impartiality is not sufficient to make a punishment just, proportionate, or accountable. ↩
- Lilou's eyesight and the fish becoming a dragon at Yu Gate are legendary. They convey extreme discrimination and transformation, not zoological or physiological claims. ↩
- “Tokusan's vinegar” and Ōbaku's transmission describe lineage flavor and authority. Such genealogy does not independently prove historical dependence or validate every practice attributed to a lineage. ↩
- Pain is a protective and clinically important experience. Acknowledging it, seeking care, or declining violence is not evidence of deficient realization. ↩
- “Killing” and “giving life” are conventional descriptions of taking away and restoring conceptual positions. Their metaphorical force should not normalize threats, weapons, or lethal conduct. ↩
About this version and its sources
- Full source citation
- Source title: 臨濟一畫. Base: CBETA T2004, T48n2004_p0288c19–p0289a29. 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
- d45dd529f463
Banshō's commentary on the case
The original record has no cook. It says that Rinzai also asked the offerings manager, “Where have you been?” The manager said, “I have been selling yellow millet in the prefectural town.” Rinzai asked, “Did you sell it all?” The manager said, “I sold it all.” Rinzai likewise drew a single line with his staff and asked, “Could you sell this completely?” The manager immediately bowed. Rinzai said, “Still a little short.” Banshō says: What would be wrong with that? The administrator received the staff: in giving reward, do not avoid an enemy. The offerings manager received favor: in executing punishment, do not choose even flesh and bone.3 Tendō acts according to the command in its entirety. If you wish to see the complete working and great function, examine the verse. Sometimes Rinzai takes the person but does not take the environment; sometimes he takes both person and environment. If he meets the person within it, his entire body immediately becomes function. This is the highest register of Rinzai's style. If you emerge from the hand, he strikes the hand; if you emerge from the eye, he strikes the eye. Come from any of the four directions and eight sides, and he strikes like a whirlwind.2 Lilou, a person of the Yellow Emperor's time, could see the tip of autumn down at a hundred li. The staff-tip has an eye, bright as sun and moon, admitting not half a point. It not only sweeps away foxes and rabbits; it can also transform fish and dragons. A fish leaps the three levels of Yu Gate; thunder and lightning burn its tail and it becomes a dragon. Such are the rapid pivotal action and spiritual function of staff and shout.4 Among the seven things carried with one are the killing blade and the life-giving sword. Recorder Yuan, Yuanzhao of Fushan, set sixteen topics for Zen Master Qing of Touzi to versify; those too include the killing blade and life-giving sword. Setchō versified Haryō's sword sharp enough to sever a hair blown across it: Wishing to level what is not level, great skill seems clumsy; whether pointing or striking with the palm, it leans on heaven and shines on snow. Song Yu's “Rhapsody on Great Words” says: Square earth forms the carriage; round heaven forms the canopy. Bend the bow and shoot toward the Fusang tree; the long sword leans beyond heaven. A monk asked Rinzai, “What is the hair-blowing sword?” Rinzai said, “Disaster! Disaster!” Have you not heard, “Tokusan's concentrated vinegar—one who has tasted it knows its sourness”? Rinzai's function emerged from what Ōbaku transmitted and was not weak.5 Zhu'an said: Three punches split the face; seven palms bar the cheek. People throughout the great earth do not recognize pain or itch. There is only one who acknowledges pain, and that one is still under the physician's care. Have you not heard Rinzai say, “It was like being brushed with a sprig of mugwort”?6