Rōya's Mountains and Rivers

Banshō's commentary on the case

Zen Master Shanzhao, Wude of Fenyang, lived where the northern country was bitterly cold and therefore discontinued the night interviews. An Indian monk arrived riding a cloud and urged him, “You must not lose the proper time. Though this assembly is not large, six people are great vessels whose Way will shelter humans and gods.”⁵ The next day Fenyang ascended the hall and said: The foreign monk's golden staff shone; for the Dharma he came to Fenyang. Six people will become great vessels; he urged and requested me to expound it. At the time, Zhi of Dayu, Yuan of Ciming, Jue of Rōya, Ju of Fahua, Tai of Tiansheng, Yong of Shishuang, and others were beneath his mat. Zen Master Huijue, Kaihua Guangzhao of Mount Rōya in Chuzhou, was from western Luoyang. His father served as governor of Hengyang. When his father died, Huijue escorted the coffin back toward Luoyang. Passing through Lizhou, he climbed to Yakusan's ancient monastery to pay reverence. Looking over the places where Yakusan had walked and lived, he felt as though they were a former home. Through this condition he left household life.⁶ He received the Dharma from Fenyang and responded to conditions beside the Chu River. He proclaimed the Way at the same time as Mingjue of Setchō, and beneath heaven they were called the “two gates of sweet dew.” Even today in Huainan, the transforming influence they left remains as before.⁷ The venerable Qilin of Hunan, whenever he saw a monk arrive, immediately cried, “A demon comes! A demon comes!” He brandished a wooden sword and slipped into the abbot's quarters. He did this for twelve years. Later he put down the sword and said nothing. A monk asked, “Twelve years ago, why did you subdue demons?” Qilin said, “A thief does not strike the house of a poor child.” The monk asked, “Twelve years later, why do you not subdue demons?” Qilin said, “A thief does not strike the house of a poor child.” This is called the meaning of dividing the body beneath a single sword.⁸ In fascicle four of the Śūraṅgama, Purna asks: “If all the faculties and their objects in the world—the aggregates, sense-fields, and elements—are all tathāgata treasury, fundamentally so in purity, how did mountains, rivers, the great earth, and all conditioned characteristics suddenly arise, successively flow and change, end, and begin again?”⁴ An expositor says: If one understands, one already knows that the substance of awakening is originally wondrous, ignorance originally empty, and mountains, rivers, and the great earth like flowers in empty space. If one is deluded, subject and object falsely divide; forced awareness suddenly arises; the three subtle aspects form the world and the four wheels establish the realm.⁹ Rōya says, “I do not agree. ‘Fundamentally so in purity—how did mountains, rivers, and the great earth suddenly arise?’” This is called riding the bandit's horse to pursue the bandit, seizing the bandit's spear to kill the bandit. Xin of Jianfu said, “The first move does not reach; the last goes too far.” Banshō says: Xu Six carrying a board—each sees only one side. If you wish to eliminate the leakage of views, you must see Tendō. “See being, yet do not make it being”: its being decays of itself. “See the strange, yet do not make it strange”: its strangeness collapses of itself. The Shi Moheyan lun, traditionally said to have been composed by the fourteenth ancestor Nagarjuna, states: Because of all causes and conditions, all phenomena should exist. Because of all causes and conditions, all phenomena should not exist. This is turning the palm up and turning it down.¹⁰ Rōya ascended the hall and said: “Seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing are all causes of birth and death. Seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing are all the basis of liberation. “It is like a lion turning and throwing itself back: north, south, east, and west, with no fixed stopping place. “If all of you do not understand, for now do not betray old Shakyamuni. Hng!” This is why he does not fall behind Gautama. “Gautama” is Sanskrit; given in full, Gotama. It is explained here as “Supreme on Earth,” meaning the most excellent among humans on earth, apart from beings in heaven.¹¹ Now, in the later five-hundred-year period, the time of the sage is distant and people are often negligent. How can one avoid falling behind? Split open ancient and present.¹²