Vasumitra and the Wine Vessel

Keizan's commentary

The teacher was from northern India and belonged to the Bhāradvāja clan. He habitually wore clean clothing, carried a wine vessel in his hand, and wandered through the villages. Sometimes he sang; sometimes he whistled. People thought him mad. He did not disclose his name. When Venerable Miccaka traveled to teach in northern India, he saw a golden, auspicious cloud rise above the battlements. He told his followers, “That is the vital air of a person of the way. A great being must be here who will become my Dharma heir.” Before he had finished speaking, the teacher arrived and asked, “Do you recognize what is in my hand?” Miccaka said, “It is a contaminated vessel burdening a pure person.”² The teacher then set the wine vessel before Miccaka, continuing through the present case to “greatly awakened to the originally unborn nature.” At that moment the wine vessel suddenly vanished. Miccaka told him, “Try stating your name and clan. Afterward I will show you the original cause.” The teacher answered in verse: Through measureless kalpas I have come to birth in this country. My original clan is Bhāradvāja; My name is Vasumitra. Miccaka then explained, “My teacher Dhītika said that long ago the World-Honored One traveled in northern India and told Ānanda: ‘Three hundred years after my extinction, a sage will appear in this country. His clan will be Bhāradvāja and his name Vasumitra. Among the ancestors of Zen he will attain the seventh place.’ The World-Honored One predicted you. You should leave home.” The teacher said, “When I recollect former kalpas, I once served as a donor and offered a jeweled seat to a tathāgata. That buddha predicted, ‘During the fortunate kalpa, within the Dharma of Śākyamuni Buddha, you will continue the rank of sages.’” For this reason he eventually joined the lineage as the Seventh Ancestor.³ Before the teacher reached Miccaka, he never put down the wine vessel through any of the twelve hours. In truth, it was an emblem. He needed this vessel in the morning and needed it in the evening, using it without obstruction. It truly displayed his capacity. Therefore, when he first came to study, he asked, “Do you recognize what is in my hand?” Even if you understand heart as the way and clarify that this body is buddha, it is still a contaminated vessel. If it is contaminated, it must lose to the pure person. Understand this even if it extends through ancient and present. Know it as complete from the beginning. It is all a contaminated vessel. What ancient could you speak of? What present? What would you call beginning, and what end? A view of this kind must lose to the pure person. Hearing the principle carried to its limit, the teacher set down the wine vessel. This was the emblem of his return to Miccaka. Miccaka therefore asked, “Is this my vessel, or is it your vessel?” Discussion of ancient and present was already gone, and the view of coming and going had been left behind. Arriving at this moment, would you call it mine? Would you call it yours? Would you say it is neither mine nor yours? While Vasumitra considered, Miccaka instructed him: “If it is my vessel, it is your originally present nature.” So it was not Miccaka's vessel. “If instead it is your vessel, you should receive my Dharma.” So it was not Vasumitra's vessel either. Nor was it a vessel belonging to “me and you.” Thus the vessel was not a vessel, and the vessel disappeared. The beginning and end of this entire encounter are not something people today can easily know. Even if you investigate back and forth and reach a place that the buddhas and ancestral teachers cannot attain with all their strength, it will still be a contaminated vessel and must lose to the pure person. The genuinely pure person does not establish purity either. Therefore the vessel is not established. Because the way between teacher and heir accorded and passed through unobstructed, Miccaka could say, “You should receive my Dharma.” Because it was Vasumitra's originally present nature, no dharma was received from another and no dharma was given to another. When you penetrate in this way, you can be called the teacher and can be called the heir. Thus the heir climbs onto the teacher's crown, and the teacher descends beneath the heir's feet. At this time there are not two things and no division. It is difficult even to call it a vessel. The vessel's disappearance was the emblem of the way's passing through. If you reach this ground today, it is no longer the body and heart you have carried until now. It is therefore difficult to say that it extends through ancient and present. How much less could it be called birth and death, going and coming? How could skin, flesh, bones, and marrow remain? It is truly one expanse of empty stillness, finally without front or back, inside or outside. Today I would again attach humble words and raise the encounter just given. Great assembly, do you wish to hear them?