"Yàoshān Ascends the Seat" in Full
Record of Going Easy, Case 7: "It is just because everyone is in a fever dream and not yet awake"
Above, you’ll find my reading of the seventh case in The Record of Going Easy without annotations (thanks go to Sam Kigen again for editing the recording). You’ll find annotations below in the text version of the full case that explain the terms that are in need of explaining and identify the various Zen masters.
If this is your first time here for a full case, and as a reminder those of you who are making a return visit, The Record of Going Easy was compiled by Hóngzhì Zhēngjué (1091-1157; referred to as Tiāntóng in this text) who also wrote a verse for each case - both of these are bolded. The introduction, commentaries, and capping phrases were written by Wànsōng Xíngxiù (1166–1246). Both were great teachers in the Cáodòng/Sōtō lineage of Zen. Below, the capping phrases are indented and italicized.
The translation and annotations are my work - so the buck stops here for errors, misconceptions, and all manner of misses.
Comments and questions are welcome.
For an introduction to the issues in the case, see:
For my interview with Tess Beasley Roshi about the case, see:
Record of Going Easy, Case 7: Yàoshān Ascends the Seat
Presenting to the assembly, saying:
The eyes, ears, nose, and tongue each have a function. The eyebrows sit above it all. Scholar, farmer, artisan, and merchant each have a business. The stupid one stays idle. How did the ancestral teachers establish teaching methods pointing to our original share?1
舉
For a long time Yàoshān had not ascended the seat.
Movement is inferior to stillness.
Superintendent Bái said, “For a long time the assembly has been thinking about you offering instruction. Please, Venerable, expound the dharma to the assembly.”
Difficult is convenient; easy is inconvenient.
Yàoshān ordered the bell to be rung and the assembly gathered.
Meeting together to consider many long and drawn out affairs.
Yàoshān ascended the seat, sat for a long time, got down from the seat, and returned to the abbott’s ten-foot square room.
Once, words were tyranny.
Soon afterward, the Superintendent asked, “When invited, it is proper for a monk to speak to the assembly. Why didn’t you offer even one sentence?”
The ocean seems content - the rivers should flow backwards?
Yàoshān said, “The sutras have sutra teachers. The commentaries have commentary teachers. Why do you think this old monk is strange?”
Unfortunately, a dragon’s head and a snake’s tail.
The teacher [Wànsōng] said,
One who is hungry will eat anything. One who is thirsty will drink anything. Therefore, if three families make a request five times, a Bodhisattva will offer the teaching. They will give even half a gatha with the whole body - a ferocious-looking person ascending the seat. How they hope for the dharma!
Zen Master Huánglóng Nán said, “Probably now most people in the assembly are inclined to take the dharma lightly.2 I wish it were like a farmer who often dries their field. Then when they irrigate, it causes the withered and thirsty plants to burst into bloom.”
Yàoshān not ascending the seat for a long time was not like that.3
Juéfàn said, “In a deeply hidden hermitage lies an awesome tongue. Be that as it may, all things explain the original condition.”4
Yǒngjiā said, “Explaining when silent. Silent when explaining. The gate of great generosity opens with no obstruction.”5
The Superintendent erred at every point. “Bái said, ‘For a long time the assembly has been thinking about you offering instruction. Please, Venerable, expound the dharma to the assembly.’” This is within the Way of altruism and justice, the duties of host and guest, and not an exceptional request.
“Yàoshān ordered the bell to be rung.” Only perceive the sound of thunder and put the order into effect.
“[...] And the assembly gathered.” How could they know that the stars would shine through a hidden meaning?
“Yàoshān ascended the seat, sat for a long time, got down from the seat, and returned to the abbott’s ten-foot square room.” This ascending the seat is an expression of supranormal abilities. It is no small matter.
“Soon afterward, the Superintendent asked, ‘When invited, it is proper for a monk to speak to the assembly. Why didn’t you offer even one sentence?”’
Cuìyán Zhī said, “When the Superintendent wondered why Yàoshān did not serve the assembly by expounding the dharma, it could be said that he missed the three armies.”6
I, Wànsōng, say, it is precisely because the general is not brave.
“Yàoshān said, ‘The sutras have sutra teachers. The commentaries have commentary teachers. Why do you think this old monk is strange?’”
Lángyá Jué said, “Yàoshān got down from the seat - you might as well show your doubt! Squeezed by the Superintendent, he lost one eye.”7
I, Wansong, say, he understood perfectly how many eyes he had. And you don’t know how to get two eyes back.
Xuědòu said, “What a pity - old man Yàoshān met on level ground. There’s no one on the great earth that can help him up.”
I, Wansong, say, Venerable, you too must extend a hand.
Wúyú’s verse says,8
They met before he’d left his room
He returns quietly with nothing to rely on
Sutra teachers and commentary teacher preach to each other
When one thing is distinctly clear he’ll invite them himself
I, Wansong, say, government ministers are easily investigated, but this kõan is not yet complete. To discern, give it to Tiāntóng. He’ll know how to adjudicate.
Verse
A silly child agonizes over money that was used to stop them from crying
What’s the use?
A good team of horses chases the wind at just the shadow of the whip
Kicks up and goes
Clouds sweep the vast sky, a crane nests in the moon
An embarrassment for the one under the tree
Cold clarity enters the bones, sleep doesn’t come
Dreaming with open eyes
The teacher [Wànsōng] said,
The Nirvana Sutra says that when a baby cries, the mother will take yellow leaves and say, “I’m giving you gold.” The child immediately stops crying.
This versifies, “When invited, it is proper for a monk to speak to the assembly. Why didn’t you offer even one sentence?”
An outsider asked the World Honored One, “Disregard words, disregard no words.” The World Honored One occupied his seat. The one outside the path praised and admired, saying “The World Honored One’s great compassion and great mercy, opened my cloud of confusion and caused me to obtain entry.” Thus, having bowed, he left. Ananda inquired of the Buddha, “What did the one outside the path confirm that he praised and admired, then left?” The World Honored One said, “As if noble, a good horse goes when seeing the shadow of the whip.”9
Yàoshān and the World Honored One equally raised the whip. The Superintendent led the assembly of monks - there is something to praise. Yet he wondered why Yàoshān did not offer even one sentence. It could be said that kesa-wearing monks in this eastern land are not equal to outsiders in the Western Paradise.
Tiāntóng’s verse and my commentary are all about trying to stop your crying using yellow leaves. It is just because everyone is in a fever dream and not yet awake. If you are sleeping lightly, with one call, you are awake. If you are sleeping heavily, then if I shake you, you’ll startle awake. Still there is another type. If I beat them, grab them, and pull them to their feet. Yet they keep talking on and on and while still in their sleep, they pull away.”
Compare this to Yàoshān’s eye nesting with the moon crane, so clear that it just won’t do to go to sleep. This is as different as clouds from mud. Although it is like this, Yàoshān talked in his sleep more than just a little.
original share, 本分, DDB: “Original participation in Buddhahood. The aspect of the human being as being originally endowed with the Buddha-nature.”
Huanglong Huinan (1002–1069), an eighteenth-generation successor in China through Shishuang Chuyuan (aka, Ciming). The founder of the Huanglong branch (Japanese, Oryu) of the Linji school of Chan.
Yaoshan Weiyan (745-828; aka, Yueshan), a ninth-generation successor in China through Shitou.
Juefan (1071-1128; aka, Huihong), a twentieth-generation successor in China, second-generation successor of Huanglong in the Linji line.
I don’t know of another Yongjia, but this couldn’t be Xongjia Xuanjue (665-713; aka, One Night Enlightenment), a seventh-generation successor in China through Huineng, because he died before Yaoshan was born.
Dayu Shouzhi (nd; aka, Cuiyan Zhi), a seventeenth-generation successor in China in the Linji line.
Langya Huijue (nd), a seventeenth-generation successor in China in the Linji succession.
Wuyu is unknown to me.
See No Gate Barrier, Case 32: Buddha Speaks to an Outsider’s Question for an identical koan. These two texts are from about the same time and have identical characters. It seems likely that they share a common source.