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You
believe you aspire to original spirit but you only
actually seek the satisfaction of a condition, of
learning, and of merit. Because of this,
nincompoops, you are entirely under the fascination
of all that in you and outside of you is not
steadfast and just dies.
That is why the sayings of old Tcheng simply go
through you without making an impression, like the
birds which leave no trace in the sky.
Bald pates, all that you think and say concerning
original spirit is but the erring and wandering of
your own puny little minds. To that which nature
spontaneously brings you, you respond only after
interpreting it through all the words of those that
you have put up on a pedestal above yourselves.
Baldies, this being as artificial as the dragons
made for festivals, how can you hope to see
original spirit in its spontaneity?
In my youth, I went all around the land spending my
time in study and practices. I associated with
those who had strayed and, imagining they had found
the light, did nothing but cause others to stray.
Then, I met him who enabled me to see all the
useless mud I bore with me. The way of truth
appeared to me and original spirit became my sole
occupation. And, one day, everything suddenly
collapsed into awareness.
I, old Tcheng, do not imitate so and so, or such
and such a one. I hold to no belief, no school of
thought do I follow, no one's disciple am I. In my
true nature I know nothing, I own nothing, I am
nothing... for there is no old Tcheng there! In the
ordinary way, the things in which I take part, of
themselves, just flow by, pass away on their own.
Even original spirit is no longer my concern.
The words I speak to you come not from that which
is learnt.
*
Shaved
skulls, I have hidden nothing from you. What profit
is there for you? Nothing but stuff and
nonsense!
Exit
old man Tcheng.
*
Original
spirit has ever been present under your very eyes.
You need acquire nothing to see it because you have
never lacked anything for seeing it. If you are
incapable of seeing it, it is because of your
unceasing chatter with yourselves and with others.
You spend your time supposing, comparing,
computing, developing, explaining, justifying and
quoting what your puny minds have retained and
thought they understood of the scriptures and of
the words of old jackasses like me, giving
preference to sayings from those to whom, after
their death, were given such authority as to put
them beyond all doubts. In these circumstances, how
can you hope to see original spirit in its
instantaneousness?
Dumbbells, because you are as agitated as a
wagonload of monkeys and spend your time in
futilities, your existence passes by like murky,
muddy water. No outlet for you.
*
To say
that original spirit is not sheer void, without
factual existence, that is just words. In thinking
about original spirit lies your poison. Giving up
this thought and thinking of the absence of this
thought, there, again, lies your poison.
Lamebrains, you are ever seeking with your thought,
and you do nothing but fabricate thoughts. Thinking
that original spirit can be seen by means of
thought, that is where you perish.
Burning incense, reciting sutras, spending time
bowing to the ground or concentrating on staying
perfectly still, fixing or eliminating thought,
this is where you stray. Numskulls, you are always
intervening and you do nothing but keep acting thus
and so. Hoping to see original spirit by means of
actions, that is your illusion.
Venerating the Buddha, that is the evil [of
attachment]. Rejecting the Buddha, that is the
evil [of impiety]. Dolts, you are ever bent
on expressing emotions and you do nothing but
produce sentiment. Believing one can see original
spirit by means of sentiment, there is your
mistake.
Dimwits, you are convinced you will come to see
original spirit in this manner. But it is you and
you alone that you will catch... never, do you
hear, never can original spirit be found that
way.
You fail to hear my words because you wish to
remain deaf and you do not see original spirit
because you wish to remain blind. There is no hope
for you.
*
When
you consider the thoughts of others as something
precious and sacred, and learn, recite, and
transcribe them with great care and veneration in
order to transmit them as a great secret, that is
what I call being chained up under the
thoughts.
When you cultivate the thoughts of your puny mind,
looking on them as something rare, worthy of being
preserved, and giving vent to a whore's
irritability if they are not respected or if in the
restating of them the slightest mistake is made,
that is what I call being chained up by
thoughts.
When
others' thoughts and your own appear to you as the
waves of the sea which come and go, without any one
of them being better or worse than the others and
without a single one affecting you, yet you hold to
the one thought of having attained a state of
perfect calm, this is what I call erring above
thoughts.
When no thought any longer holds your attention
because evidence is born that, in regard to
original spirit, there is nothing to keep and
nothing to be obtained by thought, this is what I
call being on the threshold of original spirit.
To be in non-time, non-place, non-form,
non-movement, and non-thought and to know what is
perceived in the absence of any perception, this is
what I call seeing original spirit.
When you have studied all the scriptures and every
treatise of every patriarch, when you have met all
the awakened ones and mastered all the practices
and mysterious forces, if you do not see original
spirit, even if you have become summits of
spirituality, of holiness and of science, your
life, nincompoops, will never be other than a
futile amusement.
*
Regarding
the words traced on this scroll, which I have just
read:
– if I tell you they are from the Buddha, you
look upon them as sacred, and you are filled with
veneration and fear
– if I tell you they are from Bodhidharma or
from another great patriarch, you are filled with
admiration and respect
– if I tell you they are by an unknown monk,
you no longer know what to think, and you are
filled with doubt
– if I tell you they come from the monk in the
kitchen, you burst out laughing, thinking I have
just played a trick on you.
Thus, what counts for you is not the truth that
these words bear but only the importance to be
granted them according to the fame of the one from
whom they are said to have come. You are incapable
of seeing for yourselves but only feel what you
think should be felt, and think according to the
opinions of those you have placed on a pedestal;
you are forever adding to things, tainting them,
and falsifying them. That is why you are powerless
to see original spirit without reference to who or
whatever it might be. Nincompoops, you are nothing
but fakes and tricksters. Your case is
hopeless.
And old man Tcheng left the room.
*
Old
man Tcheng spoke:
You have heard it said that in order to see
original spirit your puny mind must be empty. So
there you sit, rigid as a bamboo stick, looking at
the wall, your tongue against your palate, striving
to put a stop to your thoughts. You thus come to an
absence of thoughts which you take for the vacuity
of original spirit. The very next moment, the
turmoil of your petty mind starts up again just as
it does when you come out of sleep. In the absence
of thought, what do you gain? And if a flash of
light shakes you, there you go prancing like a
young horse, bellowing that you have seen original
spirit, that you have experienced something immense
and that you were greatly privileged. What
advantage is there in being struck as if by
lightning? All of that is a nice performance, just
good enough for a circus.
Baldies, if you persist in your mania and your
pretence at wanting to attain and possess whatever
it might be, yours is a lost cause.
*
To see
original spirit is to see it whether thoughts are
present or absent, whether one is motionless or
active, whether one speaks as I am doing before you
or whether one is silent, whether one is an
emperor, a monk or a vagrant. What importance is
there in such things?
Between the Buddha and the uncouth, illiterate monk
who can do nothing but chop wood but who sees
original spirit, what difference is there? There is
no original spirit special to Bodhidharma and
another special to old Tcheng or to each one of
you. Original spirit is original spirit. Nothing
else can be said about it, and even that is saying
too much.
What others have said concerning original spirit
and what I say of it can be of no other use to you
other than to incite you to directly seek it
yourselves, without resorting to any outside
authorities and without artfulness. All the rest
just blurs your vision and turns you away from the
only question which should entirely possess you
wherever you might be and whatever you might be
doing: meditating, sweeping the yard or attending
to the private requirements of nature. But when I
see what you do with the sayings of the patriarchs
and with mine, it would have been better if the
patriarchs had been drowned at birth and me along
with them.
Dolts, you have caught a deadly disease.
*
Shaved
heads, the world and you are nothing other than
thoughts of the individual mind since both
disappear when sleep overtakes you. This is equally
true of all the old tattery notions of your puny
mind regarding the Buddha, the Way, and original
spirit.
Once and for all, understand the uselessness of all
your efforts to penetrate the impenetrable by
thought and action: you might as well try to
capture the wind. But if you are unencumbered,
entirely available to original spirit, then will
you be directly seized by it.
Having heard speak of the void as being the supreme
accomplishment, you seek to attain it. Thus, you
fall into the torpor and insensitivity which you
take for the vacuity of original spirit.
Having heard speak of the absolute as being the
ultimate state, you imagine that all things are
equal and that none is worthy of respect. Thus, you
fall into the rakishness and anarchy which you take
for the oneness of original spirit.
Having heard speak of purity as being complete
happiness, you strive to attain it. Thus, you fall
into a die-hard attitude of rigidity which you take
for the transparency of original spirit.
Having heard speak of detachment as being the only
freedom, you try to become separate from the world
and from yourselves. Thus, you fall into
indifference which you take for the independence of
original spirit.
Baldies, it is original spirit which is said to be
vacuity, oneness, transparency and independence,
and the element of the wheel of existence that you
are, will never be able to possess by any of these
faculties. But if you saw original spirit, then you
would know that it is your true nature without any
possible qualification and that, in reality, no
name can be given it. You would then also know that
what we call void, absolute, purity, detachment,
and even original spirit, are nothing but words
which exist from your point of view alone, only
because of your blindness and your ignorance.
Simpletons, your wanting to simulate original
spirit spells the end of you.
*
Because
you have become monks, followers of the law of the
Buddha and disciples of a famed master, you think
you are different from the laymen on whom you look
with condescension. You are as ignorant of original
spirit as only the grass of the field can be.
*
You
are much engrossed in getting to know who I am,
from what parental stock I am issued, who were my
masters, where I have come from, what I believe,
and many other things equally devoid of interest.
Some think that if the master of this abode has
asked me to speak to you, I can only be an
enlightened one, and others, on the contrary, think
that they have before them but a scandalous and
insolent old fool who should be thrown outside
because he has no respect for the sayings and men
of the past as revered by tradition, neither has he
any respect for the sayings and men of the present
exalted by their fame and renown. Thus, you hold
merely to appearances, and, because of this, you
fail to perceive in you, the true man.
Fools, you put mud in your eyes and then complain
of being blind.
And old man Tcheng went off with much
gesticulating...
Old man Tcheng returned the next day and spoke
thus:
Shaven ones, by completely abandoning yourselves to
the will and whims of another whom you have exalted
to the point of relying on him for all things, you
imagine your attitude to be just and, thus, you are
without concerns and without desires. In reality,
you merely behave as do very young monkeys which do
not leave their mother for a single moment,
desperately clinging to her, so full of fear are
they. And, in the course of time, you become like
those dried-up trees which look like other trees in
winter but which, when spring and summer come, have
no leaves and bear no fruit. In such passivity, how
can you hope to see original spirit?
Smooth pates, you are already dead.
*
Every
man is enlightened by original spirit. Some see it,
others ignore it, that is the only difference
between them. As for you, shavenheads, you are as a
drunken man, who, on the outside of an enclosure
clings to the bamboo sticks, shouting that he has
been shut in, that he is innocent, and implores to
be set free.
Dunces, no one but you is holding yourselves a
prisoner. What a disaster for you!
*
Powerless
to see original spirit, and therefore, to live life
yourselves, you conceal your insignificance by
wearing the clothing others have cast off, be they
dead or alive. You accumulate viewpoints and
cultivate shades of meaning, differences and
convergences. Thus, you strut about. Because you
dazzle fools with your tricks, you take yourselves
to be enlightened men.
Nitwits, you are but chatterboxes and cheap
jugglers. You have led yourselves astray. Your ill
is incurable.
You need no one else to see the light of the sun.
All that others can say on this subject is useless
to you. You are in the light. It warms your body,
and yet, you cannot seize it and put it into a box.
All attempts to possess it are doomed beforehand to
failure. You can neither catch it nor get rid of
it. This has already been said by this old
chatterbox and by others before him.
Likewise, original spirit. It is ever present, as
bright as the light of the sun. You cannot increase
it or diminish it. Dolts, if you cannot see it,
this is due to the rubbish you have cluttered up in
your heads. You cannot see it because you are taken
over by your efforts to trap it in your thoughts,
your adorations, and your practices. You imagine it
to be afar, and it is here. You want to grab it,
and it escapes from you.
If you were entirely simple, you would only need to
open your eyes to see it, just as you see the light
of the sun. No need to do anything more for
that.
He who has seen a grain of sand has seen every
grain of sand on every shore and on the bed of
every sea in the world. If you see original spirit,
then you see all of original spirit and you are a
Buddha.
I am before you as a resounding block of wood.
There is nothing deserving or important in this for
there has never been a lack of, nor, till the end
of men, will there ever be a lack of beings like
old Tcheng to resound in the same way.
But, nincompoops, it is to your misfortune that you
are ever preoccupied with mere appearances and see
here only a block of resounding wood. Because of
this, original spirit finds not in you the echo
which would suddenly make you realise that you are
not, and have never been, other than it.
And old man Tcheng retired.
The following evening old man Tcheng entered and
said:
Shorn skulls, look upon all the patriarchs and all
the chatterboxes like me as impostors, since they
speak to you of what they can neither show you nor
give you. The only usefulness one may, perhaps,
grant them is that they inform us that every being
has the nature of the Buddha. But it is for each
one of you to see this by yourself, without being
led astray by anything else, so that you may see
this in a great flash of reality. Baldies, if you
let the words and magic tricks of the patriarchs
affect you, then you are lost!
Nitwits, in the hope of seeing original spirit, you
have accumulated much knowledge inside your little
minds, just as rice is heaped up and stored. Acting
thus, you have done nothing but disguise your
ignorance with learned words to discuss the true
and the untrue, good and evil, the eternal and the
ephemeral, heaven and earth, all the subtle and
gross elements that compose man, the merits and
demerits of the various ways and practices, the
extent of so and so's enlightenment, and a great
many useless things, all of which shows your
incapacity to find the rightful attitude.
Numskulls, your vice dwells in your arrogant
pretence to want to measure the
incommensurable.
If there be any among you who, while listening to
me, are struck by something greater and deeper than
my words and which is not the sort of sanctimonious
torpor in which so many take delight, thus
imagining they are at one with original spirit, but
see it as a simple, clear and active light, then to
those I can indicate the true direction and show
them the way. Their own muddy contour will one day
break up, all at once drop off, and they will see
the radiant beauty of the jewel of original
spirit.
In this matter, I do not personally intervene. I am
but a mode of transit for original spirit whose
presence some may feel through me, old Tcheng, who
is also for others as caked mud around a precious
stone.
So long as I am asked about original spirit, I can
but remain speechless or answer: no.
As for he who sees original spirit, he has no need
for old Tcheng.
*
If you
were true men, your thoughts and actions would be
just, and in each moment appropriate to their
purpose. But as you are incapable of seeing your
Buddha-nature, you spend your ignorant lives
copying the thoughts, behaviour, and actions of
those you have put on a pedestal. Your
preoccupation of mimicking like monkeys what others
think and do, that is the cloud that stops you from
seeing original spirit. Dolts, you are naught but
thieves and robbers. There is no hope for you.
Baldies, your fundamental nature in no way differs
from that of the Buddha. You only lack the
unambiguous knowing of it and that alone. That is
what you lack, and that is what impels you to seek
to become what you have never stopped being. To be
clearly in original spirit is the sole meaning of
your existence. If you so much as slightly stray
from it, you immediately fall into error and the
unending swirl of causes and effects. This, alone,
is what old Tcheng teaches.
And old man Tcheng left the room.
Old man Tcheng declared:
Bare skulls, the thought of original spirit is but
the reflection of that spirit in a particular mind,
as the image of the moon seen in the water of a
pond is but the reflection of the moon. Original
spirit remains present, unchanged and unaffected by
the tumult of your thoughts and actions, as the
moon remains unchanged and unaffected whether the
water in the pond be clear or muddy, calm or
agitated, or whether the pond be full or empty. It
is only the image of the moon which is changed or
absent in this case. There is no moon in the
pond.
Baldheads, you should understand that with all your
inventions of purity to be attained, of detachment
and freedom to be obtained, of stopping your
thoughts every three hours and all the other
practices you perform with a view to seizing upon
original spirit, you are scooped up by your own
mind like a fish in a net. You act as stupidly as
if, in order to directly see the moon, you cleaned
the water in the pond, took away the plants that
cover it, built a bamboo fence so that the wind
would not disturb the surface of the water, or
emptied the pond.
Dumbos, just see that you merely allow yourselves
to be fettered by your own thoughts and by your
pitiable actions.
*
Dunces,
it is because of your blindness that old Tcheng
speaks to you of original spirit and of the
individual mind as if he were referring to
different things. For old Tcheng, original spirit
and individual mind, the eternal and ephemeral,
wisdom and ignorance, enlightenment and blindness,
nirvana, the sutras, the system of law, all the
bodies of transformation and the Buddha himself are
nothing but the whirlwind of thoughts, similar to a
lot of dead leaves which give the impression of
being alive when the winter wind lifts them but the
next moment are dead again. Dolts, the true nature
of beings and things is not great for he who sees
it, neither is it small for he who ignores it. It
remains unaffected by being known or being unknown
and by all that you thrust upon it.
You
are free, shaved ones, to go on straying to
perdition by way of distinctions, shades of meaning
and subtleties. There, I have told all.
*
Baldheads,
the Buddha first sought original spirit through the
individual mind. He found this to be vanity. The
Buddha then sought original spirit through
disciplines and practices. There again, he saw this
to be vanity. Under the Bodhi tree he still had not
found original spirit, but he knew that the
individual mind and action were incapable of giving
him the vision of his true nature. It was then that
the Buddha gave up using the individual mind and
action, accepted his ignorance, and recognised his
powerlessness to put a stop to it.
The Buddha was then unknowing and waiting, affected
by nothing, as still as a piece of dead wood, when,
at the sight of the morning star, original spirit
flooded him with light.
Such is the experience of the Buddha. Such is the
example and such is the primal teaching that he has
left.
But all of you disciples of the Buddha, what have
you done? You have taken possession of the Buddha
to make of his life a legend over which to marvel,
and to make of his person an idol for your
adoration. You have seized upon the sayings of the
Buddha to make of them a sacred thing worthy of
being endlessly studied, recited, and transcribed.
Concerning the life and the words of the Buddha,
you have founded a great number of different
schools, written countless treatises, and never
stopped chattering and blabbing. You have built
temples and put up statues. You have lit incense
and burned camphor. You have snuffed out beliefs
and established dogmas, rules, disciplines and
practices.
Nitwits, you have fallen into the trap and
seduction of all that the Buddha had recognised as
being error which can only lead astray. In this
manner, you built a wall as high as heaven blocking
yourself from the original spirit you long to
see.
Shaved skulls, if you persist in the error of your
ways, what a total failure your life will be!
*
Now
baldies, listen to me with greatest attention. I
will reveal to you the great secret of original
spirit. This is the most important thing ever said
in its regard...
Here it is: There is no secret about original
spirit.
With a graceful pirouette, old man Tcheng
disappeared and since then no one has heard speak
of him.
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