[Discussion-AZC] for Kojin's class, the case on how an enlightened person is affected by cause & effect

[drstopher]

BOOK OF SERENITY
Case 8
Baizhang’s Fox

Introduction

If you keep so much as the letter ‘a’ in your mind, you’ll go to hell
like an arrow shot; one drop of wild fox slobber, when swallowed,
cannot be spit out for thirty years.  It is not that the order is
strict in India; it’s just that the ignoramus’s karma is heavy.  Has
there ever been anyone who mistakenly transgressed?

Case

When Baizhang lectured in the hall, there was always an old man who
listened to the teaching and then dispersed with the crowd.  One day
he didn’t leave; Baizhang then asked him, “Who is standing there?”

The old man said, “In antiquity, in the time of the ancient Buddha
Kasyapa, I lived on this mountain.  A student asked, “Does a greatly
cultivated man still fall into cause and effect or not?”  I answered
him, “He does not fall into cause and effect,” and I fell into a wild
fox body for five hundred lives.  Now I ask the teacher to turn a
word in my behalf.”

Baizhang said, “He is not blind to cause and effect.”
The old man was greatly enlightened at those words.

Commentary

On Baizhang Mountain in Hong prefecture, every time Chan Master Dazhi
ascended the high seat, there was always an old man listening to his
teaching.  The old man had dwelt on this mountain in the time of
Kasyapa Buddha; because he had answered a student mistakenly, up to
the present he had degenerated into a wild fox being.  Indeed it was
because he himself leaned on a fence and stuck to a wall, sending
people off to fall into a pit and plunge into a ditch.

   He saw that Dazhi had the skill to pull out nails and draw out
pegs, so he forsook himself and followed the other, asking Dazhi to
turn a word in his behalf.  Dazhi gave a fearless explanation,
lightly turning and saying, “He is not blind to cause and effect.” 
The old man was greatly enlightened at these words.  He based his
logic on actuality; not falling into cause and effect is forced
denial, a nihilistic view;  not being blind to cause and effect is
finding the wondrous along with the flow.

Those who understand the vehicle of the teachings see immediately
when this is brought up, but though they shed their hair clothes,
they’re still wearing scale armor.  Have you not heard it told how
when Chan Master Yuan was in the assembly of Chan Master Hui he heard
two monks bring up this story;  one monk said, “Even if he’s not
blind to cause and effect, he still hasn’t shed the wild fox body.” 
The other monk replied, “Just this is not falling into cause and
effect -- and when has he ever fallen into cause and effect?”  The
master was startled and considered these words unusual; he hurried to
the bamboo cluster hermitage on Mount Huangpu -- as he crossed a
valley stream he was suddenly enlightened.  He saw Master Nan and
told what happened; before he finished tears were streaming over his
jaws.  Master Nan made him sleep soundly on the attendants’ bench;
but suddenly he got up and wrote a verse:

Not falling, not blind;
For monks or lay folk there are no taboos.
The bearing of a free man is like a king’s --
How can he accept the enclosure of a bag or covering by a lid?
One staff can be horizontal or vertical --
The wild fox leaps into the company of the golden lion.

Master Nan laughter.

Seeing it in this way, when we first see him say,  “I now ask you to
turn a word for me,”  hopefully he would have said,  “He does not
fall into cause and effect,”  to avoid causing beginners to fall into
the pit of understanding.

In the evening Baizhang went into the hall and recounted the
preceding events:  Huangbo immediately asked,  “An ancient answered a
turning word mistakenly and fell into a wild fox body for five
hundred lives.  What if one is not mistaken, turn after turn?” 
Baizhang said,  “Come here and I’ll tell you.”  Huangbo approached
and gave Baizhang a slap;  Baizhang clapped his hands laughing and
said,  “I knew foxes’ beards were red -- here’s another red-bearded
fox!”

Yangshan said, “Baizhang attained the great capacity, Huangbo
attained the great function.”  They didn’t have the names for no
reason; Guishan asked Yangshan,  “Huangbo always uses this capacity
-- did he get it by birth or from another?”  Yangshan said,  “This is
both his receiving a teacher’s bequest and also inherent communion
with the source.”  

Guishan said, “So it is.”

Look at that father Baizhang and son -- they roam fearlessly like
lion kings -- how could they make a living in a wild fox den?  My
tail bone is already showing more and more -- now I’ll let Tiantong
lose to ply his claws and fangs.  Look -- his verse says,



Verse

A foot of water, a fathom of wave.
For five hundred lives he couldn’t do a thing.
‘Not falling,’ ‘not blind,’ they haggle,
As before entering a nest of complications.
Ah, ha! Ha!
Understand?
If you are clear and free
There’s no objection to my babble.
The spirit songs and shrine dances spontaneously form a harmony --
Clapping in the intervals, singing ‘li-la.’

Commentary
Establishing practice and realization, distinguishing cause and
effect -- a foot of water, a fathom of wave.  Falling into the spirit
of a wild fox for five hundred lives -- even if the two monks at the
bamboo cluster hermitage had extraordinary discernment, when we hold
them up to examination, they have not avoided ;lunging into a tangle.
 In this line of Tiantong’s there are two characters which do not
rest easy -- why doesn’t he say, “As before they plunge into a wild
fox lair”?

“Ah, ha! Ha!”  This illustrates Baizhang’s enlightenment:  Tiantong
reveals what’s in his own heart, saying, “Understand?”  But I ask,
does Tiantong understand?  “If you are clear and free, there’s no
objection to my babble.”  Fortunately he has status -- what chore
would he not do for others?  Babble, Dada wawa is baby talk --
representing that it is not real speech.  Also the Weir of
Interpretation of the Lotus of Reality says, “Dada is a symbol of
learning action; wawa is a symbol of learning speech.”  In the Great
Demise Scripture there is ‘sickness practice’ and ‘baby practice.’ 
Some books say ‘baba wawa.’  Chan Master Shandao of Shishi said,
“Among the sixteen practices in the Great Demise, the baby practice
is best.”  All this is the same meaning as the “spirit songs and
shrine dances.”  But tell me, what is the harmony?

Ten thousand pipes you cannot hear if you have mind;
On a solitary cliff without ears then you know the sound.

Added Sayings Case

When Baizhang lectured, there was an old man who used to listen and
then disperse with the crowd -- Finding quiet in the midst of noise.

One day he didn’t leave -- Been doubting this guy all along.

Baizhang asked him, “Who are you?”  -- Things can’t be mixed up --
when a guest comes you should wait on him.

“I lived on this mountain in ancient times.” -- Originally he is a
man of the house.

A student asked me, “Does a greatly cultivated  man fall into cause
and effect?” -- Just do good, don’t ask about the road ahead.

“He does not fall into cause and effect.” -- A fitting statement is a
stake to tie a donkey to for ten thousand years.
I fell into a wild fox body for five hundred lives -- You said one
doesn’t fall into cause and effect.

Now I ask the teacher to turn a word in my behalf -- What reason can
you give?

“He isn’t blind to cause and effect.” -- Buried in one pit.

The old man was enlightened at these words -- Fox drool is still
there.


Added Sayings Verse

A foot of water, a fathom of wave -- Luckily naturally the rivers are
clear, the ocean is calm.

For five hundred lives he couldn’t do a thing -- If he had known what
would happen today, he’d regret not being careful to begin with.

‘Not falling’ ‘not blind’ they haggle -- Stupid slobbering hasn’t
stopped.

As before entering a nest of complications -- wrapping around the
waist, entangling the legs.

Ah, ha, ha! -- Laughable, pitiable.

Understand? -- He holds the cow’s head to make it eat grass.

If you are clear and free -- Like insects chewing wood. . . 

There’s no objection to my babble -- . . . happening to make a
pattern.

Spirit songs and shrine dances spontaneously form a harmony -- Each
clap is the order.

Clapping in the intervals, singing ‘li-la’ -- Growing finer.