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曹山本寂 Caoshan Benji
(840-901)
(Rōmaji:) Sōzan Honjaku
(Magyar átírás:) Cao-san Pen-csi
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Cao-san Pen-csi összegyűjtött mondásaiból Caoshan Benji: Úr és szolga |
Ts'ao-shan Pên-chi Pen-chi of Ts'ao-shan (840-901) Caoshan Benji |
Cao-san Pen-csi összegyűjtött mondásaiból
Fordította: Terebess Gábor
Vö.: Folyik a híd, Officina Nova, Budapest, 1990, 90-92. oldal
– Mi a valóság a látszatban? – kérdezte egy szerzetes.
– A látszat a valóság – mondta Cao-san.
– Hogyan nyilvánul meg?
A mester felemelte a teástálcát.
– Az ősatyák azt tanították, hogy mindenkinek van buddha-természete – mondta egy szerzetes. – De én úgy összezavarodtam, már azt sem tudom, nekem most van, vagy nincs?
– Add ide a kezed – mondta Cao-san. – Egy-kettő-három-négy-öt – számolta a szerzetes ujjait. – Ennyi éppen elég.
– Mi a legértékesebb dolog a világon? – kérdezte egy szerzetes.
– Egy döglött macska – felelte Cao-san.
– Miért?
– Mert azt senki sem értékeli.
Megkondult a harang.
– Jaj! – szisszent fel Cao-san.
– Mi bajod? – kérdezte egy szerzetes.
– Szíven ütött.
– Ki ragad kardot ebben az országban? – kérdezte egy szerzetes.
– Én, Cao-san.
– Kit akarsz megölni?
– Mind meghal, aki él.
– Mit teszel, ha szüleiddel akadsz össze?
– Minek válogatni?
– És temagad?
– Ki tehet ellenem bármit?
– Miért nem ölöd meg magadat is?
– Nincs kire kezet emeljek.
– Szegény árva vagyok – fordult egy Csing-zsuj nevű szerzetes Cao-sanhoz. – Segíts rajtam, mester!
– Csing-zsuj, gyere ide!
A szerzetes közelebb lépett.
– Csüan-csouban benyakaltál három csészével Paj legjobb rizsborából – mondta a mester –, mégis azt hangoztatod, hogy meg se nedvesítetted a szád szélét?
– Amikor Lu-cu mester látott jönni egy szerzetest, rögtön a falnak fordult. Mit akart ezzel az értésére adni? – kérdezte egy szerzetes Cao-santól.
A mester befogta a fülét.
Caoshan Benji: Úr és szolga
Fordította: Hadházi Zsolt
http://zen.gportal.hu/gindex.php?pg=4792614&nid=5018592
A végső állapot az üresség birodalma, ahol sosem volt semmi sem. A viszonylagos állapot a forma birodalma, telve tízezer dologgal. A viszonylagos a végsőben az elfordulás az alapelvtől és a jelenséghez térés. A végső a viszonylagosban az érdektelenség a jelenségek iránt és belépés az alapelvbe. A kölcsönös egymásbafoglalás az közvetlenül válaszolni a tízezer körülményre anélkül, hogy különféle létezésekbe esnénk. Nem szennyezett, nem tiszta, nem elhajló, ezért nevezik az üres titkos nagy útnak, a nem-ragaszkodó igaz forrásnak. A régi tisztelendők emberemlékezet óta ezt a rangot (az egymásbafoglalás állapotát) tekintették a legcsodálatosabbnak és legtitkosabbnak. Tisztán és átfogóan kell megértened. Az úr a végső állapot, a szolga a viszonylagos állapot. A szolga fordulása az úrhoz a végső a viszonylagosban, az úr fordulása a szolgához a viszonylagos a végsőben. Az úr és szolga összhangja a kölcsönös egymásbafoglaltság kifejezése.
Mi az úr?
Csodás erényét az egész világ tiszteli,
Magasztos megvilágosodása beragyogja a nagy ürességet.
Mi a szolga?
A szellemi cselekvés terjeszti a szent utat,
Az igaz bölcsesség az érző lények javára munkálkodik.
Mi a szolga fordulása az úrhoz?
Mindenféle megkülönböztetéstől mentesen,
Érzéseit a szentséges felé irányítja.
Mi az úr fordulása a szolgához?
Csodálatossága mozdulatlan,
Mégis fényessége alapvetően nem részrehajló.
Mi az úr és szolga összhangja?
Egységük külső és belső nélküli,
Összhangjukban felső és alsó egyenrangú.
撫州曹山本寂禪師語錄 FU-CHOU TS'AO-SHAN PEN-CHI CH'AN-SHIH YU-LU (Japanese, Bushu Sozan Honjaku zenji goroku), in two chuans, Taisho No. 1987B (Vol. XLVII, pp. 536b-541c.9). A collection of the recorded conversations, short writings, and sayings of Pen-chi of Ts'ao-shan (840-901), who, with his teacher, Tung-shan Liang-chieh (Japanese, Tozan Ryokai) (807-869), founded the 曹洞宗 Ts'ao-tung Tsung (Japanese, Soto-shu) school of Chinese Zen.
Pen-chi of Ts'ao-shan (840-901)
Questions and Answers
translated by Wing-tsit Chan
in Sources of Chinese Tradition, Edited by Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom, pp. 363ff.Yün-men asked: "If a person who is difficult to change should come to you, would you receive him?"
The master answered: "Ts'ao-shan has no such leisure."Monk Ch'ing-jui asked: "I am lonely and poor. Please help me, Master."
"Teacher Jui, please come near."
As Jui went near, the Master said: "Someone drank three cups of wine brewed by the House of Pai in Ch'üan-chou, and still said that his lips were not wet."Ching-ch'ing asked: "What is the Principle of Pure Vacuity like, since after all it has no body?"
The Master said: "The Principle is originally like that. Where did facts [the external world, body] arise?"
Ching-ch'ing said: "Principle is the same as facts and facts are the same as Principle."
The Master said: "It is all right to insult Ts'ao-shan himself, but what are you going to do with all the divine eyes [that is, how can you cheat all wise men]?"A monk said: "Your disciple is sick all over. Please cure me."
The Master said: "I shall not cure you."
The monk said: "Why don't you cure me?"
The Master said: "So that you neither live nor die."A monk asked: "Aren't monks persons of great compassion?"
The Master said: "Yes."
The monk asked: "Suppose the six bandits [sensuous desires] come at them. What should they do?"
The Master answered: "Also be compassionate."
The monk asked: "How is one to be compassionate?"
The Master said: "Wipe them out with one sweep of the sword."
The monk asked: "What then?"
The Master said: "Then they will be harmonized."A monk asked: "Master, are the eye and the eyebrow acquainted with each other?"
The Master answered: "Not acquainted."
The monk asked: "Why not acquainted?"
The Master said: "They are in the same place."
The monk asked: "Why are they not separated?"
The Master said: "The eyebrow is not the eye and the eye is not the eyebrow."
The monk said: "What is the eye?"
The Master answered: "To the point!"
The monk asked: "What is the eyebrow?"
The Master said: "I have my doubts."
The monk asked: "Why do you doubt?"
The Master said: "If I don't doubt, it would mean to the point."A monk asked: What kind of people are those who avoid the company of all dharmas?"
The Master said: "There are so many people in the city of Hung-chou. Where would you say they have gone?"A monk asked: "In admitting phenomenon, what is true?"
The Master said: "Phenomenon is truth and truth is phenomenon."
The monk asked: "How is that revealed?"
The Master lifted the tea tray.A monk asked: "How is illusion true?"
The Master answered: "Illusion is originally true."
The monk asked: "How is illusion manifested?"
The Master answered: "Illusion is manifestation and manifestation is illusion."Question: "What kind of people are those who are always present?"
The Master said: "It happens that Ts'ao-shan has gone out for a while."
Question: "What kind of people are those who are always absent?"
The Master said: "Difficult to find such."A monk asked: "What did Patriarch Lu indicate by facing the cliff?"
The Master covered his ears with his hands.A monk asked: "An ancient wise man said, 'There has never been a person who, having fallen to the ground, does not rise from the ground.' What is falling?"
The Master said: "The fact is recognized."
The monk said: "What is rising?"
The Master said: "Rising."Question: "In the teachings we have received, it is said, 'The great sea does not harbor a corpse.' What is the great sea?"
The Master said: "It embraces all things."
The monk asked: "Why not harbor a corpse?"
The Master said: "He whose breath has stopped clings to nothing."
The Master continued: "Things are not its accomplishments, and the breathless has its own character."
The monk asked: "With regard to progress toward the highest truth, is there anything else?"
The Master said: "It is all right to say yes or no, but what are you going to do with the Dragon King who holds the sword?"A monk asked: "How can silence be expressed?"
The Master said: "I will not express it here."
The monk said: "Where will you express it?"
The Master said: "Last night at midnight I lost three pennies by my bed."The Master asked the monk: "What are you doing?"
The monk answered: "Sweeping the floor."
The Master said: "In front of the Buddha figure or behind it?"
The monk answered: "Both at the same time."
The Master said: "Give your sandals to Ts'ao-shan."A monk asked: "What kind of companions in the Path should one associate with so that one may always learn from what one has not learned?"
The Master said: "Sleep in the same bed."
The monk said: "This is still what the monks have learned. How can one always learn from what one has not learned?"
The Master said: "Different from trees and rocks."
The monk asked: "Which is first and which is afterward?"
The Master said: "Not seeing the Path, one can always learn from what one has not learned."A monk asked: "Who is the one who holds the sword in the state?"
The Master said: "Ts'ao-shan."
The monk said: "Whom do you intend to kill?"
The Master said: "I shall kill all."
The monk said: "Suppose you suddenly met your parents. What will you do?"
The Master said: "Why discriminate?"
The monk said: "But there is yourself!"
The Master said: "Who can do anything about me?"
The monk said: "Why not kill yourself?"
The Master said: "No place to start."A monk asked: "What kind of people are always sinking into the sea of life and death?"
The Master answered: "The second month."
The monk said: "Don't they try to free themselves?"
The Master said: "Yes, they do but there is no way out."
The monk said: "If they are free, what kind of people will accept them?"
The Master said: "Prisoners."A monk raised a case [ koan ], saying: "Yo-shan asked me how old I was. I said seventy-two. Yo-shan asked, 'Is it seventy-two?' When I said, 'yes,' he struck me. What is the meaning of that?"
The Master said: "The first arrow is bad enough. The second one will penetrate even deeper."
The monk asked: "How can the beating be avoided?"
The Master said: "When the imperial edict is in force, all the feudal lords yield the way."A monk asked Hsiang-yen: "What is the Path?"
Hsiang-yen answered: "There is music from [the wind blowing at] the dried wood."
The monk asked: "Who are those in the path?"
Hsiang-yen answered: "There is an eye-pupil in the skull."
The monk did not understand and went to ask Shih-shuang what is meant by music from the dried wood. Shih-shuang said: "There is still joy there."
The monk said: "What about the eye-pupil in the skull?"
Shih-shuang said: "There is still consciousness there."
The monk did not understand either. He presented the case to the Master, who said: "Shih-shuang is a Shravaka [who attains enlightenment on hearing the teachings of the Buddha] and therefore takes such a view." Thereupon he showed the monk the following verse:When there is music from dried wood, the Path is truly seen.
The skull has no consciousness; the eye begins to clear.
When joy and consciousness [seem to be] at an end, they are not so.
Who discriminates what is clear amidst what is turbid? Thereupon the monk again asked the Master: "What does it mean by music from the dried wood?"
The Master said: "Life is not cut off."
Question. "What does it mean by an eye-pupil in the skull?"
The Master answered: "It is not dried up."
Question. "Is there anything more?"
The Master said: "Throughout the world not a single person has not heard."
Question: "From what poem is 'There is music from dried wood'?"
The Master said: "I don't know what poem." All of those who heard him were disappointed.Question: "What is the basic meaning of the Law of the Buddha?"
The Master said: "Filling all streams and valleys."Question: "Whenever there is any question, one's mind is confused. What is the matter?"
The Master said: "Kill, kill!"
CAOSHAN BENJI
by Andy Ferguson
In: Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings, Wisdom Publications, 2011, pp. 242-246.
CAOSHAN BENJI (840–901) was a foremost disciple of Dongshan. He was so closely associated with his teacher that their names were used together to form the name of their Zen school, Caodong. Caoshan came from ancient Quanzhou (a place still called Quanzhou in modern Fujian Province). When a youth, he studied Confucianism. Leaving home at the age of nineteen, Caoshan entered Lingshi Monastery in Fuzhou. When he received ordination at the age of twenty-five, Zen Buddhism was flourishing in Tang dynasty China. Later, after becoming Dongshan’s Dharma heir, Caoshan started a new temple in Fuzhou and named it Cao Shan (Mt. Cao), after the Sixth Ancestor, whose mountain name was derived from Cao Xi (Cao Creek). Thereafter, Caoshan lived and taught at Mt. Heyu, and is said to have changed the name of that place to Cao Shan as well. Caoshan used Dongshan’s “five ranks” as a method of instruction, leading to its wide use in Zen monasteries. This helped differentiate Caodong Zen as a unique Zen school.
Caoshan’s fame spread widely after he wrote a commentary in praise of verses composed by the famous poet Hanshan. These selections are taken from the Transmission of the Lamp.
Upon meeting Caoshan, Dongshan said, “What is your name?”
Caoshan said, “Benji.”
Dongshan said, “What is your transcendent name?”
Caoshan said, “I can’t tell you.”
Dongshan said, “Why not?”
Caoshan said, “There I’m not named Benji.”
Dongshan then realized that this disciple was a great Dharma vessel.
After starting study under Dongshan at this time, Caoshan remained for many years and realized the secret seal of Dongshan’s teachings.
Later, when Caoshan left Dongshan, Dongshan said, “Where are you going?”
Caoshan said, “I’m not going to a different place.”
Dongshan asked, “You’re not going to a different place but there is still ‘going’?”
Caoshan said, “I’m going, but not to a different place.”
A monk asked, “Who is it that is not a companion to the myriad dharmas?”
Caoshan said, “Tell me, where is it that many people in Hongzhou are going?”
A monk asked Caoshan, “Can the eyebrows and the eyes distinguish each other or not?”
Caoshan said, “They can’t distinguish each other.”
The monk said “Why not?”
Caoshan said, “Because they’re in the same place.”
The monk said, “If that’s so, one couldn’t tell them apart.”
Caoshan said, “Eyebrows, after all, are not eyes.”
The monk asked, “What are eyes?”
Caoshan said, “[Eyes are] what is upright.”
The monk said, “What are eyebrows?”
Caoshan said, “I’m not sure.”
The monk said, “Why is the master not sure?”
Caoshan said, “If one lacks doubt, one is upright.”
The monk said, “What truth is there in form?”
Caoshan said, “Form is truth.”
The monk said, “How would you demonstrate this?”
Caoshan picked up his tea cup saucer.
The monk asked, “How can illusion be truth?”
Caoshan said, “Illusion is fundamentally truth.” ([Later,] Fayan commented, “Illusion is fundamentally not truth.”)
The monk asked, “When illusion is faced, what is revealed?”
Caoshan said, “Illusion is revealed.” (Fayan said, “Illusion is not faced.”)
The monk said, “In that case, then from start to finish one can’t escape illusion.”
Caoshan said, “But if you pursue illusive forms you can’t attain them.”
A monk asked, “Who is the person who is here forever?”
Caoshan said, “Just when you encounter Caoshan, he is instantly revealed.”
The monk asked, “Who is the one who is never here?”
Caoshan said, “Hard to find.”
The monk Qingrui said to Caoshan, “I am alone and destitute. Master, please give me some assistance.”
Caoshan said, “Worthy Rui, come here!”
Qingrui came forward.
Caoshan said “You already drank three cups of Quan Province ‘Hundred Houses’ wine, yet you still say your lips are not wet.”
Yunmen asked, “The unchanging person has come. Will the master receive him or not?”
Caoshan said, “On Mt. Cao there’s no spare time for that.”
A monk asked, “An ancient said, ‘Everyone has brothers in the dust.’ Can you demonstrate this to me?”
Caoshan said, “Give me your hand.”
Caoshan then pointed at the monk’s fingers and counted, “One, two, three, four, five. That’s enough.”
A monk asked, “What was Luzu trying to show when he faced the wall?”
Caoshan covered his ears with his hands.
Caoshan asked Venerable Qiang, “The true body of Buddha is like vast emptiness. When a thing appears there, it is like the moon reflected in water. How would you express this teaching?”
Qiang said, “It’s like a donkey looking into a well.”
Caoshan said, “You’ve said a lot, but you’ve only gotten eighty percent of it.”
Qiang said, “What would you say, Master?”
Caoshan said, “It’s like the well looking at the donkey.”
A monk asked, “From old times there’s a saying, ‘Until a person has fallen down, the earth can’t help him arise.’ What is ‘fallen down’?”
Caoshan said, “It’s allowing.”
The monk asked, “What is ‘arise’?”
Caoshan said, “It’s ‘arise.’”
A monk asked, “There’s a teaching that has the words, ‘The great ocean does not harbor dead corpses.’ What is the ocean?”
Caoshan said, “It includes everything.”
The monk said, “Why doesn’t it include corpses?”
Caoshan said, “Those who have ceased breathing are not manifested.”
The monk said, “Since it includes everything, why are those who’ve stopped breathing not manifested?”
Caoshan said, “The myriad things don’t have this ability. The cessation of breath has moral power.”
In the summer of [the year 901], Caoshan asked a monk, “What month and day is this?”
The monk said, “It’s the fifteenth day of the sixth month.”
Caoshan said, “Caoshan has traveled his entire life. Everywhere it is observed that a summer has ninety days.”
The next day during the hour of the dragon [7–9 A.M.] Caoshan died. He was sixty-two years old and had been a priest for thirty-one years. He was cremated on the west side of the mountain. He received the posthumous name “Zen Master Evidence of the Source.” His stupa was named ”Blessed Perfection.”
Ts'ao-tung Ch'an and Its Metaphysical Background, with Translations of the Dialogues of the Founders
by Chang Chung-yuan
Tsinghua Journal of Chinese Studies, Vol. 5. n.1, 1965.01.01, pp. 33–65
https://web.archive.org/web/20161231143046/https://nthur.lib.nthu.edu.tw/retrieve/73383/JA01_1965_p33.pdf
Cf. Original Teachings of Ch'an Buddhism. Translated by Chang Chung-yuan. New York: Random House, 1969. pp. 71-81.
