Lin-Chi

[1] When Lin-chi was one of the assembly of monks under Hunag-po, he was plain and direct in his behavior. The head monk praised him saying: "Though he's a youngster, he's different from the other monks." So he asked: "Shang-tso, how long have you been here?"
"Three years," replied Lin-chi
"Have you ever asked for instruction?"
"No, I've never asked for instruction. I don't know what to ask," replied Lin-chi
"Why don't you go ask the head ho-shang of this temple just what the cardinal principle of the Buddha-dharma is?" said the head monk.
Lin-chi went and asked. Before he has finished speaking Huang-po hit him. Lin-chi came back. "How did your question go?" asked the head monk.
"Before I had finished speaking the master hit me. I don't understand," said Lin-chi
"Then go and ask him again," said the head monk.
So Lin-chi went and asked, and again Huang-po hit him. Thus Lin-chi asked the same question three times and was hit three times.
Lin-chi came back and said to the head monk: "It was so kind of you to send me to question the master. Three times I asked him and three times I was hit by him. I regret that some obstruction caused by my own past karma prevents me from grasping his profound meaning. I'm going away for awhile."
The head monk said: "If you are going away, you should go take your leave of the master." Lin-chi bowed low and withdrew.
The head monk went to the master's quarters before Lin-chi and said:
"The young man who has been questioning you is a man of Dharma. If he comes to take his leave, please handle him expediently. In the future, with training, he is sure to become a great tree which will provide cool shade for the people of the world."
Lin-chi came to take his leave. Huang-po said: "You mustn't go anywhere else but to Ta-Yu's place by the river in Kao-an. He's sure to explain things for you.

 

[2] Lin-chi arrived at Ta-yu's temple. Ta-yu said:"Where have you come from?"
"I have come from Huang-po's place," replied Lin-chi
"What did Huang-po have to say?" asked Ta-yu.
"Three times I asked him just what the cardinal principle of the Buddha-dharma was and three times he hit me. I don't know whether I was at fault or not."
"Huang-po is such a grandmother that he utterly exhausted himself with your troubles!" said Ta-yu. "And now you come here asking whether you were at fault or not!"
At these words Lin-chi attained Great Enlightenment. "Ah, there isn't so much to Huan-po's Buddha-dharma!" he cried.
Ta-yu grabbed hold of Lin-chi and said: "You bed-wetting little devil! You just finished asking whether you were at fault or not, and now you say, 'There isn't so much to Huang-po's Buddha-dharma.' What did you just see? Speak, speak!"
Lin-chi jabbed Ta-yu in the side three times. Shoving him away, Ta-yu said: "You have Huang-po for a teacher. It's not my business."

[3] Lin-chi left Ta-yu and returned to Huang-po. Hunag-po saw him coming and said: "What a fellow! Coming and going, coming and going--when will it end!"
"It's all due to your grandmotherly kindness," Lin-chi said, and then presented the customary gift and stood waiting.
"Where have you been?" asked Huang-po
"Recently you deigned to favor me by senidn gme to see Ta-yu," said Lin-chi.
"What did Ta-yu have to say?" asked Huang-po
Lin-chi then related what had happened. Huang-po said: "How I'd like to catch that fellow and give him a good dose of the stick!"
"Why say you'd 'like to'? Take it right now!" said Lin-chi and immediately gave Hunag-po a slap.
"You lunatic!" cried Huang-po. "Coming back here and pulling the tiger's whiskers."
Lin-chi gave a shout.
"Attendent get this lunatic out of here and take him to the monks' hall," said Huang-po.

 

Nowadays he who studies Buddha-dharma must seek true insight. Gaining true insight, he is not affecte by birth-and-death, but freely goes or strays. [H]e need not seek that which is excellent--- that which is excellent will come of itself.

Followers of the Way, the eminent predecessors we have had from of old all had their own ways of saving men. As for me, what I want to point out to you is that you must not accept the deluding views of others. If you want to act, then act. Don't hesitate.

Students today can't get anywhere: what ails you? Lack of faith in yourself is what ails you. If you lack faith in yourself you'll keep on tumbling along, bewilderingly following after all kinds of circumstances, be taken by these myriad circumstances through transformation after transformation, and never be yourself.

Bring to rest the thoughts of the ceaselessly seeking mind and you'll not differ from the Patriach-Buddha. Do you want to know the Patriach-Buddha? He is none other than you who stand before me listening to my discourse. Since you students lack faith in yourself, you run around seeking something outside. Even if through seeking you find somehting, that somehting will be nothing more than elaborate descriptions in written words; in the end you will fail to gain the mind of the Living Patriach. Make no mistake, worthy Ch'an men! If you don't meet [Him] here and now, you'll go on transmigrating through the three realms for myriads of kalpas and thousands of lives and, held in the clutch of agreeable circumstances, be born in the womb of an ass or a cow.

Followers of the Way, true Buddha has no figure, true Dharma has no form. Alll you are doing is fashioning models and creating patterns out of illusory transformations. Anything you may find through seeking will be only a wild fox spirit; it certainly won't be true Buddha. It will be the understanding of a heretic.
The true student of the Way has nothing to do with Buddhas, nothing to do with bodhisattvas or arhats. Nor has he anything to do with what is held to be excellent in the three realms. Having transcended these, in solitary freedom, he is not bound by things. Though heaven and earth were to turn upside down I wouldn't have a doubt; through all the Buddhas of the ten directions were to manifest themselves before me, I wouldn't have any joy; though the three hells were to suddenly yawn at my feet, I wouldn't have any fear. Why is this so? Because as I see it, all dharmas are empty forms; when transformation takes places they are existent, when transformation does not take place they are nonexistent. The three realms are mind only, the ten thousand dharms are consciousness only. . . .

Only you, the follower of the Way right now before my eyes listening to my discourse, [only you] enter fire and are not burned, enter water and are not drowned. . . .. How can this be? There are not dharmas to be disliked.

If you love the sacred and hate the secular
You'll float and sink in the birth-and-death sea.
The passions exist dependent on mind:
Have no-mind, and how can they bind you?
Without troubling to discriminate or cling to forms
You'll attain the Way naturally in a moment of time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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