The Golden Age of Zen by John C. h. Wu

Author:John C. h. Wu
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0-941532-44-5
Publisher: World Wisdom

Footnotes

1. Merton, The Way of Chuang Tzu, p. 27.

2. Ibid., p. 15.

3. The temple on Five-Story Mountain was built in honor of National Teacher Ch’ing-liang, the Fourth Patriarch of the Hua-yen sect. It is said that when he preached on the mountain, a golden-haired lion appeared in the clouds.

Chapter VIII

Outstanding masters in the Lineage

of Shih-t’ou:

Tao-wu, Lung-t’an Te-shan,

Yen-t’ou and Hsüeh-feng

The five masters whom we are going to treat of in this chapter are important not only because they form a continuous bridge between Shih-t’ou, on the one hand, and Yün-men and Hsüan-sha on the other, but because each of them was highly original and had some fresh insights to contribute to the whole tradition of Zen.

Tao-wu of the T’ien-huang Temple (748-807) was born of a Chang family in Wu-chou, Chekiang. When he was fourteen, he felt a vocation to be a monk. As his parents would not hear of it, Tao-wu reduced his diet until he became dreadfully thin and weak. Finally his parents relented and gave their permission. He was professed in his mid-twenties in Hangchow, and was noted for his extreme asceticism. Then he went to Yu-hang to visit Ching-shan Tao-ch’in (d. 792), who was an outstanding Ch’an master in the lineage of the Fourth Patriarch Tao-hsin and Niut’ou Fa-jung. It was Ching-shan who first initiated Tao-wu into Ch’an. After serving Ching-shan for five years, he went to visit Ma-tsu, who confirmed him in his insights. After he had spent two summers with Ma-tsu, he went to visit Shih-t’ou, asking, “After one is freed of Dhyana and Prajna, what Dharma can one show to others?” Shih-t’ou said, “In my place there being no slaves, what is there to be freed from?” “How is this to be verified?” Tao-wu further inquired. Shih-t’ou asked back, “Can you grasp at the empty and void?” “Well,” said Tao-wu, “this (ungraspability) does not begin today.” Then Shih-t’ou asked, “When, I wonder, did you come from that place?” “I am not a man of that place!” was Tao-wu’s answer. Shih-t’ou said, “I knew long ago where you came from.” Tao-wu replied, “How can you, master, bring this false charge against me without concrete evidence?” “Your body itself is the present evidence!” said Shih-t’ou. “Be that as it may,” said Tao-wu, “my question still is how to teach the posterity.” Shih-t’ou fired back, “Tell me who is the posterity?” At this Tao-wu was suddenly enlightened and began to understand thoroughly what his two previous masters had communicated to him.

Tao-wu’s way of teaching can be gathered from how he dealt with his disciple Lung-t’an (died first part of the 9th century). Lung-t’an came from a poor family, who made their living by selling pastry. Tao-wu knew him as a boy, and recognized in him great spiritual potentialities. He housed his family in a hut belonging to his monastery. To show his gratitude, Lung-t’an made a daily offering of ten cakes to the master. The master accepted the cakes, but every day he consumed only nine and returned

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