Before closing I must not forget to give some of the sermons by the
masters which are recorded chiefly in _The Record of the Transmission
of the Lamp_, as well as in the “Sayings.”
Jōshu says[7.43]: “This thing is like holding up a transparent crystal
in your hand. When a stranger comes, it reflects him as such; when a
native Chinese comes, it reflects him as such. I pick up a blade of
grass and make it work as a golden-bodied one[f155] sixteen feet high.
I again take hold of a golden-bodied one sixteen feet high and make him
act as a blade of grass. The Buddha is what constitutes human desires
and human desires are no other than Buddhahood.” A monk asked,[f167]
“For whom are the Buddha’s desires roused?”
“His desires are roused for all sentient beings.”
“How does he get rid of them then?”
“What is the use of getting rid of them?” answered the master.
On another occasion he said: “Kāśyapa handed [the Law] over to Ānanda,
and can you tell me to whom Bodhi-Dharma handed it over?”
A monk interposed: “How is it that we read about the second patriarch’s
getting its marrow from Dharma?”[f157]
“Don’t disparage the second patriarch,” Jōshu continued: “Dharma claims
that the one who was outside got the skin and the inside one got the
bone; but can you tell me what the inmost one gets?”
A monk said, “But don’t we all know that there was one who got the
marrow?”
Retorted the master: “He has just got the skin. Here in my place I do
not allow even to talk of the marrow.”
“What is the marrow then?”
“If you ask me thus, even the skin you have not traced.”
“How grand then you are!” said the monk. “Is this not your absolute
position, sir?”
“Do you know there is one who will not accept you?”
“If you say so, there must be one who will take another position.”
“Who is such another?” demanded the master.
“Who is not such another?” retorted the monk.
“I will let you talk all you like.”
The sermons are generally of this nature, short, and to outsiders
unintelligible or almost nonsensical. But, according to Zen, all these
remarks are the plainest and most straightforward exposition of the
truth. When the formal logical modes of thinking are not resorted to,
and yet the master is asked to express himself what he understands in
his inmost heart, there are no other ways but to speak in a manner so
enigmatic and so symbolic as to stagger the uninitiated. However, the
masters themselves are right in earnest, and if you attach even the
remotest notion of reproach to their remarks, thirty blows will be
instantly on your head.