Blue Cliff Record Case 49: San Sheng’s Golden Fish Who Has Passed through the Net, Talk 2
December 28, 1983 Dharma Talk by Dainin Katagiri Roshi
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Summary
Katagiri Roshi explains that there are two aspects of Buddhist practice: the way-seeking mind seeking for truth, and the way-seeking mind descending to the human world. We must constantly practice both, like a rolling ball, or like a flag flapping in the eight worldly winds. Also, the meaning of not killing.
Transcript
0:00
Katagiri Roshi: The 49th case:
San Sheng asked Hsueh Feng, “I wonder, what does the golden fish who has passed through the net use for food?”
Feng said, “When you come out of the net, I will tell you.”
Sheng said, “The teacher of fifteen hundred people and you don’t even know what to say!”
Feng said, “My affairs as abbot are many and complicated.”
The verse to this case:
The golden fish who has passed through the net—
Stop saying he tarries in the water.
He shakes the heavens and sweeps the earth,
He flourishes his mane and wags his tail.
When a thousand-foot whale spouts, vast waves fly,
At a single thunderclap, the pure wind gusts.
The pure wind gusts—
Among gods and humans, how many know? How many?( From The Blue Cliff Record, translated by Thomas Cleary & J.C. Cleary)
Golden fish means a person who has attained [the] final goal of enlightenment after hard practice of many years. That is the golden fish. This is a person [who is] very powerful, energetic; he has lots of vitality. Leaping anywhere, wherever he may go – because he is completely free from any situation. So that is a golden fish who has passed through the net.
Stop saying he tarries in the water.
So he doesn’t tarry even for a moment in the certain situation of the water. He is always moving, he is always manifesting himself freely, vitally, dynamically. He doesn’t stay even for a moment in a certain situation. He just sees something like [it is] something reflected in the mirror; just pass [by]. Next moment, that reflection disappears. In his everyday life, he does in that way. He sees something, it is reflected in his mirror, but after that he doesn’t do anything – just accept, just pass by.
That [is the meaning of] “stop saying he tarries in the water.” It doesn’t mean he ignores the presence of moment he occupies, because he exists, he is a being who occupies a certain time and space. So he is. He […] stays in a moment, but he […] is not caught by the moment. The moment is just like a reflection in the mirror. So it is a moment, but it’s not a real moment – it’s not a moment. He accepts it, but he is not caught by it. This is “not tarrying in the water.”
He shakes the heavens and sweeps the earth, …
So he has a great power. For instance, if your view […] of the human world is changing in many ways – in other words, if you can see the human world in a universal perspective – very naturally you can get vitality, power of living.
Nevertheless, he is always flapping in the wind, from the east, from the north, from the south – he is just like a flag flapping, always. But nevertheless, the center of his life is very heavy. He doesn’t move, he just stands alone, unmoved. […] He is completely standing alone: alone means he himself exists in this world, with nothing to compare with him. That is called aloneness, alone.
That attitude [or] spirit of life has very strong power, that’s why he shakes the heavens and sweeps the earth. So wherever he may go, he is always standing alone, unmoved; but he is always flapping in the wind, accommodating to a certain situation. Handling [the situation], but he is always stable, not completely carried away.
So that is “he shakes the heavens and sweeps the earth.”
He flourishes his mane and wags his tail.
… That’s why he “flourishes [his mane].” “Flourishes his mane” and also “wags his tail” means always he has vitality and power to handle a certain situation in his life, wherever he may be. So he can be a master of himself in whatever situation he may be.
When a thousand-foot whale spouts, vast waves fly, …
… So that is just like a thousand foot whale [spouting]. Very vital. Very powerful. Very stable, unmovable. That is just like spring water coming up from the ground. That is, here it says, the “thousand foot whale spouts.”
And finally “vast waves fly.” It’s coming up. That means always he is moving, wherever he may go – small waves, big waves. And also he is really educating, teaching somebody, […] giving something constantly. Small waves, big waves… sometimes very calm. But always he is giving.
So when “a thousand foot whale spouts,” he educates the whole world. He educates, he gives something wonderful to human beings. That is, here it says, “vast waves fly.”
At a single thunderclap, the pure wind gusts.
[This] line [describes] Seppo Zen Master, who handled this wonderful guy who has lots of vitality and lots of spiritual power to live freely. But Seppo Zen Master, who met this person, is very… not showy. A very mature person, a perfectly mature person. Just like a thunder clap breaks out, but simultaneously there is a very cool breeze that blows… right after the thunder clap, when the calmness immediately comes. Just like a cool breeze blows.
So thunderclap means […] this person who […] is a golden fish [is] always showing vitality, power. But Seppo Zen Master doesn’t show such vitality; his vitality is always behind, [at the] bottom of his life. It’s very quiet, but very mature. So, “At the single thunder clap, the pure wind gusts.” Very pure wind blows. We don’t know what it is, but a very pure wind blows.
The pure wind gusts—
Among gods and humans, how many know? How many?
We don’t know what it is. But actually, it’s alive, so people know, people are captivated by it.
So, that is the verse to this case, the 49th case.
13:58
The point that I want to tell you is that there are two practices in Buddhism. One is the way-seeking mind seeking for truth, constantly. The other one is the way-seeking mind descending to the human world. So, going up, we are seeking for the truth, constantly – that is one way-seeking mind. And the other one is the way-seeking mind descending down, descending to the human world.
Those two practices must be done [by] everyone, in your whole life. Even though you reach a certain stage, still you practice those two.
In other words, the way-seeking mind constantly seeking for the truth means that you educate yourself as a pianist if you want to be a pianist. In the world of music, you have to educate yourself constantly in the world of music. So, if you really devote yourself to study and practice the piano, very naturally you can be a pianist. That is the way-seeking mind toward the truth, constantly. It means, very naturally, you have to study how to become a pianist intellectually, or in many ways you have to learn. Under the guidance of a teacher, you have to learn theoretically, and also practically, you have to do.
Very naturally, you can reach a certain stage. But it’s not good enough. Next, you have to practice how to descend to the human world. The way-seeking mind to descend to the human world means … you as a human being must be fascinating. […] Your personality, your life, your presence of your personality must be captivating, fascinating, or charming, which is indescribable. That fascinating personality and human life hits people’s heart directly, simultaneously, the moment when you see him or her. That is the depth of human life.
So you have to seek for the truth in order to be a pianist, and then you can be a pianist pretty easily in the world of music. But it’s not good enough, because you have to deepen your life – something more than a pianist, but [rather], as a human. That means you have to go beyond pianist, you have to educate yourself [as] something more than a pianist.
It is pretty easy for us to educate somebody in a certain realm – the so-called music world, or art world. If you try to educate somebody [in that], it’s pretty easy. But it’s not so easy to educate a person who is going beyond artist or musician. But this is very important – otherwise, you cannot have a depth of human life which is very charming and fascinating, appealing to everyone, simultaneously, beyond human speculation.
I told you before, that person who has charming and fascinating personality of his life, his attitude toward human life is pretty flexible and soft, but very stable. I always tell you, you must always be like a ball. A ball has a center; the center never changes, wherever the ball rolls. The center of the ball is always the center of the ball, wherever it may go. That is important, but on the other hand, you have to move […] You have to become master of yourself in whatever situation you may be. That means […] you have to make a choice of direction, and you have to go.
Very naturally, [the] center of yourself makes a choice in which direction to go, so the center [goes] in front, just like a torpedo. But on the other hand, personally, everyday you are very centered, you are very stable. But the center is not always inside; the center is always out when you move. [In an active] situation, the center is always operating, to guide you.
So that is [the meaning of] that person flaps in the wind, wherever it may go from – to the east, to the north, to the south, wherever it may [blow] from – but on the other hand, he stands always alone, unmoved.
So he isn’t carried away by – we say – happū (八風), which means eight winds. Eight kinds of winds, by which people are very carried away. The eight winds [are] gain and loss, defamation and eulogy, praise and ridicule, sorrow and joy. […]
Well, gain and loss is just like pros and cons, success and failure. Loss and gain, benefit [and loss], always. This is very common. Fame, poor, rich – always we expect. If we have a loss, very naturally we are depressed. So, gain and loss are always some big wind, making big waves for human life.
You know pretty well defamation. Eulogy: if people say something wonderful to you, very naturally you smile.
My teacher Yokoi Roshi always scolded me: I smiled after he said something wonderful to me; and then […] immediately he said, “How stupid you are.” I didn’t understand why he said so. But that’s pretty good for us. For me, anyway; not for you. For me it [was] very nice. But at that time, I didn’t understand.
So, eulogy and praise: very naturally after doing something, there are lots of pros, and praise, [and] lots of nice criticism, and ridicule. And also sorrow and joy. Those eight winds – always get you into trouble.
But anyway, even though this person stands right in the middle of eight winds, he keeps standing alone, unmoved. That is this old man, Seppo Zen Master (Hsueh Feng). So finally, he says, “I am pretty busy.”
The monk Sheng said, “The teacher of 1500 people, and you don’t even know what to say!” Because Seppo Zen Master was a pretty famous teacher at that time. The monk Sheng gives a kind of meanness, he deals with Seppo Zen Master very meanly. But Seppo Zen Master didn’t say anything [about that]; he said, “My temple affairs are pretty busy.” So he left. He didn’t fight with him. Very naturally, very smoothly, he “parried,” […] saying, “I am pretty busy with taking care of my temple affairs.” It’s pretty difficult to say [that], because if people bark at you, very naturally, immediately, you want to bark back! That’s very common. But he didn’t. He just said [that] and left.
So, the two practices: if you [only] practice one, so-called seeking for the truth – always developing your life, going up, always trying to go up – you can get a certain stage, and you can be successful in doing something. But there is no depth of human life. There is nothing fascinating; no spirit, no personality which people are impressed by. So, very naturally, we are seeking for the truth, but simultaneously we have to practice it in everyday life. [We have to think about] how you put it into everyday practice.
For instance, not killing. Trying to not kill is kind of “going up.” So, very naturally, if you have this strong spirit, if you see somebody who killed – even by chance, even if not on purpose – you really criticize him or her, because you have a strong spirit of not killing. You want to go up, but people don’t. If you see the people who don’t have that strong spirit of going up, very naturally, you put them down.
On the other hand, personally, you don’t want to kill – whatever it is – insects. But not to kill doesn’t mean not to kill insects, or not to kill vegetables, et cetera, but [that] there is a very important practice [that] you have to descend to the human world and practice very quietly, wherever you may go.
For instance, washing dishes. Look at [the] dishes in the kitchen. If you see the dishes over there, most of the dishes are cracked. Did you notice that? Because you wash dishes and put them recklessly [in a box], very recklessly. So, cracking each other, bumping into each other, and you don’t care, you pile up the dishes recklessly. It is already killing: killing the life of dishes, plates.
So, you have to practice this kind of precept of not kill. Not only insects, not only vegetables, not only flowers, but whatever it is. Dishes: when you wash the dishes, you have to carefully wash the dishes. Toilet paper – I tell you very often. Your pants, your boots… cleaning the floor, cleaning your room: you can practice not killing. But, nobody knows. It’s very quiet. Regardless of whether people look at you or not, anyway, you just quietly practice. That practice is very important for us. And then, this practice really deepens your life.
So, that is called the way-seeking mind to descend. You descend to the human world and practice the Buddha way. At that time, you as a human become very attractive, and captivating, and fascinating, and charming, completely beyond human speculation. The moment when people see you, people feel like this. And then you command people’s respect, very naturally.
So, this case points out human life like this: not only creating the spirit of going up to the sky, but simultaneously we have to have the spirit going down to the ground. That is very quiet practice for us.
Alright. Do you have questions?
In the human world, there are many musicians, many artists, generally speaking. So-called “soldiers.” Many soldiers: so-called musicians, and [very generally] writers. Sometimes people say, “I am a writer.” So [there are] many, many writers. Many, many poets. Many, many musicians. But, a “general” is only one. It’s pretty hard to find a general of the musician, of a writer. It’s pretty hard.
So, if you want to be a writer generally, you can be a writer, pretty easily. But it’s pretty difficult to become a general of a writer, or musician, et cetera. For this, you have to practice many, many years… quietly, even though people don’t pay attention to you.
But, on the other hand, we have to have a very strong, unflinching effort to move toward the truth, seeking every day.
[Closing chant.]