Читать книгу Pointing at the Moon - Alexander Holstein - Страница 13

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Give Up Two Distinct Halves

I ONE DAY, Chih Hsien, the celebrated Ch'an master, was testing a group of his disciples. "In search of the Way," he said, "we are like a man hanging by the teeth from a branch of a lofty tree. Another man sitting under the tree asks him a question, 'What is the meaning of the patriarch coming from the west [to China]?' He will seem unintelligent if he dares not answer, but, if he opens his mouth, he will certainly fall to his death. Tell me," questioned the master, "what should be done to find a way out?"

Among them was a monk by the name of Hu T'ou Chao (Best Recruit Hu) who stood up and said, "We don't care what the man is doing there in the tree. We want you to say who he was and what he had been doing before climbing the tree."

After hearing this, Chih Hsien burst into laughter, feeling quite satisfied.

Commentary: Most people are used to thinking of two distinct halves or opposing concepts such as "to be" and "not to be," "is" and "is not," "have" and "have not." The task of a Ch'an master is to destroy this kind of concept in his disciples' minds. The world becomes limitless when the relative boundary of two opposing concepts is destroyed.

No distinct halves, no relative boundary of duality. Hence there are no obstacles on the way to the nature of the self. Only the monk Hu T'ou Chao was able to see the point of Ch'an, attaining an elevated state of mind. As for the master, he saw the monk's potential for immediate realization and thus was very satisfied with his disciple's answer.

Pointing at the Moon

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