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Blue Cliff Record

Case 5: Hsueh-feng’s Grain of Rice.

Introduction

Whoever would uphold the teaching of our school must be brave spirited with the ability to kill someone without blinking an eye. Only such a person can become a buddha right where they stand.

Therefore, such a one’s illumination and function are simultaneous. Locking up and opening out are equal. Principle and phenomena are not two and he or she practices both the provisional and the real. Letting go of the primary she sets up the gate of the secondary meaning. If she were to cut off all complications straight away, it would be impossible for late coming students of elementary capabilities to find a resting place. It was this way yesterday. The matter couldn’t be avoided. It is this way today, too. Faults and errors fill the skies. Still, the point is as a clear-eyed person, she can’t be fooled one bit. Without clear eyes lying in the mouth of a tiger one cannot avoid losing body and life. As a test I cite this. Look!

The Case

Hsueh-feng, teaching his community, said: Pick up the whole great earth in your fingers and its as big as a grain of rice. I throw it down before you. It’s in a black lacquer bucket. You can’t find it anywhere. Beat the drum. Call everyone to look for it.

The Poem

The ox head disappears; a horse head emerges.

In the mirror of Hsao-chi (???) there’s absolutely no dust.

He beats the drum for you to come and look, but you don’t see.

When spring arrives, for whom do the hundred flowers bloom?