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Hekiganroku - Case 71: Goho's "Close!"
Hyakujo said to Goho,
"How does one speak with one's lips and throat closed?" [1]
Goho said,
"You too, Master, should close your lips and throat."
Hyakujo said,
"Where there is no one, I will shade my eyes with my hand [2] and look
up to you respectfully."
[1]: Cf case 70.
[2]: A gesture expressing admiration.
Hekiganroku - Case 72: Ungan's "Can You?"
Hyakujo said to Ungan,
"How does one speak with one's lips and throat closed?" [1]
Ungan said,
"Can you, Master, do such a thing?"
Hyakujo said,
"Now I will lose my Dharma descendants."
[1]: cf cases 70 and 71
Hekiganroku - Case 73: Ba and "One Hundred Negations" [1]
A monk asked Great Master Ba,
"Apart from the Four Phrases, beyond one hundred Negations [2], please
tell me directly, Master, the meaning of Bodhidharma's coming from
the West."
Master Ba said,
"I am tired today, I can't explain it to you. Go and ask Chizo."
The monk asked Chizo about it. Chizo said,
"Why don't you ask our master?"
The monk said,
"He told me to ask you."
Chizo said,
"I have a headache today, I can't explain it to you. Go and ask Brother Kai."
The monk asked Brother Kai about it. Kai said,
"I don't understand nothing about that question."
The monk told Great Master Ba about it. Great Master said,
"Chizo's head is white, Kai's head is black."
[1]: Cf. case 6 in the Shoyoroku.
[2]: I.e., free from all theories and concepts.
Hekiganroku - Case 74: Kingyu's Rice Bucket
At each meal, Master Kingyu himself would bring the rice bucket to the front
of the Zen hall, dance there and laugh loudly, saying,
"Dear Bodhisattvas, come and eat rice!"
(Setcho said, "Although he behaved that way, he was not being kind.")
A monk asked Chokei,
"An ancient worthy said, 'Dear Bodhisattvas, come and eat rice.' What
does it mean?"
Chokei said,
"That is exactly like praising and giving thanks to the rice."
Hekiganroku - Case 75: Ukyu's Blind Stick
A monk came from Master Joshu [1] to Ukyu. Ukyu asked,
"What is the difference between Joshu's Dharma-way and the Dharma-way here?"
The monk said,
"There is no difference."
Ukyu said,
"If there isn't any difference, return to him again,"
and hit him. The monk said,
"Your stick should have an eye. You should not hit a person so recklessly."
Ukyu said,
"Today I hit a right man,"
and he hit him three more times. The monk went out immediately. Ukyu said,
"There is a fellow who well deserves a blind stick."
The monk turned and said,
"What shall I do, as the stick is in your hand?"
Ukyu said,
"If you need it, I will give it to you."
The monk approached him, snatched the stick from his hand and hit him three
times. Ukyu said,
"Blind stick, blind stick!"
The monk said,
"There is a fellow who well deserves it."
Ukyu said,
"I have hit a real man quite wantonly."
Then the monk promptly made a bow. Ukyu said,
"Master, is that all right for you?"
The monk laughed loudly and went away. Ukyu said,
"Is that right, is that right!"
[1]: This is not the famous master Joshu Jushin in the Mumonkan, etc., but
Master Joshu Sekizo (718-800).
Case 76: Tanka's "Eating Rice"
Tanka asked a monk,
"Where have you come from?"
The monk answered,
"From the foot of the mountain."
Tanka asked,
"Have you eaten your rice?"
The monk said,
"Yes I have eaten it."
Tanka said,
"The one who brought rice and gave it to you to eat did he have an
[enlightened] eye?"
The monk said nothing.
Chokei asked Hofuku,
"Surely it is an act of thanksgiving [1] to bring rice and give it to the
people to eat. How then is it possible not to have an [enlightened] eye?"
Hofuku said,
"Server and receiver are both blind."
Chokei said,
"Even if one has done everything, does one still remain blind, or not?"
Hofuku said,
"Do you call me blind?"
[1]: That is, for the guidance already received from buddhas, patriarchs and
masters.
Hekiganroku - Case 77: Unmon's "Rice Cake"
A monk asked Unmon,
"What is meant by the pronouncement 'to go beyond the Buddha and the
patriarchs'?"
Unmon said,
"Rice cake [1]."
[1]: In Japanese: kobyo.
Hekiganroku - Case 78: The Boddhisattvas Take a Bath
In the old days there were sixteen bodhisattvas. When the monks took a bath,
they too entered the bath according to their custom. At once they realized
the cause of water. Now, my Zen friends, how do you understand this? [1]
The bodhisattvas said, "Wonderful feeling! Perfectly clear! We have attained
the dwelling place of the children of Buddha." You can attain it -- only by
breaking through seven times and digging through eight times.
[1]: It is Setcho who speaks here.
Case 79: Tosu and "the Buddha's Voices"
A monk asked Tosu,
"It is said, 'All voices are the voices of the Buddha.' Is it true or not?"
Tosu said,
"It is true."
The monk said,
"Master, don't fart around so loudly."
Thereupon, Tosu hit him. He asked again,
"It is said, 'Rough words and gentle phrases return to the first principle.'
Is this true or not?"
Tosu said,
"It is true."
The monk said,
"May I call you, Master, a donkey?"
Thereupon, Tosu hit him.
Hekiganroku - Case 80: Joshu and a "Newborn Infant"
A monk asked Joshu,
"Does a newborn infant have the Six Functions [1] or not?"
Joshu said,
"Throwing a ball on the swift current."
The monk asked also Tosu,
"What does 'throwing a ball on the swift current' mean?"
Tosu said,
"Every consciousness flows without ceasing."
[1]: Cf. the note to case 47.