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object:1.01 - The Highest Meaning of the Holy Truths
book class:The Blue Cliff Records
class:chapter


FIRST CASE

The Highest Meaning of the Holy Truths

POINTER

When you see smoke on the other side of a mountain, you al
ready know there's a fire; when you see horns on the other side
of a fence, right away you know there's an ox there. To under
stand three when one is raised, to judge precisely at a glance
this is the everyday food and drink of a patchrobed monk. Get
ting to where he cuts off the myriad streams, he is free to arise
in the east and sink in the west, to go against or to go with, in
any and all directions, free to give or to take away. But say, at
just such a time, whose actions are these? Look into Hsueh
Tau's trailing vines.

CASE

Emperor Wu of Liang asked the great master Bodhidharma, 1
"What

is

the

highest

meaning

of

the

holy

truths?"2

Bodhidharma said, "Empty, without holiness."3 The Emperor
said, "Who is facing me?"4 Bodhidharma replied, "I don't
know."5

The

Emperor

did

not

understand.6

After

this

Bodhidharma crossed the Yangtse River and came to the king
dom of Wei.7
Later the Emperor brought this up to Master Chih and asked
him about it. 8 Master Chih asked, "Does your majesty know
who this man is?"9 The Emperor said, "I don't know."10 Master
Chih said, "He is the Mahasattva Avalokitesvara, transmitting
the Buddha Mind Seal."11 The Emperor felt regretful, so he
wanted to send an emissary to go invite (Bodhidharma to re
turn).12 Master Chih told him, "Your majesty, don't say that
you will send someone to fetch him back.13 Even if everyone in
the whole country were to go after him, he still wouldn't re
turn."14

1


2

THE BLUE CLIFF RECORD
NOTES
l. This dull fellow speaks up.

2. What a donkey-tethering stake this is.
3. Wu considered this answer rather extraordinary. The arrow has

flown past Korea. Very clear.
4. Wu is filled with embarrassment, forcing himself to be astute. As

it turns out, he gropes without finding.
5. Bah! His second reply isn't worth half a cent.
6. Too bad! Still, he's gotten somewhere.
7. This wild fox spirit! He can't avoid embarrassment. He crosses

from west to east, he crosses from east to west.
8. A poor man thinks about an old debt. The bystander has eyes.
9. Wu should chase Master Chih out of the country too; Chih

should be given thirty blows. Bodhidharma has come.
10. After all this is Emperor Wu's understanding of Bodhidharma's

public case.
11. Chih explains haphazardly. The elbow doesn't bend outwards.
12. After all, Bodhidharma couldn't be held. As I said before, Wu is

dull.
13. When someone in the eastern house dies, someone of the western

house joins in the mourning. Better they should be all driven out
of the country at once.
14. Again Master Chih deserves thirty blows. He doesn't know that

the great illumination shines forth from under his own feet.

COMMENTARY

From afar Bodhidharma saw that this country (China) had
people capable of the Great Vehicle, so he came by sea, intent
on his mission, purely to transmit the Mind Seal, to arouse and
instruct those mired in delusion. Without establishing written
words, he pointed directly to the human mind (for them) to see
nature and fulfill Buddhahood. If you can see this way, then
you will have your share of freedom. Never again will you be
turned around pursuing words, and everything will be com
pletely revealed. Thereafter you will be able to converse with
Emperor Wu and you will naturally be able to see how the
Second Patriarch's mind was pacified.a Without the mental
defilements of judgement and comparison, everything is cut


First Case

3

off, and you are free and at ease. What need is there to go on
distinguishing right and wrong, or discriminating gain and
loss? Even so, how many people are capable of this?
Emperor Wu had put on monk's robes and personally ex
pounded the Light-Emitting Wisdom Scripture; he experienced
heavenly flowers falling in profusion and the earth turning to
gold. He studied the Path and humbly served the Buddha, issu
ing orders through out his realm to build temples and ordain
monks, and practicing in accordance with the Teaching. People
called him the Buddha Heart Emperor.
When Bodhidharma first met Emperor Wu, the Emperor
asked, "I have built temples and ordained monks; what merit
is there in this?" Bodhidharma said, "There is no merit." He
immediately doused the Emperor with dirty water. If you can
penetrate this statement, "There is no merit," you can meet
Bodhidharma personally. Now tell me, why is there no merit at
all in building temples and ordaining monks? Where does the
meaning of this lie?
Emperor Wu held discussions with Dharma Master Lou
Yueh, with Mahasattva Fu, and with Prince Chao Ming about
the two truths, the real and the conventional. As it says in the
Teachings, by the real truth we understand that it is not exis
tent; by the conventional truth we understand that it is not
nonexistent. That the real truth and the conventional truth are
not two is the highest meaning of the holy truths. This is the
most esoteric, most abstruse point of the doctrinal schools.
Hence the Emperor picked out this ultimate paradigm to ask
Bodhidharma, "What is the highest meaning of the holy
truths?" Bodhidharma answered, "Empty, without holiness."
No monk in the world can leap clear of this. Bodhidharma
gives them a single swordblow that cuts off everything. These
days how people misunderstand! They go on gi ving play to
their spirits, put a glare in their eyes and say, "Empty, without
holiness!" Fortunately, this has nothing to do with it.
My late Master Wu Tsu once said, "If only you can penetrate
'empty, without holiness,' then you can return home and sit in
peace." All this amounts to creating complications; still, it
does not stop Bodhidharma from smashing the lacquer bucketh
for others. Among all, Bodhidharma is most extraordinary. So
it is said, "If you can penetrate a single phrase, at the same
moment you will penetrate a thousand phrases, ten thousand


4

THE BLUE CLIFF RECORD

phrases." Then naturally you can cut off, you can hold still. An
Ancient said, "Crushing your bones and dismembering your
body would not be sufficient requital; when a single phrase is
clearly understood, you leap over hundreds of millions."
Bodhidharma confronted the Emperor directly; how he in
dulged! The Emperor did not awaken; instead, because of his
notions of self and others, he asked another question, "Who is
facing me?" Bodhidharma's compassion was excessive; again
he addressed him, saying, "I don't know." At this, Emperor Wu
was taken aback; he did not know what Bodhidharma meant.
When you get to this point, as to whether there is something or
there isn't anything, pick and you fail.
Master Shou Tuan had a verse which said,
Ordinarily a single arrow fells a single eagle;
Another arrow is already too many.
Bodhidharma goes right back to sit before Few
Houses Peak;
0 Lord of Liang, speak no more of going to summon

him.

He also said, "Who wants to summon him back?"
Since Emperor Wu did not understand, Bodhidharma se
cretly left the country; all this old fellow got was embarrass
ment. He crossed the Yangtse River into Wei; at the time, the
Hsiao Ming Emperor of Wei was reigning there. This emperor
belonged to a northern tribe named Toba, who were later to
call themselves Chinese. When Bodhidharma arrived there, he
did not appear for any more audiences, but went directly to
Shao Lin Monastery, where he sat facing a wall for nine years,
and met the Second Patriarch. People thereabouts called him
"The Wall-Gazing Brahmin."
Emperor Wu of Liang later questioned Master Chih. Chih
said, "Does your majesty know who this man is?" The Em
peror said, "I don't know." Tell me, is this ("I don't know") the
same as what Bodhidharma said, or is it different? In appear
ance it indeed seems the same, but in reality isn't. People often
misunderstand and say, "Before, when Bodhidharma said 'I
don't know' he was replying about Ch'an; later, when Emperor
answered Master Chih, this referred to the 'knowledge' of
mutual acquaintance." This is irrelevant. Tell me, when Mas
ter Chih questioned him, how could Wu have answered? Why


First Case

5

didn't he strike Chih dead with a single blow and avoid being
seen as a fool? Instead Emperor Wu answered Master Chih
sincerely and said, "I don't know." Master Chih saw his chance
and acted; he said, "This is the Mahasattva Avalokitesvara
transmitting the Buddha Mind Seal." The Emperor felt regret
and was going to send an emissary to bring Bodhidharma back.
How stupid! When Chih said, "This is Mahasattva Avalokites
vara transmitting the Buddha Mind Seal," if Wu had driven
him out of the country, this would have amounted to some
thing.
According to tradition, Master Chih died in the year 514,
while Bodhidharma came to Liang in 520; since there is a seven
year discrepancy, why is it said that the two met? This must be
a mistake in the tradition. As to what is recorded in tradition, I
will not discuss this matter now. All that's important is to
understand the gist of the matter. Tell me, Bodhidharma is
Avalokitesvara, Master Chih is Avalokitesvara, but which is
the true Avalokitesvara? Since it is Avalokitesvara, why are
there two? But why only two? They are legion.
Later in Wei, Bodhidharma debated with the Vinaya Master
Kuang T'ung and the canonical master Bodhiruci. The Master
Bodhidharma eliminated formalism and pointed to mind; be
cause of their biased judgments, (the other two) would not put
up with this, and instead developed feelings of malevolence
and tried to poison Bodhidharma several times. On the sixth
attempt, since his mission was completed and he had found
someone to succeed to the Dharma, Bodhidharma made no
further attempt to save himself, but sat upright and passed on.
He was buried at Tinglin Temple on Bear Ear Mountain. Af
terwards, while Sung Yun of Wei was on a mission, he met the
Master in the Ts'ung Ling Range (in Sinkiang), carrying one
shoe in his hand, returning (to India).
Emperor Wu mourned Bodhidharma's death and personally
wrote an inscription for his monument. It read, "Alas! I saw
him without seeing him, I met him without meeting him, I
encountered him without encountering him; now as before I
regret this deeply." He further eulogized him by saying, "If
your mind exists, you are stuck in the mundane for eternity; if
your mind does not exist, you experience wondrous en
lightenment instantly."
Tell me, where is Bodhidharma right now? You've stumbled
past him without even realizing it.


6

THE BLUE CLIFF RECORD
VERSE

The holy truths are empty;
**The arrow has flown past Korea. Hal*
How can you discern the poinU
**Wrong. What is there that's hard to discern*
"Who is facing me"
**The second try isn't worth half a cent. So you too go on
like this.*
Again he said, "I don't know."
**A third man, a fourth man hits the mark. Bah!*
Henceforth, he secretly crossed the river;
**He could not pierce another's nostrils, but his own
nostrils have been pierced by someone else. c What a
pity! He sure isn't a great man.*
How could he avoid the growth of a thicket of brambles
**The brambles are already several yards deep beneath
his feet.*
Though everyone in the whole country goes after him, he will
not return;
**A double case. What's the use of pursuing him Where
is he Where is the spirit of a great man*
(Wu) goes on and on vainly reflecting back.
**He wrings his hands and beats his breast, addressing a
plea to the sky.*
Give up recollection!
**What are you saying You are making a living in a
ghost cave.*
What limit is there to the pure wind circling the eartht
**After all, the great Hsueh Tou is rolling around in the
weeds.*
The Master Hsueh Tou looked around to the right and left and
said,
"Is there any patriarch here"
**So you want to retract your statemenU You still act
like this*


First Case

7

He answered himself, "There is."
**Too much trouble.*
"Call him here to wash this old monk's feet."
**Give him thirty more blows and drive him away-this
wouldn't be more than he deserves. Though he acts
like this, he still amounts to something. *

COMMENTARY

Now as for Hsueh Tou's verse on this case, it is like skillfully
doing a sword dance; sure and relaxed in mid-air, he naturally
does not run afoul of the sharp point. If he lacked this kind of
ability, as soon as he picked it up we would see him run afoul
of the point and wound his hand. For those who have the eye to
see, Hsueh Tou offers, takes back, praises, and deprecates,
using only four lines to settle the entire public case.
Generally, eulogies of the Ancients express Ch'an in a
roundabout way, picking out the main principles of the old
story, settling the case on the basis of the facts, and that is all.
Hsueh Tou gives a thrust and says right off, "The holy truths
are empty-how can you discern the point?" Beneath that first
phrase, he adds this one, which is quite extraordinary. Tell me,
after all how will you discern the point? Even if you have an
iron eye or a copper eye, still you will search without finding.
When you get here, can you figure it out by means of emo
tive consciousness? This is why Yun Men said, "It is like flint
struck sparks, like flashing lightening." This little bit does not
fall within the scope of mental activity, intellectual con
sciousness, or emotional conceptions. If you wait till you open
your mouth, what good will it do? As soon as judgement and
comparison arise, the falcon has flown past Korea.
Hsueh Tou says, "How will all you monks distinguish the
real point? Who is facing the Emperor?" He adds the line,
"Again he said, 'I don't know.' " This is where Hsueh Tou is
excessively doting, redoubling his efforts to help people. Now
tell me, are "empty" and "I don't know" the same or different?
If you are someone who has personally understood completely,
you will understand without anything being said. Someone


8

THE BLUE CLIFF RECORD

who has not understood completely will undoubtedly separate
them into two. Everywhere everyone always says, "Hsueh Tou
(merely) brings up (the case) again." They are far from knowing
that (the first) four lines of the verse complete the case entirely.
For the sake of compassion, Hsueh Tou versifies what hap
pened: "Henceforth (Bodhidharma) secretly crossed the river;
how could he avoid the growth of a thicket of brambles?"
Bodhidharma originally came to this country to melt the stick
ing points, untie the bonds, pull out the nails and draw out the
pegs, to cut down brambles for people: why then say that he
gave rise to a thicket of brambles? This is not confined to those
times; today the brambles under everyone's feet are already
several yards deep. "Though everyone in the whole country
goes after him, he will not come back; (Wu) goes on and on
vainly reflecting back." Obviously Wu is not a powerful man.
Tell me, where is Bodhidharma? If you see Bodhidharma, then
you see where Hsueh Tou helps people in the end.
Hsueh Tou feared that people would pursue intellectual
views, so he swung open the gate and brought out his own
understanding, saying, "Give up recollecting; what limit is
there to the pure wind circling the earth?" Once you give up
recollection, what will become of the affairs you busy your
selves with? Hsueh Tou says, here and now the pure wind is
circling the earth. Throughout heaven and earth, what is there
that is limited? Hsueh Tou picks up the numberless concerns
of all ages and throws them down before you. This is not con
fined to Hsueh Tou's time. What limit is there? All of you
people-what limit is there on your part?
Again Hsueh Tou feared that people would grab ahold at this
point, so again he exposed his skill; in a loud voice he asked,
"Is there any patriarch here?" And he answered himself,
"There is." Hsueh Tou doesn't hesitate to bare his heart en
tirely here for the sake of others. Again he spoke up himself:
"Call him here to wash this old monk's feet." He certainly
diminishes the man's dignity, but at the same time he properly
offers his own hands and feet as well. Tell me, where does
Hsueh Tou's meaning lie? When you get here, can you call it an
ass? Can you call it a horse? Can you call it a patriarch? How
can it be named or depicted? The frequently expressed opinion
that Hsueh Tou is employing the Patriarch fortunately has
nothing to do with it. But tell me, after all what's going on


First Case

9

here? "I only allow that the old barbarian knows; I don't allow
that the old barbarian understands."

TRANSLATOR'S NOTES

a.

Bodhidharma, the first Patriarch of Ch'an in China, was asked by
Hui K'e (Shen Kuang), the future Second Patriarch, to pacify his
mind for him; Bodhidharma said, "Bring me your mind and I will
pacify it for you." Hui K'e said, "When I search for my mind, I
cannot find it." Bodhidharma said, "I have pacified your mind for
you." At this Hui K'e was enlightened.

b.

A lacquer bucket, pitch black, is a Ch'an metaphor for ignorance;
to have "the bottom fall out of the bucket" is to become suddenly
enlightened. To smash the bucket means to become enlightened
or to enlighten others.

c.

To pierce someone's nostrils, as in putting a ring through a bull's
nose, means to master, to take control, to seize the advantage and
have the upper hand. When one's nostrils are in another's hands,
it means that one has been "caught," even be it metaphysically,
so to speak.



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