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object:1.05 - Hsueh Feng's Grain of Rice
book class:The Blue Cliff Records
class:chapter



FIFTH CASE

Hsueh Feng's Grain of Rice

POINTER

Whoever would uphold the teaching of our school must be a
brave spirited fellow; only with the ability to kill a man with
out blinking an eye can one become Buddha right where he
stands. Therefore his illumination and function are simultane
ous; wrapping up and opening out are equal in his preaching.
Principle and phenomena are not two, and he practices both
the provisional and the real. Letting go of the primary, he sets
up the gate of the secondary meaning; if he were to cut off all
complications straightaway, 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, if one is a clear eyed person, he can't be fooled one bit.
Without clear eyes, lying in the mouth of a tiger, one cannot
avoid losing one's body and life. As a test, I cite this; look!

CASE

Hsueh Feng, teaching his community, said,1 "Pick up the
whole great earth in your fingers, and it's as big as a grain of
rice.2 Throw it down before you:3 if, like a lacquer bucket, you
don't understand,4 I'll beat the drum to call everyone to look."5

NOTES

1.

One blind man leading a crowd of blind men. It's not beyond him.

2.

What technique is this? I myself have never sported devil eyes.

3.

I'm afraid it can't be thrown down. What skill do you have?

4.

Hsueh Feng relies on his power to deceive people. Take what's

5.

Blind! The beat of the drum is for the three armies.

coming to you and get out!

31


32

THE BLUE CLIFF RECORD
COMMENTARY

Ch'ang Ch'ing asked Yun Men, "When Hsueh Feng spoke like
this, was there any place where he wasn't able to appear?" Men
answered, "There is." Ch'ing asked, "How so?" Men said,
"One can't always be making wild fox spirit interpretations."
Yun Feng said, "Compared to above, not enough; compared
to below, too much. I am making up more complications for
you." He raised his staff and said, "Do you see Hsueh Feng?
Where the King's rule is a little more strict, it's not permitted
to plunder the open markets."
Che of Ta Kuei said, "I'll add more mud to dirt for you." He
raised his staff and said, "Look! Look! Hsueh Feng has defe
cated right in front of you all. Come now, why don't you even
recognize the smell of shit?"
Hsueh Feng, teaching his assembly, said, "Pick up the whole
great earth in your fingers, and it's as big as a grain of rice."
There was something extraordinary in the way this Ancient
guided people and benefited beings. He was indefatigably rigor
ous; three times he climbed (Mount) T'ou Tzu, nine times he
went to Tung Shan. Wherever he went, he would set up his
lacquer tub and wooden spoon and serve as the rice steward,
just for the sake of penetrating this matter.
When he arrived at Tung Shan, he served as the rice steward;
one day Tung Shan asked Hsueh Feng, "What are you doing?"
Hsueh Feng said, "Cleaning rice." Shan asked, "Are you wash
ing the grit to get rid of the rice, or are you washing the rice to
get rid of the grit?" Feng said, "Grit and rice are both removed
at once." Shan said, "What will everybody eat?" Feng then
overturned the basin. Shan said, "Your affinity lies with Te
Shan," and he directed Feng to go see him.
As soon as he got there, Hsueh Feng asked, "Does this stu
dent have any share in this matter handed down from antiquity
as the fundamental vehicle?" Te Shan struck him a blow and
said, "What are you saying?" Because of this, Hsueh Feng had
an insight.
Later Hsueh Feng was snowed in on Tortoise Mountain (in
Hunan). He told Yen T'ou, "When Te Shan hit me, it was like
the bottom falling out of a bucket." Yen T'ou shouted and said,
"Haven't you heard it said that what comes in through the gate
isn't the family treasure? You must let it flow out from your


Fifth

Case

33

own breast to cover heaven and earth; then you'll have some
small portion of realization." Suddenly Hsueh Feng was greatly
enlightened; he bowed and said to Yen T'ou, "Elder brother,
today on Tortoise Mountain I have finally attained the Path."
People these days only say that the Ancient (Hsueh Feng)
made something up specially to teach people of the future fixed
precepts that they can rely on. To say this is just slandering
that ancient master; this is called "spilling Buddha's blood."
The Ancients weren't like people today with their spurious
shallow talk; otherwise, how could they have used a single
word or half a phrase for a whole lifetime? Therefore, when it
came to supporting the teaching of the school and continuing
the life of the Buddhas, they would spit out a word or half a
phrase which would spontaneously cut off the tongues of
everyone on earth. There's no place for you to produce a train
of thought, to make intellectual interpretations, or to grapple
with principles. See how Hsueh Feng taught his community;
since he had seen adepts, he had the hammer and tongs of an
adept. Whenever he utters a word or half a phrase, he's not
making his livelihood within the ghost caves of mental activ
ity, ideational consciousness and calculating thought. He just
surpasses the multitudes and stands out from the crowd; he
settles past and present and leaves no room for uncertainty. His
actions were all like this.
One day Hsueh Feng said to his community, "On South
Mountain there's a turtle-nosed snake; all of you should take a
good look at it." Thereupon Wayfarer Leng (Ch'ang Ch'ing)
came forward from the assembly and said, "If so, then there are
a lot of people in this hall today who lose their bodies and
lives."
On another occasion Hsueh Feng said, "The whole great
earth is the single eye of a monk; where will you people go to
defecate?" Another time he said, "I have met with you at Wang
Chou Pavilion; I have also met with you in the Black Rock
Range, and I have also met with you in front of the monks'
hall." At the time Pao Fu asked E Hu, "Leaving aside 'in front
of the monks' hall,' what about the meetings at Wang Chou
Pavilion and Black Rock Range?" E Hu hurried back to his
room. Hsueh Feng was always bringing up this kind of talk to
instruct his community.
As for "Pick up the whole great earth in your fingers, and it's


34

THE BLUE CLIFF RECORD

as big as a grain of rice"-tell me, at this juncture, can you
figure it out by means of intellectual discrimination? Here you
must smash through the net, at once abandon gain and loss,
affirmation and negation, to be completely free and at ease; you
naturally pass through his snare, and then you will see what
he's doing. Tell me, where is Hsueh Feng's meaning?
People often make up intellectual interpretations and say,
"Mind is the master of myriad things; the whole great earth is
all at once in my hand." Fortunately, this has no connection.
Here you must be a true and genuine fellow, who penetrates
the bone through to the marrow, and sees all the way through
as soon as he hears it brought up, yet without falling into
emotional considerations or conceptual thinking. If you are a
genuine foot-traveling patchrobed monk, you will see that in
acting this way, Hsueh Feng was already indulging to help
others.
Look at Hsueh Tau's verse, which says,

VERSE

An ox head disappears,
**Like a flash of lightening.
You've already stumbled past it.*
A horse head emerges.
**Like sparks struck from flint. *
In the mirror of Ts'ao Ch'i, a absolutely no dust.
**Come smash the mirror and I will meet with
you; you must first smash it.*
He beats the drum for you to come look, but you don't see:
**He pierces your eyes. Don't take it lightly. In the
lacquer bucket, where is it hard to see?*
When spring arrives, for whom do the hundred flowers bloom?
**Things don't overlap. What a mess! He sticks his head
out from within a cave of tangled vines.*

COMMENTARY

Naturally Hsueh Tou sees that other Ancient; he only needs to
go to his lifeline, and in one spurt produces a verse for him.


Fifth

Case

35

"An ox head disappears, a horse head emerges." Tell me, what

is he saying? If you see all the way through to the bottom, it is
like eating gruel early in the morning and eating rice at
midday-just this ordinary. Out of compassion, Hsueh Tau
shatters (everything) with one hammer blow at the outset, and
settles (everything) with a single phrase. He is just undeniably
solitary and steep, like a flint-struck spark or a flash of light
ning. He doesn't reveal his sword point; there's no place for you
to linger over. Tell me, can you search it out in your intellec
tual faculty? These first two lines have said it all.
In the third line, instead Hsueh Tau opens a pathway and
displays a little bit of formal style-already he has fallen into
the weeds. If you produce words on top of words, phrases on top
of phrases, ideas on top of ideas, making up explanations and
interpretations, you will not only get me bogged down, but
you'll also turn your backs on Hsueh Tau. Although old man
Hsueh Tau's verse is this way, his intention is not like this. He
has never made up principles to bind people.
"In the mirror of Ts'ao Ch'i, absolutely no dust." Quite a
few people say that a stilled mind is the mirror itself. Fortu
nately, this has nothing to do with it; if you're only concerned
with judging and comparing principles, what end will there be
to it? Hsueh Tau has spoken clearly; it's just that people do not
see. Therefore Hsueh Tau, being such a dotard, says in verse,
"He beats the drum for you to come look, but you don't see."
Do ignorant people see? He says more to you: "When spring
arrives, for whom do the hundred flowers bloom?" One could
say he's opening the doors and windows, throwing them wide
open all at once for you. When spring comes, in the hidden
valleys and wild ravines, in places where there are no people, a
hundred flowers burst forth in profusion. Tell me, who else do
they bloom for?

'
TRANSLATOR S NOTES

a.

Ts'ao Ch'i was the abode of the great Sixth Patriarch of Chinese
Ch'an, Hui Neng (also known as 'workman Lu'), and is used to
refer to him, as well as to his inspiration and lineage. According to
tradition, when the Fifth Patriarch Hung Jen wanted to appoint a
successor, he told his students to each compose a verse expressing
his understanding. All deferred to the senior disciple, Shen Hsiu, a


36

THE BLUE CLIFF RECORD

man of great learning and accomplishment in discipline and
meditation. Shen Hsiu wrote,
The body is the tree of enlightenment,
The mind like a bright mirror-stand;
Time and again polish it diligently,
Do not let there be any dust.
Hui Neng, however, then a workman in the temple, composed
the following verse:
Enlightenment is basically not a tree,
And the mind-mirror not a stand;
Originally there is not a single thing
What is the use of wiping away dust?
An alternate version has the last line, "Where is there any dust?"
Hung Jen accepted Hui Neng as his successor.



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