The Record of Yunyan Tansheng
Chan Master Yunyan Tansheng of Tanzhou was born to a family named Wang in Jianchang at Zhongling. He became a monk at Shimen Temple when he was quite young and practiced chan with Master Baizhang Huaihai. Twenty years laters, since he had no affinity with Baizhang, he left for Yaoshan's temple.
Tanzhou is an older name for Changsha, the present capital of Hunan Province. Zhongling is located in modern Jiangxi Province. Baizhang Huaihai (749-814) is one of the most famous of all Tang-period chan masters and is remembered mainly for his work on monastic rules for the chan school, which in later centuries became normative for Chinese Buddhism in general. He was a disciple of Mazu and became the teacher of Huang Po. It is remarkable to think that Dongshan Liangjie's teacher Yunyan studied with Baizhang for twenty years before turning to Yaoshan for transmission.
Yaoshan asked Yunyan where he had come from. Yunyan answered from Baizhang. Yaoshan asked what Baizhang usually said to his students. Yunyan answered, "He often said, 'I've got a sentence which includes all tastes." [I can state a proposition which contains all meanings.] Yaoshan said, "Salty is salty, plain is plain, neither salty nor plain is the way things taste normally. How can there be a sentence which contains all tastes?" Yunyan couldn't respond. Yaoshan said, "How can we deal with the problem of life and death?" Yunyan said, "I haven't studied this yet." Yaoshan asked, "How long did you stay with Baizhang?" Yunyan said 20 years, and Yaoshan said, "After 20 years with Baizhang you still haven't given up your conventional views."The 'one taste' means there is no attachment, no contamination, no purity, no nihilism, no eternalism, no arising, no cessation, no grasping, no abandoning, no self, and no sensation." Garma Chang, A Treasury of Mahayana Sutras, Maharatnakuta Sutra, "Manjusri's Attainment of Buddhahood," p.172.
Sometime later, Yaoshan asked what else Baizhang had said. Yunyan answered, "Sometimes he told me that I should think only about what is beyond the Three Propositions." Yaoshan said, "It's a good thing I'm 3,000 li away from Baizhang and don't have to deal with him."The Three Propositions are: to give up thinking about existence,to give up thinking about non-existence, and to give up thinking about existence and non-existence.
Sometime later, Yaoshan asked Yunyan what else Baizhang said to him. Yunyan answered, "Once in the lecture hall, when all the monks were standing there, the master drove us out with his walking stick. Then he called us back and asked, "What is this?" Yaoshan said, "Why didn’t you tell me this before? Now I'm really getting to understand Master Huaihai." Hearing this, Yaoshan suddenly awakened and bowed down before Yaoshan.
On another day, Yaoshan asked, "Where else have you been besides with Baizhang?" Yunyan said, "I've been to some places in Guangnan and Guangxi." Yaoshan said, "I heard once that there was a big stone outside the east gate of Guangzhou city, which was eventually removed by order of the mayor, is that true?" Yunyan answered, "It couldn't be removed by all the efforts of all the people in all the country, let alone by the mayor."
Yaoshan again asked, "You know how to perform the lion's dance, don't you?" Yunyan said yes. "How many different styles can you perform?" Yunyan answered six. Yaoshan said, "I can do it too." Yunyan asked, "How many kinds can you do?" Yaoshan said, "Just one." Yunyan said, "Six is one, and one is six."The lion-dance is as popular today as it was in Yunyan's times; it is performed at Chinese New Year's and other festivals. Two or three persons dressed in a lion's costume with an oversized lion's head chase through the streets, pretending to bite the bystanders. Being "bitten" by the lion brings good fortune. The idea of this dialogue is that since all things are empty, and since emptiness is characterized by thusness, all numbers are therefore equal.
Later, Yunyan went to see Weishan. Weishan asked, "I heard you performed the lion's dance at Yaoshan's place last night, is that true?" Yunyan said, "That's right." Weishan said, "Did you perform it without stopping, or did you take a break sometimes?" Yunyan said, "When I felt like dancing, I danced, and when I felt like stopping, I stopped." Weishan asked, "When it was over, what happened to the lion?" Yunyan said, "Gone, gone."
A monk asked, "What ever became of the ancient sages?" Yunyan said after a long pause, "What did you say?" The monk said, "What should we do with someone who is as oblivious as a dead person?" Yunyan said, "Bury him." The monk asked again, "Is it like that with highly realized persons?" Yunyan asked, "Is the silk woven from the same loom one piece or two?"
Yunyan was boiling some tea. Daowu asked who he was making it for. Yunyan answered, "Nobody special." Daowu said, "Why doesn't he go make it for himself?" Yunyan said, "It's a good thing that I’m here."Yunyan asked Shishuang, "Where have you come from?" "From Weishan." Yunyan asked, "How long were you there?" Shishuang said, "One year." Yunyan said, "So you could have become the head of the monastery." Shishuang said, "Although I was there, I didn't learn anything." Yunyan said, "Weishan didn't learn anything either." Shishuang had nothing to say.
Yunyan was speaking to everyone in the lecture hall. "Once there was a son in a family who could answer any question that was put to him." Dongshan Liangjie stepped forward and asked, "How many books of the Chinese classics did these people have in their house?" Yunyan said, "Not a single word." Dongshan said, "Then how could the son become so educated?" Yunyan said, "He didn't sleep nights." Dongshan asked, "Can you answer me if I ask you a question?" Yunyan said, "I could, but I'm not going to."
Yunyan asked a monk, "Where have you been?" The monk replied, "I was just putting on some more incense." Yunyan asked, "Did you see Buddha?" "Yes, I did." "Where did you see him?" The monk said, "In the human world." Yunyan praised him: "You're just like the ancient Buddhas."
Daowu asked, "The God of Compassion has thousands of eyes—which is the most important one?" Yunyan said, "It's like when a person reaches out for his pillow in the middle of the night." Daowu said, "I understand." Yunyan asked, "What do you understand?" Daowu said, "There are eyes all over one's body." Yunyan replied, "You said that so directly that you are only 80% correct." Daowu said, "So how do you understand this?" Yunyan said, "There are eyes all over one's body."Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva of infinite compassion, has many arms to help people and also many eyes to see their needs. He helps them instinctively and spontaneously, as a person might adjust his pillow at night while remaining asleep.
Yunyan was sweeping the floor. Daowu said, "What you're doing is such a menial task." Yunyan said, "One should see it as something very important." Daowu asked, "You might as well suppose that there are two moons." Yunyan held up his broom and said, "Which moon is this?" Daowu walked off.
Yunyan asked a monk what he was doing. The monk replied, "I've been talking to a rock." Yunyan said, "Did it nod to you [indicating that it understood you]? When the monk didn't reply, Yunyan answered for him: "It nodded to you before you even said anything."
Yunyan was weaving a pair of straw shoes. Dongshan came up and said, "May I borrow your eyes?" Yunyan said, "Who did you lend yours to?" Dongshan said, "I don't have any eyes." Yunyan said, "Isn't it your eyes which are borrowing your eyes?" When Dongshan said no, Yunyan told him to get out.
A monk asked, "What if I fell into an evil world because of desire?" Yunyan asked, "What makes you think you're in the Buddhist world?" The monk didn't answer. Yunyan asked if he had understood. The monk said he hadn't. Yunyan said, "Even if you had, you'd still be wandering between the evil world and the Buddhist world." [You'd still be lost in duality.]
On the 26th day of the tenth month in the first year of the Hui Chang Emperor [December, 841 C.E.], Yunyan fell ill. In the night of the next day, he passed away. There were over one thousand relics after the cremation, which were then buried under a memorial stupa. He was accorded the title Great Master Wu Zhu—"Continuing Forever."