Venerable Master: Because Guo Jin didn’t come, you translate, Guo Ning. Ask that girl whether she is a man or a woman.
Girl: I’m female.
Venerable Master: Why did you shave your head?
Girl: Because I’m a Buddhist.
Venerable Master: Are you a layperson or ordained?
Girl: I’m a layperson.
Venerable Master: Since laypeople generally have hair, why did you shave yours off? Who told you to shave it off?
Girl: I did.
Venerable Master: Have you realized the fruition of the Way?
Girl: I don’t know what that is.
Venerable Master: To realize the fruition is to have control over your own birth and death. You can be born or die at will, but you don’t die by committing suicide. [silence] Why aren’t you answering?
Girl: Because I’m trying to think of what to say. If I say yes, then you will tell me to die.
Venerable Master: This dying is not a case of me telling you to do so, but something one just does on one’s own. If I told you to die and you did, then I would have broken the law, and the police would come to take me to jail. Have you seen other Buddhist laypeople shave their heads, especially women?
Girl: No.
Venerable Master: Then why do you want to be the first?
Girl: It’s an offering to the Buddha.
Venerable Master: Where is the Buddha?
Girl: Everywhere.
Venerable Master: If the Buddha is everywhere, then which one are you making an offering to?
Girl: The one where I am.
Venerable Master: How long is your hair now?
Girl: It’s no length.
Venerable Master: Shakyamuni Buddha in a previous life spread out his hair to cover the mud, enabling Dipankara Buddha to walk on his hair. He used that to make an offering to the Buddha. If you were to encounter such a situation now, what would you use as an offering to the Buddha? [Everyone laughs.]
Girl: Oh, I would lie down.
Venerable Master: What if he crushed you to death?
Girl: That would be all right.
Venerable Master: This is not just intellectualizing.
Girl: I’m not.
Venerable Master: Where do you live now?
Girl: I’m going to be living in an apartment.
Venerable Master: I’m not asking about tomorrow. I’m asking about yesterday and today.
Girl: Yesterday I stayed with a friend who is a Zen student. Before, I had a room in an apartment.
Venerable Master: Have you been living with hippies?
Girl: No.
Venerable Master: What was the point of shaving your head yourself?
Girl: Like I said, it was an offering to Buddha.
Venerable Master: Where is the hair you shaved off now?
Girl: I don’t know.
Venerable Master: If you don’t know, then what are you using as an offering to the Buddha?
Girl: That’s not the offering. It’s using not having hair as an offering.
Venerable Master: Hmm. Using not having hair as an offering? What is the difference between having hair and not having hair?
Girl: None.
Venerable Master: Then why did you want to shave off your hair as an offering to the Buddha?
Girl: Why not?
Venerable Master: Because in Buddhism it is important to have the appropriate style. It would be all right if you were a left-home person. But you yourself admit that you are still a layperson. Since you are a layperson, and all the laypeople especially women, have hair, why do you want to be different? Are you trying to be unusual, not like other people?
Girl: No.
Venerable Master: Do you want to be a lay Bhikshuni?
Girl: I don’t mind.
Venerable Master: You can’t be a lay Bhikshuni, but you can still be a lay Buddhist. However, it would be better for you to let your hair grow out. Okay?
Girl: Okay.

What we’ve been talking about reminds me of something that happened in the past. What took place is very clear. It could have happened yesterday, or last year, or two years, three years, four years, five or six years ago, or even a hundred years ago--that part is indistinct. At the time, I had some dictionaries, but not single-language dictionaries. They had English, Chinese, Sanskrit, French, Spanish, Portuguese and German--probably that many languages. Those dictionaries were like precious jewels to me. However, some of my fellow students didn’t have those dictionaries, and when they saw me consulting my dictionaries, their faces would drop, and they would even shed tears. I don’t know if it was from jealousy or admiration or what. The first day I didn’t think anything of it, nor the next. But by the third day I began wondering, “What’s wrong with them? Oh! It’s because they don’t have dictionaries.” From that point on, I no longer wanted the dictionaries—which were like precious treasures—for myself. I gave them away for everyone to use. After that, I no longer needed to look words up in the dictionary to know what they meant. I recognized them without a dictionary. I myself didn’t know why, and I still don’t.

I also remember something else that happened to me. I realized that each person wants to be better than everyone else, smarter and wiser. At that time I made a peculiar vow. What was it? None of you knows. I vowed that I wanted to be more stupid than anybody else, to give away all the wisdom which I was supposed to have as a gift to all people. I wanted to be stupider than any person, more stupid than any living being. After I made that vow, I did in fact become stupid. Stupid to what point? If I had money, I wanted to give it away so others could use it, as well as any other possessions I had. Not only did I give away dictionaries, I even gave away my body, mind, and life. That was what I did in the past, and now I don’t know if I recalled this in a dream, or while eating or sleeping, that probably such a thing took place. This is true, actual, and not false.

[To the young laywoman] Don’t believe your own mind. Because you have not certified to the Fruition, you cannot believe your own ideas. That’s from the Buddha. The Buddha said, “Be careful not to believe your own mind. Your mind is not trustworthy. It is only after you certify to the Fourth Stage of Arhatship that you can trust your own mind.” Once you have achieved certification to the Fourth Fruition of Arhatship and have ended birth and death, then you can believe your own ideas, trust your own opinions and understandings.

Beginning of Emptiness-Ruling Spirit Number 9
Liberation Door

Sutra:

The Emptiness-Ruling Spirit named Far-Reaching Wondrous Sound obtained the liberation door of light of wisdom to see universally throughout the ten directions.

Commentary:

Venerable Master: Last night’s Five Coverings are still covering us. Today we need to remove the coverings, take them off. Whoever can take off the coverings will achieve freedom and ease, but anyone unwilling to remove them will not be free and at ease. If you want to remove the coverings, then speak up quickly.
Heng Shou: The first is desire, the second is anger, the third is drowsiness, the fouth is restlessness, and the fifth is doubt. Yesterday’s explanation was a little incorrect.
Venerable Master: What do you think about what he said? Was is right or not? [discussion] That’s from the dictionary?
Heng Shou: It’s from the Discussion of Great Vehicle Doctrines, not a dictionary.
Venerable Master: Oh, it wasn’t a dictionary?
Heng Shou: No, it was the Discussion of Great Vehicle Doctrines.
Venerable Master: So you didn’t use the dictionary I gave you?
Heng Shou: No, I couldn’t. It was too big. It’s all I can do to handle English.
Venerable Master: Great Master Yongjia said, “It’s not that I, the mountain monk, presume there is self and others, but in cultivation one must be careful not to fall into the pit of annihilationism and permanence.” Since we are currently lecturing the Sutra, we have to make it understood and investigate it thoroughly. If everyone really understands it, then we will not have wasted our time. However, if you remain silent when you don’t understand, and also remain silent when you do understand, then only you yourself know ultimately whether you understand or not, and no one else knows. In that case, it’s very easy for fish eyes to pass for pearls. Hence there is a certain amount of difference between the way we are lecturing Sutras and the way it is/was done in China. Here, everyone has the right to speak. There is freedom of speech, and no matter who lectures incorrectly, any of you can raise the issue for investigation. Don’t hesitate or say you don’t dare talk. Even if I’m the one who says something wrong or explains a principle incorrectly, any one of you can bring it up for discussion. Therefore we are equal, and you should not view things in terms of rank. Don’t have the outlook of there being a Master and disciples.

When it’s a matter of theory, of principle, no one should be allowed to bluff his or her way through. You have to investigate honestly. Consequently, Great Master Yongjia also said, “If you have doubts that are unresolved,” then you should ask about them. If you wonder about something or don’t understand something, you can ask about it. “If you have doubts that are unresolved, you must directly attack.” We need to attach. It’s not okay not to attack. What must be attacked? We should attack the truth. We absolutely have to work together to make the truth emerge. It’s not for certain that the way I see things is entirely complete. The group as a whole is a Sage. We should pool our collective wisdom. You think of things I didn’t think of, and someone else thinks of something you didn’t think of. Then we put it all together. That’s known as the collective mind being the Buddha’s mind, and the theories of the group being the theories of the Buddha. We should all speak up without formalities of politeness and bring the truth to light together.

To be continued