The Master was born in Jianyang as a son of the Feng family. When he read to the sentence now that the seeing is without seeing” in the Shurangama Sutra, he had an insight. He went to seek the advice of Dhyana Master Shouchang, who rebuked him and gave him a scare. Then when he read the sentence mptiness has no attendant” in the Lankavatara Sutra, he suddenly experienced an awakening, but was not completely at ease. When he read the sentence,ne must hit the ball quickly by the swift waters” in the Verse of Perfect Enlightenment, his doubts and impediments were forever eradicated. And then he went to ask Master Chang, saying,came especially to seek instruction from the High Master in this matter.” Chang said,hat evidence do you have for this matter?” The Master snapped his fingers. Chang said,suspect that you still have a sense of self.” The Master then presented a verse. Chang asked him further, and the Master answered loudly. Chang gave him a verse. The Master accepted it and bowed. In the year of wuwu, he went to Dongyuan Monastery.

One day in the autumn of the year gengwu (1630), during the reign of Emperor Chongzhen, he pointed to the cliff and said to a cultivator,can be buried at that place.” The cultivator said, fter you are dead and buried, then what?” The Master said with a smile, "It will be just right.” The cultivator asked again, but the Master had already passed away. A pagoda was built at the cliff he had designated.

I said that I would recite the text once and then explain it for you, and I wasn’t lying to you. I’m determined to live up to my words. In the future, if you want me to bow to you, then you can refuse to come up and talk. I will bow to you every day, and keep bowing until you are no longer able to remain mute!

This is the Sixty-ninth Generational Patriarch of the Caodong (Soto) Sect, Dhyana Master Huitai Yuanjing. “Hui” means dim and unlit, and “tai” means platform. Yet “yuanjing” ("original mirror") implies that the mirror is originally bright and doesn’t need to be wiped or brushed clean.

The Master was born in Jianyang as a son of the Feng family. Where is Jianyang? In Fujian Province. I’m completely unfamiliar with the geography of China, and that’s just fine with me, because I don’t want to be a geography teacher! The Master’s lay surname was Feng.

When he read to the sentence “know that the seeing is without seeing” in the Shurangama Sutra, he had an insight. The Shurangama Sutra says we should realize that the seeing, in itself, has no seeing or awareness of its own. Seeing cannot see itself. You should know that the seeing is apart from the seeing. What is it that can see the seeing? The self-nature. If the seeing could perceive the seeing, then what color would this seeing be, and what color would that seeing be? However, there is only one thing that can perceive, namely, a kind of awareness. It is the nature that perceives. The seeing is like a camera that can take pictures of other people, but not of itself. Thus, one should know that the seeing, in its fundamental substance, has no seeing.

Suppose you dig your eyes out; what would they be able to see then? If you cut off your ears, what would they be able to hear? If you chopped off your nose, it wouldn’t be able to smell. If you tried to use the nose by itself, it wouldn’t function, just as a single engine part cannot make the motor run by itself. Thus, the seeing has no substance of its own; it is only a nature. Therefore, “know that the seeing is without seeing"; don’t be attached to the seeing, for it has no substance or appearance.

When he got to that sentence in the Sutra, he was a bit confused. He seemed to understand it, and yet he thought, “What is this talking about? I think I’ve eaten this “food” before, but I’ve forgotten what it tastes like.” He was like Piggy [in the Journey to the West] eating ginseng: Piggy heard that ginseng was good-tasting, and so he swallowed it down in one gulp. Then he asked Monkey, “Brother Monkey, what does it taste like?” He didn’t know what it tasted like after he’d eaten it, so he had to ask Monkey. The Master’s case was similar to Piggy’s. He had attained something without knowing quite what it was, just as Piggy had eaten ginseng without tasting its flavor.

Therefore, he went to seek out a Good and Wise Advisor. He went to seek the advice of Dhyana Master Shouchang, who was a well-known teacher at the time. But Master Shouchang rebuked him and gave him a scare. When one has not genuinely understood, one cannot “make tea with cold water"--one cannot say that one understands what one does not understood. He didn’t truly understand, and yet he dared to go and blurt out a lot of nonsense. That was why Master Shouchang was irate and scolded him and really let him have it, giving him a good scare.

Then later on when he read the sentence “Empy and without an attendant” in the Lankavatara Sutra, he suddenly experienced an awakening, but was not completely at ease. Being empty, how could one still have an attendant? Upon reading to that part in the Sutra, the Master understood a bit, but he was still a little hesitant. It was not like he’d seen the daylight or had had a great enlightenment that he could rejoice about.

To be continued