4. The Tradition of Approval

If we open the window of dharma,

We find that saints and ordinary beings cohabit

In the same house;

Closing the window of dharma,

We see Mount Paekdu in the north,

And Mount Halla in the south.

This is the place in which to certify the toin, the enlightened Buddhist, as distinguished from an ordinary person.  Any person who has exerted him/herself in order to bring his/her true nature to light is qualified to apply for a screening test in order to certify his/her achievement of pulbŏp chŏngan, or the true eye of the Buddhist dharma. No one can be called enlightened through only his own knowledge, or without passing the test.  In other words, one cannot realize the truth of Buddhas by his/her own meditation only. The world of truth is so deep, wide, and limitless that it cannot be fathomed. Therefore, only through a checkup of one's degree of perception by a predecessor who can certify one as enlightened  can one know where one stands. Thus, if you found your religious life on what you have realized through your own exertions, you will be thrown into the world of delusion. Therefore, Sakyamuni Buddha propounded,

"If one realizes himself without endorsement by his teacher, he will probably be heaven's devil, or tirthaka, that is, a heretic."

Because of this, to guard the right way of truth from misconceptions, all the Buddhas and the Zen masters have established this tradition of approval.

In the olden times in China, there was a Zen Master named Yen-t'ou (岩頭), literally meaning Stone Head, who had escaped persecution by the authorities by wearing civilian clothes, and disguising himself as an oarsman. He hung a wood panel at each bank of the river, and in this way was able to hear anyone needing to cross the river as they struck the panel. Then he would come out of his small thatched cabin holding an oar and dancing, and ferry the passenger to the other side of the river. One day a posal (菩薩), or female lay believer, who had a baby on her back, struck the wood panel. Stone Head then left his cabin, dancing and asking, "Who's there?"

When he had readied his boat on the beach, the posal grabbed her baby, held him high, and said to stone head,

"I won't ask you why you are dancing with your oar in your hand. But tell me where this baby came from."

Stone Head struck the boat three times with his oar silently. Then the posal said,

"I've given birth to six babies, yet I've never met an enlightened man. And you are no different from the other six."

With that utterance, she threw her baby into the river. After that incident, he quit his job as an oarsman.

Let's consider this for a moment. Would a wiser answer have saved her baby from being thrown away? Was three strikes on the boat the wrong answer? What was her reason for throwing her baby into the river? These are the hardest nuts to crack. In other words, they are thickest barrier to penetrate and the highest fence to climb over. Only after you have passed these tests will you be approved as a teacher, qualified to disseminate the Buddhist law.

Do you understand this story of Stone Head and the woman believer?

(As the congregation was silent, he then said:)

兩個惡敵相逢

各設陷虎之機

Fierce enemies meet each other;

And dig a trap to snare the tiger.

[On the first of October,1985]

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