IV
Their industry is proverbial. When the day is not set for study at home, they are generally seen, soon after breakfast, about half past five in summer and about half past six in winter, out in the monastery grounds, or in the neighbouring villages for begging, or tilling the farm attached to the Zendo. They keep the monastery, inside as well as outside, in perfect order. When we sometimes say, “This is like a Zen monastery,” it means that the place is kept in the neatest possible order. When begging they go miles away. Commonly, attached to a Zendo there are some patrons whose houses the monks regularly visit and get a supply of rice or vegetables. We often see them along the country road pulling a cart loaded with pumpkins or potatoes. They work as hard as ordinary labourers. They sometimes go to the woods to gather kindlings or fuel. They know something of agriculture too. As they have to support themselves in these ways, they are at once farmers, labourers, and skilled workmen. For they often build their own Meditation Hall under the direction of an architect.
These monks are a self-governing body. They have their own cooks, proctors, managers, sextons, masters of ceremony, etc. In the days of Hyakujo there seem to have been ten such offices, though the details are not now known due to the loss of his Regulations. While the master or teacher of a Zendo is its soul, he is not directly concerned with its government. This is left to the senior members of the community, whose character has been tested through many years of discipline. When the principles of Zen are discussed, one may marvel at their deep and subtle metaphysics, if there is any, and imagine what a serious, pale-faced, head-drooping, and world-forgetting group of thinkers these monks are. But in their actual life they are after all common mortals engaged in menial work, but they are cheerful, cracking jokes, willing to help one another, and despising no work which is usually considered low and not worthy of an educated hand. The spirit of Hyakujo is ever manifest among them.
It was not only the monks that worked but the master himself shared their labour. This was according to Hyakujo to co-operate in and equalise the work among all concerned without distinction of rank.[7.11] Therefore, the master together with his disciples tilled the farm, planted trees, weeded the garden, picked tea-leaves, and was engaged in all other kinds of manual work. Making use of such opportunities he gave them practical lessons in the study of Zen, and the disciples too did not fail to appreciate his instructions.
When Jōshu was sweeping the courtyard, a monk asked him, “How does a speck of dust come into this holy ground?” To this Jōshu answered, “Here comes another!” On another occasion, when the master was found again sweeping the ground, Liu, minister of state, paid a visit to the temple, and said to the master-gardener, “How is it that a great wise man like you has to sweep off the dust?” “It comes from the outside,”[f140][7.12] replied Jōshu.
When Nansen was working out-doors with his monks,[7.13] Jōshu who was told to watch over a fire suddenly cried out, “Fire! Fire!” The alarm made all the monks rush back to the dormitory hall. Seeing this, Jōshu closed the gate and declared, “If you could say a word, the doors would be opened.” The monks did not know what to say. Nansen, the master, however, threw the key into the hall through a window. Thereupon, Jōshu flung open the gate.
While working on the farm a monk happened to cut an earth-worm in twain with his spade whereupon he asked the master Chōsa (Chang-sha Ch‘ên), “The earth-worm is[7.14] cut in twain and both parts are still wriggling: in which of them is the Buddha-nature present?” The master said, “Have no illusion!” But the monk insisted, “I cannot help this wriggling, sir.” “Don’t you see that fire and air elements have not yet been dispersed?” When Shiko (Tzŭ-hu) and Shōkō (Shêng-kuang)[7.15] were out gardening, a similar thing happened, and Shōkō asked the master concerning the real life of the earthworm. Without answering him, the master took up the rake, first struck the one end of the worm, then the other, and finally the space between the two. He then threw down the rake and went away.
One day Ōbaku was weeding with a hoe, and seeing Rinzai without one asked, “How is it that you do not carry any hoe?” Answered Rinzai, “Somebody has carried it away, sir.” Thereupon, Ōbaku told him to come forward as he wanted to discuss the matter with him. Rinzai stepped forward. Said Ōbaku, lifting his hoe, “Only this, but all the world’s unable to hold it up.” Rinzai took the hoe away from the master, and lifted it up, saying, “How is it that it is now in my own hands?” Ōbaku remarked, “Here is a man doing a great piece of work to-day!” He then returned to his own room.[7.16]
Another day, observing Rinzai resting on a hoe, Ōbaku said to him, “Are you tired?” Rinzai replied, “I have not even lifted my hoe, and how should I be tired?” Ōbaku then struck him, who, however, snatching the stick away from the master, pushed him down. Ōbaku called out to the Yino (karmadāna) to help him up from the ground. The Yino responded to the call and helped up the master, saying, “Why do you permit this crazy fellow’s rudeness?” As soon as the master was again on his feet, he struck the Yino. Rinzai then began to dig the earth and made this announcement, “In other places they cremate, but here you will all be buried alive.”[7.17]
The story of Isan and Kyōzan while they were out picking tea leaves has already been told in one of the preceding Essays. Zen history indeed abounds with such incidents as here referred to, showing how the masters try to discipline their pupils on every possible occasion. The events of daily life manifestly trivial on the surface, thus handled by the masters, grow full of signification. At any rate all these “mondoes” most eloquently illustrate the whole trend of the monastery life in olden days, where the spirit of work and service was so thoroughly and harmoniously blended with the high thinking on matters deeply spiritual.