XII
The monastery life is not all working and sitting quiet meditating on the “kō-an.” There is something of intellectual life, in the form of lecturing as has already been referred to. Anciently, however, there was no regular “sesshin,” and all the lecturing or giving sermons to the congregation was carried on the feast days, memorial days, or on other auspicious occasions such as receiving visitors, honourably discharging the officials, or completing given pieces of work. Every available opportunity was thus used intellectually to enlighten earnest seekers of the truth. These discourses, sermons, exhortations, and short pithy remarks so characteristic of Zen are recorded in its literature, the bulk of which indeed consists of nothing but these. While claiming to be above letters, Zen is filled with them, almost overfilled. Before giving some of such sermons, let me digress and say a few words about the Chinese language as the vehicle of Zen philosophy.
To my mind, the Chinese language is pre-eminently adapted for Zen, it is probably the best medium of expression for Zen as long as its literary side alone is thought of. Being monosyllabic the language is terse and vigorous, and a single word is made to convey so much meaning in it. While vagueness of sense is perhaps an unavoidable shortcoming accompanying those advantages, Zen knows how to avail itself of it, and the very vagueness of the language becomes a most powerful weapon in the hand of the master. He is far from wanting to be obscure and misleading, but a well-chosen monosyllable grows when it falls from his lips into a most pregnant word loaded with the whole system of Zen. Ummon is regarded as the foremost adept in this direction. To show the extreme laconism of his sayings, the following[7.42] are quoted:
When he was asked what was the sword of Ummon, he replied, “Hung!”
“What is the one straight passage to Ummon?” “Most intimate!”
“Which one of the Trikāya [Three Bodies of Buddha] is it that will sermonise?” “To the point!”
“I understand this is said by all the old masters, that when you know [the truth], all the karma-hindrances are empty from the beginning; but if you do not, you have to pay all the debts back. I wonder if the second patriarch knew this or not.” Replied the master, “Most certainly!”
“What is the eye of the true Dharma?” “Everywhere!”
“When one commits patricide, or matricide, one goes to the Buddha to confess the sin; when however one murders a Buddha or Patriarch, where should one go for confession?” “Exposed!”
“What is the Tao [path, way, or truth]?” “Walk on!”