I have previously offered selections of Yuan from Record II of the Bodhidharma Anthology (a Dunhuang text) there (where I also included extensive quotations from the translator, Jeremy Broughton) and there, but I would
like to include three additional dialogues here.
The first dialogue describes seeing transgression and
transcending seeing. The second concerns the view of no view. And the third
describes the critical failure of all words. All three speak to seeing through all the subtle deceptions of conditionality.
Note the directness of Yuan’s language. In fact, the one Master who sermonizes is not Yuan but Chih. And Yuan blows him off accordingly. When Yuan finally speaks at length in the third dialogue, it is only to thoroughly disavow “terms and written words.” And when questioned again, Yuan simply refuses to respond, a silent ‘keep quiet.’
Note the directness of Yuan’s language. In fact, the one Master who sermonizes is not Yuan but Chih. And Yuan blows him off accordingly. When Yuan finally speaks at length in the third dialogue, it is only to thoroughly disavow “terms and written words.” And when questioned again, Yuan simply refuses to respond, a silent ‘keep quiet.’
Dharma Master Chih saw Dharma
Master Yuan on the street of butchers and asked: "Do you see the butchers
slaughtering the sheep?" Dharma master Yuan said: "My eyes are not
blind. How could I not see them?" Dharma Master Chih said: "Master
Yuan, you are saying you see it!" Master Yuan said: "You're seeing it
on top of seeing it!"
Master Chih again asked: "If
you hold a view with characteristics, it is the view of a common man. If you
hold a view of voidness of essence, it is the view of the two vehicles. If you
hold a view of neither existence nor nonexistence, it is the view of a solitary
Buddha. If you hold a view of pity and sympathy, it is the view of compassion with
love. If you use mind to view, then it is the view of the followers of the
non-Buddhist paths. If you make use of the consciousnesses to view, it is the
view of the Heavenly Evil One. If you do not see forms and formlessness, you
will no longer have views. How should one view in order to be free of all these
errors?" Master Yuan said: "I have nothing whatsoever to do with
these sorts of views at all, and that is what is properly called taking a view.
Because you create various false thoughts such as these, you are deluding and
confusing yourself."
A certain person asked Master Yuan:
"Why do you not teach me the Dharma?" Answer: "If I were to set
up a Dharma to teach you, it would not be leading you. If I were to set up a
Dharma, it would be deceiving you; it would be failing you. If I had a Dharma,
how could I explain it to someone else? How could I speak of it to you? It
comes down to this: If there are terms and written words, all of it will
deceive you. How could I tell you even a mustard seed's worth of the meaning of
the great path? If I could speak of it, what purpose would that serve?"
When asked again, [Master Yuan] did not reply.
