Prologue
Prologue
From the Blue Cliff Record of Ta Hui's teacher, Yuan Wu:
The teacher would not offer a word of explanation, but made Ta Hui express his own view. In every case Ta Hui completely comprehended the subtle meaning. The older master exclaimed, "You must be someone who's come again!"
Yuan Wu told Ta Hhui, "It wasn't easy for you to get to this stage -- too bad that having died, you are unable to come back to life. Without a doubt, words and phrases are a great disease, but haven't you seen the saying:
HANGING FROM A CLIFF, LET GO --
AND AGREE TO ACCEPT THE EXPERIENCE.
AFTER ANNIHILATION, COME BACK TO LIFE --
I COULDN'T DECEIVE YOU."
Ta Hui was given a purple robe and the name "Buddha Sun" as a sign of imperial honor.
Emperor Hsiao Tsung bestowed the title "Ch'an master of great wisdom" from which the name of Ta Hui comes.
It was eleven sixty-three, on the ninth day of the eighth month, after showing signs of illness, when Ta Hui told the congregation of monks, nuns, and lay-people, "Tomorrow I'm going." Towards the pre-dawn hours, his attendant asked Ta Hui for a verse. In a serious voice Ta Hui said, "Without a verse, I couldn't die." He took up the brush and wrote:
BIRTH IS THUS
DEATH IS THUS
VERSE OR NO VERSE
THAT'S THE FUSS?
then he let go of the writing brush and passed on.