Book of Serenity 100

200
Book of Serenity (Shoyoroku, Congrong Lu) #200
Langye's "Mountains and Rivers"

Personnel and Date

• LANGYE Huijue (Rôya Ekaku, 980?-1050?, 17th gen), disciple of Fenyang Shanzhao (947-1024)
Date guess: ca. 1020

Wansong's Introduction (Sato)

“One word can make a nation rise, one word can make a nation fall" [said Confucius].
“This medicine can kill people and can give people life” [said Bodhisattva Manjusri].
“The benevolent person sees it and names it benevolence,
The wise person sees it and calls it wisdom” [added Confucius].
Tell me, where is the profit and where is the loss?

Case (Wick)

A monk asked Huijue of Langye, "If the original state is clean and pure, then why suddenly do rivers, mountains, and the great earth arise?"
Langye replied, "If the original state is clean and pure, then why suddenly do the mountains, rivers, and great earth arise!"

Hongzhi's Verse (Wick)

Seeing existence, don't take it as existence.
Turning the hand up, turning the hand down,
the man in Mount Langye --
he does not fall behind Gautama.

Sturmer's Verse

Now to old canyons in my twilight.
I walk with Meng Haoran
unmindful that the end of he world
has not started on time.
We'll study the microflora
for a little longer
while the purple-phoenix clouds
roil in the background.

KOAN INDEX
Hotetsu's Verses on Koans