Shoyoroku Case 32: Yangshan’s Mind and Environment — Deconstructing the Self Dwelling in Emptiness

Commentary

What is Yangshan’s Dialogue on the Price of Rice?: Asking About the Reality of “Here and Now” Rather Than a Lofty State

This dialogue is long and sounds theoretical. Before this dialogue, there is another exchange, so let me introduce it.

When Yangshan asked a visiting monk, “Where did you come from?”, the monk answered, “I came from Youzhou.” Then Yangshan asked again, “I was just wanting to hear news of Youzhou. How much is the price of rice in Youzhou now?” The monk answered, “I went into the market, but as I passed through, I stepped on the bridge and broke it.” Therefore, Yangshan ended the dialogue about the price of rice right there.

Wansong says that people should examine this dialogue about the price of rice first, before the main koan.

• A market is a place full of worldly interests and conflicts. Passing through it is an affected expression meaning, “Even though I place myself in the middle of the secular world, I came without being caught by anything and remained aloof.”
• A bridge is a passage between the secular world and leaving the secular world. Stepping on it and breaking it is a boast of the sharp edge of Kojo (the state of absolute transcendence), meaning, “I completely cut off the road between delusion and enlightenment, and between the sacred and the ordinary.”

Originally, the dialogue about the price of rice asked about the relationship appearing right here and now. However, because the monk proudly fell into conceptual big talk, Yangshan did not deal with him and ended the dialogue.

In Case 5, Qingyuan’s Price of Rice, there is a similar dialogue so it is also interesting to compare them.

What is the Main Theme of Yangshan’s Mind and Environment?: The Self Caught in Concepts

Now, let us enter the main case. Yangshan asks a monk, “Where are you from?” Wansong commented, [Closing the door and brushing away clever understanding]. This comment compares the scene to ancient government officials who shut themselves inside a room to check account books. In Zen, the question “Where did you come from?” is not mere small talk. It is a question to test the person’s attitude toward the Buddha-dharma. It shows that Yangshan is carefully examining the monk’s attitude.

Without any trick, the monk answered, “A person from Youzhou.” Wansong commented, [The official pass is clear and evident], meaning that the answer was honest and clear before the official’s examination.

Yangshan continued to ask, “Do you think of that place?” Wansong added a sharp remark, [Just as he was about to forget it]. This is advice meaning, “Do not get caught in Yangshan’s question.” “That place” mentioned by Yangshan does not mean the monk’s hometown, Youzhou. Is it a dragon’s cave, or a playground for cranes? He is talking about the conceptual state where practitioners easily come to rest.

Despite Wansong’s advice, the monk honestly answered, “I always think of it.” Wansong also agreed with him and commented, [A familiar place is hard to forget]. Everyone is caught in concepts, and everyone wants to go there.

Here, the main theme of Yangshan’s Mind and Environment is “the self caught in concepts.”

What is Yangshan’s Trap?: Intentionally Setting the Trap of Subject and Object for the Mind That is Originally One

Yangshan said, “That which thinks is the mind; that which is thought of is the environment.” The self that thinks is the subject, and that which is thought of is the object, which is “that.” Now the discussion has become complicated. Wansong commented, [Setting up subject and object anew from the start]. This means, “Are not the subject and the object originally one from the beginning? Why do you set up an opposition between subject and object?”

Yangshan continued further, saying, “Turn around and reflect on the thinking mind itself regarding the mountains, rivers, the great earth, towers, halls, pavilions, humans, animals, and other things in that place: are there still so many kinds of things in it?” Wansong commented, [You yourself give rise to discrimination]. He criticized Yangshan, saying that although Yangshan makes various distinctions like mountains, rivers, the great earth, towers, halls, pavilions, humans, and animals, discrimination and opposition do not exist originally at all.

Of course, Yangshan was not originally teaching this as his true view. This was a trick question to lure the monk into the delusion of dualistic opposition by intentionally setting subject against object and listing concrete objects before him.

What is Wansong’s Criticism?: “This One” Still Remains

In response to Yangshan’s trick question, the monk answered, “When I reach this point, I do not see anything existing at all.” This means, “I thought about various things, but there are no such things as mountains, rivers, the great earth, towers, halls, pavilions, humans, or animals.” At first glance, the monk seemed to avoid Yangshan’s trap very well. However, Wansong criticized him, saying, [There is still this one]. “This one” means the self that thinks.

You say that there is nothing and that you cannot find anything. But then, where did you yourself go—the one who thinks, “I cannot find anything”? Even if you believe that objects in the external world have completely disappeared, the self that sees “there is nothing” (the root of the subject) still remains clearly.

What is the Current State of the Monk’s Ability?: Kojo is Quite Good, but the Oneness of Kojo and Koge Still Has a Long Way to Go

In response to the monk’s answer, “When I reach this point, I do not see anything existing at all,” Yangshan said, “The stage of faith is correct, but the stage of person is not yet.” The terms “stage of faith” and “stage of person” appear in the Vajrasamadhi Sutra, and there are various interpretations (金剛三昧經 序品第一). Here, we adopt the explanation of Doken Takada (高田道見).

• The stage of faith: Mastering the single road of Kojo, emptying the opposition of subject and object as well as all things, and reaching the state of “absolute nothingness.”
• The stage of person: Without drowning in that state of emptiness (空), returning again to the vivid real world of daily life, and living and working just as one is (the state of the oneness of Kojo and Koge).

Wansong commented, [The remaining snow in front of the courtyard melts in the sun; who will be sent to sweep away the red dust inside the room?]. These words are borrowed directly from the saying of Luopu Yuan’an (洛浦元安, a disciple of Jiashan Shanhui, 夾山善会). It means, “The remaining snow (delusion) outside the room will eventually disappear naturally, but who do you intend to have sweep away the red dust (the remaining self-attachment of daily life) inside the room?”

In other words, the situation is that the monk’s practice of Kojo is quite good, but his practice of the oneness of Kojo and Koge still has a long way to go.

What is Yangshan’s Zen Style?: Kind and Careful Guidance Through Deep Compassion

Having received advice on the practice of the oneness of Kojo and Koge from Yangshan, the monk asked, “Does the Master have any other instruction?” Wansong sneered, [Coming like that again right away]. Yangshan said, “Saying there is something else or there is not something else is not correct.” He said that “there is” or “there is not” is not the truth. Wansong commented, [Shooting through the two-fold barrier], meaning that Yangshan delightfully shot through the dualistic opposition of being and non-being.

However, for the sake of the monk, Yangshan said, “According to your view, you have only attained one mystery.” This recognized that the monk had certainly attained the state of Kojo. Wansong also recognized it, saying, [Already obtained the moon in the boat]. He meant that this monk had already advanced to the state of one mystery of Kojo, where all phenomena stand alone clearly. In this state, it is like floating a boat and enjoying looking at the bright moon. However, if he stays there, he cannot row out into reality. It seems that he does not yet have the ability to move freely through mountains and valleys.

Yangshan gave further advice: “Take your seat, put on your robe, and examine yourself from now on.” Regarding this advice, Wansong commented, [Adding more wind to the sail], saying that Yangshan sent a favorable wind to the monk’s boat.

In this way, Yangshan’s teaching method is very kind. Yunmen (雲門) also praised him, saying, “Because of deep compassion, Yangshan dealt with people using words that were easy to understand.”

The monk was also clever. If a practitioner reaches this state, he might boast of himself and hold on to his own view. Then, without knowing the true joy along the way, he would become unable to reach his true home. Because Yangshan had walked that road himself in the past, he kindly showed a different way forward.

What is Yangshan’s Earlier Story?: Yangshan was Also Once Caught in Kojo

In the past, when Yangshan was doing zazen in front of the monks’ hall in the middle of the night, everything from the mountains, rivers, and the great earth to his own body completely disappeared from sight, and everything became the same as emptiness. The next morning, when he reported this to his master, Guishan Lingyou (潙山霊祐), Guishan said, “In the past, I also attained this state under Master Baizhang Huaihai (百丈懐海). This is the merit of restless delusions disappearing and pure brightness appearing. Even if you preach the Dharma in the future, no one will surpass you.”

Furthermore, Guishan said, “According to your understanding, dharma still exists, and you have not left the opposition of subject and object.” When Yangshan asked, “Since there are no longer any perfect stages, where could an opposition between mind and environment be?”, Guishan said, “Is not the very fact that you interpreted it that way just now an opposition between mind and environment?” Yangshan admitted, “That is right.” Guishan said, “If so, you are still caught in the opposition of subject and object. How can you say that there is nothing?”

Based on this experience, Yangshan saw that such attachment still remained in this monk. Based on reason, he judged, “As an experience of emptiness, it is correct, but as the power to step out of it and live in reality, it is not yet enough.”

My Experience

How Do Distracting Thoughts Disappear?: The Function of “Here and Now” Realized Through Struggling with AI Agents

This koan talks about a story after a person reaches emptiness, so its level is too high. To talk about it at an easier level, I will introduce my own experience.

Usually, I spend all my time alone except when I go to work. Soon after I started to spend time alone, I noticed that my distracting thoughts decreased very much. I was deeply impressed and thought, “I see. If I stay in the middle of a busy world, distracting thoughts do not disappear no matter how hard I practice zazen. Therefore, leaving the secular world is a necessary condition.” However, I still remembered the past from time to time.

Indeed, by leaving the secular world and trying to reduce human relationships at work as much as possible, distracting thoughts coming from outside disappeared naturally, just as the sun melts snow. However, just as a person must sweep the dust of their room by themselves, the distracting thoughts that I had accumulated inside myself while living in the secular world did not disappear.

Then, this problem was solved unexpectedly.

That was because I introduced AI agents. Until then, I asked AI to do work in a chat format, but that was no longer enough. With AI agents, we cannot just throw all the work at them like in a chat format. We must prepare the environment for them, just like supporting our subordinates. If that does not go well, the AI agent does strange things.

While I was struggling hard with the AI for about two weeks, the “attachments to the past and distracting thoughts” that had troubled me so much stopped coming to my mind. At the moment when I had to face the partner (AI) and respond immediately with my whole body to the reality of “here and now,” I forgot the very “self” that was worrying about the dust in the room.