Lin-chi and the True Man without Rank (Part 1)

by Scott Mandelker, Ph.D.

One of the greatest Zen Masters of all time, who spoke powerfully to awaken without compromise, was Ch'an Master Lin-chi I-hsuan Hui-chao (Japanese, "Rinzai Gigen"). His recorded sayings, encounters and travels are preserved in the Lin-chi lu (Japanese, Rinzai-roku). The translation I'm using here is by Ruth Fuller Sasaki, working with a team of Japanese and American scholars, published in 1975 by the Institute for Zen Studies in Kyoto. It is a scholarly, rigorous work, yet preserves the color and vitality of the original language and dialogue.

Through various unconventional means, including shouting, beating, paradox, and personally driven reinterpretations of classical Mahāyāna Buddhist scripture, Lin-chi sought to wake his students from their clumsy slumber. And yet, his 'skillful means' were simply a straight, simple expression of his own enlightenment. In that way, he was not really trying to do much of anything at all. In his own words:

"As I see it, there isn't so much to do. Just be ordinary — put on your robes, eat your food, and pass the time doing nothing." (Discourse XVIII)

Nevertheless, Lin-chi was famous for his wild martial style, which later gave rise to the harsh, austere Rinzai lineage in Japan — alive to this day, as one of the two major Zen schools. So how can we consider him to be "ordinary" in any way? His own words suggest the answer:

"As for me, what I want to point out to you is that you must not accept the deluding views of others. If you want to act, then act. Don't hesitate." (Discourse X)

With a mind free of deluding views, his contact with phenomena was clear and direct, immediate without hesitation — and thus, his innate power could manifest in all its intensity. This is the power of a true Master, with no obscuring veil between mind and experience: mind and phenomena freely mingle and play. His teaching, verbal or otherwise, emerges from this state of being.

So it is interesting, at least to me, that for all his martial power, Lin-chi also gave lengthy discourses. Chief among his teachings, repeated many times in these accounts, is his notion of "the true man." One example:

"The Master took the high seat in the Hall. He said: 'on your lump of red flesh is a true man without rank who is always going in and out of the face of every one of you. Those who have not yet proved him, look, look!" (Discourse III)

Lin-chi makes a distinction here between the body (the so-called "lump of flesh") and the true agent that makes use of it. In another discourse, it is recorded:

"The Master said: Look at the wooden puppets performing on the stage! Their jumps and jerks all depend on the man behind." (Discourse IX)

This is the classical dichotomy between Self and vehicle, spiritual agent and mechanism. It might surprise us that his view is essentially the same as Western Cartesian dualism -- the old mind/body split at the root of so many of our problems. This kind of ontological statement seems more Hindu than Buddhist, as Hindu doctrine posits a Higher Self-principle (the "Atman") as being the agent who uses the physical body. It is interesting that Lin-chi, enlightened as he was (I assume!), still made use of this notion — although I am sure he only used it as an expedient teaching tool. The following statement clarifies the matter:

"This physical body of yours, composed of the four great elements, can neither expound the Dharma [Buddhist teaching] nor listen to it... Then just what can expound the Dharma and listen to it? This very you standing distinctly before me without any form, shining alone — this can expound the Dharma and listen to it! Understand it this way, and you are not different from the Patriarch Buddha." (Discourse X)

Lin-chi is really saying that the essential Buddha is none other than the One who controls the physical body. This "true man without rank" has no form and is definitely not a fixed thing. The "true man" is intrinsically free from the basic qualities of material and mental phenomena. The One who sits upon this lump of red flesh is free of impermanence, suffering, and insubstantiality — what Buddhists call "the three marks" of conditioned phenomena. True nature is intrinsically free, now and forever.

Yet, this is also the "very you" whom Lin-chi states "stands distinctly" before him. The teaching here is really not too different from the Hindu conception. Our Buddha-nature is the formless human essence, not particularly different, or so it seems, from the Western conception of "soul." Actually, Lin-chi probably wouldn't consider this to be an "eternal" soul (as in the Judeo-Christian notion), so there is not total agreement here. The same discourse explains:

"Followers of the Way, mind is without form and pervades the ten directions…
Fundamentally, it is one pure radiance; divided it becomes the six harmoniously united spheres of senses (the five physical senses), plusthe intellect). Since the mind is non-existent, wherever you are, you are emancipated.” (Discourse X)

 

To be continued …..