Lin-Chi – True Man Without Rank (Part 3)

by Scott Mandelker, Ph.D.

When this pure intelligent light identifies with transitory forms (physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual) it is called "a deluded sentient being." When it realizes its own self-nature to be none other than pure, formless Mind, that One becomes a Buddha. Indeed, the only true existence, beyond all change, shape,
and shift, is this formless, boundless, impersonal awareness. Of course, for most of us, such total luminosity is shrouded by our identification with the flux of body/mind matter.

Again and again, Lin-chi expounds this same teaching:"There is only the man of the Way, listening to my discourse, dependent upon nothing - it is he who is the mother of all Buddhas. Followers of the way, the you who right now is listening to my discourse is not your four elements; this you makes use of your four elements. If you can fully understand this, you are free to go or stay [as you please]." (Discourses XIV, XV)

It is only by direct contact with the "true you", the One who uses the four elements of the dense fleshy form, that one gains existential freedom. Since this freedom is ultimately dependent on nothing, it can't be gained by spiritual practice, nor by virtue or good deeds. In the final analysis, "there is only" this true Way-man, because everything else is impermanent, without abiding self-nature. But lest we get stuck in duality, we should also remember that such "all-pervading radiance" is also the true nature of all things, not located 'in some place' above or beyond our little lump of red flesh…

In the achieved recognition of the inner man, the One who remains spotless and untouched by all phenomena, one regains the inner freedom that had been lost through our depending on causes and conditions — our "thirst for becoming." But frankly, all this discussion is still nothing but concepts, and even Lin-chi's teaching of the "inner man" is only used to counteract our mistaken self-identification with body/mind process. In true liberation, there is no more talk of inner man or outer conditions…

In its most non-dualistic form, existential freedom comes only from realization of the "true man":

"If you want to freely live or die, go or stay, to take off or put on [your clothes], then right now recognize the man who is listening to my discourse. He is without form, without characteristics, without root, without source, and without any dwelling place, yet is brisk and lively." (Discourse XIV)

Freedom arises when we recognize who we really are — and in our normal way of being, it is shattered when we think, speak, and act from habitual identification with body/mind phenomena. The process of such identification, this "thirst for becoming" (a deeply insightful teaching of the Buddha himself), is
manifest in the endless stream of our personal tendencies, divided neatly by Buddhists into the triad of desire, aggression, and ignorance. When we realize ourselves to actually be this free inner agent, then we become that freedom itself.

In the chronicle of Lin-chi's rugged teaching, we see a beautiful example of action without hesitation. His wild ways — shouting, beating, knocking over tables, and so on — is but skillful means in accordance with clarity, without fixed root. The true man, ever and always, is free and unperturbed. In Discourse XVIII, we hear a teaching which sounds curiously like the Chinese Taoist, Chuang Tzu:

"Only you, the follower of the Way right now before my eyes listening to my discourse, [only you] enter fire and are not burned, enter water and are not drowned, enter the three hells as though strolling in a pleasure gardens, enter the realms of the hungry ghosts and the beasts without suffering their fate. How can this be? There are no dharmas [genuine objective phenomena] to be disliked."

Actually, this is a very radical statement, and begins to undercut Lin-chi's own previous teaching. Such self-dismissal, and awareness of the relativity of all conceptual teaching, no matter how clear, is the hallmark of the Ch'an school. It is the essence of what constitutes "living Zen" as opposed to "dead Zen" — the latter, being that old finger pointing to the moon. Words may be able to point us to the goal, but pondering their intellectual matter is surely not the goal itself. Two ideas stand out here. First, the true inner Way-man is utterly non-physical, formless, and beyond all phenomenal activity. Thus, that One can never be burned, drowned, or in any other way essentially affected by physical conditions. Without intending to do so, this statement is not too far from the ordinary New Age understanding of Higher Self, but that is another matter!

What is pure spacious light cannot be affected by the movement of the four elements. Thus, the Taoist sage, as described by Chuang Tzu, is unruffled by gain or loss or disaster of any kind. The true man, real sage knows himself to be, and has fused in awareness with, this essential agent, and thus stands free of misfortune and the cycles of phenomenal display.

Secondly, Lin-chi states that there are no real dharmas to like or dislike anyway — they are all but conditional mirages and the play of phenomena without abiding self-nature — so we need not hate anything, and knowing our innate formless 'self' (dare I use this word?), we can go anywhere without care. The true man is beyond form, and form itself is empty — so why not be ordinary and do nothing? Or shout, or just do as you please? Of course, acting freely without total comprehension and fusion in this state of inner freedom can have disastrous consequences, as many a recent teacher-scandal shows.

Regarding action and non-action, which gives us another comparison with Taoist thought (as Taoists speak extensively about wu-wei, or non-doing), Lin-chi states: "Motion and motionlessness both are without self-nature. If you try to seize it [Buddha-nature] within motion, it takes a position within motionlessness. If you try to seize it within motionlessness, it takes a position within motion... Virtuous monks, motion and motionlessness are merely two kinds of states; it is the non- dependent Man of the Way who utilizes motion, and utilizes motionlessness." (Discourse XVIII) If we try to seize upon the conditioned states of motion or motionlessness, within our own mind-stream and/or the so-called external environment, we are still far from liberation. These two patterns are expressed by our ordinary self- oriented action-reaction patterns, and the quietist attachment to stillness — and both are forms of false freedom (if such a phrase can be used!). Only when we at last recognize the insubstantiality of all such states, can we utilize them all freely. At that point, we begin to be a real teacher and guide to others on the 'path to' enlightenment.

Hence, a Master may fall silent, shout, beat, or walk away from an inquiring student. Since the essential Way of liberation cannot be found in any state, the teacher must undercut all forms of grasping in the student's mind — grasping at form, feelings, opinions, stillness, energy conditions, and supersensible states. All are still conditioned, and all are still far from real enlightenment.

I am sure some Buddhists criticized the Taoist notion of wu-wei as just another form of quietism, an apparent attachment to motionlessness. However, the real meaning of Taoist wu-wei is not quietism at all, but rather, activity in harmony with the ever-changing, ever-unchanging Way of all life.