5Xiangyan Up a Tree香嚴上樹

香嚴和尚云。如人上樹。口啣樹枝。手不攀枝。腳不踏樹。樹下有人。問西來意。不對即違他所問。若對又喪身失命。正恁麼時。作麼生對。

Master Xiangyan said: "Picture a man up a tree. He hangs by his teeth from a branch, hands gripping nothing, feet touching nothing. Someone below asks him: Why did Bodhidharma come from the West? If he stays silent, he ducks the question. If he answers, he falls and dies. Right then, how does he answer?"

Wumen's Comment 無門曰

縱有懸河之辨。總用不著。說得一大藏教。亦用不著。若向者裏對得著。活卻從前死路頭。死卻從前活路頭。其或未然。直待當來。問彌勒。

You could have a tongue like a flooding river. Useless here. You could recite the whole canon by heart. Useless too. Answer this one and you bring your old dead road to life and put your old living road to death. And if you can't? Then wait around to ask Maitreya, the next Buddha, whenever he finally shows up.

Verse 頌曰

香嚴真杜撰
惡毒無盡限
啞卻衲僧口
通身迸鬼眼

Xiangyan, you fraud,
your venom past all bounds:
you've stopped the monks' mouths cold,
ghost-eyes bursting from every pore.

Pointer

Xiangyan was a Chan teacher famous for traps, and this is one of his nastiest. You're hanging from a branch by your teeth, hands and feet gripping nothing, when someone below asks the one question every student is supposed to be able to answer, "Why did Bodhidharma come from the West?" (shorthand for "what is the whole point of all this?"). Open your mouth and you fall to your death; stay shut and you've ducked the question and failed. The trap is the assumption baked into the setup, that speaking and staying silent are your only two moves. Wumen's verse mock-scolds Xiangyan for being so vicious and admits it works, leaving the monks mute. His comment signs off with "Ask Maitreya," the Buddha due to arrive in a few billion years, a sarcastic kiss-off: good luck, you'll be waiting forever.