by Tang Huyen

"The Buddhist nature of it is as clear as its didactic intention, which is right at the surface — and doesn't require any digging."

Actually, Buddhist masters are not teasers but teachers,
and something that seems flippant prima facie can be
a didactic device, even right at the surface. The
saying in full is:

"Not thinking of good, not thinking of evil, what is your
original face?" — Hui-neng.

The Buddhist nature of it is as clear as its didactic
intention, which is right at the surface and doesn't
require any digging: dropping good, dropping evil,
you'll get back to your original nature — without further
ado. The Buddhist path is spelled out right there. If you
follow it, you'll awaken. Don't bother about anything else.

"If an ignorant person composes a meritorious
composition, his consciousness goes to merit
(puññam ce sankharam abhisankharoti,
puññupagam hoti viññanam, Skt. punyopaganam
samskaranam punyopagam eva vijñanam bhavati).
If an ignorant person composes an unmeritorious
composition, his consciousness goes to demerit. If
an ignorant person composes an immovable
composition, his consciousness goes to the
immovable (aneñjam ce sankharam abhisankharoti,
aneñjupagam hoti viññanam, Skt. anenjyopaganam
samskaranam anenjyopagam eva vijñanam bhavati).
But when in a monk, ignorance is cut and knowledge
has arisen, because of the fading of ignorance and
the arisal of knowledge, he does not compose a
meritorious composition, he does not compose an
unmeritorious composition, he does not compose an
immovable composition; not composing, not willing
out (anabhisankharonto anabhisañcetayanto), he
grasps nothing in the world (na loke upadiyati, Skt.
na kiñcil loka upadatte). Not grasping he is
unperturbed (anupadiyam na paritassati, Skt.
anupadadano na paritasyati). Unperturbed, internally
he fully blows out (aparitassam paccattaññeva
parinibbayati, Skt. aparitasya atmaiva parinirvati)."
— SN, II, 82 (12, 51), SA, 192, 83a–b, Nidana-samyukta, 133–135.

Dhammapada, XXVI, 412, Thanissaro translation:

"He has gone
beyond attachment here
for both merit & evil —
sorrowless, dustless, & pure:
he's what I call
a brahman."

The same, Buddharakkhita translation:

"He who in this world has transcended the ties of
both merit and demerit, who is sorrowless, stainless
and pure — him do I call a holy man."

Colophon

Posted to talk.religion.buddhism on 10 November 2006, in a thread where a poster had cited Hui-neng's koan in a mangled form and treated it as primarily a puzzle. Author: Tang Huyen. Message-ID: <[email protected]>.

The post performs two moves simultaneously: a correction of how koans are read (teacher, not teaser; teaching at the surface) and a canonical demonstration of what the surface contains. Hui-neng's instruction points directly to non-composition; SN II.82 gives the canonical formulation of that non-composition as the mechanism of full blowing-out; Dhammapada 412 gives its ethical form — going beyond both merit and evil. The SN II.82 passage also appears in a sustained etymological context in "Mind-making" (<[email protected]>).

Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

🌲