Case 7.
Hui Neng's Face Daoming then said,
I come here for the Dharma,
Not for the robe.
I wish you to teach me.
The patriarch,
Hui Neng,
Replied,
Without thinking what is good,
Without thinking what is evil,
At that time,
Which one is your original face?
Hearing this,
Daoming was greatly enlightened.
Pause here for reflection.
This koan is very short,
But it comes from a much larger story in the Platform Sutra or Sutra of Hui Neng.
One background detail is that before Hui Neng asks to meditate on your original face,
Before he asks,
When you're not thinking about good and you're not thinking about evil,
He asks the gentleman to meditate,
To clear his mind of all thoughts.
Or phrased differently,
In order to avoid the temptation of a deadwood type of meditation,
To calm his mind,
To lessen his thoughts,
Not to be completely void of thought.
Then after some time,
Hui Neng asks,
Which one is your original face?
This is meant to inspire our mind to go beyond good and evil.
In that moment,
When we're beyond good and evil,
When we contemplate,
Then can our original face arise?
Can we sense our original nature?
When our mind is more calm,
More pure,
More empty,
Allowing concepts like good and evil to pass by without attachment,
Then can we see our original face?
Then can we see who we originally are?
Then can we see our nature from the universe?
Hui Neng thinks so.
Hui Neng knows so.
Or to speak more clearly,
Honoring the Zen lineage,
Hui Neng spoke these words out of compassion that Tao Ming would indeed see his original face.
And it's true,
Tao Ming's next words were thankful that he had now seen enlightenment from this great teacher.
