Zen koan: What is your original face, the one you had before your parents were born?
My answer: The soul.
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God: [at Ezekiel 33:11] Why will you die, O house of Isreal? *Israel
Old man: [HYAKUJO’S FOX, Case 2 in “THE GATELESS GATE” Book of Zen Koans by Mumon] Is the enlightened man subject to the law of causation [which is karma]?
My answer: No, the enlightened person is not subject to the law of causation; Zen Masters are mistaken when they say that ENLIGHTENED PEOPLE DIE.
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Case 2 HYAKUJO’S FOX
Once when Hyakujo delivered some Zen lectures, an old man attended them, unseen by the monks. At the end of each talk when the monks left, so did he. But one day he remained after they had gone, and Hyakujo asked him: “Who are you?”
The old man replied:
“I am not a human being, but I was a human being when the Kashapa Buddha preached in this world. I was a Zen master and lived on this mountain. At that time, one of my students asked me whether the enlightened man is subject to the law of causation [which is karma].
I answered him: “The enlightened man is not subject to the law of causation.”
For this answer evidencing a clinging to absoluteness, I became a fox for five hundred rebirths, and I am still a fox. [a fox is often a reference to a trickster or swindler]
Will you save me from this condition with your Zen words and let me get out of a fox’s body?
Now may I ask you: Is the enlightened man subject to the law of causation?
Hyakujo said: “The enlightened man is one with the law of causation.”
At the words of Hyakujo, the old man was enlightened.
“I am emancipated,” he said, paying homage with a deep bow. “I am no more a fox, but I have to leave my body in my dwelling place behind the mountain. Please perform my funeral as a monk.” Then he disappeared.
The next day Hyakujo gave an order through the chief monk to prepare to attend the funeral of a monk.
“No one was sick in the infirmary,” wondered the monks.“What does our teacher mean?”
After dinner Hyakujo led the monks out and around the mountain. In a cave, with his staff he poked out the corpse of an old fox and then performed the ceremony of cremation.
That evening Hyakujo gave a talk to the monks and told this story about the law of causation.
Obaku, upon hearing this story, asked Hyakujo:
“I understand that a long time ago because a certain person gave a wrong Zen answer he became a fox for five hundred rebirths. Now I want to ask: If some modern master is asked many questions, and he always gives the right answer, what will become of him?”
Hyakujo said: “You come here near me and I will tell you.”
Obaku went near Hyakujo and slapped the teacher’s face with his hand, for he knew this was the answer his teacher intended to give him.
Hyakujo clapped his hands and laughed….
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CASE 2 DISCUSSION
Was the old man’s answer right or wrong?
In other words, was the old man the victim of a corrupt judgment? Or is the old man unenlightened?
In still other words, does the old man deserve to be set free from his SENTENCE or not?
The reader only has to answer the same question as the old man to set the old man free, to wit:
“Is the enlightened man subject to the law of causation [which is karma]?”
But to be free themself the reader obviously must answer correctly, and if the reader answers wrong then the reader receives the old man’s SENTENCE!
My answer is exactly the same as the old man’s answer: The enlightened man is not subject to the law of causation.
Question: Am I worried about being wrong?
Answer: No, I am not worried, and I can show that the Hyakujo’s Fox case itself PROVES that the old man was (and I am) correct.
HERE’S THE PROOF:
The koan is about an old man who tells a Zen Master named Hyakujo that THE OLD MAN’S CAUSE OF DEATH—and rebirth as a fox, but rebirth isn’t possible without DYING FIRST—was giving the wrong answer to the question of whether the ENLIGHTENED MAN is subject to the law of causation [karma]?
So first put the old man’s DEATH in terms of the law of causation:
the CAUSE was giving the wrong answer about the ENLIGHTENED MAN, and the EFFECT was DEATH.
So if the old man gave the wrong answer, then the old man could NOT BE ENLIGHTENED.
That’s one FACT that the koan gives us.
In other words, UNENLIGHTENMENT was the CAUSE of the EFFECT OF DYING and being reborn as a fox many times.
Re-stating we can say that under the law of causation [karma], UNENLIGHTENMENT CAUSES DEATH.
So the actual question is: COULD ENLIGHTENMENT ALSO CAUSE DEATH under the law of causation?
To repeat: The actual question based on the facts-as-given is: “IS THE ENLIGHTENED MAN SUBJECT TO DEATH?”
My answer: NO.
But let’s investigate the koan some more to see if THE KOAN gives us (PROVES) the answer.
Here recall what Hyakujo said in response to the actual YES-OR-NO question, which (to repeat again) is: “IS THE ENLIGHTENED MAN SUBJECT TO DEATH?”
Hyakujo said: “The enlightened man is one with the law of causation.”
So Hyakujo’s answer is NON-RESPONSIVE TO THE YES-OR-NO QUESTION.
In other words, Hyakujo engaged in OBFUSCATION, which is, by definition, A WRONG ANSWER to a yes-or-no question.
And if Hyakujo gave the wrong answer to a question about the ENLIGHTENED MAN, then Hyakujo is NOT AN ENLIGHTENED MAN (and that’s a big problem because Hyakujo is a Zen Master.)
And we already established that the koan-facts prove that giving the wrong answer about the ENLIGHTENED MAN has the effect of DEATH.
So let’s leave Hyakujo to it, and try to answer Obaku’s question, which was this:
“I understand that a long time ago because a certain person gave a wrong Zen answer he became a fox for five hundred rebirths. Now I want to ask: If some modern master is asked many questions, and he always gives the right answer, what will become of him?”
In other words, we were told that the old man’s answer was judged to be wrong. BUT WHAT IF WE SAY THE OLD MAN WAS RIGHT?
*What will become of US* if we AGREE with the old man’s answer?
and
*What will become of US* if we DISAGREE with old man’s answer?
Let’s go ahead and do the experiment to see if Obaku is the CAUSE of us receiving the EFFECT of the PROOF we are seeking that the old man was right.
Recall that we already figured-out from the facts as-given that under the law of causation UNENLIGHTENMENT CAUSES DEATH.
So if the old man’s “no” answer was RIGHT and if we DISAGREE with him, then we know that we are UNENLIGHTENED and WE WILL SURELY DIE.
OK fine.
Now let’s ask THE BIG QUESTION:
If the old man’s “no” answer was RIGHT—which means that the old man was ENLIGHTENED—and if we AGREE with him, then WHAT WILL BECOME OF US?
Ruh roh.
That’s bad.
That’s what Obaku was getting-at!
Right?
Raise your hand if you would agree TO GIVE THE DEATH PENALTY TO SOMEONE FOR BEING *RIGHT*?
To re-phrase, the question is: Is it *correct* for BEING ENLIGHTENED to be the CAUSE of a man experiencing the EFFECT OF DEATH?
Woe.
Giving someone the EFFECT OF DEATH for the CAUSE of being RIGHT (ENLIGHTENED)—in other words “Subjecting the enlightened man to the law of causation”—WOULD BE MURDER.
And that was the OG question: “Is the enlightened man subject to the law of causation?”
Answer: NO! THAT WOULD BE MURDER!
Ergo, thanks to Obaku (who saved the old man’s reputation), we have shown that the “Hyakujo’s Fox” koan PROVES that THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN ENLIGHTENED DEAD MAN.
A dead Buddha is a myth.
THE DEAD BUDDHA OF LITERATURE IS A MYTH.
And isn’t that—there is no such thing as an enlightened dead man—exactly what the old man told Hyakujo? And didn’t Hyakujo reveal himself to be a murderer?
Let’s look at the “funeral content” of the koan to answer those questions:
The old man was reportedly ENLIGHTENED and EMANCIPATED from being a fox by Hyakujo’s WRONG answer to the question, but the old man also reportedly had to leave his fox body on the mountain, and so the old man requested Huyakujo to “perform his funeral as a monk”—in other words the request was to KILL AN ENLIGHTENED MAN—which Hyakujo did!
That’s MURDER as we’ve PROVEN.
Then later, upon hearing the entire story, OBAKU SMELLED THE MURDER, and he asked “the smoking gun” question to convict Hyakujo of murder beyond any doubt—the same question we answered for ourselves above: SHOULD YOU GIVE THE DEATH PENALTY TO SOMEONE FOR BEING RIGHT?—but before receiving the answer Obaku very wisely applied REASONABLE FORCE, so to speak, against Hyakujo in self-defense after the proven-to-be-unenlightened Hyakujo threatened to answer the question WITHOUT WORDS.
So we have shown that the Hyakujo’s Fox kaon PROVES that “the enlightened person is not subject to the law of causation [karma].”
Any teaching to the contrary about DEAD BUDDHAS (dead ENLIGHTENED people) is being made by UNENLIGHTENED people.
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In joy,
Frank