Attaining Great Freedom

Clouds in the blue sky, water in the bottle.

The prefect Li Gao of Dingzhou had long heard of Yaoshan's profound teaching and invited him many times, but Yaoshan never came. So Li Gao went to visit him in person. Yaoshan sat holding a scripture scroll and didn't even look up. His attendant said, "The prefect is here." Li Gao, hot-tempered by nature, snapped, "Meeting you in person isn't worth the reputation." He brushed his sleeve and turned to leave. Yaoshan called after him, "Prefect, why do you value your ears over your eyes?" Li Gao turned back, bowed in apology, and asked, "What is the Way?" Yaoshan pointed up and down and said, "Do you understand?" Li Gao replied, "No." Yaoshan said, "Clouds in the blue sky, water in the bottle."

Delighted and moved, Li Gao bowed deeply and composed a verse:

My body refined, lean and lithe as a crane's, A single scroll of scriptures beneath a thousand pines. I came to ask about the Way — no extra words needed: Clouds in the blue sky, water in the bottle.

Li Gao asked again, "What are precepts, meditation, and wisdom?" Yaoshan said, "This old monk has no use for such idle furniture." Li Gao couldn't grasp his meaning. Yaoshan said, "If you want to make this matter your own, you must stand on the highest peak and walk along the deepest ocean floor. Whatever you can't bear to let go of — even the things closest to your heart — will become a leak."

Commentary on the Case

Water in a bottle is just water. It's shaped and constrained by whatever holds it: round in a round vessel, square in a square one. But water in the sky is cloud — free and unbound, drifting wherever the wind carries it, taking shape as it will. This is what's meant by attaining great freedom. Yet for water in a bottle to become a cloud in the sky, it must pass through the ordeal of evaporation and ascent — a metaphor for the practitioner who would attain awakening and must strive fiercely, enduring every hardship.

The precepts, meditation, and wisdom of the Way live within your own body and mind; you won't find them anywhere else. They don't increase in the awakened or decrease in the ordinary. My awakening can't substitute for yours; my confusion can't substitute for yours. Even though precepts, meditation, and wisdom dwell in my own nature, they can't become yours. From this it's easy to see: the awakened Buddha-nature is fully present in everyone, equal and undivided. So Yaoshan's words — that he had no use for such idle furniture — are spot on. Li Gao failed to grasp this precisely because he was stuck on the literal phrase "idle furniture," puzzling over how precepts, meditation, and wisdom could be called something discardable. No wonder he was confused. If you cling to the surface meaning of words and won't let go of the letter, you can't even master Confucian scholarship — let alone penetrate the living heart of Chan.

Yaoshan warned Li Gao: whatever you can't bear to part with — even the things closest to your heart — will become a leak. Appetite and desire are human nature; no one is exempt. But to cultivate a character of genuine worth, you need noble integrity, a pure and lofty will, and the determination to match your words with action, fear no hardship, and give everything you have. This is what Yaoshan meant by standing on the highest peak and walking along the deepest ocean floor.

The modern scholar Wang Guowei wrote in his Renjian Cihua: "All who achieve great things, in ancient times or now, must pass through three stages. 'Last night the west wind withered the green trees; alone I climb the high tower, gazing down the road to the world's end' — this is the first. 'My belt grows loose yet I do not regret it; for her I have wasted away, gaunt and worn' — this is the second. 'I search for him a thousand times in the crowd; then I turn my head, and there he is — where the lamplight flickers dim' — this is the third."

The Master of the Baoxia Tower in Zhutang, Jiangyin, said: "To awaken to Chan: clarify your mind and nature, align your words and actions, and you'll reach the farther shore. To accomplish anything in the world: set a distant goal, taste bitterness and toil, and you'll succeed. The two may be said to follow a single track."