Comments by Thomas Cleary

dragon howl & lion roar:  ‘the great life following the great death.’  Rediscovery & reawakening of the whole potential after liberation from bondage to conditioning. Seeing the truth in things.
dead tree & skull:  nirvana, the great death.
Is there life after the great death of awakening?  What does the dragon say?

Talk about the dead tree and dead ashes is originally a deviate teaching.  However the dead tree spoken of by deviants and the dead tree spoken of by the enlightened ones are very different.

dead tree/dead ashes:  nirvana, liberation.  ‘Deviant’ insofar as they are present or  interpreted in nihilistic or quietistic terms as escapism or detachement for its own sake. ‘Detachment’ is a means, not an end.  Enlightened ones know the difference.
A dragon does not stay in stagnant water.  The still pond cannot contain the dragon’s coils.

Although deviants talk about the dead tree, they don’t know the dead tree, much less hear the dragon howl.  Deviants think the dead tree is dead wood, and practice as if for it there is no more spring.

Emptiness wrongly practiced does not actually uproot compulsive mental habit energies, but only keeps them in temporary and partial abeyance; therefore this is not really the “dead tree”.  This also inhibits the lively potential of mind, so it is thus impossible to “hear the dragon howl”.  This onesided emptiness is death without life,  “as if there were no more spring.”

A dead tree spoken of by the enlightened is the study of the drying up of the ocean. The ocean drying up is the death of the tree, the death of the tree is meeting the spring.  The nonmoving of the tree is dying.

drying up of the ocean:  stilling the waves of the ocean of birth and death, of automatic or compulsive, craving behaviour.  Suffering ceases when the desire to possess particular conditions ‘dries up’.  The ocean drying up is the death of the tree.
the death of the tree is meeting the spring:  after enlightenment, one is free of cravings and ‘spring’ returns.
The nonmoving of the tree is dying:  when the waves of desire (consciousness) cease, the   moon is unhindered.
“You will get it if your feelings do not stick to things; if feelings do not stick to things, how can things hinder people?”

The present mountain trees, ocean trees and the sky trees are dead trees.  And sprouts are the dragon howl of the dead tree.  Even one with a circumference in the billions is a descendent of the dead tree.  The characteristics, essence, substance and power of the dead tree is the deadwood post spoken of by the enlightened; it is a not-dead post.

mountains:  nirmanakaya, the physical body of the Buddha; the physical environment
ocean:  sambhogakaya, body of consumate enjoyment;  consiousness & knowledge.
sky:  dharmakaya, the body of reality;  empiness.
All three bodies are empty because they cannot be objectively grasped as self-existent entities at large.  All are ‘dead trees’.
sprouts:  regrowth of the primal energy after the great death.  Life after awakening.
Even one with a circumference in the billions is a descendent of the dead tree.  Everything comes from emptiness.  Potentiality within emptiness:  the relative within the absolute.
The characteristics, essence, substance and power of the dead tree :  kinds of ‘suchness’ or ‘thusness’ (tathata)
is the deadwood post:  Total suchness is ‘a deadwood post’ in that it is in reality not as or what it is made out to be by mundane consiousness observing superficial appearances and partial definitions.
it is a not-dead post:  because stopping (death) introduces seeing (dragon howl/meeting the spring), it is not conventially dead, so it is a not-dead post.

There are mountain and valley trees, there are field and hamlet trees.  The mountain and valley trees are conventionally called pine and cypress;  the field and hamlet trees are conventionally called human and celestial.  The leaves spread based on the roots---this is called the enlightened ones.  Roots and branches must return to the source---this is participative study.  Being like this is the long reality body of the dead tree, is the short reality body of the dead tree.

mountain and valley:  ultimate truth
field and hamlet:  conventional truth
pine and cypress:  unchanging
human and celestial:  temporality
This shows two aspects of emptiness:  empty and nonempty.  The Middle Way is between these two.
The leaves spread based on the roots:  enlightened beings have knowledge of true reality
Roots and branches must return to the source---this is participative study:  both enlightenment and its manifestations derive from reality; Zen study involves getting back to this reality.
the long reality body of the dead tree:  jnana (knowledge) & karuna (compassion)
the short reality body of the dead tree.:  prajna (insight/wisdom) Wisdom cuts through directly to the source; knowledge & compassion connect the root and the branches.

As long as it is not a dead tree, it does not make a dragon howl.   If it is not a dead tree, it does not lose the dragon howl.  How many times meeting the spring without changing the mind is the dragon howl of total death.   Though it is not among the notes of the musical scale, the notes of the musical scale are earlier and later two or three children of the dragon howl.

As long as it is not a dead tree, it does not make a dragon howl:  without true enlightenment, true seeing and understanding do not occur
If it is not a dead tree, it does not lose the dragon howl: however, there is true potential in everyone.
How many times meeting the spring without changing the mind is the dragon
howl of total death:  being unaffected by mental and emotional disturbances is the great nirvana in the midst of life
the notes of the musical scale:  conventional structures, organizations---the relative world of order.  Limited products deriving from an unlimited source. OR---stages of meditation practices
two or three children of the dragon howl:  no state of meditation can be the real goal, thus all mental states are “two or three children of the dragon howl”.

However, this monk’s statement---is there a dragon howl in a dead tree---has become manifest for the first time in a question in measureless eons.  It is the manifestation of a saying.

The answer is always there but the question needs to be asked for the answer to be brought out.  The question itself is the dragon howl.

Tosu’s statement---I say there is a lion roar in a skull---is a case of what is hidden, is a case of restraining oneself and putting another first, is a case of skulls littering the fields.

The dragon howl, the lion roar, are never completely hidden.  What is hidden is ‘Who is hiding it?’
a case of restraining oneself and putting another first:  “It’s not that I don’t want to answer you, but I’m afraid if I did I’d be bereft of descendents.”
skulls littering the fields:  absolute within the relative (?);  enlightenment (truth) is all around

A monk asked Kyogen, “What is the Way?”
Kyogen said, “A dragon howl in a dead tree.”
The monk said, “I don’t understand.”
Kyogen said, “Eyes in a skull.”

Eyes in a skull:  seeing after enlightenment;  understanding, but not in (of) the ordinary mind

Later a monk asked Sekiso, “What is a dragon howl in a dead tree?”
Sekiso said, “Still joyful.”
The monk asked, “What are eyes in a skull?”
Sekiso said, “Still conscious.”

Still joyful:  joy without clinging
Still conscious:  consiousness but without clinging.  You can move in the world but not be of the world. Skin and flesh falling away entirely.

A monk also asked Sozan, “What is a dragon howl in a dead tree?”
Sozan said, “The blood line is not ended.”
The monk asked, “What are eyes in a skull?”
Sozan said, “Not entirely dry.”
The monk asked, “Does anyone hear?”
Sozan said, “There is no one in the world who does not hear.”
The monk asked, “What writing does the expression dragon howl come from?”
Sozan said, “I don’t know what writing the expression comes from, but those who hear it all die.”

The blood line is not ended:  teaching goes on forever but one is not ‘turned around’ by words
Not entirely dry: the ocean drying up but not reaching the bottom nothing is left but nothing is removed.  (the tail of the ox can’t get through?)
There is no one in the world who does not hear:  Buddha-nature is everywhere.  Who does not have it? 

The hearer and howler of which an attempt is being made here to speak are not equal to the howler of the dragon howl.  This tune is the dragon howl.  In a dead tree and in a skull are not inside or outside, not self or other; they are present and past. Still joyful is moreover the horn on the head growing.  Still conscious is skin and flesh falling away entirely.

The hearer and howler of which an attempt is being made here to speak are not equal to the  howler of the dragon howl.  “Hearing the name is not as good as seeing the face”. Realizing this, seeing the face is This tune is the dragon howl
they are present and past:  they are all time.  “all beings are always in nirvana and do not enter nirvana at a given time.”
 Still joyful is moreover the horn on the head growing:  care should be taken so that ‘joy’ doesn’t become greed.  True joy is without clinging.
Saying too much causes horns to grow.

Sozan’s saying the blood line is not ended is a case of speaking without avoidance, is a case of turning around in the stream of words.  Not entirely dry is the ocean drying up but not reaching the bottom.  Because not entirely is dry, it is dryness upon dryness.

speaking without avoidance:  Sozan doesn’t begrudge body and life.
a case of turning around in the stream of words:  knowing when to kill and when to give life with words
not entirely is dry: it is dryness upon dryness:  ‘wisdom that has gone utterly beyond’ the distinction between life in the world
and nirvana.

To say does anyone hear is like saying does anyone not attain (or, does anyone not hear).  As for there is no one in the world who does not hear, one should yet ask, leaving aside there is no one who does not hear, when there is no world, where is the dragon howl?  Speak quickly!

does anyone not attain:  nonattainment is most difficult!

As for what writing does the expression ‘dragon howl’ come from, it should be made a question.  The dragon howl is of itself making a sound holding forth that is in the mind, it is breathing out that is in the nostrils.

it should be made a question:  the answer is in the question.  The question is “What is the question?”  The dragon howl is expressed according to mind; it comes to live according to capacity.

As for I don’t know what writing the expression comes from, this is there is a dragon in written expression.  As for those who hear it all die, it is pitiable.

I don’t know what writing:  All sounds are the voice of the Buddha
As for those who hear it all die, it is pitiable:  kill the living, raise the dead

Now the dragon howling of Kyogen, Sekiso, and Sozan make clouds and water.  I do not say this is speaking, I do not say eyes or skull---this is a thousand melodies, ten thousand melodies of just a dragon howl.  Still joyful---a clam howl;  still conscious---a worm howl.  Due to this the blood line is not ended, and gourds are heir to gourds.   Because not entirely dry, the pillars are pregnant, the lamps face the lamps.