6. The Koans of Chan

A Golden Pagoda, a Silver Pagoda, a Muddy Heap

By sitting in the full lotus posture, we generate precept power, samadhi power, and wisdom power. The Vajra Dharma-protectors will protect those who sit in full lotus. The demon kings will be kept at bay, and the hungry ghosts will make obeisance.

Here is a koan about full lotus posture. In the past, when Buddhism prevailed in China, monks would be invited to recite sutras at funerals and other special events. Monks who crassly made a profession out of this were derisively referred to as Sutra-peddlers. This story is about one such monk who made a living peddling sutras.

Once, it was nearing midnight when he set out on his return from an evening of chanting sutras for a fee. As he passed through the village, a dog barked at him. The owners of the dog wondered why their dog was barking. The lady of the house said, “Take a look and see who it is. Is it a thief trying to steal something?” Her husband looked out of the window and said, “Oh, it is nothing. Just that Sutra-peddling ghost. Just a sutra-peddling ghost.”

The monk became perplexed when he heard that comment. “Why did he refer to me as a sutra-peddling ghost?” He considered himself to be a sutra-reciting monk, but that man had called him the sutra-peddling ghost. He walked on, intent on getting back to his monastery. Suddenly, there was a cloudburst, and the rain poured down. Quickly, the monk took shelter under a bridge. With nothing else to do, he sat down to meditate. Just as he pulled his legs into full lotus posture, two ghosts emerged from the river.

Those ghosts were terribly ugly. Normally, if someone sees a ghost, he will be alarmed. But since the monk was meditating, he was not afraid when he saw the two ghosts. Besides, since he often chanted sutras to cross over ghosts, he thought a lot about ghosts. Hence, when he met these two, he was not afraid. He just kept meditating. Well, the two ghosts started bowing to him. They kept on bowing to him for somewhere between twenty minutes and half an hour.

After that stretch of time, the monk’s legs began to hurt, and he could not endure sitting in full lotus any longer. And so, he eased out of full lotus position into half lotus. Then he heard the two ghosts talking, “Hey, just now we were bowing to a golden pagoda. How did it become a silver one?” Now it became clear to the monk why the ghosts were bowing to him. Since pagodas contain sharira (jewel-like relics that remain after cremation) of Buddhas and sages, when ghosts see a pagoda, they must bow and pay respect. “They must be seeing a pagoda here,” thought the monk in amazement. Well, after what the ghosts perceived as a golden pagoda became a silver one, one of the ghosts said, “There are also sharira in silver pagodas, so we had better keep bowing to pay our respects!” With that, the two ghosts started bowing again.

Meanwhile, the monk sat for another half hour or so in the half-lotus position before his legs began to hurt again. Finally, he could endure the pain no longer. But the rain had not stopped. If it had, he would have left his shelter under the bridge and continued on his way. To ease the pain in his legs, the monk moved into a casual cross-legged sitting position. Well, when the two ghosts took a peek, they simultaneously exclaimed, “Look! This is not a golden pagoda or a silver one. It is just a heap of mud! Let us destroy it!” As soon as the monk heard that the ghosts were going to attack him, he quickly pulled his legs back up and sat in a full lotus position again. The ghosts perceived the heap of mud turn into a golden pagoda again. “Wow! What an awesome state! We had better bow some more.” So, they started bowing to the pagoda again.

Thereupon the monk thought to himself, “Hmmm...Full lotus position creates a golden pagoda. Half lotus creates a silver pagoda. Sitting casually is just a mound of mud.” Here he was a human being, but those ghosts saw him as a mound of mud. How strange! From that time on, the monk resolved to attain Bodhi and no longer went around peddling Sutras. He stopped chanting sutras for a livelihood. Instead, he practiced meditation in his monastery, always in a full lotus position. After sitting for some time, he became enlightened, whereupon he reflected, “My enlightenment was actually helped along by those two ghosts. If I had not met them, I would not be enlightened today.” So after that, he called himself Pressured by Ghosts. That is the name we know him by today: Chan Master Pressured by Ghosts. The ghosts forced him into cultivating.