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Linji taught the gathering, “There is a true person of no rank who is always coming
and going through the portals of your face. Those of you with beginner’s mind who
have still not verified this, look, look.”
A student asked, “What is the true person of no rank like?”
Linji came down from the teacher’s seat and grabbed him.
The student hesitated.
Linji released him and said, “What a dried-up piece of shit this true person of no rank is.”

The first thing to come along as I started spending time with this koan was Linji’s enlightenment story, Case 86 in Equanimity, which goes like this:

The Head Monk asked Linji, “How long have you been practicing here?”

Linji said, “Three years.”

The Head Monk said, “Have you gone for an interview with the master or not?”

Linji said, “I haven’t done so. I don’t know what to ask him.”

The Head Monk said, “Why not ask him, ‘What is the essential meaning of Buddhism?’”

So Linji went to see Huangbo, but before he could finish his question Huangbo struck him.

Linji went out, and the Head Monk asked him, “What happened when you asked him?”

Linji said, “Before I could get the words out he hit me. I don’t understand.”

The Head Monk said, “Go ask him again.”

So Linji asked Huangbo again, and Huangbo once again hit him. Linji asked a third time, and Huangbo hit him again.

Linji revealed this to the Head Monk, saying, “Before you urged me to ask about the Dharma, but all I got was a beating. Because of evil karmic hindrances I’m not able to comprehend the essential mystery. So, today I’m going to leave here.”

The Head Monk said, “If you’re going to leave, you must say goodbye to the master.”

The next day when Linji came to say goodbye to Huangbo, Huangbo said, “You don’t need to go somewhere else. Just go over to the Gao’an Monastery and practice with Dayu. He’ll explain it to you.”

When Linji reached Dayu, Dayu said, “Where have you come from?”

Linji said, “From Huangbo.”

Dayu said, “What did Huangbo say?”

Linji said, “Three times I asked him about the essential doctrine and three times I got hit. I don’t know if I made some error or not.”

Dayu said, “Huangbo has old grandmotherly affection and endures all this difficulty for your sake—and here you are asking whether you’ve made some error or not!”

Upon hearing these words Linji was awakened.

It is easy to assume that Linji’s reference to the “true person of no rank” pertains to the tendency of individuals to elevate themselves above others, holding an exaggerated view of their own understanding. But, given Linji’s enlightenment story, I’m inclined to believe that he was also talking about those who thought less of themselves, as he did with Huangbo and as the monk in the koan did with Linji.

Maybe as you do too?

—David Weinstein

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David Weinstein Roshi, Director of Rockridge Meditation Community