conversations.from: human
conversations.value: What could be a title for a book about [is], Zen, Library with the genre: Religion & Spirituality, Buddhism?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: A title for this book could be 'The Blue Cliff Record'
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: What is the first five paragraphs for this book?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The Blue Cliff Record
  The blue cliff record / translated from the Chinese Pi yen lu by Thomas and J. C. Cleary ; foreword by Taizan Maezumi Roshi.
  As mentioned in the Introduction, around 1140 Ta Hui burned the original, published by his teacher Yuan Wu in 1128. The familiar version of the present day is the edition of 1300, based upon remaining handwritten copies and two previously published versions. The manuscript Dōgen Zenji brought back to Japan some seventy years earlier was probably based on one of the two previous versions, or on a handwritten copy of the day.
  Although we know that all animate and inanimate beings are intrinsically buddhas, mere knowing is not enough. Dōgen Zenji says, "This dharma (enlightened life) is abundantly inherent in each individual; nevertheless, without practice it will not be revealed, and without enlightenment it will not be realized."
  Penetrating the Blue Cliff, you will open "... the eye within eyes," and realizing life through the Blue Cliff, you yourself will become a torch, "... the light beyond light."
  The Chinese and Japanese pronunciations Ch'an and Zen are used in this volume because they are most familiar to Westerners, and it has been the Chinese and Japanese traditions of Ch'an which have thus far indirectly and directly most affected the early growth of Zen in the West. Ch'an also existed and exists in Korea and Vietnam, and contacts between these traditions and Western students have begun; for all of these, however, Chinese Ch'an is the ancestral tradition, and this will be our focus in the introduction to this volume.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: What is four more paragraphs?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The ladle handle of the eastern house is long; the ladle handle of the western house is short. Who knows how many complications he created?
  What is there to say? Don't make me speak too. Don't make a wild duck cry. Heavens! Right where you are you deserve thirty blows. Who knows where they went to?
  Directly and immediately, Hsueh Tou makes his verse saying, "Wild ducks—who knows where they are?" But say, how many are there? "Ma Tsu saw them coming and they had words with each other." This versifies Ma Tsu asking Pai Chang, "What is that?" and Chang saying, "Wild ducks." "He told all about the scene of the clouds on the mountains and the moon over the sea. As before Chang did not understand; instead he said, "They've flown away." Twice he missed it.
  With "Pai Chang wanted to fly away, but Ma Tsu held him fast," Hsueh Tou settles the case on the basis of the facts. He also says, "Speak! Speak!" This is where Hsueh Tou turns himself around. But say, how will you speak? If you make a cry of pain, then you're wrong. If you don't make a cry of pain, then how do you understand it? Though Hsueh Tou versifies most wondrously, no matter what he does he can't leap out either.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Add another sentence about Tsu, Great, Master, teaching, conveyed, revealed, everything.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The ladle handle of the eastern house is long; the ladle handle of the western house is short. Who knows how many complications he created?
  What is there to say? Don't make me speak too. Don't make a wild duck cry. Heavens! Right where you are you deserve thirty blows. Who knows where they went to?
  Directly and immediately, Hsueh Tou makes his verse saying, "Wild ducks—who knows where they are?" But say, how many are there? "Ma Tsu saw them coming and they had words with each other. " This versifies Ma Tsu asking Pai Chang, "What is that?" and Chang saying, "Wild ducks. " "He told all about the scene of the clouds on the mountains and the moon over the sea. " This versifies Ma Tsu again asking, "Where have they gone?" The teaching which Great Master Ma conveyed to Pai Chang spontaneously revealed everything. As before Chang did not understand; instead he said, "They've flown away. " Twice he missed it. 
  With "Pai Chang wanted to fly away, but Ma Tsu held him fast," Hsueh Tou settles the case on the basis of the facts. He also says, "Speak! Speak!" This is where Hsueh Tou turns himself around. But say, how will you speak? If you make a cry of pain, then you're wrong. If you don't make a cry of pain, then how do you understand it? Though Hsueh Tou versifies most wondrously, no matter what he does he can't leap out either.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: What is the last four paragraphs?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: At the time, a monk asked, "Wearing fur and horns—what fall is this? Not accepting food—what fall is this? Not cutting off sound and form—what fall is this?" I said, "Wearing fur and horns is the fall of the ascetic. Not cutting off sound and form is the fall according to kind. Not accepting food is the fall of the precious—this is the fundamental thing; one knows it exists, yet does not grasp it, so it is said, 'fall of the precious.' As for wearing fur and horns, the fall of an ascetic, this is not clinging to the business of asceticism, nor to the states of rewards of all saints. As for not cutting off sound and form, the fall according to kind, because a beginner knows he has his own fundamental thing, when he turns back the light he gets rid of all form, sound, smell, flavor, feel, and ideas, and attains stillness. Thus after he perfects this accomplishment, he does not cling to the six sense fields; falling among them, he is not befuddled, going along with them without hindrance. Therefore it is said, The six teachers of outside paths are your teachers; when those teachers fall, you also fall along with them, and thereby can eat.' The food is the food of right livelihood; it is also the fundamental thing. It is just that not being defiled by the perceptive awareness in your six senses is called 'falling'—it is not the same as former fears. One does not even grasp his own concern, the fundamental thing, much less anything else."
  The absolute state is the realm of emptiness, where there has never been a single thing; the relative state is the realm of form, with myriad forms. The relative within the absolute is turning away from principle and going to phenomena; the absolute within the relative is indifference to phenomena, entering principle. It is not defiled, not pure, not true, not biased; therefore it is called the empty mysterious great way, the non-grasping true source. The past worthies since time immemorial have esteemed this rank (state of integration) as the most wondrous and most mysterious. You must discern it clearly and thoroughly. The lord is the absolute state, the vassal is the relative state. The vassal turning towards the lord is the absolute within the relative; the lord looking upon the vassal is the relative within the absolute. The way of lord and vassal in harmony is an expression of mutual integration.
  The master said, "His wondrous virtue is honored throughout the world; his lofty illumination shines through the great void."
  Coming from within the absolute is lotus flowers blooming on parched ground—their golden calyxes and silver stems are bathed in jade dewdrops. The eminent monk does not sit on the phoenix pedestal. The relative within the absolute—the moon is bright at midnight, the sun must greet the dawn. The absolute within the relative—a hair tip becomes a huge tree, a drop of water becomes a river. Arriving in both—spirit does not come from heaven or earth; how can heroism depend on the four seasons for its impulse? Simultaneous realization—the jade woman casts the shuttle on the whirring loom, the stone man beats the drum, boom boom.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Add another sentence about Mutual, responding, falling.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: At the time, a monk asked, "Wearing fur and horns—what fall is this? Not accepting food—what fall is this? Not cutting off sound and form—what fall is this?" I said, "Wearing fur and horns is the fall of the ascetic. Not cutting off sound and form is the fall according to kind. Not accepting food is the fall of the precious—this is the fundamental thing; one knows it exists, yet does not grasp it, so it is said, 'fall of the precious. ' As for wearing fur and horns, the fall of an ascetic, this is not clinging to the business of asceticism, nor to the states of rewards of all saints. As for not cutting off sound and form, the fall according to kind, because a beginner knows he has his own fundamental thing, when he turns back the light he gets rid of all form, sound, smell, flavor, feel, and ideas, and attains stillness. Thus after he perfects this accomplishment, he does not cling to the six sense fields; falling among them, he is not befuddled, going along with them without hindrance. Therefore it is said, The six teachers of outside paths are your teachers; when those teachers fall, you also fall along with them, and thereby can eat. ' The food is the food of right livelihood; it is also the fundamental thing. It is just that not being defiled by the perceptive awareness in your six senses is called 'falling'—it is not the same as former fears. One does not even grasp his own concern, the fundamental thing, much less anything else. "
  The absolute state is the realm of emptiness, where there has never been a single thing; the relative state is the realm of form, with myriad forms. The relative within the absolute is turning away from principle and going to phenomena; the absolute within the relative is indifference to phenomena, entering principle. Mutual integration is subtly responding to myriad circumstances without falling into various existences. It is not defiled, not pure, not true, not biased; therefore it is called the empty mysterious great way, the non-grasping true source. The past worthies since time immemorial have esteemed this rank (state of integration) as the most wondrous and most mysterious. You must discern it clearly and thoroughly. The lord is the absolute state, the vassal is the relative state. The vassal turning towards the lord is the absolute within the relative; the lord looking upon the vassal is the relative within the absolute. The way of lord and vassal in harmony is an expression of mutual integration. 
  The master said, "His wondrous virtue is honored throughout the world; his lofty illumination shines through the great void. "
  Coming from within the absolute is lotus flowers blooming on parched ground—their golden calyxes and silver stems are bathed in jade dewdrops. The eminent monk does not sit on the phoenix pedestal. The relative within the absolute—the moon is bright at midnight, the sun must greet the dawn. The absolute within the relative—a hair tip becomes a huge tree, a drop of water becomes a river. Arriving in both—spirit does not come from heaven or earth; how can heroism depend on the four seasons for its impulse? Simultaneous realization—the jade woman casts the shuttle on the whirring loom, the stone man beats the drum, boom boom.