Traveling over rivers and oceans or crossing mountain streams,
Seeking teachers, asking the way to investigate Ch'an.
Since I recognize the path of Ts'ao Ch'i,
I realize all those do not relate to birth and death.


Yung-chia traveled to many different places, practiced many methods and visited many masters. When he finally met Sixth Patriarch Hui-neng, who is here referred to as Ts'ao Ch'i, he realized that everything he had done up to that point had not brought him any closer to solving the problem of birth and death. Nothing he had done in the past had been genuine practice. In the T'ang dynasty, there was a Ch'an master named Huang-po. He was a disciple of Pai-chang, who, in turn, was a disciple of Ma-tzu. All three monks were famous Ch'an masters. Huang-po said, "In the T'ang empire there is not one Ch'an master."

What did Huang-po mean? Ma-tzu and Pai-chang had many outstanding disciples, so there were indeed many Ch'an masters teaching Buddhadharma. Monks and nuns spent most of their lives going on pilgrimages, visiting temples and monasteries, and studying under great masters. Huang-po meant that if people cannot grasp the essence of Buddhadharma, then for them there are no Ch'an masters. Whether or not there are true Ch'an masters is a completely different question. You may study with many masters, but if you do not understand the Dharma they teach, then they are not really your masters.