主人公, the master of the house, is the self Ruiyan calls to and answers each day. Blyth prints “True Self” and glosses it “the Buddha nature, the Nature of the universe,” reifying a household master into a cosmic essence, in the very commentary where he renders 無位真人 as a plain person.
The confrontation
And where he construes the word, it leaves the band further
He consulted himself, Himself, the Buddha nature, the Nature of the universe, his original, fundamental living principle. (p. 108)
The dictionary's band
Attested band verbatim from the dictionary entry 主人公
- the one in charge
- the master of the house
- one's own master
Blyth knew better
Blyth knew better
Real Man of undefined status
Zen and Zen Classics, Volume 4: Mumonkan, p. 110
In the same commentary Blyth renders Rinzai's 無位真人 as “Real Man of undefined status,” a person, not a Self, and renders the case's own imperative 惺惺著 as “Awake! Awake!” The readily answering, reflexive person 主人公 is the one term he alone lifts into “the Buddha nature, the Nature of the universe.”
The literal reading
Ruiyan calls out to himself each day, 主人公, master of the house, and answers himself, “Yes,” then warns 惺惺著, be wide awake, 莫受人瞞, do not be deceived by anyone. The band is the one in charge, the master of the house, one's own master: a reflexive address to oneself as the responsible party, the householder who must stay awake, not a name for a metaphysical Self.
The alteration
Blyth turns the household master into “True Self” and then glosses that as “the Buddha nature, the Nature of the universe.” A homely, comic image, a man calling and answering himself, is inflated into a cosmic essence. The band keeps 主人公 a person: the one in charge, the master of the house, one's own master, the householder who must stay awake and unfooled. Raising that reflexive address to the Nature of the universe leaves the band on the abstract side, and Blyth's own “Real Man of undefined status” on the next leaf shows he could keep it a person.