Tag: Zen

Isan asked Kyôzan, “Suppose a man asks you, saying, ‘All living beings are tossed in a vast karma-consciousness, and have no foundation to rely upon.’ How would you check him?”

Kyôzan said, “If such a monk appears, I call out to him, ‘Mr. So-and-so!’ When he turns his head, instantly I say, ‘What is this?’ If he hesitates, then I say to him, ‘Not only is there a vast karma-consciousness, but also there is no foundation to rely upon.’”

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"
href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1JE3hllIxO8/SfhR82by7tI/AAAAAAAAH_o/mn1cCrHqPDU/s1600/ANOST015_Cover.jpg”&gt;

Isan said, “Good.”

Great Master Ba was seriously ill.

The temple steward asked him,

“Master, how are you feeling these days?”

Great Master said,

“Sun-faced Buddha, Moon-faced Buddha.”

Rakuho came to Kassan and without bowing stood facing him.

Kassan said, “A chicken dwells in the phoenix nest. It’s not of the same class. Go away.”

Rakuho said, “I have come from far away, hearing much about you. Please, Master, I beg you to guide me.”

Kassan said, “Before my eyes there is no you, and here there is no old monk.”

Rakuho shouted, “Kaatz!”

Kassan said, “Stop it, stop it. Don’t be so careless and hasty. Clouds and the moon are the same; valleys and mountains are different from each other. It is not difficult to cut off the tongues of the people under heaven. But how can you make a tongueless person speak?”

Rakuho said nothing.

Kassan hit him.

With this, Rakuho started to obey Kassan.

Fuketsu, giving instruction, said,

“If one raises a speck of dust, the house and the nation prosper.

If one does not raise a speck of dust, they perish.”

Setchô held up his staff and said,

“Is there anyone who lives and dies with this?”

Sanshô asked Seppô, “When a fish with golden scales has passed through the net, what should it get for food?”

Seppô said, “I will tell you when you have passed through the net.”

Sanshô said, “A great Zen master with 1500 disciples doesn’t know how to speak.”

Seppô said, “The old monk is just too busy with temple affairs.”

Kyôzan asked a monk, “Where do you come from?”

The monk said, “I am from Yû Province”

Kyôzan said, “Do you think of that place?”

The monk said, “I always do.”

Kyôzan said, “That which thinks is the mind. That which is thought about is the objective world. Within that are mountains, rivers and the great earth, towers, palaces, people, animals, and other things. Reflect upon the mind that thinks. Are there a lot of things there?”

The monk said, “I don’t see anything at all there.”

Kyôzan said, “That’s right for the stage of understanding, but not yet for the stage of personalization.”

The monk said, “Do you have any special advice, Master?”

Kyôzan said, “It is not right to say that there is or there is not. Your insight shows that you have obtained only one side of the mystery. Sitting down, putting on clothes – from now on you see by yourself.”

Unmon, instructing the assembly, said, “The old buddha and a pillar intersect each other. What number of activity is that?”

The assembly was silent.

He said on their behalf, “Clouds gather over the South Mountain; rain falls on the North Mountain.”

A monk asked Daizui, “When the great kalpa fire bursts out, the whole universe will be destroyed. I wonder if IT will also be destroyed or not.”

Daizui said, “Destroyed.”

The monk said, “If so, will IT be gone with the other?”

Daizui said, “Gone with the other.”

A monk asked Ryûsai, “When the great kalpa fire bursts out, the whole universe will be destroyed. I wonder if IT will also be destroyed or not.”

Ryûsai said, “Not destroyed.”

The monk said, “Why is it not destroyed?”

Ryûsai said, “Because it is the same as the whole universe.”

When he was staying at the government office of the Province Ei, Fuketsu entered the hall [to preach] and said, “The heart seal [stamp] of the patriarch resembles the activity of the iron ox. When it goes away, the [impression of the] seal remains; when it stays there, the [impression of the] seal is brought to naught. If it neither goes away nor stays, would it be right to give a seal [of approval] or not?”

Then Elder Rohi came up and said, “I have the activities of the iron ox. [However,] I ask you, Master, not to give me the seal.”

Fuketsu said, “I am accustomed to leveling the great ocean through fishing whales. But, alas, now I find instead a frog wriggling about in the mud.”

Rohi stood there considering.

Fuketsu shouted “Kaatz!” and said, “Why don’t you say anything else, Elder?”

Rohi was perplexed.

Fuketsu hit him with his whisk and said, “Do you remember what you said? Say something, I’ll check it for you.”

Rohi tried to say something.

Fuketsu hit him again with his whisk.

The Magistrate said, “Buddha’s law and the King’s law are of the same nature.”

Fuketsu said, “What principle do you see in them?”

The Magistrate said, “If you do not make a decision where a decision should be made, you are inviting disorder.”

Fuketsu descended from the rostrum.

A monk asked Gokoku, “How about when a crane perches on a withered pine tree?”

Gokoku said, “It is a disgrace when seen from the ground.”

The monk asked, “What about when every drop of water is frozen at once?”

Gokoku said, “It’s a disgrace after the sun has risen.”

The monk asked, “At the time of the Eshô Persecution, where did the good Guardian Deities of the Dharma go?”

Gokoku said, “It is a disgrace for the two of them on both sides of the temple gate.”