Tag: Zen

A monk asked Kyôzan, “Your Reverence, do you know letters or not?”

Kyôzan said,”According to my capacity.”

The monk immediately turned around once clockwise and said, “What letter is this?”

Kyôzan drew the ideograph for “10” [ + ] in the earth.

The monk turned himself around once counter-clockwise and said, “What letter is that?”

Kyôzan modified the sign” + ” into a swastika [卍].

The monk drew a circle in the air and lifted his two palms like Asura vigorously holding the sun and moon and said, “What letter is that?”

Kyôzan immediately drew a circle enclosing the swastika.

The monk at once represented the vigor of a Rucika.

Kyôzan said, “Good, good. Keep it with care.”

Shuzan instructed his assembly and said, “If you attain the first verse, you will be the teacher of buddhas and patriarchs. If you attain the second verse, you will be the teacher of heaven and humankind. If you attain the third verse, you cannot save even yourself.”

A monk asked, “Which verse did Your Reverence attain?”

Shuzan said, “The moon is set at midnight; I walk alone through the market place of the city.”

Zuigan asked Gantô, “What is the intrinsic, everlasting principle?”

Gantô said, “It has moved.”

Zuigan said, “What if it moves?”

Gantô said, “You can’t see the intrinsic, everlasting principle.”

Zuigan thought for a moment.

Gantô said, “If you acknowledge it, you are not yet free from the roots and their dust. If you do not acknowledge it, you are immersed in endless birth and death.”

A monk asked Hôgen, “I hear that a sutra says, ‘From the basis of non-abiding all dharmas are established.’ What is this basis of non-abiding?”

Hôgen said, “Form arises from what has no substance yet; name comes from what has no name yet.”

A monk asked Sôzan, “When one leaves off his mourning clothes, how about that?”

Sôzan said, “Sôzan today has fulfilled filial piety.”

The monk said, “How about after you have fulfilled piety?”

Sôzan said, “Sôzan loves to get drunk.”

Kyôzan asked Chûyû, “What does buddha-nature mean?”

Chûyû said, “I will explain it for you by allegory. Suppose there is a room with six windows. Inside there is a monkey. Outside, someone shouts, ‘Monkey! monkey!’ It immediately responds. If someone calls, ‘Monkey!’ through any of the windows, it responds just the same. It is just like that.”

Kyôzan said, “How about when the monkey is asleep?”

Chûyû descended from his Zen seat, grasped Kyôzan and said, “O monkey, monkey, there you are!”

Towards the end of summer, Suigan instructed the assembly, saying, “All summer I’ve preached to you, my brothers. Look here, are Suigan’s eyebrows still there?”

Hofuku said, “The robber’s heart is terrified!”

Chôkei said, “They are well grown!”

Unmon said, “Barrier!”

Master Shinsan asked Master Shuzan, “After you have clearly known the unborn nature of life, why are you still attached to life?”

Shuzan said, “The bamboo shoot necessarily becomes a bamboo. But is it possible to make a bamboo rope already out of a bamboo shoot?

Shinsan said, “Later you will realize it yourself.”

Shuzan said, “My view is just as I said. What is your view?”

Shinsan said, “This is the temple steward’s quarters, and that is the cooks’ quarters.”

Shuzan made a deep bow.

A monk asked Kassan, “What if one sweeps away the dust and sees Buddha?”

Kassan said, “You must brandish your sword. If you do not brandish your sword, the fisherman dwells in a nest of reeds.”

The monk mentioned this to Sekisô and asked him, “What if one sweeps away the dust and sees Buddha?”

Sekisô said, “He has no country. Where can one meet him?”

The monk reported this to Kassan.

Kassan ascended the rostrum and said, “As for the facilities in the garden, the old monk is superior to Sekisô, but for deep discourse expounding the true principle he is one hundred steps ahead of me.”

The Kegon Sutra says,

“Now I see all living beings everywhere,

and I see that each of them possesses the wisdom and virtue of Tathagata.

But because of their delusions and attachments,

they cannot realize it.”