Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, page 9
“When prison stocks are iron and have no place for the head, the prisoner is doubly in trouble.
When there is no place for Zen in the head of our generation, it is in grievous trouble.
If you try to hold up the gate and door of a falling house,
You also will be in trouble.”
18. Tozan’s Three Pounds
A monk asked Tozan when he was weighing some flax: “What is Buddha?”
Tozan said: “This flax weighs three pounds.”
Mumon’s comment: Old Tozan’s Zen is like a clam. The minute the shell opens you see the whole inside. However, I want to ask you: Do you see the real Tozan?
“Three pounds of flax in front of your nose,
Close enough, and mind is still closer.
Whoever talks about affirmation and negation
Lives in the right and wrong region.”
19. Everyday Life Is the Path
Joshu asked Nansen: “What is the path?”
Nansen said: “Everyday life is the path.”
Joshu asked: “Can it be studied?”
Nansen said: “If you try to study, you will be far away from it.”
Joshu asked: “If I do not study, how can I know it is the path?”
Nansen said: “The path does not belong to the perception world, neither does it belong to the non-perception world. Cognition is a delusion and non-cognition is senseless. If you want to reach the true path beyond doubt, place yourself in the same freedom as sky. You name it neither good nor not-good.”
At these words Joshu was enlightened.
Mumon’s comment: Nansen could melt Joshu’s frozen doubts at once when Joshu asked his questions. I doubt though if Joshu reached the point that Nansen did. He needed thirty more years of study.
“In spring, hundreds of flowers; in autumn, a harvest moon;
In summer, a refreshing breeze; in winter, snow will accompany you.
If useless things do not hang in your mind,
Any season is a good season for you.”
20. The Enlightened Man
Shogen asked: “Why does the enlightened man not stand on his feet and explain himself?” And he also said: “It is not necessary for speech to come from the tongue.”
Mumon’s comment: Shogen spoke plainly enough, but how many will understand? If anyone comprehends, he should come to my place and test out my big stick. Why, look here, to test real gold you must see it through fire.
“If the feet of enlightenment moved, the great ocean would overflow;
If that head bowed, it would look down upon the heavens.
Such a body has no place to rest....
Let another continue this poem.”
21. Dried Dung
A monk asked Ummon: “What is Buddha?” Ummon answered him: “Dried dung.”
Mumon’s comment: It seems to me Ummon is so poor he cannot distinguish the taste of one food from another, or else he is too busy to write read-able letters. Well, he tried to hold his school with dried dung. And his teaching was just as useless.
“Lightning flashes,
Sparks shower.
In one blink of your eyes
You have missed seeing.”
22. Kashapa’s Preaching Sign
Ananda asked Kashapa: “Buddha gave you the golden-woven robe of successorship. What else did he give you?”
Kashapa said: “Ananda.”
Ananda answered: “Yes, brother.”
Said Kashapa: “Now you can take down my preaching sign and put up your own.”
Mumon’s comment: If one understands this, he will see the old brotherhood still gathering, but if not, even though he has studied the truth from ages before the Buddhas, he will not attain enlightenment.
“The point of the question is dull but the answer is intimate.
How many persons hearing it will open their eyes?
Elder brother calls and younger brother answers,
This spring does not belong to the ordinary season.”
23. Do Not Think Good, Do Not Think Not-Good
When he became emancipated the sixth patriarch received from the fifth patriarch the bowl and robe given from the Buddha to his successors, generation after generation.
A monk named E-myo out of envy pursued the patriarch to take this great treasure away from him. The sixth patriarch placed the bowl and robe on a stone in the road and told E-myo: “These objects just symbolize the faith. There is no use fighting over them. If you desire to take them, take them now.”
When E-myo went to move the bowl and robe they were as heavy as mountains. He could not budge them. Trembling for shame he said: “I came wanting the teaching, not the material treasures. Please teach me.”
The sixth patriarch said: “When you do not think good and when you do not think not-good, what is your true self?”
At these words E-myo was illumined. Perspiration broke out all over his body. He cried and bowed, saying: “You have given me the secret words and meanings. Is there yet a deeper part of the teaching?”
The sixth patriarch replied: “What I have told you is no secret at all. When you realize your own true self the secret belongs to you.”
E-myo said: “I was under the fifth patriarch many years but could not realize my true self until now. Through your teaching I find the source. A person drinks water and knows himself whether it is cold or warm. May I call you my teacher?” The sixth patriarch replied: “We studied together under the fifth patriarch. Call him your teacher, but just treasure what you have attained.”
Mumon’s comment: The sixth patriarch certainly was kind in such an emergency. It was as if he removed the skin and seeds from the fruit and then, opening the pupils mouth, let him eat.
“You cannot describe it, you cannot picture it,
You cannot admire it, you cannot sense it.
It is your true self, it has nowhere to hide.
When the world is destroyed, it will not be destroyed.”
24. Without Words, Without Silence
A monk asked Fuketsu: “Without speaking, without silence, how can you express the truth?” Fuketsu observed: “I always remember springtime in southern China. The birds sing among innumerable kinds of fragrant flowers.”
Mumon’s comment: Fuketsu used to have lightning Zen. Whenever he had the opportunity, he flashed it. But this time he failed to do so and only borrowed from an old Chinese poem. Never mind Fuketsu’s Zen. If you want to express the truth, throw out your words, throw out your silence, and tell me about your own Zen.
“Without revealing his own penetration,
He offered another’s words, not his to give.
Had he chattered on and on,
Even his listeners would have been embarrassed.”
25. Preaching from the Third Seat
In a dream Kyozan went to Maitreya’s Pure Land. He recognized himself seated in the third seat in the abode of Maitreya. Someone announced: “Today the one who sits in the third seat will preach.”
Kyozan arose and, hitting the gavel, said: “The truth of Mahayana teaching is transcendent, above words and thought. Do you understand?”
Mumon’s comment: I want to ask you monks: Did he preach or did he not?
When he opens his mouth he is lost When he seals his mouth he is lost. If he does not open it, if he does not seal it, he is 108,000 miles from truth.
“In the light of day,
Yet in a dream he talks of a dream.
A monster among monsters,
He intended to deceive the whole crowd.”
26. Two Monks Roll Up the Screen
Hogen of Seiryo monastery was about to lecture before dinner when he noticed that the bamboo screen lowered for meditation had not been rolled up. He pointed to it. Two monks arose from the audience and rolled it up.
Hogen, observing the physical moment, said: “The state of the first monk is good, not that of the other.”
Mumon’s comment: I want to ask you: Which of those two monks gained and which lost? If any of you has one eye, he will see the failure on the teachers part. However, I am not discussing gain and loss.
“When the screen is rolled up the great sky opens,
Yet the sky is not attuned to Zen.
It is best to forget the great sky
And to retire from every wind.”
27. It Is Not Mind, It Is Not Buddha, It Is Not Things
A monk asked Nansen: “Is there a teaching no master ever preached before?”
Nansen said: “Yes, there is.”
“What is it?” asked the monk.
Nansen replied: “It is not mind, it is not Buddha, it is not things.”
Mumon’s comment: Old Nansen gave away his treasure-words. He must have been greatly upset.
“Nansen was too kind and lost his treasure.
Truly, words have no power.
Even though the mountain becomes the sea,
Words cannot open another’s mind.”
28. Blow Out the Candle
Tokusan was studying Zen under Ryutan. One night he came to Ryutan and asked many questions. The teacher said: “The night is getting old. Why don t you retire?”
So Tokusan bowed and opened the screen to go out, observing: “It is very dark outside.”
Ryutan offered Tokusan a lighted candle to find his way. Just as Tokusan received it, Ryutan blew it out. At that moment the mind of Tokusan was opened.
“What have you attained?” asked Ryutan.
“From now on,” said Tokusan, “I will not doubt the teachers words.”
The next day Ryutan told the monks at his lecture: “I see one monk among you. His teeth are like the sword tree, his mouth is like the blood bowl. If you hit him hard with a big stick, he will not even so much as look back at you. Someday he will mount the highest peak and carry my teaching there.”
On that day, in front of the lecture hall, Tokusan burned to ashes his commentaries on the sutras. He said: “However abstruse the teachings are, in comparison with this enlightenment they are like a single hair to the great sky. However profound the complicated knowledge of the world, compared to this enlightenment it is like one drop of water to the great ocean.” Then he left that monastery.
Mumon’s comment: When Tokusan was in his own country he was not satisfied with Zen although he had heard about it. He thought: “Those Southern monks say they can teach Dharma outside of the sutras. They are all wrong. I must teach them.” So he traveled south. He happened to stop near Ryutan’s monastery for refreshments. An old woman who was there asked him: “What are you carrying so heavily?”
Tokusan replied: “This is a commentary I have made on the Diamond Sutra after many years of work.”
The old woman said: “I read that sutra which says: ‘The past mind cannot be held, the present mind cannot be held, the future mind cannot be held, You wish some tea and refreshments. Which mind do you propose to use for them?”
Tokusan was as though dumb. Finally he asked the woman: “Do you know of any good teacher around here?”
The old woman referred him to Ryutan, not more than five miles away. So he went to Ryutan in all humility, quite different from when he had started his journey. Ryutan in turn was so kind he forgot his own dignity. It was like pouring muddy water over a drunken man to sober him. After all, it was an unnecessary comedy.
“A hundred hearings cannot surpass one seeing,
But after you see the teacher, that one glance cannot surpass a hundred hearings.
His nose was very high
But he was blind after all.”
29. Not the Wind, Not the Flag
Two monks were arguing about a flag. One said: “The flag is moving.”
The other said: “The wind is moving.”
The sixth patriarch happened to be passing by. He told them: “Not the wind, not the flag; mind is moving.”
Mumon’s comment: The sixth patriarch said: “The wind is not moving, the flag is not moving. Mind is moving.” What did he mean? If you understand this intimately, you will see the two monks there trying to buy iron and gaining gold. The sixth patriarch could not bear to see those two dull heads, so he made such a bargain.
“Wind, flag, mind moves,
The same understanding.
When the mouth opens
All are wrong.”
30. This Mind Is Buddha
Daibai asked Baso: “What is Buddha?”
Baso said: “This mind is Buddha.”
Mumon’s comment: If anyone wholly understands this, he is wearing Buddha’s clothing, he is eating Buddha’s food, he is speaking Buddha’s words, he is behaving as Buddha, he is Buddha.
This anecdote, however, has given many a pupil the sickness of formality. If one truly under-stands, he will wash out his mouth for three days after saying the word Buddha, and he will close his ears and flee after hearing “This mind is Buddha.”
“Under blue sky, in bright sunlight,
One need not search around.
Asking what Buddha is
Is like hiding loot in one’s pocket and declaring oneself innocent.”
31. Joshu Investigates
A traveling monk asked an old woman the road to Taizan, a popular temple supposed to give wisdom to the one who worships there. The old woman said: “Go straight ahead.” When the monk proceeded a few steps, she said to herself: “He also is a common churchgoer.”
Someone told this incident to Joshu, who said: “Wait until I investigate.” The next day he went and asked the same question, and the old woman gave the same answer.
Joshu remarked: “I have investigated that old woman.”
Mumon’s comment: The old woman understood how war is planned, but she did not know how spies sneak in behind her tent. Old Joshu played the spy’s work and turned the tables on her, but he was not an able general. Both had their faults. Now I want to ask you: What was the point of Joshu’s investigating the old woman?
“When the question is common
The answer is also common.
When the question is sand in a bowl of boiled rice
The answer is a stick in the soft mud.”
32. A Philosopher Asks Buddha
A philosopher asked Buddha: “Without words, without the wordless, will you tell me truth?” The Buddha kept silence.
The philosopher bowed and thanked the Buddha, saying: “With your loving kindness I have cleared away my delusions and entered the true path.”
After the philosopher had gone, Ananda asked the Buddha what he had attained.
The Buddha replied: “A good horse runs even at the shadow of the whip.”
Mumon’s comment: Ananda was the disciple of the Buddha. Even so, his opinion did not surpass that of outsiders. I want to ask you monks: How much difference is there between disciples and outsiders?
“To tread the sharp edge of a sword,
To run on smooth-frozen ice,
One needs no footsteps to follow.
Walk over the cliffs with hands free.”
33. This Mind Is Not Buddha
A monk asked Baso: “What is Buddha?”
Baso said: “This mind is not Buddha.”
Mumon’s comment: If anyone understands this, he is a graduate of Zen.
“If you meet a fencing-master on the road, you may give him your sword,
If you meet a poet, you may offer him your poem.
When you meet others, say only a part of what you intend.
Never give the whole thing at once.”
34. Learning Is Not the Path
Nansen said: “Mind is not Buddha. Learning is not the path.”
Mumon’s comment: Nansen was getting old and forgot to be ashamed. He spoke out with bad breath and exposed the scandal of his own home. However, there are few who appreciate his kindness.
“When the sky is clear the sun appears,
When the earth is parched rain will fall.
He opened his heart fully and spoke out,
But it was useless to talk to pigs and fish.”
35. Two Souls
“Seijo, the Chinese girl,” observed Goso, “had two souls, one always sick at home and the other in the city, a married woman with two children. Which was the true soul?”
Mumon’s comment: When one understands this, he will know it is possible to come out from one shell and enter another, as if one were stopping at a transient lodging house. But if he cannot understand, when his time comes and his four elements separate, he will be just like a crab dipped in boiling water, struggling with many hands and legs. In such a predicament he may say: “Mumon did not tell me where to go!” but it will be too late then.
“The moon above the clouds is the same moon,
The mountains and rivers below are all different.
Each is happy in its unity and variety.
This is one, this is two.”
36. Meeting a Zen Master on the Road
Goso said: “When you meet a Zen master on the road you cannot talk to him, you cannot face him with silence. What are you going to do?”
Mumon’s comment: In such a case, if you can answer him intimately, your realization will be beautiful, but if you cannot, you should look about without seeing anything.
“Meeting a Zen master on the road,
Face him neither with words nor silence.
Give him an uppercut
And you will be called one who understands Zen.”
