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A monk asked Ummon,”What is Buddha?” Ummon answered him, “Dried dung.”
Mumon’s Comments
We must say that being so poor, Ummon cannot appreciate plain food, or he is so busy that he cannot even scribble properly. He is disposed to support his school with dry dung. Look at how devastated the Buddhist teaching has been!
Lightning flashes,
Sparks of striking flint.
In a blink of your eyes,
You have passed by (and missed it).
Shogen said,”Why is it that a man of strength cannot lift up his own legs and stand up (for Zen)?” And again, “It is not with our tongue that we speak.”
Shogen said it by turning his heart inside out, and no one was there to receive it. If anyone should comprehend Shogen, then come to me and receive my blows. To know the genuine gold, you must see it through fire.
Raising my foot I turn upside down the Scented Ocean,
Bowing my head I look down on the Four Dhyana Heavens.
Such a body of full strength has no place to rest,
Please finish this verse yourself!
Joshu asked Nansen, “What is the Way?” Nansen answered, “Your ordinary mind–that is the Way.” Joshu said, “Can it be grasped (for study)?” Nansen replied, “The more you pursue, the more does it slip away.” Joshu asked once more, “How can you know it is the Way?” Nansen responded, “The Way does not belong to knowledge, nor does it belong to non knowledge. Knowledge is illusion. Non knowledge is beyond discrimination. When you get to this Way without doubt, you are free like the vastness of space, an unfathomable void, so how can you explain it by yes or no?” Upon hearing this, Joshu was awakened.
The question Joshu asked Nansen was dissolved by a stroke. After being enlightened, Joshu must further his pursuit 30 more years to exhaust that meaning.
Hundred flowers in Spring, the moon in Autumn,
The cool wind in Summer and Winter’s snow.
If your mind is not clouded with things,
You are happy at any time.
A monk asked Tozan, “What is the Buddha?”
Tozan answered, “Three pounds of flax!”
Tozan’s Zen is like a clam. When the two halves of the shell open, you can see the whole inside. However, now tell me, “What is Tozan’s real insides?”
Just “Three pounds of flax!” pops up,
His words are close, and yet his heart is closer.
Anyone who explains this or that, yes and no,
is himself the man of yes and no.
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