Translated from the…
Hoen said: “The past and future Buddhas, both are his servants. Who is he?”
Mumon’s comment: If you realize clearly who he is, it is as if you met your own father on a busy street. There is no need to ask anyone whether or not your recognition is true.
Do not fight with another’s bow and arrow.
Do not ride another’s horse.
Do not discuss another’s faults.
Do not interfere with another’s work.
Hyakujo wished to send a monk to open a new monastery. He told his pupils that whoever answered a question most ably would be appointed. Placing a water vase on the ground, he asked: “Who can say what this is without calling its name?”
The chief monk said: “No one can call it a wooden shoe.”
Isan, the cooking monk, tipped over the vase with his foot and went out.
Hyakujo smiled and said: “The chief monk loses.” And Isan became the master of the new monastery.
Mumon’s comment: Isan was brave enough, but he could not escape Hyakujo’s trick. After all, he gave up a light job and took a heavy one. Why, can’t you see, he took off his comfortable hat and placed himself in iron stocks.
Giving up cooking utensils,
Defeating the chatterbox,
Though his teacher sets a barrier for him
His feet will tip over everything, even the Buddha.
A Zen student told Ummon: “Brilliancy of Buddha illuminates the whole universe.”
Before he finished the phrase Ummon asked: “You are reciting another’s poem, are you not?”
“Yes,” answered the student.
“You are sidetracked,” said Ummon.
Afterwards another teacher, Shishin, asked his pupils: “At what point did that student go off the track?”
Mumon’s comment: If anyone perceives Ummon’s particular skillfulness, he will know at what point the student was off the track, and he will be a teacher of man and Devas. If not, he cannot even perceive himself.
When a fish meets the fishhook
If he is too greedy, he will be caught.
When his mouth opens
His life already is lost.
Question: How often did you sit yesterday? Today?
A monk asked Joshu why Bodhidharma came to China.
Joshu said: “An oak tree in the garden.”
Mumon’s comment: If one sees Joshu’s answer clearly, there is no Shakyamuni Buddha before him and no future Buddha after him.
Words cannot describe everything.
The heart’s message cannot be delivered in words.
If one receives words literally, he will be lost,
If he tries to explain with words, he will not attain enlightenment in this life.
Comment: The one’s I’ve skipped may be the ones that are Zen for you. Go and see!
“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.
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.
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.
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 understands, 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.
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.
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 teacher’s 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.