Nan-ch‘üan’s Stone Buddha, Black and White, Planting a Tree

These three koans are from The Iron Flute translated by Nyogen Senzaki and Ruth Strout McCandless .

Case 3: Nan-ch‘üan’s Stone Buddha

Upasaka Liu-kêng said to Nan-ch‘üan, “In my house there is a stone which sits up or lies down. I intend to carve it as a Buddha. Can I do it?” Nan-ch‘üan answered, “Yes, you can.” Upasaka Liu-kêng asked again, “Can I not do it?” Nan-ch‘üan answered, “No, you cannot do it.”

GENRŌ: I see one stone which the layman carried to the monastery. I also see another stone which Nan-ch‘üan kept in his meditation hall. All the hammers in China cannot crush these two stones.

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This might help make things more clear around here:

Case 14: Pai-yün’s Black and White

Pai-yün, a Zen master of the Sung dynasty, wrote a poem:

Where others dwell,

I do not dwell.

Where others go,

I do not go.

This does not mean to refuse

Association with others;

I only want to make

Black and white distinct.

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Let's keep watering Huang-po's tree:

Case 18: Lin-chi Plants a Pine Tree

One day as Lin-chi was planting a pine tree in the monastery garden, his master, Huang-po, happened along. “We have good shrubbery around the monastery, why do you add this tree?” he asked.

“There are two reasons,” Lin-chi answered, “first, to beautify the monastery with this evergreen and, second, to make a shelter for monks of the next generation.” Lin-chi then tamped the ground three times with his hoe to make the tree more secure.

“Your self-assertion does not agree with me,” said Huang-po. Lin-chi ignored his teacher, murmuring, “All done,” and tamped the ground three times as before.

“You will cause my teaching to remain in the world,” Huang-po said.

Submitted June 18, 2017 at 08:10AM by Dillon123 http://ift.tt/2sFW1zE