Tuesday, 11 July 2017

Blue Cliff: Haven't you read

Subhuti was sitting in silent meditation in a cliffside cave, the gods showered down flowers to praise him.

The venerable Subhuti said, "Flowers are showering down from the sky in praise; whose doing is this?"

A god said, "I am Indra, king of the gods." Venerable Subhuti asked, "Why are you offering praise?"

Indra said, "I esteem the Venerable One's skill in expounding the transcendence of wisdom." Subhuti said, "I have never spoken a single word about wisdom; why are you offering praise?"

Indra said, "You have never spoken and I have never heard. No speaking, no hearing-this is true wisdom." And again he caused the earth to tremble, and showered down flowers.

Hsueh Tou once made up another verse about this: The rain has passed, the clouds are shrinking, dawn has halfway broken through; The multiple peaks are like a drawing of blue-green rocky crags.

Yuanwu said: Subhuti did not know how to sit upon a cliff; He brought on the heavenly flowers and the shaking of the earth. When the king of gods is shaking the earth and raining down flowers, at this point where else will you go to hide?

Note: A God is nothing for a Buddha.



Submitted July 12, 2017 at 12:55AM by WildFoxBuddha http://ift.tt/2tbrXYp

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