Mazu's West River

Case 23 Mazu’s “West River”1

Layman Pang Yun called upon Mazu Daoyi and asked, “Who is it that doesn’t keep company with the ten thousand things?”

Mazu answered, “I’ll tell you when you swallow the water of the West River in a single gulp.”

At that moment Pang was deeply enlightened. He composed a verse:

All in the ten directions are of the same assembly,

Each and every one learning nondoing.2

This is the place where buddha is chosen.3

Mind empty, exam passed, I’ve returned home.

1. Also Blue Cliff Record 42, Commentary on the Main Case.

2. Another possible translation is “From the ten directions we’ve equally gathered together, each of us learning that there’s nothing to do.”

3. Another possible translation is “This is the place where buddhas are selected.” The original Chinese term, [?*] , is sometimes used in Zen as a synonym for “meditation hall.”

*(The Chinese characters are missing in the PDF I have, I assume it's referring to 選仏場 (Zendo)?)

Submitted July 07, 2017 at 10:33PM by Dillon123 http://ift.tt/2tVgH6g