Ch’an masters, like other men, may be divided into two types. Some are slow-breathers, others are fast-breathers. Of the founders of the Five Houses of Ch’an, Kuei-shan, Tung-shan and Fa-yen belong to the slow-breathers, while Lin-chi and Yünmen, belong to the fast-breathers. Of these two, Lin-chi breathes fast enough, but Yün-men breathes faster still. Lin-chi’s way is like the Blitzkrieg. He kills his foes in the heat of the battle. He utters shouts under fire. When the lion roars, all other animals take cover. No one can encounter him without his head being chopped off by him. It makes no difference whether you are a Buddha, a Bodhisattva or a Patriarch, Lin-chi will not spare you if he should chance to encounter you. So long as you bear a title or occupy any position, Lin-chi will send out his True Man of No Title to kill you off in the split second. So terrible is Lin-chi! But more terrible is Yün-men! Lin-chi only kills those whom he happens to encounter. Yunmen’s massacre is universal. He does away with all people even before they are born. To him the “True Man of No Title” is already the second moon, therefore a phantom not worth the trouble of killing.
The Golden Age of Zen pp. 212
Submitted September 05, 2017 at 07:15PM by cantma http://ift.tt/2x7d6EC
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