Thursday, 14 December 2017

Dongshan goes out on a limb

From Record of Tung-shan:

When the Master first set out on a pilgrimage, he met an old woman carrying water. The Master asked for some water to drink.

The old woman said, "I will not stop you from drinking, but I have a question I must ask first. Tell me, how dirty is the water?" 58

"The water is not dirty at all," said the Master.

"Go away and don't contaminate my water buckets," replied the old woman.

58: ...Thus, while on one level the old woman is simply asking about any dirt that might be contaminating her water, on another level the question might be directed at the problem of spiritual impurity and pollution. this echoes Huin-neng's dispute with Shen-hsiu in The Platform Scripture, chapter 1, concerning the necessity of wiping the dust from the mirror. The question here is made particularly poignant in light of the traditional Buddhist doctrine of the innate impurity of women, a state that prevents them, inter alia, from becoming buddhas.

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ewk book note index - Sometimes people are all like, "ewk, why do you read the Reddiquette Act to these Buddhists, so that they hang their heads in shame and run back to /r/Buddhism?" Sometimes I'm all, like, "Because they don't study Zen and stuff." The other side to all this is, really, who wants to be a Buddhist? Or a Christian? Does anybody read about Nanquan chopping up the cat and think, yeah, that guy is totally what Buddhists/Christians are looking for in a religious leader?

Now that I think about it, not many are lining up to chop up a cat, either.



Submitted December 15, 2017 at 12:10AM by ewk http://ift.tt/2Ck1PQE

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