The Gateless Gate: He takes out a lot of god-masks and devil-masks and puts them on and plays with them. One calling and the other answering; one wide awake, the other saying he will never be deceived.

The Gateless Gate: Zuigan Calls His Master [12th Case] 十二　巖喚主人

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瑞巖彦和尚、毎日自喚主人公、復自應諾。

Zuigan Gen Oshõ called to himself every day, "Master!" and answered, "Yes, sir!"

乃云、惺惺着。□。

Then he would say, "Be wide awake!" and answer, "Yes, sir!"

他時異日、莫受人瞞。□□。

"Henceforward, never be deceived by others!" "No, I won't!"

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Mumon's Comment

無門曰、瑞巖老子、自買自賣、弄出許多神頭鬼面。

Old Zuigan buys and sells himself. He takes out a lot of god-masks and devil-masks and puts them on and plays with them.

何故。

What for, eh?

□。一箇喚底、一箇應底。 一箇惺惺底、一箇不受人瞞底。

One calling and the other answering; one wide awake, the other saying he will never be deceived.

認着依前還不是。

If you stick to any of them, you will be a failure.

若也傚他、惣是野狐見解。

If you imitate Zuigan, you will play the fox.

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Mumon's Verse 頌曰

學道之人不識眞 Clinging to the deluded way of consciousness,

只爲從前認識神 Students of the Way do not realize truth.

無量劫來生死本 The seed of birth and death through endless eons:

癡人喚作本來人 The fool calls it the true original self.

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Wandering Ronin commentary and questions: If there is to be introspection, we question ourselves and inquire deeply within about this mind and all of its myriad ways. What is this mind? If we think of it as mind we may miss the form, and if we say form then we may miss the mind. Again, what is this awareness, this instantaneous source-essence of absolute thusness? Could it have beginning or end? Ultimately it is thus, and it is not thus.

Zuigan plays the fool on the Kabuki stage for our benefit; how in the world could Zuigan have been deceived in the first place? Could a wild fox spirit have told a lie to him, one that would somehow make him stray from the pathless path? Mumon says that Zuigan plays with god-masks and devil-masks, yet who was it that made those decisions of which mask to wear in the first place? A mask cannot decide a mask for itself; not a single person in the world can be deceived if they catch a glimpse of the original source-essence behind all masks.

Submitted October 23, 2019 at 07:33PM by WanderingRoninXIII https://ift.tt/2N2j538