The Gateless Gate: Nansen's "Not Mind, Not Buddha, Not Things" [27th Case]
A monk asked Nansen, "Is there any Dharma that has not been preached to the people?"
Nansen answered, "There is."
"What is the truth that has not been taught?" asked the monk.
Nansen said, "It is not mind; it is not Buddha; it is not things."
Mumon's Comment
At this question, Nansen used up all his treasure and was not a little confused.
Mumon's Verse
Talking too much spoils your virtue;
Silence is truly unequaled.
Let the mountains become the sea;
I'll give you no comment.
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People who study the path clearly know there is such a thing; why do they fail to get the message, and go on doubting? It is because their faith is not complete enough and their doubt is not deep enough. Only with depth and completeness, be it faith or doubt, is it really Zen; if you are incapable of introspection like this, you will eventually get lost in confusion and lose the thread, wearing out and stumbling halfway along the road. But if you can look into yourself, there is no one else.
Foyan Qingyuan [1067-1120]
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Commentary: I'm sure that a few people were thinking that I couldn't possibly shameless enough to actually give a commentary after sharing a title like that, but you know me! haha. Now before you get out the torches and pitchforks, I'd like to explain something of why I do what I tend do in the forum. I used to write these commentaries in an egocentric manner in order to teach or proselytize my views on Zen, and of course I do that to some extent now, but much less than before. Knowing what I know now, I've changed quite a lot from that. I know now that Zen compassion means that there are no sentient beings to save, furthermore, I can't tell many people here anything that they usually don't already know.
What I'm really doing now at this point is learning to drop as much of my egocentric and self-promoting ways in order to see the truth where I can. Sharing these cases and writing out these commentaries aren't really for you, they're for me to help me learn and to discover more of the truths of these teachings. If it happens to help you, then that's a nice added bonus for my work. There are obviously also a few people in the forum who these commentaries draw out that will skillfully point out my blind spots for me, which also has merit. All in all, I'm starting to understand why Zen teaches us to focus on our minds: everything begins and ends with mind, and the realization that we're responsible for everything is crucial to attaining true understanding.
Submitted November 03, 2019 at 09:41PM by WanderingRoninXIII https://ift.tt/33cqGmD
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