A monk asked, "For a long time I've heard about the famous stone bridge of Zhaozhou, but coming here I saw only a common bridge."
The master said, "You saw only the wooden bridge, you have not seen the stone bridge of Zhaozhou."
The monk said, "What is the stone bridge of Zhaozhou?"
The master said, "Cross over! Cross over!"
A monk asked, "What is holy?"
The master said, "Not ordinary."
The monk said, "What is ordinary?"
The master said, "Not holy."
The monk said, "What about when there is neither ordinary nor holy?"
The master said, "That's a good Zen monk."
A monk asked, "I don't have a special question. Please don't give me a special reply."
The master said, "How extraordinary."
The master instructed the assembly saying, "I don't like to hear the word 'Buddha'."
A monk asked, "Do you help people or not?"
The master said, "Buddha! Buddha!"
We have people coming in claiming all sorts of things about Zhaozhou but when confronted with the vitality of zen, they try to suck out some juice from the dry bones of their church doctrine to present to the sangha.
Zhaozhou answered with perfect and direct clarity. Now it's your turn, do you help people or not?
Submitted January 02, 2020 at 12:54AM by ThatKir https://ift.tt/36ggwD3
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