Thursday, 7 May 2020

Zhaozhou's Large Radishes

Model Subject № 30 of The Blue Cliff Records

R. D. M. Shaw Translation

Attention! A monk asked Jo-shu: "I hear by rumour that you used to be closely associated with Nan-sen. Is that so, or not?"

Jo-shu replied: "Chin-shu produces very large radishes."

'Chin-shu produces large radishes.'

Monks everywhere have taken this as a model.

It is obvious from ancient to modern times that one cannot ask a swam why it is white or a crow why it is black.

A rascal, a rascal. The monks' noses have already been twisted by him.


See? Zen Masters aren't models and large radish talk isn't the metric for having answered a question; Zhaozhou clears that up. Well, how now, brown cow...

No matter how you dice the radish up, "rumor has it..." won't cut it.



Submitted May 07, 2020 at 06:15PM by ThatKir https://ift.tt/3fx3mqq

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