All his life Tianhuang (Daowu) always cried out, “I feel great! I feel great!” On his sickbed, as he was about to enter into extinction, he said, “So painful! So painful! Cloister chief, bring me some wine to drink! Bring me some meat to eat! Old Yama is coming to get me!” The cloister chief said, “Reverend, all your life you cried out about how good you felt and now why do you cry out about how much pain you have?” The master said, “Speak! Was I right back then or am I right now?” The cloister chief was speechless. The master pushed away his wooden pillow and entered into extinction.
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Ciyun Yuanzhao’s verse
Sweet, sweet, so absolutely sweet,
Painful, painful, so fundamentally painful,
When I put away the wooden pillow,
In Silla they sound the drum to announce nightfall.
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Baoning Faxiu added a comment, “What he said is acceptable, but if you examine this man carefully you’ll see he was dilly-dallying while alive and careless and sloppy after death. If you want to lift your nose up to Heaven, put aside the ceramic bowl, bamboo utensils, leftover soup, and rancid rice. The rice cake roasting on the stove—if you want it, then ask for it. Humans have no roots and thus take food as a means of life.”
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Baoning is a doting old grandmother. He knew Yama too when he pushed away the wooden pillow. Only he knew how sustained he felt on his own rancid rice.
What about you? Great? Painful? You could answer, but most of the people here can't. They're just here to let you know how much better they are than you. Which brings up a fundamental Zen question; who is more sloppy, Daowu or Baoning?
I say the thief has already made off with the treasure. Now all you have is a stupid cow.
Submitted April 18, 2021 at 06:39PM by turiya-harem https://ift.tt/3anMQYO
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