PRELUDE.
I've picked a random case, via zen marrow and I'm going to riff about it..
For clarity, and especially for a certain user who cannot discern opinion from fact, these are just my musings and I am in no way an authority on zen, I'm quite possibly a poor student too.. 😁
The Zen Teachings of Lin-Chi (Linji) #42: 42
Ma-yu came for an interview with the Master. He spread his sitting cloth and asked, "In the case of the twelve-faced Kuan-yin, which face is the real one?"
The Master got down from his corded chair. With one hand he snatched up the sitting cloth and with the other he seized hold of Ma-yu and said, "The twelve-faced Kuan- yin—where'd it go to?"
Ma-yu twisted himself free and tried to sit down in the corded chair.
The Master picked up his stick and hit him.
Ma-yu grabbed the stick and, each holding to one end of it, they went off to the Master's quarters.
T. O. M's bit..
So, the first question that springs to mind, is, what exactly is the 12 faced Kuan yin?
I found this..
Chinese Bodhisattva/ Goddess of Compassion, Mercy and Kindness is considered to be a mother-goddess and patron of seamen. The name Guan Yin also spelt Guan Yim, Kuan Yim, Kwan Im, or Kuan Yin, is a short form for Kuan-shi Yin, meaning "Observing the Sounds (or Cries) of the (human) World".
So, the Kuan yin is a goddess with 12 faces..
It appears the monk was kinda stupid, if a goddess has 12 faces, every one is real / not real.
Maybe the interplay between these two, this seemingly stupid monk and learned master, descending into farce and squabbling, is representative of the many varied faces of Buddha mind, and is likened to the many faces and incarnations of the 12 faced Kuan Yin.
Submitted April 27, 2021 at 11:29AM by transmission_of_mind https://ift.tt/3gHvx96
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