Put it down

From the Letters of Dahui pg. 281

Of old “the honorable master Yanyang asked Zhaozhou: ‘What about the time when I don’t bring a single thing?’ Zhaozhou said: ‘Put it down!’ Yanyang said: ‘Since I didn’t bring a single thing, what am I going to put down?’ Zhaozhou said: ‘If you’re not going to put it down, then go on shouldering it!’ Yanyang immediately had a great awakening.” Also, there was a monk who “asked an old worthy: ‘What about when a student can’t do anything at all?’ The old worthy said: ‘I too can’t do anything at all.’ The monk said: ‘The student is at the training stage. Therefore, he can’t do anything at all. The preceptor is a great teacher. Why is it that he too can’t do anything at all?’ The old worthy said: ‘If there were anything at all that I could do, then I’d pluck out this can’t-do-anything-at-all of yours.’ The monk immediately had a great awakening.”

Arges: If anyone hasn’t read the Letters of Dahui, they are really good. Here, Dahui explains once more using old stories; If you don’t do it yourself, there’s nothing anyone else can do for you.

Do what you ask? How worthless.

Submitted September 10, 2021 at 10:56PM by OrdinaryArges https://ift.tt/3hnTYYt