Master Yunmen once said, “The lamp is yourself. Take a bowl and eat food; the food is not yourself.”
A monk then asked, “How about when the food is oneself?”
Yunmen said, “This wild fox spirit, a fellow in a three-family village.” He also said, “Come on, come on—you’re not saying food is yourself.”
He (the monk) said, “I am.”
Yunmen said, “You’ll see in a dream in the year of the ass, a fellow in a three-family village.”
I'm wondering if when Yunmen says the lamp is yourself he's referencing Huineng's idea of our Self being the Lamp and the Light.
Also take note that Yunmen pulls no punches and doesn't try to save the monks feelings. He calls the monk out directly, and I remember seeing that to say someone is from a "three family village" is basically calling them a simple minded or uneducated person.
There is no year of the ass so he's also telling the monk that by holding onto a view like his he'll never be enlightened.
Submitted February 11, 2023 at 11:47PM by koancomentator https://ift.tt/nEJtKW4
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