When National Teacher Shao was still a householder he asked Longya, “How is it when the sky cannot cover you and the earth cannot support you?” Longya said, “A wayfarer ought to be like this.” Shao asked seventeen times. Longya said, “Wayfarer, if I told you, afterward you’d revile me.” Later, when Shao was dwelling on the Mastering Mysteries peak of Mt. Tiantai, he suddenly had an insight into this previous conversation as he was taking a bath. He then ceremoniously lit incense and bowed toward Longya at a distance and said “If he had explained it all to me at that time, today I would surely revile him.”
The bowing from a distance and the student being grateful for a lack of explanation reminds me of Guishan and Xiangyan in Shobogenzo case 305. The whole flavor is similar.
The case says Shao had an insight into the conversation as he was taking a bath. Undoubtedly he had been thinking about the matter for quite a while given he asked the question 17 times. Did he have an insight because he had been thinking about it for so long and finally understood Longya's answer, thus leading to enlightenment?
Or did slipping into the tub trigger his realization, that then allowed him to understand Longya's answer?
I wonder if his gratitude stems from Longya not giving his intellectual consciousness more to chew on and thus distract him.
Submitted February 13, 2023 at 07:10PM by koancomentator https://ift.tt/PGwQ4ik
No comments:
Post a Comment