Baiyun Duan 58: Sansheng's Stinky Meat Flies

A monk asked Sansheng, "What was the purpose in the First Patriarch's coming from the west?"

Sansheng said, "Flies are drawn to stinky meat."¹

Xinghua said, "The donkey's back is broken when a fly lands on its hoof."²

[0300a12] 三聖因僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。臭肉來蠅。興化云。破驢脊上足蒼蠅。

Donkey with the broken back and many stinky meat flies—
Who knows why Xinghua doesn't simply walk?
He's used to passing by before Wufeng tower,
Holding in hand a golden whip, to celebrate an era of peace.

[0300a14] 破脊驢多臭肉蠅。誰知興化不徒行。慣從五鳳樓前過。手握金鞭賀太平。

¹ idiom. People are drawn by instinct to negative situations, information etc.

² There is a play on words here; literally, the line says "the donkey's back is broken when a fly lands on its hoof," while "on it hoof" (shàng zú 上足) also refers to a "student of superior quality," or even a "fine horse," which would be a reference to the teaching of the Buddha on the four kinds of horses—see case 2.

Submitted May 02, 2023 at 12:48AM by surupamaerl2 https://ift.tt/tYl51ZQ