This is Measuring Tap... Xuedou wrote a book based on 100 Cases he picked from the Zen historical record with a brief one or two line "teaching" about each of them. A generation later Yuanwu took the book and wrote in it, adding a bunch of stuff, and then republished it as a new book. This is a tradition in Zen.
Case 27 Yunmen and the reality body
A monk asked Yunmen, "What is the task of going beyond the reality body?"
Yuanwu: (All the Chan monks in the world wonder.)
Yunmen said, "It is not hard to tell you about going beyond; how do you understand the reality body?"
Yuanwu: (He's used to getting the advantage.)
The monk said, "Please observe."
Yuanwu: (Look.)
Yunmen said, "Setting aside observation for the moment, how do you understand the reality body?"
Yuanwu: (The second battle line deploys arrows and spears.)
The monk said, "Thus, thus."
Yuanwu: (He can't explain.)
Yunmen said, "This is what is learned on the bench; now I ask you, does the reality body eat?"
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Welcome! ewk comment: Look at all the fun stuff going on in this little snippet piece of the chapter:
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What is "reality body"? I think that means "flesh of Buddha's body", right?
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Yunmen says it not hard to tell... is that a bluff or is he saying, look, your fingers end at your fingers?
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Yuanwu says Yunmen is "use to getting the advantage"... what's that about? Is it like, "he's won so many times he takes it for granted now"?
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I think the "please observe" means "don't f* around, answer the question".
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Yunmen says, how do you know the physical body? Is that a hard question?
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The monk says "here it is", aka "thus thus" aka "thusness" aka "suchness", that is the world presented to us.
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Yuanwu butts in and says the monk choked.
8 Yunmen then says, you worked that out on the bench... yeah, I think he means the meditation bench... but what about eating?
What about when you get off the bench?
Zen study: It's OFF THE BENCH
Submitted February 09, 2022 at 06:57AM by ewk https://ift.tt/lWfi2Rx
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