Measuring Tap 32: Boat full of moonbeams

1. The Boatman's line

The Boatman said in verse,

A thousand fathom line is let directly down;

As soon as one wave goes into motion, myriad waves follow.

The night quiet, the water cold, fish don't bite;

The full boat, empty, returns carrying the moonlight.

Xuedou's Instruction: "This old fellow labors without accomplishment.

Yuanwu's interjection: (Already there before saying.)

Or, as Yunmen aid, a single phrase of appropriate words is a myriad-eon donkey-tethering stake.

Yuanwu's interjection: (He's been hit by this fellow's poison.)

And how is this error avoided?"

Yuanwu's interjection: (Why avoid it?)

After a silence, he said, "Don't say the water's cold and fish aren't biting-right now you've come back with a full load you've hooked."

Yuanwu's interjection: (After all he has an intention.)

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Welcome! ewk comment: Lots of Zen tradition crammed in here... fish analogies, arguments about intention, a dispute about an error, poison, appropriate words, donkey stakes.

Tough sell for people who never heard of you.

Can you hook a cold fish?

Submitted February 18, 2022 at 07:36AM by ewk https://ift.tt/dzPBCGy