"What about–"

Sayings of Layman P'ang #1: Suddenly Stopping the World

The Layman named P'ang-yun (Ho-un) lived in the city of Heng-yang but was born in the province of Hsiang. He was known as Tao-hsuan (Dogen). In his youth, he was a Confucian scholar who became concerned about the nature of the human condition and sought to understand the reality of it.

In the first year of the Chen—yuan period, the Layman went to‘ see Zen Master Shih-t'ou and asked him, "What about someone who has no connection with the ten thousand dharmas?"

Shih-t'ou put his hand over the Layman's mouth, and the Layman had a sudden realization.

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For effect I imagine the hand covering the mouth mid-sentence.

The structure here is like many cases in zen; a monk asks a master some permutation of 'What is Buddha/enlightenment?' (What about someone who has no connection with the ten thousand dharmas?) — followed by some form of demonstration to awaken insight (Shih-t'ou put his hand over the Layman's mouth).

What can you say with a hand over your mouth?

What are you not saying already?

Speak! Speak!

Submitted March 01, 2022 at 01:58AM by Arhanlarash https://ift.tt/cjQiWZy