Zen Master Mazu: He had to live in a lake

Mazu asked a monk, "Where did you come from?"

"I came from Hunan."

"Is the East Lake full?"

"No."

"All that rain, and it's still not full?"

祖問僧､什麼処来。云、湖南来。祖云、東湖水滿也 未。 云 未。 祖云、 許多時雨、 水尚未満。

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Welcome! ewk comment: The first thing that occurs to me is that people new to Zen often get confused:

1. How is stuff like this Mazu exchange a "teaching"?
2. Isn't Zen basically like that modern art that looks like random splotches of color?

Fair enough.

Of course if you got to see the 7th Patriarch, and he asks you about a lake, I'm guessing you should consider that there is more than one kind of rain.

Submitted February 13, 2022 at 02:32PM by ewk https://ift.tt/Y9T0sIc