Zen Masters are Intolerant... why aren't you?

Welcome!

Wumen's Checkpoint, the shortest and most obviously gatekeepy of all Zen texts, features a wide variety of ridiculous, over the top intolerance!

Let's explore it together! Intolerantly!

Wumen intolerant toward other Masters

1. I posted about this yesterday with some examples
2. Case 49 of Wumen's Checkpoint is actually a Case written about Wumen's Checkpoint from another Master! And it's intolerant of Wumen! And his Checkpoint! Younger Brother's 49th Standard Talk
3. Special shout outs to Wumen being intolerant of Buddha and Bodhidharma:
   • Accuses Buddha of nearly "forcing free down into serfdom" without Kasyapa's intervention.
   • Bodhidharma: "Gap-toothed old Barbarian" came to China on "special mission" that was just "raising waves with no wind".

Wumen intolerant toward teachings

• "But even worse [then self harm] is to get stuck on words and phrases in the search for interpretive understanding"
• "When the Buddhas and enlightened teachers since antiquity imparted enlightenment stories, they settled cases on the basis of facts. There was never any excess of words."
• "Haven't you seen what Xuansha said? The gate of nothingness, the gate of No, is the gate of liberation".

Wumen doesn't like Buddhism

• "[Buddha] only approved Kayapa."
  • All of Buddhism is based on sutras... the collected writings of people who did not receive the mind-to-mind transmission
• "Repeated admonitions would detract from your virtue"
  • The 8FP and 4NT are no more than repeated admonitions
• "For the Buddha's words... the gate of nothingness is the gate to truth."

Wumen thinks students don't try hard enough

• "So tell me, how should you act? If you make the effort, you must finish in this life. Don't go on forever suffering more disasters."
• "If you do not end the road of the mind, then in all that you do [seeking to follow the Buddhist path] you are but a ghost haunting the forests and fields".

Wumen thinks explanations are a waste of time

• "Wordlessness is what is really effective. Even if the blue sea itself were to change it still would never convey the message to you."
• "Blue sky, white sun- Don't Seek! If you are still asking what it's like, you are crying out that you've been robbed but you have the loot in your hands.

Submitted March 02, 2022 at 07:43AM by ewk https://ift.tt/D3AyIBn