Friday, 24 March 2023

A Zen Case as a Crime Buster

Treasury of the Eye of True Teaching #5

Master Yunmen held up a fly whisk and said, "If you find an entry here, you get rid of hokum [nonsense]. When Zen is preached in Japan, someone in the 33rd Heaven comes out and calls, 'Hum, hum! The stable boy is wearing stocks, [feet restraining devices used as punishment] giving evidence of his crime!'"

Dahui commented,

This old fellow is able to adapt to a quandary. Plowing a government field under an assumed name, he pays no more sprout tax.

This is an interesting case. I can't make any sense of it as a whole. What stands out first is the notion that Yunmen (860–949) acknowledged preaching being done in Japan prior to Dogen (1200-1253).

The stable boy being held to account for his crimes parallels Yunmen illegally plowing his field to avoid paying taxes, also a crime.

Can anyone help me with this one?



Submitted March 25, 2023 at 04:03AM by ji_yinzen https://ift.tt/GCUnwdN

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