This is the 49th case from Wansong’s Book of Serenity,
As Dongshan was presenting offerings before the image of Yunyan, he retold the story from before about depicting the reality.
A monk came forward and said, "When Yunyan said, 'Just this is it,' what did he mean?"
Dongshan said, "At that time I nearly misunderstood my late teacher's meaning."
The monk said, "Did Yunyan himself know it is or not?"
Dongshan said, "If he didn't know it is, how could he be able to say this? If he did know it is, how could he be willing to say this?"
With the context set up for this case, about how the teaching of the Zen Masters can't be explained, we read about interaction.
Yunyan at what point said, "Just this is it," and we can see how that's the case, right? Zen is a tradition that deals with reality head on. It is not interested in how we would like things to be (preference), or how things should be (ethics). Zen Masters are interested in the reality that comes through your six senses and on how you deal with all of that reality. Sometimes I talk to people who are very certain that the reality they are experiencing is made up of their preferences and ethics, and that reality is wrong for not adjusting to that. Only a person who truly knows would be able to say, "Just this is it."
On the other hand, what is the need to say it? Dongshan is criticizing his late teacher by asking the question, if he did know "just this is it," then why would he ever be willing to say that? Another way of saying it is, if Yunyan truly knew there is no confusion to get rid of, no secrets to attain, what would be the use of speaking like he did?
Submitted March 25, 2023 at 06:19PM by astroemi https://ift.tt/u0MACRI
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