Treasury of the Eye of True Teaching #162 - Deshan

Don't say I've never engaged in community discussion, that I holler mercilessly, without fear of the consequences. It's just because you don't keep to your own lot but race off to the four quarters to stand by others' doors, like banshees relating statements and passing on sayings, making up interpretations according to obsessions, tracks of mind not forgotten.

Treasury of the Eye of True Teaching #162

I think Deshan here was isolating the handful of monks who were making the practice unbearable in his time, not the entire community. I've met some nice people here. Some not so nice.

My teacher said, "Suppose a bit of filth is stuck on the tip of the nose of a sleeping man, totally unknown to him. When he wakes up, he notices a foul smell; sniffing his shirt, he thinks his shirt stinks, and so he takes it off. But then whatever he picks up stinks; he doesn't realize the odor is on his nose. If someone who knows tells him it has nothing to do with the things themselves, he stubbornly refuses to believe it. The knowing one tells him to simply wipe his nose with his hand, but he won't. Were he willing to wipe his nose, only then could he know he was already getting somewhere;

Instant Zen (Foyan) #39: Watch Yourself

Both Deshan and Foyan were masters at direct teaching. They didn’t need to dice words because they weren’t afraid to speak their piece.

What concerns do you have, from morning to night? Isn't it that you want to show off by questioning me? I'm not afraid of you, but I wonder what doubts you have.

Recently, in this time of degenerate teaching, there are lots of groups of ghosts who run off at the mouth to others, claiming to be Chan teachers. I wonder how much Chan you have managed to learn - come tell me about it! -Deshan

rZen has always been a place for misinformation that goes back to the beginning of its 10 years of existence. There’s an element of dog wagging the tail. I won’t explain what that means, because it should be obvious.

I’m signing off. I wish I had time to acknowledge individually the people I became friends with. otomo_zen, patchrobe, wentsover, sage, oracle, spectrecho, and many of you that I missed, but at 71, I don’t have time to waste with random meaningless quotations we use just to keep the conversation going. Learn to be honest, speak to each other without hiding behind the record.

Submitted April 05, 2023 at 09:24AM by ji_yinzen https://ift.tt/hFH57VR