I won't mention the Sister's names, but i shared a Zen verse with them. One was from Idaho, the other from Washington state..copied from FB, and i just copied and pasted from a case in the "Blue Cliff Record"..
, just now, nice to meet you. Meet and exchange, each on his/her ground, i bowed, like shaking hands, an Oriental thing.
FB post:
I shared this with some Mormon women on the Dc metro train. They shared the a Mormon verse with me about leaning on Jesus Christ is like leaning on a stone. I shared a Zen Koan with them. Master Chao Chao of Ancient China...
Case:
A monk asked Jôshû, "Having heard for a long time about the stone bridge
of Jôshû, when I come here I see only a simple log bridge." Jôshû said, "You see
only the log bridge, you don't see the stone bridge. " The monk said, "What is the
stone bridge?" Jôshû said, "It lets donkeys cross, it lets horses cross."
Verse:
Not setting up the solitary and dangerous, his road is truly high.
Having entered the sea, you must catch a giant turtle.
How laughable! His contemporary, Kankei the Elder.
Although he knew how to say "a swift arrow," it was wasted effort.
Jôshû appears rather frequently both in the pages of the Blue Cliff Record and the
Gateless Gate. Cases concerning Unmon Bun'en Zenji form the largest single group in the
Blue Cliff Record with a total of eighteen
But Jôshû is close behind with twelve.
The Blue Cliff Record had its beginnings when Setchô Zenji assembled 100 outstanding
cases and wrote a capping verse for each. Setchô seems to have had a definite predilection for
Unmon and Jôshû. Although this particular case lacks an instruction, it is no exaggeration to
say that any of the instructions concerning Jôshû could be appended to this case and still be
perfectly appropriate. For example, recall the instruction for Case 9 of the Blue Cliff Record:
The clear mirror is on its stand: beauty and ugliness are spontaneously discerned.
The sword of Bakuya is in your hand: you kill and give life, according to the occasion.
Kan leaves, Ko comes; Ko comes, Kan leaves. In death you gain life, in life you gain
death. Just say, if you are at this point, what then? If you don't have the eye to
penetrate the barrier, or a place where you turn yourself around, it's obvious that at this
point you don't know what to do. Just tell me, what is the eye that penetrates the
barrier; where is the place you turn yourself around? I'll show you an example, look!
As I mentioned about Jôshû in my teisho yesterday, all traces of satori and Zen brilliance had
been worn away, and there remained only this perfectly ordinary man.
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