Linji asked a monk: "Sometimes a Katsu is like the precious sword of the Vajra king (Diamond King); sometimes a Katsu is like a golden-maned lion crouching on the ground; sometimes a Katsu is like a probing pole (for fishing) to which a grass bushel is fastened to cast shade; and sometimes a Katsu is not used as a Katsu. How do you understand that?"
The monk hesitated and the master gave a Katsu.
* Katsu - (Linji) Rinzai's famous shout and favorite teaching device, pronounced "kaa."
commentary： Once the distinction between self and others, inside and outside, big and small, good and bad, ignorance and wisdom, life and death, to have and not to have, etc. has been eliminated, then the truth of Zen and insight can be realized. This gives one a new life. To bring this about, one cannot employ thought; one has to use one's own perception.
Deshan Xuanjian is a native of Jiannan in Sichuan province. His surname was Zhou, and he became a monk early in life. He was especially well-versed in teachings of the Diamond sutra and had composed a commentary on it. Thus he was also known as Diamond Zhou. When Deshan heard that the Southern school of Zen held that "mind itself is Buddha", he packed up his commentaries and headed south with the intention of refuting this false teaching.
On the way, he met an old lady selling buns. As he was hungry, he decided to buy some buns from her. old lady: What are you carrying?
Deshan: My Green Dragon commentary on the Diamond Sutra.
old lady: Let me ask you one question. If you can answer my question, I will give you free refreshments.
Deshan: All right!
old lady: The Diamond sutra says: "past mind is unattainable, present mind is unattainable, and future mind is unattainable." Which mind does the learned monk desire to refresh?
Deshan was not able to answer the old lady's question. Some time later, Deshan arrived at Longtan (literally means Dragon pond) temple and met with master Longtan Chongxin.
Deshan: Long have I heard of Longtan, but when I arrived here, there is neither a pond nor a dragon.
Chongxin: You have really arrived at Longtan.
One late evening, Chongxin said, "It is getting dark. You had better return to your room." When Deshan stepped outside, he found that the sky was very dark. So, the master lit a candle and gave it to Deshan, but just as Deshan held out his hand and was about to receive the candle, Chongxin blew out the flame. At that moment Deshan was enlightened and made a bow to the master.
The next day, Deshan took his Green Dragon commentary to the temple hall and burned it. Deshan: " Even if we have mastered the profound doctrine, it is only like placing a hair in a vast space. Even if we have exhausted the human knowledge of the world, it is only like letting a drop fall into a great abyss. "
commentary： Once dependence on others is gone, then only can one's potential be realized.
A student once asked him: "If I haven't anything in my mind, what shall I do?"
Zhaozhou: Throw it out.
student: What else is there to throw out?
Zhaozhou: Then carry it out.
commentary： One who says he is not attached to anything - even that idea of non-attachment must be abandoned. One who is attached to the idea of non-attachment will never know silence of mind.
Zhaozhou: ... but now I have to go to urinate. Think about it. Even for such a trifling thing I have to do it myself. Zhaozhou: May I ask whether you can do it on my behalf?
commentary： To understand matters of life and death, one has to rely on oneself. Others cannot do it for you. To rely on explanations from others is to be like a parrot learning to speak.
Zhaozhou: Practising the Tao concerns changing one's clothing ... and eating.
man: These are but mundane tasks. What kind of mind study can be considered practice of Zen?
Zhaozhou: What do you think I do everyday?
commentary： Practice of Zen comes from everyday conversation, washing your face, eating and that sort of things. One must do them with full awareness. Perception into the nature of things comes from doing such things wholeheartedly.
A man became a monk at the Guanyin temple. He met the abbot, Zhaozhou Congshen of the Tang dynasty.
monk: Please give me some guidance, master.
Zhaozhou: Have you eaten the porridge?
monk: Yes, I have eaten.
Zhaozhou: Then go wash the bowl.
commentary： Perception, practice of Zen and everyday action are the same thing. It is vital to understand this point. To be absolutely alert is practising Zen; it is not that in making an effort to practise one then gains insight.
Man of letters Li Ao went to visit Yaoshan, who did not turn to face him.
Li Ao: Seeing the face is not like hearing the name.
Yaoshan: Mister Li! Yaoshan: You believe your ears, yet you belittle your eyes.
Li Ao: I am sorry for my bad manners. Please forgive me, master. Li Ao: Dharma master, what do you think is the Tao?
Yaoshan: The cloud is in the clear sky, the water is in the bottle.
commentary： No need to bother whether it is cloud becoming water, or water changing back into cloud. As cloud, float freely in the sky like clouds do, and as water be just as what water is like.
Yaoshan Weiyan had not given dharma talks for a long time. One day, the head monk requested him to give discourses.
monk: We disciples would very much like to listen to master's discourses.
Yaoshan: Very well. Sound the bell to summon everyone to the hall.
The master came to the hall. All the monks had gathered because for many days he had not spoken. But when the gathering was complete, when everybody had come, the master returned to his room without saying a word.
monk: Master, why did you leave without saying a word?
Yaoshan: There are sutra teachers to talk about the sutras. There are also shastra masters to talk about the commentaries. I am a Zen teacher, and yet Zen cannot be expressed in words. Even if I talk about it, that serves no purpose.
commentary： Zen is beyond time - past, present, and future. It has always been so, and words cannot convey Zen.
Zen master Mokusen Hiki was living in a temple in the province of Tamba. One of his adherents complained of the stinginess of his wife. Mokusen visited the adherent's wife and showed her his clenched fist before her face.
lady: What do you mean by that?
Mokusen: Suppose my fist were always like that. What would you call it? lady: Deformed.
Then he opened his hand flat in her face and asked: "Suppose it were always like that. What would you call it then?" lady: Still the same - Deformed.
Mokusen: If you understand that much, you are a good wife.
Then he left. After his visit, this wife helped her husband to distribute his wealth as well as to save.
commentary： All concepts of good and bad, having and not having, benefit and harm, me and others, are products of the mind that discriminates. Zen is the Middle way that is neither the one nor the other.
The Japanese Emperor Go-Yozei was studying Zen under Zen master Gudo Toshoku.
Emperor: In Zen this very mind is Buddha. Is this correct?
Gudo Toshoku: If I say yes, Your Majesty will think that you understand without understanding. If I say no, I would be contradicting a fact which many understand quite well.
Emperor: Where does the enlightened man go after he dies?
Gudo Toshoku: I know not.
Emperor: Why don't you know?
Gudo Toshoku: Because I have not died yet.
commentary： When living, one should appreciate life's beauty and mystery from the standpoint of being alive. There is no need to be concerned about the world after death. When it is today, live for today. There is no need to be depressed over tomorrow because tomorrow's events will come tomorrow.
There was an old woman nicknamed "Weeping Hag" because she cried when it rained and also cried when it did not rain.
One day, a Zen master passed by and saw her crying.
master: Old lady, what are you crying for?
old woman: I have two daughters, the elder one sells cloth shoes and the younger one sells umbrellas.
old woman: When the weather is fine, I think of my younger daughter whose umbrellas are not in demand. When it rains, I think of my elder daughter since no customers will want to go to her shop to buy shoes.
The Zen master almost fainted before offering her an advice.
master: You should think of business being good for your elder daughter when the weather is fine. When it rains, your younger daughter's umbrellas will definitely sell well.
old woman: Oh! You are right!
Since then, the "Weeping Hag" no longer cried. Rain or shine, she smiled at all times!
commentary： "Approaching the heart is approaching buddhahood." Whether something is favourable or unfavourable depends on how you look at it.
Buddha told a parable in a sutra: A man encountered a tiger in the wilderness. He fled, and the tiger chased him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.
Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!
commentary： Not to think about the past and the future, but to cherish one moment after another is real fortune.
Japanese Zen master Gisan was taking a bath. Because the water was too hot, he asked his disciple to add some cold water.
The disciple brought the water and after cooling the bath, poured the remaining water on the ground.
Gisan scolded: You dunce! Everything can be put to good use. Even trees like to have water, there is life in water. Why didn't you give the rest of the water to the plants? What right have you to waste even a drop of water?
The disciple became awakened in that instant. He changed his name to Tekisui, meaning "a drop of water".
commentary： All things have their uses. However humble its origin, every little thing has a place in nature.
Ryokan Daigu, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening, a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing of value to steal. Ryokan returned and caught him.
Ryokan: You have come a long way here and you should not return empty-handed. Here, take this robe with you.
The thief was bewildered but took the robe.
Ryokan sat naked, watching the moon. he mused: Poor fellow, it is a pity I cannot present him with this beautiful moon.
commentary： Most people only pursue wealth and status, but in the world how much can one acquire? The stars, the moon, mountains and flowing waters, each flower and blade of grass are all there for you to appreciate.
A general was toying with his prized antique. The cup almost shattered into pieces when he accidentally dropped it.
he thinks: I have commanded tens of thousands of troops to risk my life in battle, and was never afraid. Why then did I become so agitated over a small cup?
He finally realized that it was attachment that brought about the fear of loss, thus causing him anxiety. Hence he flipped the cup over his shoulder and smashed it.
commentary： Where there is knowledge and feeling of gain and loss, there is pleasure and sorrow. To go beyond good and bad, gain and loss is true fortune.
There was an army physician who followed the troops as they went into battle. He tended to wounded soldiers in the battlefield.
Whenever his patients had recovered from their injuries, they were once again sent to continue fighting. As a result, they were wounded once again or killed... After seeing this scenario again and again, he eventually suffered a mental breakdown.
he thinks: If a person is fated to die, why should I save him? if my medical knowledge has any meaning, why must he go into battle and lose his life?
He did not understand whether there was any meaning in his being an army physician, and he was so troubled that he could not continue healing others. As a result, he went up a mountain to find a Zen master.
After being with a Zen master for a few months .... Finally, he understood his problem completely. He descended the mountain to continue practising as a physician. he said: "It is because I am a physician."
commentary： Not to identify oneself with something, or to associate things with the "me", and to see that the idea that there is a "me" which is distinct from things is a delusion - that is true wisdom.
The Japanese Zen master Ikkyu Sojun was very bright even as a boy. One day, he broke a teacup, a rare antique highly prized by his teacher.
When the teacher came, the boy quickly asked his master: "Master, why do people have to die?"
master: This is natural. In the world, where there is life, there is death.
Then, the young boy took out the broken cup and told his master: "Master, it was time for your teacup to die."
commentary： For human beings, what is most precious is the process of living. Where there is life, naturally there is death. One who can understand thoroughly the cycle of human life and death will also understand the life and death of objects.
A thief confronted Japanese Zen master Shichiri Kojun.
thief: Hand over your money, or I will take your old life!
Kojun: The money is in the drawer. Get it yourself but leave a little behind for me to buy food.
Kojun: After receiving things from others, you ought to say thank you.
thief: Thank you!
Eventually the thief was arrested ... and Shichiri was called as a witness. When he was asked whether the thief had stolen his money, Shichiri replied: "He did not steal from me. I gave him the money and he also thanked me."
After the thief had completed his prison term, he immediately went to Shichiri and begged to be accepted as his disciple.
commentary： "Putting aside the butcher's knife and instantly becoming a buddha" is extremely difficult to realize in practice. What power is it that compels one to lay down the butcher's knife? Compassion!
The
studio is betting money that documenting the cyclist's comeback bid at
Tour de France will capture audiences, with 'Taxi to the Dark Side's'
Alex Gibney at the wheel.
Hollywood loves beat-the-odds stories, and Sony hopes that Armstrong's return to racing
after a 3 1/2 -year absence could prove as enthralling as any
make-believe film. The studio, best known for its "Spider-Man"
franchise and a stranger to nonfiction filmmaking, is currently
financing a feature documentary chronicling Armstrong's attempt to win
the world's most prestigious bike race.
"What interested me was the story of his comeback -- his will," said the documentary's director, Alex Gibney,
the filmmaker behind "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" and the
Oscar-winning "Taxi to the Dark Side." "I wanted to understand Lance
and what makes him tick. And the more I know, the more compelling the
story gets."
Sony and Armstrong have a long relationship. For
years, the studio has been developing a movie based on the cyclist's
2000 memoir, "It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life," which
chronicles Armstrong's recovery from metastasized testicular cancer to
his first Tour de France victory in 1999. The feature film, which
Marshall is also producing, is now in the hands of writer-director Gary
Ross ("Seabiscuit," "Pleasantville"), but has no start date or cast
attached.
Columbia Pictures President Matt Tolmach is one of the industry's most avid cyclists (he has raced locally for Velo Club La Grange)
and a friend of Armstrong's. When Tolmach learned in August that
Armstrong was planning to return to racing -- largely to promote cancer awareness
and push for increased research funding -- he saw the possibility for a
captivating documentary, even if the studio wasn't in the nonfiction
business.
"It's about cancer. It's about getting old. It's about
proving all the naysayers wrong," Tolmach said. "It's about a comeback.
It unfolds in an isolated period of time. It's all the ingredients for
a documentary."
He was able to persuade his bosses Amy Pascal
and Michael Lynton that a well-made movie could reach audiences far
beyond the road-racing intelligentsia. "As a small movie, it struck me
as having enormous commercial potential," Tolmach said of the
$3.5-million production.
..
In shooting so much racing and the physical preparation for it, Gibney
hopes to educate audiences (just as he has learned, in making the
movie) on what athletes at Armstrong's level must obsess over --
critical decisions about nutrition or team politics, for example. "I
think I have a peculiar ability," Gibney said, "to make complicated
things understandable."
While the filmmakers and studio
obviously hope Armstrong wins, they don't believe the movie's success
depends on it. "The end of the movie is going to be great no matter
what happens," Tolmach said. "It's about the journey."
When Japanese Zen master Bankei Eitaku held retreats, pupils from all over Japan came to attend. There was once when he was teaching, a commotion arose.
One of his students had been caught red-handed in stealing money from another fellow student.
one student: Caught you in the act of stealing money again!
Eitaku: Do forgive him, please!
student: No way! He has been let off too many times already. This time he cannot be forgiven again.
another student: If you do not expel him, we shall all leave together.
Eitaku: You are all wise brothers. You can tell right from wrong, but he does not even know right and wrong. If I do not instruct him, who will? I am going to keep him here. Even if all of you leave the temple, it makes no difference.
Upon hearing these words, the thieving disciple threw himself to the ground, with tears streaming down his face. He resolved never to commit a wrongdoing again.
commentary： In a flock of 100 sheep, one goes missing. A thorough search is made for that lost sheep while the other 99 are left untended in the pasture or wilderness. Help the one that needs help most.
anonymous
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