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GENSHA’S IRON BOAT 鐵笛倒吹 八十語
Do not suggest you can only be enlightened on a cold day in hell unless you are prepared to carry the air conditioner across the River Styx. Even Cerberus has Buddha nature although none of the heads will say so. A reflection on Case 85 of the Iron Flute Koans
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ARRIVAL
He arrived this afternoon, but she stayed only briefly and then departed silently. I did not see her arrive, did not sense his stay but am certain he was there, just as I am certain he has never been here. When she is here, you cannot see her, when she is gone, your memory is…
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THIS WAY?!
The young man asked the old Buddhist monk, “If there are 64,000 gates, how will I know through which I should enter.” The monk paused, considered the question, then smiled broadly. “Why would you want to enter any gate?” the monk said with a wink. The young man replied, “because they are the gates that…
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RUYGE’S ULTIMATE STAGE鐵笛倒吹 二十八
If you answer the question I will ask you another each more difficult. If you enter a room and catalog its contents there will always be a door leading to yet another room, another inventory to be taken to determine what is there and what is missing. It is only when you enter an…
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NANQUAN’S SICKLE
If you ask the teacher where you can find the key to enlightenment, what do you do when the teacher stares back at you in silence. If the teacher asks you where he can find the key to enlightenment, do you tell him that he possesses it, and if you do, will he simply stare…
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DAIZUI’S GREAT KALPA FIRE 正法眼蔵 二十四
All things are born and die so if this world dies at the end of its cycle of life and we are here, do we die with this world and which of us will be first reborn. Only when the mind collapses is the world born only when the mind collapses does the world die.…
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NOW?
If the time is now how will we know it. And if we miss it how will we know what the consequences are? The better question is whether it matters for if we can be in each moment to the extent possible then nothing is missed and every moment is now and there is…
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TOZAN’S GOING BEYOND BUDDHA
The greatest speech is given only when the mouth falls shut. To talk of peace is to be at war with peace, to speak of war is to be at war. When listening disappears peace re-emerges, when peace emerges the listener appears. A relection on case 12 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)
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THREE CALLS 鐵笛倒吹 三十九
If your name is called how do you answer? If it is called again and then again, will your answer always be exactly the same, or will you grow angry and deny even yourself? Surely your teacher knows who you are but knowing yourself, that is the highest mountain you will be asked to climb.…
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In the middle of my morning zazen I am no longer here. I have fallen deeply into my mat. The ending bell rings.
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an old writer and his words 