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GOING AND RETURNING 鐵笛倒吹 三十八
Only the fool will wander from teacher to teacher seeking answers. They will offer only questions. The wise one returns to the question again and again for she may find many answers within, just as the apple tree bears many ripe fruit if carefully tended, each with the seeds of a new tree. Pick…
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ANGUO’S “THE MASTER’S FLESH IS STILL WARM”
If you are asked “who are you?” how will you reply, and who is the person asking the question? If you answer, you are blind if you say nothing you speak loudly. The sage will tell you that there is no you and if you doubt him he will hold up a mirror and ask…
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UNASKING
There is much you would ask the Buddha and so little he would tell you. But at the moment that you fall silent, when your last question slips away and you have no request – in that moment the Buddha will speak freely and provide the answer to unthought-of questions.
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MOTHER
I called my mother the other day and she did not answer, which she would always do when I called. The dead, I concluded, no longer play by the rules they did when they were still alive. Of course she will call me soon, disrupting my sleep, and chastise me for not trying again.…
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TS’UI YEN’S EYEBROWS
The question is a simple one, really, but not one you were expecting, which is why you sit and grapple for an answer. Ask yourself, what if no answer is needed, what if there is no answer, can you remain silent, or will you feel somehow incomplete if you do not respond? All answers are…
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THIN EDGE
He is certain he has the answer and is imply waiting for someone to ask the correct question. He knows he cannot be wrong For if the answer seems so it is only because the wrong question was asked, and that would hardly be his fault. He tells people this, asking that they carefully consider…
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SEIGAN’S COST OF RICE
The search will be endless the answer at once obvious and incapable of being found. You seek direction to it, certain the right teacher holds the key to the critical gate, inside which all of the Dharma sits waiting for you. If the teacher asks you how many people live in a distant city you…
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RINZAI’S ENLIGHTENMENT 正法眼蔵 二十七
If you ask your question you will find an answer but ask another and the stick will respond each time. If you seek another teacher will you change the question or the answer, and does it matter. Take up the stick, who will you strike, your teacher or yourself, and is there any real…
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AD INFINITUM
When all is said and done and everything that can be written has been, when the questions have all been answered or forgotten, when you grow tired of answers, ask yourself this:
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TIPPING THE WATER BOTTLE 無門關 四十
These few words gathered neatly on a scrap of simple paper, what do you call it? Answer carefully for you response may carry the keys to the doors of Mount Tai-i. Better still, upend the water bottle, watch the ink and water form a gentle pool into which no pebble drops. A reflection on Case…
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an old writer and his words 