A good Zen student is like a crafty rabbit with three holes.
If the fox chases the rabbit into one hole, it still has another from which to
escape.
The first hole is being plain
and ordinary, blending in with the circumstances to be invisible in plain sight.
The second hole is to be majestically straightforward and marvelously profound, appearing
sometimes like a ten foot golden Buddha immobilizing the awe struck or like a demon frightening
away the attacker.
The third hole is the minutely subtle manifestation of
function taking its rest, removing all semblance of opposition and leaving no trace.
This function of the crafty rabbit can be seen in the koan
of “Yangshan Sticking in a Shovel” that is Case 15 of the Record of the Temple of Equanimity (A.K.A. Book of Equanimity, Book of Serenity).
15th Standard: Yangshan Sticking in a Shovel
第十五則仰山插鍬
Raised: Guishan asked Yangshan, “Where are you coming
from?”
Yang[shan]
said, “From in the fields.”
[Gui]Shan said, “How many people are
in the fields?”
Yang[shan] stuck down his shovel,
folded his hands, and stood there.
[Gui]shan said, “On South Mountain
there are a great many people mowing thatch.”
Yang picked up the shovel then
walked away.
No comments:
Post a Comment