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Shoyoroku - Case 54: Ungan's "Great Mercy" [1]
Ungan asked Dogo,
"What does the Bodhisattva of the Great Mercy use so many hands and
eyes for?"
Dogo answered,
"It is like a person in the middle of the night reaching with his hand
behind his head groping for his pillow."
Ungan said,
"I understood."
Dogo said,
"How did you understand it?"
Ungan said,
"The whole body is hands and eyes."
Dogo said,
"You said it very well. But you expressed only eight-tenths of it."
Ungan said,
"How would you say it, Elder Brother?"
Dogo said,
"The entire body is hands and eyes."
[1]: see case 89 of Hekiganroku.
Shoyoroku - Case 55: Seppo in Charge of Cooking [1]
Seppo came to Tokusan and became in charge of cooking food. One day, the lunch
was late. Tokusan came down to the hall carrying his bowls. Seppo said,
"Old Master, the bell has not yet rung nor the drum sounded. Where are you
going with your bowls?"
Thereupon Tokusan went back to his room. Seppo told this to Ganto.
Ganto said,
"Great Tokusan though he is, he has not yet realized the last word."
Hearing of this, Tokusan sent his attendant to summon Ganto and then asked him,
"Don't you approve of this old monk?"
Ganto whispered his intention. Tokusan remained silent. Sure enough, the next
day, when Tokusan ascended the rostrum, his talk was quite different from
usual. Ganto, rubbing his hands together, laughed and said,
"Wonderful! How happy I am that our Old Man has realized the last word.
From now on he'll be subject to no one on earth."
[1]: see case 13 of Mumonkan.
Shoyoroku - Case 56: Misshi and the White Rabbit
When Uncle Misshi [1] and Tozan were walking together, they saw a white rabbit
run by in front of them. Misshi said,
"How swift!"
Tozan said,
"In what way?"
Misshi said,
"It is just like a person in white clothes [2] being venerated as a prime
minister."
Tozan said,
"You are such an elderly and respectable man, and still you say something
like that?"
Misshi said,
"Then how about you?"
Tozan said,
"A noble of an ancient house is temporarily fallen into poverty."
[1]: Somitsu Zenji, uncle to Tozan Zenji. "Misshi" literally means "Master
Mitsu."
[2]: I.e., a commoner, or a person without any social status.
Shoyoroku - Case 57: Gon'yo's One "Thing"
Venerable Gon'yo asked Joshu,
"How is it when a person does not have a single thing?"
Joshu said,
"Throw it away."
Gon'yo said,
"I say I don't have a single thing. What could I ever throw away?"
Joshu said,
"If so, carry it around with you."
Shoyoroku - Case 58: "Getting Despised" in the Diamond Sutra [1]
The Diamond Sutra says,
"It is about getting despised by other people. If you are to come into hell
because of your sins in your previous life, these sins will be extinguished
because you are despised by the people of this world."
[1]: see case 97 of Hekiganroku.
Shoyoroku - Case 59: Seirin's "Deadly Snake"
A monk asked Seirin,
"How is it when a practitioner goes along a narrow path?"
Seirin said,
"You will meet a deadly snake on the great road. I advise you not to run
into it."
The monk said,
"What if I do run into it?"
Seirin said,
"You will lose your life."
The monk said,
"What if I don't run into it?"
Seirin said,
"You have no place to escape from it."
The monk said,
"Precisely at such a time, what then?"
Seirin said,
"It is lost."
The monk said,
"I wonder where it is gone."
Seirin said,
"The grass is so deep, there is no place to look for it."
The monk said,
"You too, Master, must be watchful in order to get it."
Seirin clapped his hands and said,
"This fellow is equally poisonous."
Shoyoroku - Case 60: Tetsuma, the Cow [1]
Ryu Tetsuma [2] came to Isan. Isan said,
"Old Cow, you have come!"
Tetsuma said,
"Tomorrow there will be a great feast at Mt. Tai [3]. Will you go there,
Master?"
Isan lay down and stretched himself out.
Tetsuma left immediately.
[1]: see case 24 of Hekiganroku.
[2]: A famous Zen person, once a student of Isan. Her name means "Ryu, the
iron grindstone."
[3]: More exactly: Mt. Gotai, which is far away in the northern part of
the country.
Shoyoroku - Case 61: Kempo's "One Line" [1]
A monk asked Master Kempo in all earnestness,
"In a certain sutra it says, 'Ten-direction Bhagavats, one Way to the gate
of nirvana.' I wonder where the Way is."
Kempo lifted up his stick, drew a line and said,
"Here it is."
The monk told Unmon about this and asked him. Unmon said,
"This fan jumps up to the heaven of the thirty-three devas and adheres to
the nose of the deva Taishaku. When a carp in the eastern sea is struck
with a stick, it rains torrents as though a tray of water is overturned."
[1]: see case 48 of Mumonkan.
Shoyoroku - Case 62: Beiko's "Enlightenment"
Beiko had a monk ask Kyozan,
"Do people these days really need enlightenment or not?"
Kyozan said,
"It is not that there is no enlightenment, but how can it be helped that it
falls into the second class?"
The monk went back to Beiko and told him about it. Beiko deeply agreed.
Shoyoroku - Case 63: Joshu Asks about "Death" [1]
Joshu asked Tosu,
"What if a man who has died a great Death comes back to life?"
Tosu said,
"I don't allow walking about in the night. Come in the daylight."
[1]: see case 41 of Hekiganroku.
Shoyoroku - Case 64: Shisho's "Succession"
Head Monk Shisho [1] asked Hogen,
"You have opened a zendo, Master. But who did you succeed to?"
Hogen said,
"Master Jizo."
Shisho said,
"You have gone a great deal against your late master Chokei." [2]
Hogen said,
"I still don't understand a turning word of Chokei's."
Shisho said,
"Why didn't you ask me?"
Hogen said,
"'The one body manifests itself in myriad phenomena', what does it mean?"
Shisho stuck up his whisk. Hogen said,
"That is what you learned under Chokei. What is your own view, Head Monk?"
Shisho was silent. Hogen said,
"When it is said, 'The one body manifests itself in myriad phenomena', are
the myriad phenomena swept away or are they not?"
Shisho said,
"Not swept away."
Hogen said,
"There are two."
All the disciples on the right and the left side said,
"Swept away."
Hogen said,
"The one body manifests itself in myriad phenomena, Nii [3]!"
[1]: Shisho was a disciple of Master Chokei.
[2]: Hogen once practiced under Master Chokei.
[3]: A word used to point something out.
Shoyoroku - Case 65: Shuzan's "Bride"
A monk asked Shuzan,
"What is Buddha?"
Shuzan said,
"When a bride rides the donkey, her mother-in-law leads it by the bridle. [1]"
[1]: This is how the mother-in-law introduces the bride to the village people.
Shoyoroku - Case 66: Kyuho's "Head and Tail"
A monk asked Kyuho,
"What is the head?"
Kyuho said,
"Opening the eyes and not perceiving the dawn."
The monk said,
"What is the tail?"
Kyuho said,
"Not sitting on a ten-thousand-year-old sitting place."
The monk said,
"What if there is a head, but no tail?"
Kyuho said,
"After all, it is not valuable."
The monk said,
"What if there is a tail, but no head?"
Kyuho said,
"Being complacent, yet having no power."
The monk said,
"What if the head matches the tail?"
Kyuho said,
"The descendants will prosper, but it is not known in the room."