..续本文上一页 in the sense of mystification. A plain fact is stated here in plain language. If it does not seem so to the reader, it is because he has not attained to this state of mind which enabled Bodhidharma or Sekito to make the statement.

　　The Emperor Wu of the Liang dynasty requested Fu Daishi (497-569) to discourse on a Buddhist sutra. The Daishi taking the chair sat solemnly in it but uttered not a word. The Emperor said, "I asked you to give a discourse, and why do you not begin to speak

　　" Shih, one of the Emperor”s attendants, said, "The Daishi has finished discoursing". What kind of a sermon did this silent Buddhist philosopher deliver

　　 Later on, a Zen master commenting on the above says, "What an eloquent sermon it was!" Vimalakirti, the hero of the sutra bearing his name, had the same way of answering the question, "What is the absolute doctrine of non-duality

　　" Someone remarked, "Thundering, indeed, is this silence of Vimalakirti". Was this keeping the mouth closed really deafening

　　 If so, I hold my tongue now, and the whole universe, with all its hullabaloo and hurly-burly, is at once absorbed in this absolute silence. But mimicry does not turn a frog into a green leaf. Where there is no creative originality there is no Zen. I must say: "Too late, too late! The arrow has gone off the string".

　　A monk asked Yeno, "Who has inherited the spirit of the Fifth Patriarch

　　"

　　Answered Yeno, "One who understands Buddhism".

　　"Have you then inherited it

　　"

　　"No", replied Yeno, "I have not".

　　"Why have you not

　　" was naturally the next question of the monk.

　　"Because I do not understand Buddhism", Yeno reasoned.

　　How hard, then, and yet how easy it is to understand Zen! Hard because to understand it is not to understand it; easy because not to understand it is to understand it. A master declares that even Buddha Sakyamuni and Bodhisattva Maitreya do not understand it, where simple-minded knaves do understand it.

　　We can mow see why Zen shuns abstractions, representations, and figures of speech. No real value is attached to such words as God, Buddha, the soul, the Infinite, the One, the suchlike words. They are, after all, only words and ideas, and as such are not conducive to the real understanding of Zen. On the contrary, they often falsify and play at cross purposes. We are thus compelled always to be on our guard. Said a Zen master, "Cleanse the mouth thoroughly when you utter the word Buddha". Or, "There is one word I do not like to hear; that is, Buddha". Or, "Pass quickly on where there is no Buddha, nor stay where he is". Why are the followers of Zen so antagonistic toward Buddha

　　 Is not Buddha their Lord

　　 Is he not the highest reality of Buddhism

　　 He cannot be such a hateful or unclean thing as to be avoided by Zen adherents. What they do not like is not the Buddha himself, but the odium attached to the word.

　　The answers given by Zen masters to the question "Who or what is the Buddhas

　　" are full of varieties; and why so

　　 One reason at least is that they thus desire to free our minds from all possible entanglements and attachment such as words, ideas, desires, etc., which are put up against us from the outside. Some of the answers are, then, as follows:

　　 "One made of clay and decorated with gold".

　　 "Even the finest artist cannot paint him".

　　 "The one enshrined in the Buddha Hall".

　　 "He is no Buddha".

　　 "Your name is Yecho".

　　 "The dirt-scraper all dried up".(see)

　　 "See the eastern mountains moving over the waves".

　　 "No nonsense here".

　　 "Surrounded by the mountains are we here".

　　 "The bamboo grove at the foot of Chiang-lin hill".

　　 "Three pound of flax".

　　 "The mouth is the gate of woe".

　　 "Lo, the waves are rolling over the plateau".

　　 "See the tree-legged donkey go trotting along".

　　 …

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