Author Submission: Buddha Weekly Books (BWB)Ī koan is a paradoxical riddle or statement used in Zen Buddhism in order to shake-up conventional thinking and to provoke an insight.Theravada The Elder School in Buddhism. Sutras Sutta English Complete English-translated Buddhist Sutras (Suttas) and commentaries from all traditions.Whenever Chü-chih was asked a question, he simply raised one finger. Not evading, not falling- a thousand mistakes, ten thousand mistakes. WU-MEN’S VERSE Not falling, not evading- two faces of the same die. Pai-chang clapped his hands and laughed, saying, “I thought the Barbarian had a red beard, but here is a red-bearded Barbarian.” WU-MEN’S COMMENT “Not falling under the law of cause and effect.” Why should this prompt five hundred lives as a fox? “Not evading the law of cause and effect.” Why should this prompt a return to human life? If you have the single eye of realization, you will appreciate how old Pai-chang lived five hundred lives as a fox as lives of grace. What if he had given the right answer each time he was asked a question-what would have happened then?” Pai-chang said, “Just step up here closer, and I’ll tell you.” Huang-po went up to Pai-chang and slapped him in the face. Huang-po stepped forward and said, “As you say, the old man missed the turning word and was reborn as a fox five hundred times. That evening he took the high seat before his assembly and told the monks the whole story. He then performed the ceremony of cremation. And there, with his staff, he poked out the body of a dead fox. by Norman Waddell After the meal, Pai-chang led the monks to the foot of a rock on the far side of the mountain. If you still don’t understand why don’t you go to the foot of the north cliff and take a look at him. Not falling into cause and effect can bring the wild fox to life not obscuring cause and effect kills him stone dead. Please, Abbot, perform my funeral as for a priest.” Pai-chang had a head monk strike the signal board and inform the assembly that after the noon meal there would be a funeral service for a priest. The body is on the other side of this mountain. Making his bows he said, “I am released from the body of a fox. Please say a turning word for me and release me from the body of a fox.” He then asked Pai-chang, “Does an enlightened person fall under the law of cause and effect or not?” Pai-chang said, “Such a person does not evade the law of cause and effect.” Hearing this, the old man immediately was enlightened. One day a monk asked me, ‘Does an enlightened person fall under the law of cause and effect or not?’ I replied, ‘Such a person does not fall under the law of cause and effect.’ With this I was reborn five hundred times as a fox. In the far distant past, in the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, I was head priest at this mountain. Pai-chang asked him, “Who are you, standing here before me?” The old man replied, “I am not a human being. THE CASE Once when Pai-chang gave a series of talks, a certain old man was always there listening together with the monks. Below are from The Gateless Barrier which is generally acknowledged to be the fundamental koan collection in the literature of Zen.
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