Ma-tsu Ta-chi (also: Mazu Daoyi)
[Japanese: Baso](709-788)
A collation by Paul Quek
"Wild Geese" Koan
Pai-chang Huai-hai (also: Baizhang Huai-hai) [Japanese: Hyakujo] (724-814), went out one day attending his master Ma-tsu [Japanese: Baso], when they saw a flock of wild geese flying.
Ma-stu asked: "What are they?"
"They are wild geese, sir".
"Where are they now?"
"They have flown away".
Ma-stu, abruptly taking hold of Pai-chang's nose, gave it a twist. Overcome with pain, Pai-chang cried out: "Oh! Oh!"
Said Ma-stu, "You say they have flown away, but they have been here from the very first".
This made Pai-chang's back wet with perspiration; he had satori (enlightenment).
Is there any possible connection between the washing of the bowls and the blowing of the candle and the twisting of the nose? We must say with Yun-men [Japanese: Ummon]: If there is none, how could they have all come to a realization of the truth of Zen? If there is, what is the inner relationship? What is this "satori" (enlightenment)? What new point of view of looking at things is this? |
-- Adapted from D.T. Suzuki
AN INTRODUCTION TO ZEN BUDDHISM
Edited by Christmas Humphreys,
with a Foreword by C.G.Jung
Rider & Company
London 1949 (1969)
http://boozers.fortunecity.com/brewerytap/695/Suzuki-intr.htm
AN INTRODUCTION TO ZEN BUDDHISM
Edited by Christmas Humphreys,
with a Foreword by C.G.Jung
Rider & Company
London 1949 (1969)
http://boozers.fortunecity.com/brewerytap/695/Suzuki-intr.htm
The "wild geese" koan is Case #53 of the great koan collection, The Blue Cliff Record (Chinese: Bìyán Lù  )
[Japanese: Hekiganroku], which was compiled by Yuanwu Keqin (Chinese:  )
[Japanese: Engo] (1063-1135), who was also a Chinese Zen Master in his own
right. Enigmatically, Yuanwu's "Introduction" said of this koan: The universe is not veiled; all its activities lie open. Whichever way he
[Ma-tsu / Baso] may go, he meets no obstruction. At all times he behaves
independently. His every word is devoid of egocentricity, yet still he has the
power to kill others. Tell me, where did the ancient worthy come to rest? The url has the following to say: This story is about Hyakujo [Chinese: Pai-chang] who became a famous Zen master
in his own right, but in this case he is learning from his master Baso
[Chinese: Ma-tsu]. We find them in a natural
setting where a wild duck passes by, and Baso uses this environment to
illuminate Hyakujo to the true nature of things. Everything, everywhere is constantly revealing the underlining nature of the universe. When the historical Buddha had his first great awakening upon seeing the morning star Venus on December 8th some 2,500 years ago, he realized that everything, everywhere was always naturally manifesting Buddha Nature Activity. When our eyes are truly open, we realize how astounding it is for a tree to be a tree, a mountain to be a mountain, an animal to be an animal. A river is water flowing. A duck passing is truly just wild duck now passing. Zen realization includes the capacity to know ourselves as mountain, river, tree or wild duck. In other words, while sitting here in the form of a human being, we have the capacity to know mountain, river, tree, or duck from the inside. This is possible because on a fundamental level nothing is really separate from anything else. In this story Baso and his student Hyakujo are most likely walking around the gardens enclosed or adjacent to the temple grounds. While walking, imagine that their steps startle a wild duck in the brush, which bursts forth and flies off. Baso then says, "What was that?" Hyakujo responds, "A wild duck, master." Baso queries, "Where did that duck just go?" Hyakujo looks a little puzzled and points out, "It flew off this way master." Baso is not pleased with this response. Hyakujo by his second descriptive answer reveals that he was trapped within his own rational discriminating consciousness, failing to penetrate through the veil of subject and object thinking. Therefore, Baso seizes this opportunity to push his student's perception to a new level by harshly tweaking Hyakujo's nose, making him squawk with pain. |
[There] is a dangerous loophole which the students of Zen ought
to be especially careful to avoid. Zen must never be confused
with naturalism or libertinism, which means to follow one's
natural bent without questioning its origin and value. ...
Shigong Huicang
(Shih-kung Hui-ts'ang) [Japanese: Sekkyo or Shakkyo Ezo] was one day working in the kitchen when Ma-tsu [Japanese: Baso], his Zen teacher, came in and asked what he was doing.
"I am herding the cow", said the pupil.
"How do you attend her?"
"If she goes out of the path even once, I pull her back straightway by the nose; not a moment's delay is allowed".
Said the master, "You truly know how to take care of her".
This is not naturalism.
Here is the effort to do the right thing.
Shigong Huicang (Shih-kung Hui-ts'ang) [Japanese: Sekkyo or Shakkyo Ezo] was one day working in the kitchen when Ma-tsu [Japanese: Baso], his Zen teacher, came in and asked what he was doing.
"I am herding the cow", said the pupil.
"How do you attend her?"
"If she goes out of the path even once, I pull her back straightway by the nose; not a moment's delay is allowed".
Said the master, "You truly know how to take care of her".
This is not naturalism.
Here is the effort to do the right thing.
A distinguished teacher was once asked, "Do you ever make any
effort to get disciplined in the truth?" "Yes, I do". "How do you exercise yourself?" "When I am hungry I eat; when tired I sleep". "This is what everybody does; can they be said to be exercising themselves in the same way as you do?" "No". "Why not?"  "Because when they eat they do not eat, but are thinking of various other things, thereby allowing themselves to be disturbed; when they sleep they do not sleep, but dream of a thousand and one things. This is why they are not like myself". |
-- Adapted from D.T. Suzuki
AN INTRODUCTION TO ZEN BUDDHISM
Edited by Christmas Humphreys,
with a Foreword by C.G.Jung
Rider & Company
London 1949 (1969)
http://boozers.fortunecity.com/brewerytap/695/Suzuki-intr.htm
AN INTRODUCTION TO ZEN BUDDHISM
Edited by Christmas Humphreys,
with a Foreword by C.G.Jung
Rider & Company
London 1949 (1969)
http://boozers.fortunecity.com/brewerytap/695/Suzuki-intr.htm
Master Ma-tsu [Japanese: Baso] was famous for the power of his voice, as was
Gautama Buddha, whose voice was known as "the lion's roar." 
Because of the virtue of his practice of sitting-Zen, when Master Ma-tsu let
out a roar he did so in the same state as Gautama Buddha.
Such actions are unfathomable to the thinking brain.
Such actions are unfathomable to the thinking brain.
-- Adapted from "Fukan-zazengi"
"The Standard of Sitting-Zen Recommended for Everyone"
A commentary by / Un commentaire de
Mike Chodo Cross
url: http://www.zen-occidental.net/enseignements/cross4.html
"The Standard of Sitting-Zen Recommended for Everyone"
A commentary by / Un commentaire de
Mike Chodo Cross
url: http://www.zen-occidental.net/enseignements/cross4.html
Q1: What is Buddha? 
A monk asked Ma-tsu [Japanese: Baso], "What is Buddha?"
Ma-tsu replied, "This very Mind is Buddha."
Ma-tsu replied, "This very Mind is Buddha."
Q2: What is Buddha?
A monk asked Ma-tsu [Japanese: Baso], "What is Buddha?"
Ma-tsu replied, "This Mind is NOT the Buddha."
(Or: "No Mind, no Buddha.")
Ma-tsu replied, "This Mind is NOT the Buddha."
(Or: "No Mind, no Buddha.")
"No Mind, no Buddha."
"Mind is Buddha" is the phrase for one who wants medicine while he has no
disease. "No Mind, No Buddha" is given to those who have been cured of disease
but still cling to medicine.
A monk asked Ma-tsu [Japanese: Baso], "Why do you teach that Mind is Buddha?"
Ma-tsu replied, "To stop a baby's crying."
The monk asked, "What is it like when the baby stops crying?"
Ma-tsu answered, "No Mind, no Buddha."
A monk asked Ma-tsu [Japanese: Baso], "Why do you teach that Mind is Buddha?"
Ma-tsu replied, "To stop a baby's crying."
The monk asked, "What is it like when the baby stops crying?"
Ma-tsu answered, "No Mind, no Buddha."
Open Your Own Treasure House
Dazhu Huihai Ma-tsu asked, "What do you seek?"
"Satori (Enlightenment)," replied Dazhu.
"You have your own treasure house. Why do you search outside?" Ma-tsu asked.
Dazhu inquired, "Where is my treasure house?"
Ma-tsu answered, "What you are asking is your treasure house."
Dazhu was immediately enlightened.
From then on, Dazhu urged his friends: "Open your own treasure house and use those treasures."
Bodhidharma Coming to the East
Shui-lao asked his master, Ma-tsu [Japanese: Baso], "What is the meaning of
Bodhidharma's coming from the West?"
Ma-tsu kicked him in the chest, knocking him to the ground.
Immediately Shui-lao was enlightened, got up, and began clapping his hands and laughing.
When asked about the nature of his enlightenment, Shui-lao replied, "Since the master kicked me, I have not been able to stop laughing."
Ma-tsu kicked him in the chest, knocking him to the ground.
Immediately Shui-lao was enlightened, got up, and began clapping his hands and laughing.
When asked about the nature of his enlightenment, Shui-lao replied, "Since the master kicked me, I have not been able to stop laughing."
Yaoshan Weiyan [Japanese: Yakusan] visited the Zen master
Ma-tsu [Japanese: Baso] to ask him a question, as it happens at the suggestion of
Shitou Xiqian [Japanese: Sekito Kisen].
Yaoshan said,
"I've come close to understanding the basics of Buddhist doctrine. But what was
the meaning of Bodhidharma coming from the West?"
To this query, Ma-tsu replied,
"Some moments (sometimes), I make him raise his eyebrows and
blink his eyes.
At other moments/times, I do not let him raise his eyes or blink his eyes.
At other moments/times, it is really not him who is raising his eyebrows or blinking his eyes.
How do you understand it?"
At other moments/times, I do not let him raise his eyes or blink his eyes.
At other moments/times, it is really not him who is raising his eyebrows or blinking his eyes.
How do you understand it?"
Hearing these words, Yaoshan had a great realization, and said to Ma-tsu,
All that matters in Zen is the "moment" that is born between one and two, the
moment before time itself was born.
And the moment is now; it is always now but the Now as newly seen has eternal value.
This when applied to the next thing to be done removes so much of our worry, and the long sequence of emotional reaction with which we plague our days.
If we do not find our Satori in what we are doing because it is the right [ or "skilfull" ] thing to do, we shall never find it while doing something else.
... we flow with the river [ of life ] or we refuse. If we flow with the river ... we can ... feel no suffering.
Accept it and we are one with it; resist it and we are hurt.
The false "I" forms as we stop flowing ....
The seeking is the finding, the deed is the doing of it, the means of the moment are themselves the end.
And the moment is now; it is always now but the Now as newly seen has eternal value.
This when applied to the next thing to be done removes so much of our worry, and the long sequence of emotional reaction with which we plague our days.
If we do not find our Satori in what we are doing because it is the right [ or "skilfull" ] thing to do, we shall never find it while doing something else.
... we flow with the river [ of life ] or we refuse. If we flow with the river ... we can ... feel no suffering.
Accept it and we are one with it; resist it and we are hurt.
The false "I" forms as we stop flowing ....
The seeking is the finding, the deed is the doing of it, the means of the moment are themselves the end.
-- Adapted from Christmas Humphreys
Zen: A Way of Life
Zen: A Way of Life
Ma-tsu has a unique way of looking at things.
Think of the eyebrows as mountains and the eyes as oceans, for mountains can be eyebrows just as surely as oceans can be eyes.
Think of "having him raise" mountains; think of "having him blink" oceans.
"Being the thing" becomes familiar to him; "having" leads him along.
Having him do something does not imply not having him do it; not having him do something does not imply it not being the thing.
Either is a moment of someness.
Mountains are moments, and oceans are moments.
Neither mountains nor oceans could exist were there not moments within them, and moments could not fail to exist within the immediate now of mountains and oceans.
If moments could shatter, mountains and oceans could shatter as well.
Since moments cannot shatter, then neither can mountains and oceans.
In the light of this truth we see the morning star rising over the enlightened Buddha in the iris of whose eye is reflected the flower raised in his hand.
If these were not moments, it could not be so.
Think of the eyebrows as mountains and the eyes as oceans, for mountains can be eyebrows just as surely as oceans can be eyes.
Think of "having him raise" mountains; think of "having him blink" oceans.
"Being the thing" becomes familiar to him; "having" leads him along.
Having him do something does not imply not having him do it; not having him do something does not imply it not being the thing.
Either is a moment of someness.
Mountains are moments, and oceans are moments.
Neither mountains nor oceans could exist were there not moments within them, and moments could not fail to exist within the immediate now of mountains and oceans.
If moments could shatter, mountains and oceans could shatter as well.
Since moments cannot shatter, then neither can mountains and oceans.
In the light of this truth we see the morning star rising over the enlightened Buddha in the iris of whose eye is reflected the flower raised in his hand.
If these were not moments, it could not be so.
-- Adapted from "Some Moments"
"A Translation of Dogen Zenji’s Uji"
By Bob Myers
url: http://www.bob.myers.name/dogen/uji.html
"A Translation of Dogen Zenji’s Uji"
By Bob Myers
url: http://www.bob.myers.name/dogen/uji.html