Burn Them All

"There are neither Buddhas nor Patriarchs;
Bodhidharma was only an old bearded barbarian.
Sakyamuni [Buddha] and this successor] Kasyapa, [the Bodhisattvas] Manjusri and Samantabhadra, are only dungheap coolies. . . .
Nirvana and bodhi are dead stumps to tie your donkeys.
The twelve divisions of the sacred teachings are only lists of ghosts, sheets of paper fit only for wiping the pus from your boils."

~ Hsuan-chien

"Once a monk asked Master Deshan Xuanjian, “What is awakening?”
Deshan struck him with his staff and said,
“”Get out, don't defecate here!”
Then the monk asked, “What is Buddha?”
The master said, “An old beggar in India.”

One day Master Deshan said to the community, “As soon as you ask, you've missed it. If you refrain from asking, you've also missed it.”
Then a monk came forward and made a bow.
The master hit him.
The monk said,
“I haven't even asked anything yet. Why did you hit me?”
The master said, “What difference would it make if I'd waited until you spoke?”

When Master Deshan became sick at the end of his life, a monk asked him, “Is there one who is not sick?”
The master said, “Yes.”
The monk asked, “What about the one who is not sick?”
The master moaned, “Uuugh. Uuugh.”

Xuanjian was invited to the abbot's room. He talked extensively about Buddhist philosophy until Master Longtan finally said, “It's getting late. You should go now.” So Xuanjian said good night and stepped outside. But finding it too dark to make his way, he asked the master for a lamp. The master lit a lantern and brought it out, but just as Xuanjian reached out to take it, the master blew it out. At that moment Xuanjian had a deep awakening. He then made a deep bow to the master.  The master said, “What did you see that makes you bow?”
Xuanjian said, “From now on, I'll never doubt the teaching of the venerable master.”

The next morning Xuanjian piled all his scholarly texts in front of the Teaching Hall. Lifting a torch he said, “All these abstract doctrines are like a single hair in vast emptiness. All the affairs of the world are like a drop of water in a boundless ocean.” Then he burned them all."

Images ~ Zensho W. Kopp  illusztrációja
~ Deshan Xuanjian