Goso said: “When you meet a Zen master on the road you cannot talk to him, you cannot face him with silence. What are you going to do?”
Mumon’s comment: In such a case, if you can answer him intimately, your realization will be beautiful, but if you cannot, you should look about without seeing anything.
Meeting a Zen master on the road,
Face him neither with words nor silence.
Give him an uppercut
And you will be called one who understands Zen.
Goso said: “When a buffalo goes out of his enclosure to the edge of the abyss, his horns and his head and his hoofs all pass through, but why can’t the tail also pass?”
Mumon’s comment: If anyone can open one eye at this point and say a word of Zen, he is qualified to repay the four gratifications, and, not only that, he can save all sentient beings under him. But if he cannot say such a word of true Zen, he should turn back to his tail.
If the buffalo runs, he will fall into the trench;
If he returns, he will be butchered.
That little tail
Is a very strange thing.
A monk asked Joshu why Bodhidharma came to China.
Joshu said: “An oak tree in the garden.”
Mumon’s comment: If one sees Joshu’s answer clearly, there is no Shakyamuni Buddha before him and no future Buddha after him.
Words cannot describe everything.
The heart’s message cannot be delivered in words.
If one receives words literally, he will be lost,
If he tries to explain with words, he will not attain enlightenment in this life.
A Zen student told Ummon: “Brilliancy of Buddha illuminates the whole universe.”
Before he finished the phrase Ummon asked: “You are reciting another’s poem, are you not?”
“Yes,” answered the student.
“You are sidetracked,” said Ummon.
Afterwards another teacher, Shishin, asked his pupils: “At what point did that student go off the track?”
Mumon’s comment: If anyone perceives Ummon’s particular skillfulness, he will know at what point the student was off the track, and he will be a teacher of man and Devas. If not, he cannot even perceive himself.
When a fish meets the fishhook
If he is too greedy, he will be caught.
When his mouth opens
His life already is lost.
Hyakujo wished to send a monk to open a new monastery. He told his pupils that whoever answered a question most ably would be appointed. Placing a water vase on the ground, he asked: “Who can say what this is without calling its name?”
The chief monk said: “No one can call it a wooden shoe.”
Isan, the cooking monk, tipped over the vase with his foot and went out.
Hyakujo smiled and said: “The chief monk loses.” And Isan became the master of the new monastery.
Mumon’s comment: Isan was brave enough, but he could not escape Hyakujo’s trick. After all, he gave up a light job and took a heavy one. Why, can’t you see, he took off his comfortable hat and placed himself in iron stocks.
Giving up cooking utensils,
Defeating the chatterbox,
Though his teacher sets a barrier for him
His feet will tip over everything, even the Buddha.