Rinzai and all of the monks had been out hoeing. When Rinzai noticed Obaku strategy, he stopped working and propped himself up on his hoe. Obaku mentioned, “Would this fellow be drained?” Rinzai replied, “I’ve as but not even lifted my hoe. Why ought to I be drained?” Obaku hit him. Rinzai grabbed the stick, gave Obaku blow and knocked him over. Obaku known as the superintendent to assist him up. The superintendent, doing so, remonstrated, “Venerable, how are you going to allow the impudence of this madman?” Obaku was hardly on his toes when he hit the superintendent. Rinzai, having began to hoe, remarked, “Cremation is the customized in every single place, however right here, I bury every little thing alive with a single stroke!”
Commentary:
When Obaku mentioned, “Would this fellow be drained?” he meant the true-Self by this fellow. Rinzai meant that the true-Self can’t be drained since there’s nothing equivalent to a hoe to raise within the state of the true-Self by saying, “I’ve as but not even lifted my hoe. Why ought to I be drained?” Obaku examined Rinzai once more to see if he may acknowledge the true-Self by hitting him, and Rinzai meant, “That is the true-Self you confirmed to me by hitting me” by grabbing the stick, giving blow and knocking him down. Unaware of the deep which means exchanged between Obaku and Rinzai, the superintendent remonstrated, “Venerable, how are you going to allow the impudence of this madman?” Obaku, sensing that he had not grasped his intention, revealed the true-Self by hitting him as quickly as he was on his toes. Rinzai’s comment ‘Cremation is the customized in every single place, however right here, I bury every little thing alive with a single stroke!’ implied that he may make every little thing disappear, that’s, make every little thing into the true-Self with a single stroke.
Pupil: “How is it attainable to make every little thing into the true-Self with a single stroke?”
Grasp: “A drop of seawater is sufficient to know that each one the seawater on the earth is salty.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All photos ©Simon Hathaway
