An Introduction to Zen Buddhism by D.T. Suzuki

Author:D.T. Suzuki [Suzuki, D.T.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Perseus Books Group
Published: 2007-12-01T00:00:00+00:00

II

Those who have only read the foregoing treatment of Zen as illogical, or of Zen as a higher affirmation, may condude that Zen is something unapproachable, something far apart from our ordinary everyday life, something very alluring but very elusive; and we cannot blame them for so thinking. Zen ought, therefore, to be presented also from its easy, familiar, and approachable side. Life is the basis of all things; apart from it nothing can stand. With all our philosophy, with all our grand and enhancing ideas, we cannot escape life as we live it. Star-gazers are still walking on the solid earth.

What is Zen, then, when made accessible to everybody? Joshu (Chao-chou) once asked a new monk:

“Have you ever been here before?”

The monk answered, “Yes, sir, I have.”

Thereupon the master said, “Have a cup of tea.”

Later on another monk came and he asked him the same question, “Have you ever been here?”

This time the answer was quite opposite. “I have never been here, sir.”

The old master, however, answered just as before, “Have a cup of tea.”

Afterwards the Inju (the managing monk of the monntery) asked the master, “How is it that you make the same offering of a cup of tea no matter what a monk’s reply is?”

The old master called out, “O Inju!” who at once replied, “Yes, master.” Whereupon Joshu said, “Have a cup of tea.”

Joshu (778–897) was one of the most astute Zen masters during the T‘ang dynasty, and the development of Zen in China owes much to him. He is said to have travelled even when he was eighty years of age, his object being to perfect himself in the mastery of Zen. He died in his one hundred and twentieth year. Whatever utterances he made were like jewels that sparkled brightly. It was said of him, “His Zen shines upon his lips.” A monk who was still a novice came to him and asked to be instructed in Zen.

Joshu said, “Have you not had your breakfast yet?”

Replied the monk, “Yes, sir, I have had it already.”

“If so, wash your dishes.” This remark by the old master opened the novice’s eye to the truth of Zen.

One day he was sweeping the ground when a monk asked him, “You are such a wise and holy master; tell me how it is that dust ever accumulates in your yard.”

Said the master, “It comes from the outside.”

Another time he was asked, “Why does this holy place attract dust?” To which his reply was, “There, another particle of dust!”

There was a famous stone bridge at Joshu’s monastery, which was one of the sights there. A stranger monk inquired of him, “I have for some time heard of your famous stone bridge, but I see no such thing here, only a plank.”

Said Joshu, “You see a plank and don’t see a stone bridge.”

“Where then is the stone bridge?”

“You have just crossed it,” was the prompt reply.

At another time when Joshu was asked about this same stone bridge, his answer was, “Horses pass it, people pass it, everybody passes it.

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