Master Ma's Ordinary Mind by Fumio Yamada

Author:Fumio Yamada
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wisdom Publications

Even though the lecture master is a rather hardheaded academic, Mazu still gives him all the kindness he can. The lecture master needs to achieve realization for himself. When Mazu calls after him, it’s no more than an opportunity for the lecture master’s self-awareness to awaken.

He is not trying to give a reasoned argument along the lines of “The one who turns around when called after is none other than the ­Buddha.” Rather, Mazu wants the person being called after to realize that the here-and-now phenomenon of turning around when called is itself ­Buddha. This call-and-turn phenomenon happens when someone else calls upon you and you respond completely naturally, without conscious effort, to the action.

Even the overly intellectual lecture master has a self who responds when called upon. When we respond to the call by turning around, there is no cause-and-effect thought process wherein we decide, “I’ve been called upon. Thus, I must turn about.” The important thing is that we just turn around.

Mazu does not explain a single thing in this dialogue. The exchange that occurs between Mazu and the lecture master is not something to be made subject to interpretation.

Even so, the lecture master, perhaps because it’s just his nature, interprets everything that Mazu says and does as “a teaching.” He’s all caught up in the idea that if he interprets something it means that he’s understood it, that every scenario is something to be interpreted and comprehended. Finally, even Mazu’s supply of patience runs out, and he lets him go, saying, “What a fool.”

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