Wednesday, May 23, 2012

What!

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In the monastery of Great Master Ungo Dōyō  there was once a monk who was in his quarters chanting a Scripture. The Great Master, from outside the window, asked him, “What Scripture is the acharya reciting?” 
The monk replied, “The  Vimalakirti  Scripture .” 
The Master said, “I am not asking you if it is the Vimalakirti Scripture.  What you are reciting is a Scripture of What!” 
Thereupon, this monk gained entry into the Truth.1.
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Footnote:
1. The Great Master’s question and exclamation  are translations of the same phrase in the original, but reflect how the monk interpreted them. The monk understood the latter statement as pointing him away from an intellectual understanding of Scripture to That which is the True Source of all Scriptures. 

Source: Excerpted from the Chapter "Kankin: On Reading Scriptures" in the book "Shobogenzo" by Dogen Zenji.