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An Ancient Spirit Visits Baizhang

Once when Baizhang delivered some Zen lectures, an old man attended, unseen by the monks. At the end of each talk, when the monks left, so did he. But one day he remained after they had gone, and Baizhang asked him, “Who is this person, standing in front of me?”

The old man replied, “I am not a human being, but I was a human being when the Kashyapa Buddha preached in this world. I was a Zen master and was abbot of this mountain. At that time, one of my students asked me whether the enlightened person is subject to the law of causation.

I answered them,‘The enlightened person is not subject to the law of causation.’

For this answer I became a fox for five hundred rebirths, and I am still a fox. Will you save me from this condition with your Zen words, and let me get out of a fox’s body?” 

—Gateless Gate, Case 2

So, long ago, a Zen master abbot of the monastery made a mistake. He got it wrong. He answered the student’s question saying that the enlightened person was not subject to the laws of cause and effect. Oops! For this he suffered greatly. “For you,” the universe seemed to be saying to him, “500 lifetimes as a fox!”

I can feel the Ouch! of this koan. I know what it is to think myself wrong. I know what it is to mull over something, to rehearse how I might have gotten it right, “If I only…” The obsessive rehearsals, over and over being reborn, but again and again seeing myself as something alien, separate from an ideal self-image. If I had only done it right, then I’d be who I really am. I think most of us know what it is to languish in 500 lifetimes as a fox.

But then, what if there is no problem?

—David Parks Roshi, Director of Bluegrass Zen

Come join us Thursdays, for koan meditation, a dharma talk, and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome.

I hope you will join us.