Shitou Drops in on Pang

One day Shitou said, “I’ve come to visit you. What have you been doing?”
The Layman said, “If you’re asking what I do every day, there’s nothing to say about it.”
Shitou said, “What did you think you were doing before I asked you about it?”

The Layman made up a verse: 

What I do every day is nothing special: 
I simply stumble around. 
What I do is not thought out, 
Where I go is unplanned. 
No matter who tries to leave their mark, 
The hills and valleys are not impressed. 
Collecting firewood and carrying water 
Are prayers that reach the gods.

Shitou approved, saying, “So, are you going to wear black or white?”
Pang said, ”I will do whatever is best.” It came to pass that he never shaved his head to join the sangha.

I love this koan. If asked about Zen, you might hear, “Chop wood, carry water.” Pang’s verse is simple, alive, wonderfully honest and overflowing with presence.

Let’s look more closely at Shitou’s questions:

“I’ve come to visit you. What have you been doing?”
”What did you think you were doing?”

There is so much to our practice that is relational. The universe calls, moving towards us, visiting with us. At times this opens up in human connection, but also plant, animal and mineral worlds, not to mention the thought worlds I bring to life.

A visit can be a call to depth knowing that in all visitations we meet the unknown. The price of such a visit is that we might lose ourselves through the encounter, we might open to the expansiveness of the other, touching into the vastness of here and now. There are times I’ll make a visit where the visit opens into presence, an appreciation of the sea that we swim in together with no separation.

And there is nothing outside of the vastness. Everything calls, echoing in my own consciousness to “enter here.” Life is an invitation to an encounter with self, other, and all things. To welcome the visitor is taking Linji’s “position of the host.”

On Thursday we’ll visit with Shitou and Pang. Let’s stumble around: no agenda, no plans, no need to leave a mark or impress. As I finish up, I think I’ll stumble in to the barn. The chickens need feeding, the horses calling to let them out into the field.

—David Parks

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David Parks Roshi, Director of Bluegrass Zen