The Moon Sets at Midnight (BS76)

KOAN:

The teacher said to the gathering, “If you get it the first time you hear it, you will teach the buddhas and ancestors. If you get it the second time you hear it, you will teach gods and humans. If you don’t get it til the third time you hear it, you won’t even be able to save yourself.”

A student asked, “When did you get it?” The teacher said, “The moon sets at midnight, I walk alone through the town.”

—Book of Serenity, Case 76