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Zhaozhou’s Three Turning Words (BCR96)

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KOAN:

Zhaozhou used to teach three turning words:

A clay buddha can’t cross through water.
A gold buddha can’t cross through a furnace.
A wooden buddha can’t cross through fire.
(The true buddha is sitting in the house.)

—Blue Cliff Record Case 96 (transl. by John Tarrant & Joan Sutherland)