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Huineng's No North & South (GG23)

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KOAN:

The fifth ancestor asked, “Where did you come from?”
“From south of the mountain,” said Huineng.
“What did you come for?” asked the ancestor.
“To become Buddha,” said Huineng.
“You cannot become Buddha because the people south of the mountain have no Buddha nature.”
Hunineng said, “Though there is south and north for people, how can there be a south and north for Buddha nature?”

—from the commentary on Gateless Gate Case 23 (Huineng’s Original Face)

Text February 11, 2021

A True Person of No Rank, No Color, No Gender: Seeing Through All Distinctions

John Tarrant

Koans
Dongshan's Cold Kills You Heat Kills You (BCR43), Huineng's No North & South (GG23), I Vow to Set Endless Heartache to Rest, Linji's True Person (MK38b)(BS38), The Four Boundless Vows
Tags
always I carry light and silence, Bodhisattva Path, doing the impossible, poet Anna Swir, poet Du Fu, poet Li Bai, poet Yousef Koumenyaka, racist behaviors, societal unrest, trust in your light, tumultuous times, Walking While Black, writer Garnette Cadogan
Category
Text, Transcript

I was thinking about history and beauty and what an old old thing human suffering is, and how intrinsic it is. And we keep making things better and then they keep getting worse, and we’re making them better and they get worse. I guess I just wanted to say that it’s really good to have a practice at any time. Meditate—it will help. You will come from a position of peace rather than just fighting yourself. Being yourself, the true person, no rank. Transcript of PZI Zen Online Sunday Dharma Talk with John Tarrant Roshi, recorded June 7, 2020.

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