Juzhi's One Finger Zen (GG3) (BS84)

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KOAN:

While Juzhi was residing in a small temple, he had a visit from a traveling nun, who came right into the temple without removing her headgear. Carrying her staff with her, she went three times around the meditation chair in which Juzhi was sitting.

Then she said to him, “Say a word of Zen, and I will take off my hat.” She repeated this three times, but Juzhi did not know what to say. When the
nun was about to depart, he said, “It is growing late; why not stay here overnight?”

The nun said, “If you say a word of Zen, I will stay.” As he was still unable to say a word, she left.

—Gateless Gate Case 3 & Book of Serenity Case 84

Text September 18, 2020

Secret Fidelity & One Finger Zen, Even in the Bardos

John Tarrant

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Juzhi's One Finger Zen (GG3) (BS84)

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I think this is a time when things are kind of changing and incredibly uncertain, and that fidelity to what’s really true to us is important and valuable. And we don’t have to pretend that when difficulties are here, they’re not here. But also, we don’t have to pretend that they cancel the illumination, because nothing does, really. Even if we’re dying, the brightness of life is still there. And after we’re dead, we’ll worry about that later, [laughs] when the time comes in the bardos.

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