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Stone Hitting Bamboo (GG5)

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KOAN:

One day while sweeping up fallen leaves, Xiangyan’s bamboo broom caught a stone and it sailed through the air and hit a stalk of bamboo with a little sound. Tock! With that tock! he was awakened.

—from the commentary on Gateless Gate Case 5: Up a Tree

Text August 6, 2020

Knock on Any Door – Daoist Masters & Zen Koans

John Tarrant

Koans
Abiding Nowhere the Heart-Mind Comes Forth (MK65b), Bankei's Miracle, Bodhidharma's Vast Emptiness (BCR1)(BS2), Dragon Singing in a Withered Tree, Emperor Wu Questions Bodhidharma (BCR1)(BS2), Huineng's Original Face (GG23), Knock on Any Door (BCR), Stone Hitting Bamboo (GG5)
Tags
2019 Summer Sesshin, Blue Cliff Record, Book of Serenity, buddha nature, Daoism, Diamond Sutra, emptiness, no trace, not knowing, out of nowhere, poet Du Fu
Category
Text

Whatever your condition is, you can see the “I have joy.” Out of that emptiness, out of what seems unpromising—the dark material, the valley spirit, the enigma, out of the mystery, out of what I don’t understand—it just appears. The joy just appears.

3034 Words