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Vimalakirti at the Gate (BCR84)
KOAN:
Vimalakirti asked Manjushri, “What is the Dharma gate of nonduality that the bodhisattvas enter?”
Manjushri said, “My idea is this: In all the teachings there are no words, no speech, no explanations, no understanding. If you leave behind all questions and answers is entering the Dharma gate of nonduality. It’s like that.”
Manjushri then asked Vimalakirti, “Each of us has spoken; now, kind sir, you must tell us what the bodhisattva’s Dharma gate of nonduality is.”
(Xuedou comments: What will Vimalakirti say? All has been revealed.)
—Blue Cliff Record Case 84
(transl. by John Tarrant & Joan Sutherland)
Not Making Sense Is Better Than Ice Cream
Explaining things can put you in a bind. The humor of emptiness—a little eternity creeping in—is a panacea, and mind just undoes its problems. If we try to make sense of things, therein lies suffering. “You can’t really explain what inspires.”