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Dongshan's Five Ranks (4th)
KOAN:
Poem 4
Two swords are crossed.
There’s no way to retreat.
You’re a lotus in the fire
You can’t help it
You’re determined to go higher.
—from the Record of Dongshan, The Five Ranks (4th Rank)
Ascending the Heavens
PZI Zen Online- Dongshan’s 4th Rank-‘Two crossed swords..’a timely image for unrest, protests, the dance of the vast and undifferentiated natural order of the universe is always calling us even in distress. Everything is expressing itself, demonstrators are streams moving in flow to a river. Not a thing out of place. As recorded June 8, 2020.
Dongshan’s Five Ranks: Poem 4
Two swords are crossed (like in the movies, which actually I don’t think happens in real life, but it’s very popular in the movies. It was popular in the movies like 1200 years ago.) Two swords are crossed. There’s no way to retreat. You’re a lotus in the fire. You can’t help it. You’re determined to go higher. Farther, higher, up , further, more. So two swords are crossed. There’s no way to retreat. You’re a lotus in the fire. You can’t help it. You’re determined to go higher.