________________
ZEN TECHNIQUE
137 words, or with a gesture, or with unpleasant and not in the least playful blows. These occasions, when preserved, are handed down as innen, "incidents”, and are often more illuminating to the western mind than the mondo.
Huang Po (Jap: Obaku, founder of the third school of Zen Buddhism) was paying reverence to the Buddha image in the temple shrine. A pupil approached and said, "If we ought not to seek Zen through the Buddha, nor through the Dharma (the Doctrine) nor through the Sangha (the monastic Order), why do you bow to the Buddha as if wishing to get something by this pious act?" "I do not seek it," answered the Master, “through the Buddha, nor through the Dharma, nor through the Sangha. I just go on with this act of piety to the Buddha." The pupil asked, “But what is the use of looking so sanctimonious?” The Master gave him a slap in the face, at which he complained, "How rude you are!" "Do you know where you are?” replied the Master. "In this place (in the shrine) I have no time to consider for your sake what rudeness or politeness means." And another slap was given. Do you "see"?1
Or again. When Hyakujo was with his Master, a flock of geese flew overhead. “What are they?" asked the Master, himself giving the "lead” for once. “They are wild geese, sir." "Whither are they flying?" "They have flown away, sir." Baso fiercely tweaked his nose, and said, "You say they have flown away, but all the same they have been here from the very beginning.” Hyakujo's back was wet with perspiration. He had satori.
This latter is a good example of the "centre-returning" 1 Introduction, p. 35. 2 Essays I, p. 225.
