Gunabhadra (394-468)
translator of Lankavatara Sutra
into Chinese
is recorded
asking
What is it?
In the same text, 1st Zen patriarch Bodhidharma is recorded asking
What is that?
fifth patriarch Hung Jen of sixth patriarch Hui Nang (638-713) asked
What is this thing and how did it get here?
Huai Jang or Nangaku Ejo (677-744) replied
Although its cultivation and experiencing are not uncalled for, it cannot be tainted
Huai Jang asked
What is it?
Ma Tsu or Baso (709-788) replied
for the thirty years since my last shock, I have been short of neither salt nor sauce
taught
Those who seek the truth should realise there is nothing to seek. There is no Buddha but and; there is no mind but Buddha.
I want to stop crying like a baby.
When the crying has stopped,
not mind
not Buddha.
Ma Tsu to Pai Chang or Hyakujo (720-814)
who called to a crowd after dharma talk
What is it?
Huang Po or Obaku (d. 850)
seven feet tall with a pearl-like swelling in the middle of his forehead said
Your true nature is... never lost to you even in moments of delusion, nor...gained
at the moment of enlightenment
his disciples
fierce Lin Chi or Rinzai (d. 866)
stalking enlightenment like a panther
and the reclusive, sandal making Mu Chou or Bokushu (780-877)
who, picking up a piece of cake asked
What is it?
and, as his first teacher, slammed the door on the leg of Yün Men or Ummon (d.949)
helping him to achieve enlightenment
encouraging him to also train under Hsüeh Feng or Seppo (822-980)
who
when approached, alone and fiery, could burn off your face
scolded Yün Men for
talking in his sleep
Yün Men's teaching survived for 3 hundred years after his death.
You tell me
what is it?
What else is it?
- The Faith To Doubt. Batchelor