Ummon klib7/26/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() Tozan (Ummon's future successor as head of the Ummon school) went to Ummon.Afterwards another teacher, Shishin, asked his pupils: "At which point did that student go off the track?" A Zen student told Ummon- "Brilliancy of Buddha illuminates the whole universe."īefore he finished the phrase, Ummon asked: "You are reciting another's poem, are you not?" "Yes", answered the student."Ah-ha!" said Ummon, "I see you are not dumb!" "Ah-ha!" said Ummon, "I see you are not deaf!" Then he asked the monk if he understood what all this to-do was about. "Ah-ha!" said Ummon, "I see you are not blind!" Then he told the monk to come forward, which he did. After making the questioner prostrate himself and then rise, Ummon swiped at him with his staff. So since we cannot help these people, how can we say Buddhism helps in every possible way? What good is it?" Many years later a monk asked the master Ummon to explain these words of Gensha. The dumb cannot ask their questions or speak their understanding. The deaf cannot hear the teacher's words, no matter how wise. "Pious teachers say that Buddhism helps us in every possible way, but think: how can it help the blind, the deaf, or the dumb? The blind cannot see the teacher's staff that is raised before them. Of the Zen saying: "Buddha preached for forty-nine years, but his tongue never moved," the master Gensha said:.Ummon Zenji said: "Men of immeasurable greatness are tossed about in the ebb and flow of words.".When Ummon was asked "What is the pure Dharmakaya?", he replied: "The flowering hedge" (surrounding the privy).Ummon answered: "The Six Ungraspables." (The Graspables are the five senses and the mind. A monk once asked Ummon, "What is the Dharma Kaya?".Ummon replied: "A garden of medicinal flowers." The monk then said, "Is that all I need to understand?" Ummon replied: "If that isn't enough, then you'll need to see the mythical Golden-Haired Lion." A monk asked Ummon, "What is the Dharma Kaya (the ultimate formless timeless reality)?".Ummon inquired of his monks, "This world is such a wide world! Why then do you answer to a temple bell and don ceremonial robes?".The following is a list of kōans attributed to the Zen master Yunmen Wenyan. ![]()
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