PRACTICAL ZEN
anythingthatinterfereswithordisturbstheordinarycourseof
living.TheideaofZenistocatchHfeasitflows.Thereisnothing
extraordinaryormysteriousaboutZen.Iraisemyhand;Itake
abookfromtheothersideofthisdesk;Iheartheboysplaying
balloutsidemywindow;Iseethecloudsblownawaybeyondthe
neighbouringwoods:—inalltheseIampractisingZen, Iam
livingZen.Nowordydiscussionisnecessary,noranyexplanation.
Idonotknowwhy—and thereisno needofexplaining, but
whenthesunrisesthewholeworlddanceswithjoyandevery-
body'sheartisfilledwithbliss.IfZenisatallconceivable,itmust
betakenholdofhere.
Therefore,when Bodhidharma (Daruma inJ.;Ta-moin
C.)wasaskedwhohewas,hesaid,"Idonotknow."Thiswas
notbecausehecouldnotexplainhimself,norwasitbecausehe
wantedtoavoidanyverbalcontroversy,butjustbecausehedid
notknowwhatorwhohewas,savethathewaswhathewasand
couldnotbeanythingelse.Thereasonwassimpleenough.When
Nangaku (Nan-yueh, 677-744) ^^ approaching the Sixth
Patriarch,andwasquestioned,"WTiatisitthatthuswalkstowardme?"hedidnotknowwhattoanswer.Foreightlongyearshe
ponderedthequestion,whenonedayitdawneduponhim,and
heexclaimed, "Eventosay itis somethingdoesnot hitthe
mark."Thisisthesameassaying,"Idonotknow."
Sekitoonceaskedhisdisciple,Yakusan(Yueh-shan),"What
are youdoinghere?" "I am notdoing anything," answered
thelatter."Ifsoyouareidlingyourtimeaway.""Isnotidling
away the time doing something?" was Yakusan's resp)onse.Sekitostillpursuedhim."Yousayyouarenotdoinganything;
whothenis thisonewhois doingnothing?" Yakusan'sreply
wasthesameasthatofBodhidharma,"Eventhewisestknow
itnot." There is no agnosticismin it, normysticism either,ifthisisunderstoodinthesenseofmystification.Aplainfactis
statedhereinplainlanguage.Ifitdoesnotseemsotothereader,itisbecausehehasnot attainedtothis stateofmindwhich
enabledBodhidharmaorSekitotomakethestatement.
TheEmperorWuoftheLiangdynastyrequestedFuDaishi
(Fu-ta-shih, 497-569) to discourse on a Buddhistsutra. The
Daishitakingthechairsatsolemnlyinitbututterednotaword.