aka: Ch.Changlu
Long Reeds
Jap., Choro
| born: 1089 died: 1151 62 years place: China |
| Chan master: Danxia Zichun (J., Tanka Shijun) Chan disciples: none recorded as masters |
Zhenxie Qingliao
Jap. Shinketsu Seiryo
Zhenxie was from the Sichuan Province area, lived at
the end of the northern Song Dynasty era in China,
and resided at Changlu Temple, from where his
alternative name derives. His master, "Tanka" in
Japanese, is a different man than the more famous
"Tanka Tennen" of Zen literature.
the end of the northern Song Dynasty era in China,
and resided at Changlu Temple, from where his
alternative name derives. His master, "Tanka" in
Japanese, is a different man than the more famous
"Tanka Tennen" of Zen literature.
| stories: Osho The Zen Manifesto: Freedom from Oneself, ch. 3, ch. 9 |
| oshobob The Living Workshop |
| Zen Masters |
 |
 |
 |
| Tanka asked Choro, "What is the self before the empty eon?" As Choro was about to answer, Tanka said, "You're still noisy – go away for now." `Eon' means before the beginning of existence. Tanka is asking, "Before existence began, there was eon...?" That is only a word: `age'; it means simply age. It would be better translated to say, `time' – pure time existed. Tanka asked Choro, "What is the self before the empty eon?" Before that empty timelessness, what is the self...where have you been? You must have been somewhere – a relevant question. Existence may not have been here, you may not have been in a body, but somewhere, hiding in some corner, you must have been somewhere... One day, as Choro was climbing Bol Peak, his mind opened up into enlightenment. He took a shortcut down and went back to stand by Tanka, who slapped him and said, "I thought you knew it exists." Choro bowed joyfully. He didn't say anything. On this second occasion, Choro suddenly felt a silence as he was coming up the mountain. It happens more easily in the world of Zen, because everybody is looking for silence. As he was climbing up, suddenly a moment of silence, and he found why the master had rejected him. He took a shortcut to reach the master. Tanka looked at him, slapped him, and said, "I knew you would know it exists. It is not the self, it is not the no self; it is simply isness, and you will find it one day. I knew it, and I am happy that you have found it..." The next day Tanka went into the hall and said, "The sun illumines the green of the solitary peak; the moon shines in the cold of the valley stream. Don't put the wondrous secret of the ancestral teachers in your little heart." Then he got up off the seat. Choro came directly forward and said, "Your address today can't fool me anymore." Tanka said, "Try to recite my address." Choro remained silent. Tanka said, "I thought you had a glimpse." Choro then left. The master is saying that in the first place this is impudent – "coming before the assembly and making the statement...." Secondly, "When asked to recite, if you cannot recite it, you can at least ask for forgiveness. But you remained silent like a dead lamppost." Tanka said, "I was wrong. I thought you had a glimpse. Yesterday you had a different vibe. Today that vibe has changed..." --Osho The Zen Manifesto: Freedom From Oneself, ch. 3 |