Danxia Zichun
Japanese: Tanka Shijun
Red Glow    Child Pure
born:  1064
died:  1117    53 years

place:  China
Chan master:  Furong Daokai
Chan disciples:  Hongzhi Zhengjue (compiled  
Book of Serenity)
Danxia Zichun's stupa is south of Mt. Hong, near
modern Wuhan, Hebei, China.
          oshobob  The Living Workshop                                         
                                                    Zen Masters
stories:

Osho
The Zen Manifesto: Freedom From Oneself, ch. 3
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."

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.

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.


...Only a man who has no words knows that the self
can exist without boundaries. It is an experience;
there is no way of proving it by argumentation. You
can go into yourself and be utterly silent – no
boundaries, no words, a pure isness...still, you know
you are. Without knowing, without verbalizing, you
experience you are.

This amness was there before the beginning, if there
was any beginning. It is now, and it will remain
forever. Even if there is an end, this amness is not
going to end. And this amness has nothing to do
with you. This amness is not your possession;
hence, it is not the self...

                                                       --Osho
   The Zen Manifesto: Freedom From Oneself, ch. 3
Note: This is a different Danxia (J. Tanka) than
the more well known Danxia Tianran (J. Tanka
Tennen), who lived nearly 300 years earlier, and
was also a Zen master.