Dokuon (Japanese romaji)
| born: died: place: China? Japan ? |
| Zen master: Ekkei ? Zen disciples: |
| stories: Osho And the Flowers Showered, ch. 2 |
| oshobob The Living Workshop |
| Zen Masters |
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| When Yamaoka was a brash student he visited the master Dokuon. Wanting to impress the master he said: 'There is no mind, there is no body, there is no buddha. There is no better, there is no worse. There is no master, there is no student. There is no giving, there is no receiving. What we think we see and feel is not real. None of these seeming things really exists.' Dokuon had been sitting quietly smoking his pipe, and saying nothing. Suddenly he picked up his staff and gave Yamaoka a terrible whack. Yamaoka jumped up in anger. Dokuon said: 'Since none of these things really exists, and all is emptiness, where does your anger come from? Think about it.' Dokuon has created a situation, and only situations are revealing. He could have said, 'Whatsoever you are saying is just borrowed information.' That wouldn't have made much difference because the man sitting before him was fast asleep. Just talking would not have brought him out of it; it may have helped him to stay asleep more, he may have started arguing. Rather than doing that, Dokuon did the right thing; he hit hard with the staff – suddenly, because Yamaoka was not ready for it, it came unexpectedly. It was so sudden that he could not arrange his character accordingly, he could not manage a false pose. For a moment – the whack was so sudden – the mask slipped, and the real face came out. Just by talking this would not have been possible. Dokuon must have been very compassionate... --Osho And the Flowers Showered, ch. 2 |