Guling Shenzan
born:  c. 750
died:  c. 820

place:  China
Chan master:  Baizhang (J. Hyakujo)
Chan disciples:  none recorded
stories:

Osho
Zen: The Path of Paradox, Vol. 3, ch. 1

Zen: The Special Transmission, ch. 3
aka:  Shen Tsan (old W.G,)
Old Spirit    Divine Praise
          oshobob  The Living Workshop                                         
                                                        Zen Masters
Zen Master, Shen Tsan, gained his
enlightenment through Pai Chang. He then
returned to the monastery in which he had
been ordained by his 'first teacher', the monk
who had brought him up from childhood and
who, at that time, was a very old man....

One day Shen Tsan was helping his old
teacher to bathe. While washing the old man's
back, he said to him, "This is such a fine
temple, but the Buddha in it is not at all holy!"
His old teacher then turned round and looked
at him, whereupon Shen Tsan commented,
"Though the Buddha is not holy, he can still
radiate the light."

Again, one day, while the old man was
reading a sutra near a paper-covered window,
a bee tried desperately, with all its strength, to
fly out of the room through the paper but was
unable to get through.

Shen Tsan, seeing this. said, "The world is so
vast and wide that you may easily set yourself
free in it. Why, then, do you foolishly bore into
the old, rotten paper?"

And he sang a gatha:

    "While the empty door is open wide
    How foolish is to try to get out
    By thrusting against the window!
    Alas! How can you
    Raise your head above the slough
    By putting your nose against the old,
    rotten paper
    For a hundred years?"

Hearing this remark, the old man laid down
his book and said to Shen Tsan, "For quite a
few times now, you have made unusual
remarks. From whom did you gain your
knowledge while you were away from home?"

Shen Tsan replied, "I have reached the state
of peaceful rest through the grace of Master
Pai Chang. Now I have come back home to
pay my debt of gratitude to you."

The old teacher then prepared a great festival
in his young disciple's honor, summoned the
monks in the monastery to the assembly hall,
and besought Shen Tsan to preach the
dharma to all. Whereupon Shen Tsan
ascended to the high seat, and, following the
tradition of Pai Chang, preached as follows:

    "Singularly radiating is the wondrous
    Light
    Free from the bondage of matter and
    the senses.
    Not binding by words and letters
    The Essence is nakedly exposed in its
    pure eternity.
    Never defiled is the Mind-nature;
    It exists in perfection from the very
    beginning.
    By merely casting away your delusions
    The Suchness of Buddhahood is
    realized."


Listening to these words, seeing his own
disciple illumined, feeling for the first time who
he had become, the old man touched the feet
of his own disciple. And when he was bowing
down and touching the feet of his own
disciple, he became enlightened, the insight
opened.

Yes, the door is always open. Zen does not
preach anything new to you; it simply makes
you aware that the door is open. And you
have entered by the same door! This is simply
foolish to go on seeking how to get out of it...

                                                  --Osho
         Zen: The Path of Paradox, Vol. 3, ch. 1