Jap. Choka Dorin
Zen master:  Jingshan (J., Dokin)
Zen disciples:
born:  741
died:  824

place:  China
stories:

Osho:
Zen: The Solitary Bird, Cuckoo of the Forest, ch.5

The Great Zen Master Ta Hui, ch. 2
Daolin was know as the "Bird-Nest" Zen master,
as he did his zazen up in a tree, with the birds
building their nests next to him.

He was part of the Niutou (Oxhead) School,
derived off the 4th Patriarch Daoxin.
Niaoke Daolin
       oshobob  The Living Workshop                                         
                                                  Zen Masters
Dokin's disciple, Dorin, became a monk at the age
of nine, took the vows at twenty-one, and studied
the Kegon Sutra. Later in life he entered the dense
pine forest of Mount Shimbo, and did Zazen up a
tree. For this reason he was called Choka Zenji,
meaning "Bird-nest Zenji," and Jakuso zenji,
meaning "Magpie nest," by his contemporaries
because the birds and magpies built their nests
beside him.

When the prefect of the district, called
Hakurakuten, came to visit Dorin, he remarked,
"You are in a very dangerous place!"

Dorin said, "You are in a more dangerous one!"

Hakurakuten asked, "What's dangerous about
being in charge of this province?"

Dorin replied, "How can you say that you are not in
danger when your passions are burning like fire
and you can't stop worrying about this and that?"

Hakurakuten then asked, "What is the essence of
Buddhism?"

Dorin answered in the words of Shakyamuni:

    Not to do any evil,
    To do all good,
    To purify oneself –
    This is the teaching
    of all the Buddhas.

Hakurakuten said, "Any child of three knows this."

Dorin said, "That's so – any child of three knows it,
but even a man of eighty can't do it."


Dorin is right when he says,

"That is so – any child of three knows it,
but even a man of eighty can't do it."

The question is not knowing the words, the
question is knowing the source from where all these
roses grow. Going to the very roots, watering and
taking care of those roots, the flowers will come in
their own season.

But people are topsy-turvy. They start from the
roses. Then, naturally, they end up with plastic
roses. Begin with the roots! They are hidden deep
in the earth. Your flowers also have roots – unless
you go deep inside you, you will not find out how
Buddha blossoms like a lotus, how fragrant a mystic
becomes ... how in the presence of the awakened
person there is a magic, a song without sound, a
poetry without words, and a tremendous magnetic
force which gives stupid people a wrong idea, as if
the awakened person is hypnotizing you.

The awakened person does not do anything, but
his very presence is hypnotizing. He does not
hypnotize you. You suddenly fall into a deep
silence, a peace that you have never known
before...

                                                  --Osho
Zen: The Solitary Bird, Cuckoo of the Forest, ch. 5
Chinese simplified:  鸟窠道林
Bird Nest   Dao Grove