Wuxie Lingmo
Jap., Gosetsu ______
Five Geysers Spirit Silence
| born: c. 740 died: c. 810 place: China |
| stories: Blue Cliff Record, Case 20 Osho I Celebrate Myself: God is No Where, Life is Now Here, ch. 5 |
| oshobob The Living Workshop |
| Zen Masters |
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| Gosetsu after becoming a monk under Ma Tzu, came to Sekito and said, "If you settle this with one word, I will stay here. If not, I will leave." Sekito, knowing that this man had promise, made a gesture, but Gosetsu did not get it. So Gosetsu took his leave and made for the gate, when Sekito called to him "Teacher!" Gosetsu turned around, and Sekito said, "From birth to old age, it is only the fellow there and nothing else – don't look anywhere further." At this, Gosetsu was greatly enlightened. He stepped on his stick to break it and stayed there. People who go on the mountains take a stick as a support ... steep mountains. So he has come with a stick to the mountain where Sekito Stonehead was sitting on a rock. You know that Ma Tzu said to another person who was going to Sekito, "You are going. That's perfectly good, but do you remember Sekito's path is very slippery?" He was sitting on a rock and the path was very slippery, so anybody who had to go there had to bring a stick with him. This action of Gosetsu, of breaking the stick, shows that now he had found his master and there was no need to go anywhere. He was not going down that steep hill again. Finished! He had heard it, he had found it. This gesture on his part shows that now he is going to stay forever. All bridges were broken. With that stick breaking, all the bridges that lead backwards to the past were finished. He had found the man, he had fallen in love. He knew: "You are the master." He became greatly enlightened by this simple act of Sekito calling him – "Teacher!" – and his turning around and Sekito saying to him: "This fellow has been there always and always. Don't go further..." --Osho I Celebrate Myself: God is No Where, Life is Now Here, ch. 5 |