Teisho presented by Arno Hess on 21/01/2024 at the Pathway Zen Zenkai at Spring Hill, QLD, Australia.
Case
Daibai asked Baso, “What is Buddha?” Baso answered, “Mind itself is Buddha.”
Mumon’s Commentary
If you grasp it on the spot, you wear Buddha’s clothes, eat Buddha’s food, speak Buddha’s
words, do Buddha’s deeds; you are Buddha himself. Though this may be so, Daibai has, alas,
misled not a few people into mistaking the mark on the balance for the weight itself. How can
he realize that even the mere mention of the word “Buddha” should make a man rinse his
mouth for three days? If one is such a man, when he hears someone say, “Mind is Buddha,” he
will cover his ears and run away.
Verse
The blue sky, the broad daylight – .
It is most detestable to hunt around;
If, furthermore, you ask, “What is Buddha?”
It is like shouting your innocence while holding the loot.
