silence shared in words
presents
And Now the Sutra … the sutra is long and the night is short
excerpt from Yakusan: Straight to the Point of Enlightenment #4
When the novice monk,
Gao, first called on Yakusan,
Yakusan asked him,
"Where do you come from?"
Gao said,
"from Nanyue."
Yakusan asked, "Where are you going?"
Gao replied,
"To Jiangling to receive the precepts."
Yakusan then asked,
"What is the aim of receiving precepts."
Gao answered, "To escape birth and death."
Yakusan said,
"There is someone who doesn't receive the precepts
and has no birth and death to escape —
Do you know?"
Gao asked,
"Then what is the user of the Buddha's precepts?"
Yakusan said,
"This novice still has lips and teeth."
At this, the novice bowed and withdrew.
Dogo then came forward and stood by Yakusan,
Who said to him,
"that limping novice who just came,
after all has some life in him."
Dogo said,
"He's not to be entirely believed yet —
you should test him again first."
When evening came,
Yakusan went up into the hall;
he called,
"Where is the novice who came earlier?"
Gao then came forward from the assembly and stood there,
and Yakusan said to him,
"I hear that Changan is very noisy..."
Gao said, "My province is peaceful."
Yakusan asked, with much joy,
"Did you realize this from reading scriptures
or from making inquiries?",
To which Gao replied,
"I did not get it from reading scriptures
or from making inquiries."
Yakusan said,
"Many people do not read scriptures
or make inquiries.
Why don't they get it?"
Gao said,
"I don't say they don't get it
it is just that they don't agree to take it up."
Never think for a moment that what I am saying
about Zen has been said by the Zen masters themselves.
I am constantly improving, improvising.
Now the sutra ...
The sutra is long and the night is short.
I hope
that I will be able to finish it before sunrise!