One day in the remote hills of western China near the Tibetan frontier, a Dzogchen master was having a brief lunch in a roadside inn while on his journey returning to Tibet. It so happened that a master of Chan (Zen) had just entered the inn looking to partake in some lunch as well. As there was only one seat left at the table, the Dzogchen master offered the Chan master a seat at his table. A lively discussion occurred between the two concerning the Buddhadharma.
The Chan master offered that it was only necessary to cut-off the thinking and conceptualizing mind in one stroke in order to expose the pre-existing Buddha Mind with all of its perfect qualities.
The Dzogchen master replied that he thought that seemed rather heavy-handed, requiring too much effort, and asked "who is the one that should do this "cutting-off" of the thinking and conceptualizing mind?"
With that the Chan master whacked him over the head with his walking stick, but of course not harming him in any way.
In the next moment the Dzogchen master deeply bowed to him and left rubbing his stinging head.
No comments:
Post a Comment