Hyakujo's Fox
When Hyakujo Osho delivered a certain series of sermons, an old man
always followed the monks to the main hall and listened to him. When the
monks left the hall, the old man would also leave. One day, however, he
remained behind, and Hyakujo asked him, "Who are you, standing here
before me?"
The old man replied, "I am not a human being. In the old days of
Kashyapa Buddha, I was a head monk, living here on this mountain. One
day a student asked me, 'Does a man of enlightenment fall under the yoke
of causation or not?' I answered, 'No, he does not.'
Since then I have been doomed to undergo five hundred rebirths as a fox.
I beg you now to give the turning word to release me from my life as a
fox. Tell me, does a man of enlightenment fall under the yoke of
causation or not?"
Hyakujo answered, "He does not ignore causation."
No sooner had the old man heard these words than he was enlightened.
Making his bows, he said, "I am emancipated from my life as a fox. I
shall remain on this mountain. I have a favour to ask of you: would you
please bury my body as that of a dead monk."
Hyakujo had the director of the monks strike with the gavel and inform
everyone that after the midday meal there would be a funeral service for
a dead monk. The monks wondered at this, saying, "Everyone is in good
health; nobody is in the sick ward. What does this mean?"
After the meal Hyakujo led the monks to the foot of a rock on the far
side of the mountain and with his staff poked out the dead body of a fox
and performed the ceremony of cremation.
That evening he ascended the rostrum and told the monks the whole story.
obaku thereupon asked him, "The old man gave the wrong answer and was
doomed to be a fox for five hundred rebirths. Now, suppose he had given
the right answer, what would have happened then?"
Hyakujo said, "You come here to me, and I will tell you."
Obaku went up to Hyakujo and boxed his ears. Hyakujo clapped his hands
with a laugh and exclaimed, "I was thinking that the barbarian had a red
beard, but now I see before me the red-bearded barbarian himself."
http://oaks.nvg.org/gate-struggles.html#2
<http://oaks.nvg.org/gate-struggles.html#2>
--- In [email protected], Jue Miao Jing Ming -
覺å¦ç²¾æ <chan.jmjm@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Bill,
>
> Sorry to admit that I have not read any English book about Zen.
>
> Please send me something.
>
> Thank you,
> JM
