Pointing at the Moon
ONE HUNDRED ZEN KOANS
FROM CHINESE MASTERS
Pointing at the Moon
ONE HUNDRED ZEN KOANS
FROM CHINESE MASTERS
translated & illustrated by
ALEXANDER HOLSTEIN
CHARLES E.TUTTLE COMPANY
Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo, Japan
Published by the Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc.
of Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo, Japan
with editorial offices at
Osaki Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 141-0032.
© 1993 by Charles E. Tuttle Publishing Co., Inc.
All rights reserved
LCC Card No. 93-61302
ISBN 978-1-4629-0108-1
First edition, 1993
Printed in Japan
Contents
INTRODUCTION 11
PART ONE: A Selection from the Five Books of the Ch'an Masters' Sayings
1. Realize the Way Through Everyday Living 16 2. Buddhahood Is Our True Mind 18 3. The Ch'an Masters' Mission 20 4. Give Up Two Distinct Halves 22 5. Drink the River Hsichiang in One Draft 23. 6. The Most Open Secret 24 7. The Magical Effect of Doing Nothing 26 8. The Show of a Novice in Charge 28 9. The Unit of Motion and Motionlessness 29 10. A Withered Tree, a Splendid Tree 31 11. Worship of Buddha 32 12. You Still Have This in Mind? 34 13. Dogs Do Not Have the Buddha Nature 36 14. Just Fall and Break 39 15. How a Mosquito Bit the Iron Buffalo 41 16. Male and Female 42 17. One Means Ch'an 44 18. Final Realization 46 19. Pointing at the Moon 49 20. Use the Primal Wisdom of the Self Without Sensual Experience of the Mind 50 21. Every Day Is a Good Day 53 22. Firefighting 55 23. Just This Is 56 24. Wine and Meat 58 25. The Golden Giant-Fish 58 26. Getting Water from a Jug 60 27. Buddhahood Is Under the Sun; Buddhahood Is Under the Moon 62 28. How Things Attain Enlightenment 65 29. A Ch'an Master by the Name of Old Buddha 67 30. Do You Not Have a Stitch On? 68 31. Dead Cat Treasure 70 32. Match 72 33. This Is Still with You 75 34. Cry Out One's Selfishness 76 35. Renounce the World for the Sake of the World 79 36. The Slippery Path to Ch'an Master Shih T'ou 80 37. Where to Start in Order to Become Enlightened 82 38. What Was Your Original Face Before Your Parents Gave Birth to You? 85 39. The Tea Tree 87 40. The Usefulness of Mystery 88 41. Neither Coming Out, Nor Coming In 91 42. Moonlight in the Water 92 43. The Wild Duck of Ch'an Master Pai Chang 93 44. A Mute and Honey 94 45. Drive a Cart Instead of Its Oxen 96 46. Poke a Fire 98 47. The Buffalo 101 48. The Portrait 102 49. Do Not Ignore the Causality of Karma 103 50. Everything Is Predetermined 104 51. Crossing the Ocean of Life as a Durable Ship 106 52. Capsize 108 53. What Is Wisdom? What Is Folly? 111 54. Who Is in the Well? 112 55. Handing Down the Patriarch's Robe and Bowl 115 56. Choice 117 57. Let Us Change Into Something Different from the Human Being 118
PART TWO: The Light of the Ch'an Sayings Recorded in the Year of Developing Virtue (A.D. 1004)
58. Later Generations: Who Are They? 122 59. The Pancake Story 124 60. The