Finding Your Buddha Smile (Final Chapter) - Part 11: A Springtime Stroll

Recorded April 11, 2026Hooray! Spring has come. Ice cracks and melts and rivers once again run free. Green grass and buds on trees magically appear. Blue Cliff Record case 36 presents it like this:One day Ch’ang-sha went for a walk in the hills. When he returned to the gate of the monastery the head monk said, “Master, where have you been?”Ch’ang-sha said, “I have come from strolling about in the hills.”The head monk said, “Where did you go?”“First I went pursuing the fragrant grasses, then I returned following the falling flowers.”The head monk said, “You are full of the spring, aren’t you?” Ch’ang-sha said, “It is even better than the autumn dew falling on the lotus flowers.”Hsueh-tou comments, “I’m grateful for that answer.”Aitken Roshi writes —“Let us all be grateful ... because Ch’ang-sha is our teacher of Zen in this age of grave danger to the earth and its music, art, animals, and everything else.”Now, with a smile on our lips we, too, will head out and see what there is for heads, hands, and hearts to do. Zen practice brings us into the fullness of life. It’s not about sitting forever facing a wall.Read Roshi Rafe Martin's latest book:  Finding Your Buddha Smile: Coming Home To What Zen is Really All About.  Available from Amazon , Sumeru Books, and Barnes & Noble Online.Photo of Smiling Buddha, Lung-men Caves, China, by Rafe Martin 2006Books by Roshi Rafe MartinTalks on YouTubeMore information at endlesspathzen.org