Te-shan Sets Down His Backpack - Case 28, Gateless Barrier.

Recorded February 1, 2025.The traditional commentary on Case 28 in the Gateless Barrier says:  Before Te-shan left home, his mind was indignant and his tongue sharp. Full of arrogance, he went south to exterminate the doctrine of the special transmission outside the sutras. When he reached the road to Li-cho he sought to buy refreshments from an old woman at a roadside tea stand. The old woman said, “Venerable monk, what are all those books you are carrying on your back?”Te-shan said, “They are my notes and commentaries on the Diamond Sutra.”The old woman said, “I hear the Diamond Sutra says, ‘Past mind cannot be grasped, present mind cannot be grasped, future mind cannot be grasped.’ Which mind does Your Reverence intend to refresh?”Te-shan was dumbfounded . . . Unable to die the Great Death under the old woman’s words, he asked, “Is there a Zen master nearby?”Now, here’s Gary Snyder (and I hope you know who he is!) speaking about koans in an Interview with Poetry Foundation, 2008:‘The intention of a koan is to make people who are bright in an ordinary way, or ordinary people who are bright in an odd way, work harder and go further into themselves. . . So in a way we’re not talking about “language,” we’re talking about the theater of life. For this to actually work, it needs the relation of student and mentor . . . Going into the teacher’s room and trying out your view of the koan on him or her is the only way to move through it. Without the mentor, you only dig yourself deeper into the hole, or you make up your own answer, which is invariably wrong. This remarkable practice, developed and handed down for 1,000 years and more, is very refined and does not fit any exact paradigm of philosophy, rational analysis, or aesthetic strategy. Yet it throws light on them all. I have no doubt that the Buddhist teachings are grounded in the remarkable, almost unique, exquisitely relevant insights of Gautama Shakyamuni, who is well-named “the Buddha,” the realized one. The koans—also known as the kungan, public cases, or teaching phrases—of Chan/Zen Buddhist practice go back to his mind and his insight.’Books by Roshi Rafe MartinTalks on YouTubeMore information at endlesspathzen.org