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he touched the feet of the disciple, just as in the night the disciple had touched his feet.
There is no problem of any superiority or inferiority. One is awake, one is asleep, but the asleep one can become awake any moment.
Rather than answering Yakusan, if Dogo had done something to express it -- slapping the master, touching his feet, or just remaining silent, closing his eyes and sitting in a buddha posture -- that would have given the answer.
Language cannot answer such questions. You have to show your understanding, not your knowledge. You have to show your wisdom, not your information. You have to show your transformation.
Dogo missed, utterly missed.
YAKUSAN COMMENTED, "YOU ARE A MONK SO FULL OF CHATTER! You have not gone beyond the mind yet?"
ONCE, AT THE EVENING DISCOURSE, YAKUSAN DID NOT LIGHT THE CANDLE AS USUAL. A MONK CAME AND STOOD BY HIS SIDE.
You never know with the Zen masters. You are absolutely incapable of predicting their behavior, because they live spontaneously, they don't have a certain ritual to repeat. Nobody knows the reason why he did not light the candle as usual. The assembly was completely in the dark.
ONE MONK CAME AND STOOD BY HIS SIDE. YAKUSAN SAID, "I HAVE A VERY SPECIAL PHRASE."
This is a special Zen expression. When the master says, "I HAVE A VERY SPECIAL PHRASE," he does not mean he has a phrase; he simply means he has something to confer, not to convey, but to transfer.
He said, "I HAVE A VERY SPECIAL PHRASE. IF A BULL GIVES BIRTH, I WILL TELL IT TO YOU." Now, bulls don't give birth, so he is making an absolutely absurd statement: "IF A BULL GIVES BIRTH, I WILL TELL IT TO YOU."
The monk must have been an enlightened one. THE MONK SAID, "THE BULL HAS ALREADY GIVEN BIRTH LONG AGO, AND YOU JUST KEEP NOT REVEALING IT. It is time you should reveal it. What do you mean by `the phrase'? It is time you should convey, you should transfer it, you should unburden yourself, because the bull has given birth long ago."
YAKUSAN ASKED IMMEDIATELY FOR A LIGHT -- he wanted to see the monk. He had given the right answer.
YAKUSAN ASKED FOR A LIGHT. WHEN
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