Hyakujo: The Everest of Zen, with Basho's Haikus - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 1. THE LANGUAGE OF SUDDENNESSis okay, but about yourself, never ask a question. Rather, look within from where the question isarising, and in a single moment, the great enlightenment is possible.NO SOONER WERE THESE WORDS SPOKEN THAN HYAKUJO RECEIVED A GREATILLUMINATION AND RECOGNIZED HIS OWN NO-MIND. BESIDE HIMSELF WITH JOY, HEBOWED IN DEEP GRATITUDE.HYAKUJO SPENT THE NEXT SIX YEARS IN ATTENDANCE UPON MA TZU. BUT AS TAO-CHIH,HIS FIRST TEACHER, WAS GROWING OLD, HE WANTED TO RETURN TO LOOK AFTER HIM.BEFORE HYAKUJO LEFT MA TZU, HE WENT TO PAY HIS FINAL TRIBUTE TO HIM.SEEING HIM COMING, MA TZU RAISED HIS HORSE WHISK STRAIGHT UP. HYAKUJO ASKED,”ARE YOU IN THE USE OF IT, OR APART FROM THE USE?”MA TZU HUNG THE HORSE WHISK ON THE CORNER OF HIS CHAIR. AFTER A MINUTE ORSO, HE ASKED HYAKUJO, ”HENCE FORWARD, HOW DO YOU OPEN THOSE TWO LEAVES OFYOUR MOUTH TO WORK FOR OTHERS?”AT THIS, HYAKUJO TOOK THE HORSE WHISK AND RAISED IT STRAIGHT UP.MA TZU SAID, ”ARE YOU IN THE USE OF IT, OR APART FROM IT?”HYAKUJO HUNG THE HORSE WHISK ON THE CORNER OF THE CHAIR.JUST AT THAT MOMENT, A GREAT ROAR, LIKE HUNDREDS OF THUNDERBOLTS FALLING,RAINED ON HYAKUJO’S HEAD. MA TZU HAD GIVEN HIM A SHOUT WHICH, IT IS SAID,DEAFENED HIM FOR THREE DAYS.For three days he could not hear anything else. What has transpired in this dialogue when Ma Tzuasked, ”Are you in the use of it, or apart from it?” The same question both have asked each other.First Hyakujo has asked, and the meaning should be understood clearly. The meaning is: are you awitness while you are using it? or do you become one with it and forget your witnessing?When Ma Tzu asked, Hyakujo did the same, exactly as Ma Tzu has done. He hung the horse whiskon the corner of the chair showing that ”I am also a witness; I am no longer the horse whisk. I amno object, I am always a subject and a witness.”Satisfied, Hyakujo gave a tremendous roar of joy that a disciple had ripened, that a disciple hadarrived home, that a disciple’s blindness had disappeared. But the roar was such: LIKE HUNDREDSOF THUNDERBOLTS FALLING, RAINED ON HYAKUJO’S HEAD. MA TZU HAD GIVEN A SHOUTWHICH, IT IS SAID, DEAFENED HYAKUJO FOR THREE DAYS.This was a great roar of tremendous joy, of welcoming Hyakujo, that ”after all, you have arrived.”A haiku by Basho:I CLAP MY HANDSHyakujo: The Everest of Zen, with Basho’s Haikus8Osho