The Record of Zhaozhou趙州真際禪師語錄

The Record of Zhaozhou (Chinese: Zhàozhōu Zhēnjì Chánshī Yǔlù; Japanese: Jōshū-roku) collects the sayings of Zhaozhou Congshen, the long-lived Tang master whose terse, glancing replies are among the most quoted in all of Chan. His "Wú" (無), his "Go drink tea," his cypress tree in the courtyard — these became touchstone kōan in the Gateless Gate, the Blue Cliff Record, and the Book of Serenity. His record survives embedded in the Song anthology of "Recorded Sayings of the Ancient Worthies" (古尊宿語錄); we have isolated his portion of it and segmented it into sequential passages.

The original text is public domain (from the Xuzangjing), set in our own punctuation. The translations and pointers are released under CC0.