8From the High Seat上堂

Zhaozhou took the high seat and said: "Brothers, just drop the old and cultivate what's coming. If you don't change, plenty is waiting to grab you. I've been here over thirty years, and not one Zen master has ever shown up. If one did, he'd eat a meal, sleep a night, and bolt for somewhere soft and warm."

Someone asked, "And if a real Zen master did come? What would you say to him?"

Zhaozhou said, "You don't fire a thousand-pound crossbow at a mouse."

Then he said: "Brothers, if you come from the south, I'll unload you. If you come from the north, I'll load you up. So they say: ask about the Way from someone above you and you lose the Way; ask from someone below you and you find it. When a true person preaches a false teaching, the false teaching comes true. When a false person preaches a true teaching, the true teaching comes false. Everywhere else they're hard to see and easy to know. Here, I'm easy to see and hard to know."

Someone asked, "A man who can't be tripped up by good or evil. Is he free and clear?"

Zhaozhou said, "No."

"Why not?"

"He's standing right in the middle of good and evil."

A nun asked, "Set aside all of that. Show me directly."

Zhaozhou snapped, "You've burned a hole in the iron kettle."

The nun fetched the iron kettle, filled it with water, and said, "Now answer me."

Zhaozhou only laughed.

Someone asked, "The world turns into a black pit. Which road does it land on?"

Zhaozhou said, "I won't guess."

"And who is it that won't guess?"

"A country bumpkin."

Someone asked, "No words, no meaning. Only that earns the name. But if a saying has no words, what do you call a saying?"

Zhaozhou said, "High, but it doesn't topple. Full, but it doesn't spill."

"Right now, are you full or spilling over?"

Zhaozhou said, "Lucky for you, you're asking me."

Someone asked, "What is the responsive one?"

Zhaozhou said, "Taking a dump on clean ground."

"Please, your real point."

Zhaozhou said, "Don't bother me."

Someone asked, "The dharma-body does nothing and falls into no category. Is there anything left to say about it?"

Zhaozhou said, "How would you say it?"

"Then I won't say anything."

Zhaozhou laughed.

Someone asked, "What is Buddha? What are ordinary beings?"

Zhaozhou said, "Ordinary beings are Buddha. Buddha is ordinary beings."

"Of the two, which is the ordinary being?"

Zhaozhou said, "Ask. Ask. Ask."

Someone asked, "The great Way has no root. How do you pass it along?"

Zhaozhou said, "You pass it along."

"But it has no root. How?"

Zhaozhou said, "If it has no root, what is there to tie you down?"

Someone asked, "Can a man who truly practices still be sized up by ghosts and spirits?"

Zhaozhou said, "They can."

"Where's the slip?"

Zhaozhou said, "The slip is in being findable."

"Then there's no practicing at all."

Zhaozhou said, "Keep practicing."

Someone asked, "A lone moon hangs in the sky. Where does its light come from?"

Zhaozhou said, "Where does the moon come from?"

Someone asked, "You've said the Way isn't a matter of practice, only of not dirtying it. What is not dirtying it?"

Zhaozhou said, "Check inside and out."

"Do you check yourself too?"

Zhaozhou said, "I check."

"What faults do you have, that you'd check yourself?"

Zhaozhou said, "What business is that of yours?"