Saturday 26 October 2019

371. ZEN REMARKS

371. Mumon has a warning for the disciple who cannot resist rushing about wildly. He says: 'When earth, water, fire, and air suddenly separate, you will be like a crab struggling in boiling water with its seven or eight arms and legs '. The warning seems to point to a future event, an event that no one can avoid, the event of one’s own death. But those who lack insight into 'what the real is' fail to see that they are already caught up in the separation of earth, water, fire, and air. Indeed, in their rushing wildly about, they are already the 'crab struggling in boiling water with its seven or eight arms and legs'. Zen Master Mumon would alert his disciples to the perils that beset those who fail to 'realize', here and now, 'what the real is'.

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