When a monk came to say good bye to Chao-chou Tsung-shen (778-897), a brilliant Chinese Ch'an master.
Chao-chou asked:
-Where will you go?
The monk answered:
-Any place where I can learn Buddha dharma.
Chao-chou stood...
continue...
In the pasture of this world, I endlessly push aside the tall grasses in search of the bull.
Following unnamed rivers, lost upon the interpenetrating paths of distant mountains,
My strength failing and my vitality exhausted, I cannot find the bull.
I only hear the locusts chirring through the forest at night.
Comment:
The bull never has been lost. What need is there to search? Only because of separation from my true nature, I fail to find him. In the confusion of the senses I lose even his tracks. Far from home, I see many crossroads, but which way is the right one I know not. Greed and fear, good and bad, entangle me.