In Tokyo in the Meiji era there lived two prominent teachers of opposite characteristics. One, Unsho, an instructor in Shingon, kept Buddha's precepts scrupulously. He never drank intoxicants, nor did he eat after eleven o'clock in the morning....
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二十一 雲門屎橛 | hide chinese .
show chinese | 雲門、因僧問、如何是佛。
A monk asked Unmon, "What is Buddha?" 門云、乾屎橛。
Unmon replied, "Kanshiketsu!" [A dry shit-stick.]
Mumon's Comment 無門曰、雲門可謂、家貧難辨素食、事忙不及草書。
Unmon was too poor to prepare plain food, too busy to speak from notes. 動便將屎橛來、□門挂戸。
He hurriedly took up shiketsu to support the Way. 佛法興衰可見。
The decline of Buddhism was thus foreshadowed.
Mumon's Verse頌曰
閃電光
撃石化
貶得眼
巳蹉過
Lightning flashing,
Sparks shooting;
A moment's blinking,
Missed forever.