The Buddha once taught the Bhikkhus about the All:
"I will teach you the All. Listen closely. What is the All? It is eye and visible object, ear and sound, nose and scent, tongue and taste, body and feelings, mind and ideas. ...
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THE GATELESS GATE - Chapter 38. Buffalo Passes the Window
三十八 牛過窓櫺 | hide chinese .
show chinese | 五祖曰、譬如水牯牛過窓櫺、頭角四蹄都過了、因甚麼尾巴過不得。
Goso said, "A buffalo passes by the window. His head, horns, and four legs all go past. But why can't the tail pass too?"
Mumon's Comment 無門曰、
若 向者裏顛倒、著得一隻眼、下得一轉語、可以上報四恩下資三有。
If you make a complete about-face, open your eye, and give a turning word on this point, you will be able to repay the four kinds of love that have favored you and help the sentient beings in the three realms who follow you. 其或未然、更須照顧尾巴始得。
If you are still unable to do this, return to this tail and reflect upon it, and then for the first time you will realize something.
Mumon's Verse頌曰
過去墮抗塹
回來却被壞
者些尾巴子
直是甚奇怪
Passing by, it falls into a ditch;
Coming back, all the worse, it is lost.
This tiny little tail,
What a strange thing it is!