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A Solid Iron Flute Played Upside-Down, Koan 1: Manjushri at the No-Gate [1]
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Date: 2023-12-31
The compassion of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas is boundless. One calls, and one responds. Now, can you say a word of your own, without getting caught up in inside and outside, or one and the other? You must have great faith; you must have great doubt; you must take your own time. What else is there?
Manjushri Enters the Gate
The first koan in the book, one of my favorites.
One day Manjushri stood outside the gate when Buddha called to him. Manjushri, Manjushri, why do you not enter? Manjushri answered, I do not see a thing outside the gate. Why should I enter?
Or, we might ask, how can he enter?
From the commentary by Nyogen Senzaki:
Man is still young and stupid. He learns duality instead of unity from religions. With his illusion man occasionally builds the gate, then sees something outside it. He hears, smells, tastes, touches, and thinks from his egoistic standpoint. He talks of universal brotherhood, but does not realize the principle of it. The world needs Manjushri, not a messiah or a prophet. Who is Manjushri?
There is no fence or wall around the Buddha’s dwelling place, whether a historical vihara or a cosmic Buddha Land. This koan is, in that sense, fictional. It is Skill in Means, not history. The koan is in fact not about a fence, or a wall, or a gate. It is about the Bodhisattva vow, a manifestation of unselfishness.
Here is jizo/Kshitigarbha, carrying out his vow in his own way, which involves entering Hell to rescue the deluded sufferers there. He does not see anything outside the Buddha Land, but he does not harangue those who are mistaken.
It even works on some Republicans
My point is not to harangue you, but just as above, to hold out a helping hand. Just take it, and then hold out ypur other hand without worrying about whether you do or do not understand.
The Iron Flute
玄楼奥龍 Genrō Ōryū (1720–1813): 鐵笛倒吹 Tetteki tōsui
Free to read at the Internet Archive
PDF at Terebess
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