Today at Sosen-ji

Chanting the heart of the perfection of wisdom
Then quietly sitting with nose and navel aligned.
Buddhism's wondrous power?
Pines sough in the wind
While the old man in the west
Loses his beard.

Today's talk by Sandy, Sosen-ji's teacher, was drawn from the Lin-chi lu, the record of the teachings of Master Lin-chi from Tang dynasty China. The lineage of Lin-chi (Jap: Rinzai) survives in Korea, Japan, and the US.

From the Lin-chi lu (#48), when the Master was just a novice monk:

When the Master (Lin-chi) was first in Huang-po's group, he went about his activities in an earnest and straightforward manner. The head monk expressed admiration, saying, "Though he's still young, he's different from the others!" Then he asked, "How long have you been here?"

"Three years," said the Master.

The head monk said, "Have you been in to question the teacher yet."

The Master said, "No, I haven't been in to ask questions. I don't know what to ask."

The head monk said, "Why don't you go ask the Reverend who heads this temple, `What is the real basic meaning of Buddhism?' "

The Master went and asked, but before he had finished speaking, Huang-po struck him a blow.

When the Master returned from the interview, the head monk said, "How did the question go?"

The Master said, "Before I had even finished asking the question, the Reverend struck me. I don't understand."

The head monk said, "Just go ask him again."

The Master went and asked again, and again Huang-po hit him. In this way he went three times to ask his question and three times was struck.

The master came to report to the head monk. "Thanks to your kind instruction, I've been able to question the Reverend. Three times I questioned him and three times he struck me. To my regret, I'm impeded by bad karma and can't grasp the profound meaning in all this. Now I'll be going on my way."

During the talk, a gentle breeze was blowing through the trees and swirling incense in the hall. And Sandy asked "What are the leaves saying?" He turned to Samana, a little 4 year old girl and asked her directly, "Samana, what are the leaves of the trees saying?" She answered without missing a beat, "Please give us some rain."

Phantoms, illusions, empty flowers --
why trouble yourself trying to grasp them?
Gain, loss, right, wrong --
Throw them away at once!

-Lin-chi