30 June 2011

Commentary, Mumonkan 44

"It helps you cross the river when the bridge is broken down.  It accompanies you when you return to the village on a moonless night."
Mumon shouldn't have stopped there, and he shouldn't have mentioned that word, "staff," again, either:

It prompts me to shut up when words are unskillful.
It nudges me out of complacency when I'd rather not budge.
It invites me to go when staying put seems like a bright idea.
It whispers to me of the Unborn when all I see is birth-and-death.

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