A monk asked the teacher, "What is the mind of the ancient Buddhas?"
The teacher said, "Fences, walls, tiles, pebbles."
The monk said, "Aren't these inanimate objects?"
The teacher said they were.
The monk said, "Can they teach.
The teacher said, "They are always teaching, clearly, unceasingly."
The monk said, "Why can't I hear them?"
The teacher said, "You yourself don't hear, but you shouldn't hinder that which does hear."
The monk said, "Who can hear it?"
The teacher said, "The saints can."
The monk said, "Can you hear it?"
The teacher said, "No."
The monk said, "If you don't hear it, how do you know inanimate things can teach?"
The teacher said, "It's lucky I don't hear it, for if I did I'd be equal to the saints and you wouldn't hear my teaching."
The monk said, "Then sentient beings have no part in it?"
The teacher said, "I teach sentient beings, not the saints."
The monk said, "After sentient beings hear it, then what?"
The teacher said, "Then they are not sentient beings."
The monk said, "What scripture is the 'teaching of the inanimate' based on?"
The teacher said, "Obviously 'words that do not accord with the classics are not the talk of a scholar.' Haven't you read where the Flower Ornament Scripture says, 'Lands teach, beings teach, all things in all times teach'?"
Transmission of Light
Dongshan
Cleary/Shambhala
