TEXT: Rinzai’s Attention to the Smallest Detail

 

‘Followers of the Way, as the Zen school sees it life and death are under a certain order. In interviews the student should consider the smallest details. When host and guest appear, there is an exchange of discourse.

Sometimes form is shown as corresponds to things. Sometimes the whole body (essence ) is borught into function. Sometimes the full power of solemn authority is exercised to evoke awe. Sometimes half the body (essence ) is revealed. Sometimes the lion is mounted, sometimes the elephant (respectively Manjustri’s and Samantabhadra’s mounts, wisdom and compassion). 

 

(The Zen Teaching of Rinzai - Tr. from the Chinese by Irmgard Schloegl)

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In this podcast:

 

How the living pay respects to the dead and the dead hold the wisdom and traditions of the people which help the people face day to day problems. The Zen master becomes the obstacle in the life of his students. It is the arising of such challenges that allow opportunities for transformation of heart and ripening of insight. Master Rinzai goes on to give examples of how a teacher might use circumstances to wake students out of their slumber.