Book of Serenity 17

176
Book of Serenity (Shoyoroku, Congrong Lu) #17
Fayan's Hair's-Breadth

Personnel

• FAYAN Wenyi (Hogen Buneki, 885-958, 15th gen), disciple of Luohan "Dizang" Guichen
• LONGJI "Xiushan" Shaoxiu (Ryûsai "Shuzan" Shôshû, 893-954, 15th gen), disiple of Luohan "Dizang" Guichen

Wansong's Introduction (Sato)

A couple of lone geese flap upon the earth and soar up high;
A pair of mandarin ducks stand alone at the pond.
Let us put aside for a moment the meeting of two arrow heads in the air 61;
What if a saw cuts a scale weight?

Case (Wick)

Fayan asked Administrator Monk Xiushan, "If there's even a hair's breadth of difference, heaven and earth are clearly separated.[1] How do you understand this?"
Xiushan replied, "If there's even a hair's breadth of difference, heaven and earth are clearly separated."
Fayan said, "If that's so, how could you understand it?"
Xiushan answered, "I am just this. How about you, Osho?"
Fayan remarked, "If there's even a hair's breadth of difference, heaven and earth are clearly separated."
At that, Xiushan bowed low.

[1] Quoting from the Xinxin Ming, attributed to 3rd patriarch, Sengcan. "If there is only a hairsbreadth of difference, it is the distance between heaven and earth" (Sato); "A hairsbreadth's difference is as the distance between heaven and earth" (Cleary).

Hongzhi's Verse (Wick)

A fly settles on a balance pan and it tilts.
The ten-thousand-generation scale illuminates unevenness.
Pounds, ounces, pennyweights, grains -- measure exactly as you will.
In the end you'll lose to my fixed indicator.

Sturmer's Verse

On our set of scales
heaven balances earth.
We share a single breath of air
and our breathing
takes us through the night
with its crickets
and through the day
with its cicadas.

KOAN INDEX
Hotetsu's Verses on Koans