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Reddit Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/zen/comments/10xfaeg/zen_under_the_gun_just_the_hits_please/

Post Summary:

Daian (1347-1403)

 

We are at the end, and it's Daian's poetry. He does the traditional thing (unlike Wumen) and includes only one body blow per poem.

Here are the blows from three poems, minus the poems:

 

If not for my dharma-nephew, how would I open my old mouth to discuss it?

.

In the treasury, the light of the wish-granting jewel is shining bright;

Pick it up and it melts away everyone's doubts.

.

Well... it's hard to show this one without context:

 

In an empty house, gazing like a wall

Speaking or silent, never setting foot in the city streets

Just bringing up the seal of the patriarchs

before my own mental impulses start working

Following the secret spirit talisman the Zen patriarchs wore

In the mirror, my beard, a thousand snow-white strands

At the corner of the bench, a rattan cane, seven feet of black

My only fear is that a summons will arrive from on high

With an imperial grant of a golden robe to chase me to court

Zen Teaching: Zen Under the Gun, Cleary trans.

Post Cast Overview: Talismans… worn on the elbow, what about the seal? Huangbo's warrior jewel, buddha born with wheel mark on his hand, used wheel metaphor to describe causality, people use wheel talisman's to ward off bad luck. Amulets that hold written blessings from priest. Getting old versus getting famous. What it means to get a call from an Emperor.

Zen Lineage: www.reddit.com/r/zen/wiki/getstarted