Heshan Wuyin

Heshan Wuyin was a Yunmen school master who is known in the koan literature for his teaching on the "drum." When asked what the meaning of the Buddhist teaching was, Heshan said, "Learning to beat the drum." When asked what the first truth was, he said, "Beating the drum." This characteristic Yunmen-style response—using a concrete, physical image to answer an abstract question—points to the Dharma as something practiced and performed rather than conceptualized.

Heshan's drum teaching exemplifies the Yunmen school's ability to transform the most ordinary activity into a vehicle for awakening. The drum does not explain anything—it simply sounds. And in that sounding, for those who can hear, the entire Dharma is proclaimed.