Roll Up the Blind and See the World

Text

Changqing sat for many years wearing out seven meditation cushions without awakening. One day he tried to roll up the bamboo blind. In an instant his understanding opened. He composed a verse: "How wrong, how wrong! Roll up the blind and see the world. If anyone asks what teaching I understand, I will hit them across the mouth with my whisk."

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Speaker
  Changqing Huileng

Lineage: Qingyuan line

From Traditional Zen Encounter Dialogues

• My Mind Is Not at Peace
• Thinking of Not-Thinking
• Not Knowing Is Most Intimate
• The Boat Monk's Transmission
• The Sound of Bamboo
• Vast Emptiness, Nothing Holy
• Ordinary Mind Is the Way
• Nanquan Kills the Cat
• Wash Your Bowl
• The Oak Tree in the Garden

Sources

• contentWikisource — English-language free library

  Jingde Chuandenglu, Changqing chapter

  Traditional Zen Encounter Dialogues: Roll Up the Blind and See the World