Three Pounds of Flax

Text

A monk asked Dongshan, "What is Buddha?" Dongshan said, "Three pounds of flax."

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Speaker
  Dongshan Shouchu

Lineage: Nanyue line

By Dongshan Shouchu

• Tozan's Three Blowskoan
• Tozan's Three Poundskoan
• Who Is He?koan

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

  Mumonkan Case 18; Blue Cliff Record, Case 12

  Traditional Zen Encounter Dialogues: Three Pounds of Flax