What the Wind-Bell Answers

Text

Saṃghayaśas heard a wind-bell ringing outside the window of a house he passed, and paused. A young brahmin came out and said: 'Why have you stopped?' Saṃghayaśas said: 'What is ringing?' The brahmin said: 'Wind and metal.' Saṃghayaśas said: 'And deeper than wind and metal?' The brahmin was silent, then said: 'I do not know.' Saṃghayaśas said: 'That silence is the answer. Come with me.' Keizan's verse: The bell does not know it rings. / The wind does not know it blows. / Somewhere between knowing and not knowing / the Dharma passes from hand to hand.

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Speaker
  Gayashata

Lineage: Indian Patriarchs

From Denkoroku

• The Robe That Never Wears Out
• The Fragrance Without a Flower
• The Mind That Is Like Space
• The Auspicious Cloud
• The Wine Jar and the Dharma
• The Star That Does Not Move
• Entering the Gate as a Householder
• The Vow of Pārśva
• The Debate That Ended Without Debate
• Meeting Nāgārjuna

Sources

• contentZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation

  Zen project editorial

  Denkoroku, Case 19

  Denkoroku: What the Wind-Bell Answers