Where the Cranes Gather

Text

Haklenayaśas taught in a region where cranes were said to follow him, gathering wherever he stopped to speak. A minister of the king asked: 'Why do cranes follow a monk?' Haklenayaśas said: 'Why does a monk follow the Dharma?' The minister said: 'Because it is beneficial.' Haklenayaśas said: 'Ask the cranes.' Keizan's verse: Birds of the air know something / that scholars argue about all day. / Not by reading or debating / but by gathering where the stillness is.

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Speaker
  Haklena

Lineage: Indian Patriarchs

By Haklena

• The Lion Among Studentsdialogue

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 24

  Denkoroku: Where the Cranes Gather