The Two Heirs of Keizan

Text

A monk asked: 'They say you and Gasan are the two heirs of Keizan — the right hand and the left. Which is which?' Meihō said: 'I am the hand that holds the brush. Gasan is the hand that rings the bell. Together we write and ring. But Keizan's calligraphy and Keizan's sound — those we did not make.' Monk: 'Then what did you receive?' Meihō raised his right hand and his left hand simultaneously. Monk: 'I do not understand.' Meihō: 'Good. Misunderstanding would be much worse.'

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Speaker
  Meiho Sotetsu

Lineage: Sōtō

By Meiho Sotetsu

• Death Verse of Meihō Sotetsuverse

From Daijō-ji Temple Records

• Death Verse of Meihō Sotetsu

Sources

• contentSōtō Zen in Medieval Japan

  William M. Bodiford

  Cf. Bodiford, Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan, pp. 85–90, on Meihō's position in the Keizan lineage

  Daijō-ji Temple Records: The Two Heirs of Keizan