Kashapa's Preaching Sign

Text

Ananda asked Kashapa: "Buddha gave you the golden-woven robe of successorship. What else did he give you?" Kashapa said: "Ananda." Ananda answered: "Yes, brother." Said Kashapa: "Now you can take down my preaching sign and put up your own." Mumon’s comment: If one understands this, he will see the old brotherhood still gathering, but if not, even though he has studied the truth from ages before the Buddhas, he will not attain enlightenment. The point of the question is dull but the answer is intimate. How many persons hearing it will open their eyes? Elder brother calls and younger brother answers, This spring does not belong to the ordinary season.

tr. Nyogen Senzaki, Paul Reps, 1934

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Speaker
  Mahakashyapa
• Commentator
  Wumen Huikai

Lineage: Indian Patriarchs

By Mahakashyapa

• Flower and Smileproverb
• Why Mahākāśyapa Smiledproverb
• Three Robes and a Bowlproverb
• Ascetic Disciplineproverb
• First Councilproverb

From Mumonkan

• Every Season Is a Good Season
• Preface to the Gateless Barrier
• The Wild Fox Koan
• Joshu's DogCase 1
• Hyakujo's FoxCase 2
• Gutei's FingerCase 3
• A Beardless ForeignerCase 4
• Kyogen Mounts the TreeCase 5
• Buddha Twirls a FlowerCase 6
• Joshu Washes the BowlCase 7

Sources

• contentMumonkan (Gateless Barrier) — Senzaki & Reps translation, 1934

  Nyogen Senzaki, Paul Reps (trans.)

  Case 22, Mumonkan

  Mumonkan case 22: Kashapa's Preaching Sign