Polishing a Tile

Text

Mazu was practicing sitting meditation. Nanyue asked him, "What are you doing?" Mazu said, "I am practicing sitting meditation to become a Buddha." Nanyue picked up a tile and began polishing it. Mazu asked, "What are you doing?" Nanyue said, "I am polishing this tile to make a mirror." Mazu said, "How can polishing a tile make a mirror?" Nanyue said, "How can sitting in meditation make a Buddha?"

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Respondent
  Mazu Daoyi
• Speaker
  Nanyue Huairang

Lineage: Nanyue line

By Nanyue Huairang

• Polishing a Tileproverb
• Cart or Ox?proverb
• Eight Years to Speakproverb

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

  Jingde Chuandenglu, Nanyue chapter

  Traditional Zen Encounter Dialogues: Polishing a Tile