禅Bassui Tokusho

proverb

Who Is the One Who Hears?

Muromachi

Traditionally attributed

Text

Who is hearing this voice? Sit with that question through every cough, every footfall, every bell. The one who hears does not have a name — and yet you have been answering for him all your life.

tr. Zen Lineage editorial

license: cc_by

Attribution

Lineage: Rinzai

By Bassui Tokusho

Sources

  • contentZen Buddhism: A History — Volume 2: Japan

    Heinrich Dumoulin

No per-field confidence has been recorded for this teaching yet. Treat individual claims with the caution appropriate to the source list below.

Attribution status: traditional — see editorial policy for what this means.

1 supporting citation on record (see Sources above).

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