禅Bassui Tokusho

proverb

Letter to a Dying Layman

Muromachi

Traditionally attributed

Text

I wrote to a dying layman: do not seek the Buddha outside this body. The body that is dying is the body that has been studying its whole life. Trust it, and the breath that leaves it last carries the answer.

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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