禅Wumen Huikai

proverb

No Snowflake Falls in the Wrong Place

Song

Traditionally attributed

Text

When the willow does not yet bend, the wind has not yet blown. Yet a single bend tells of the whole wind, and a single snowflake tells of the whole sky. Nothing is in the wrong place.

tr. Zen Lineage editorial

license: cc_by

Attribution

Lineage: Linji

By Wumen Huikai

Sources

  • contentThe Kōan: Texts and Contexts in Zen Buddhism

    Heine, Steven & Dale S. Wright (eds.)

    pp. 163–188

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).

Spot something wrong? Report an issue — please include a source so we can verify the correction.