The Third Son's Understanding

Text

Puṇyamitra held up a jewel before three princes and asked each one: 'What is this?' The first said: 'A precious gem.' The second said: 'A gift beyond price.' The third—who would become Prajñātāra—said: 'This is the form of the formless, and the name of the nameless.' Puṇyamitra said: 'The other two answered what it is. You answered what it points to.'

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Speaker
  Punyamitra

Lineage: Indian Patriarchs

By Punyamitra

• Why Did You Become a Monk?dialogue
• Walk, Do Not Talkproverb
• Old Age Teaches by Itselfproverb
• Do Not Pity Yourselfproverb

From Jingde Chuandenglu

• On Gradual Cultivation
• Watch the Mind
• On Sudden Enlightenment
• The Debate at Huatai
• Before Thinking Arises
• The One Who Has No Rank
• The Arrow on High
• Meeting the Poet Li Ji
• Just This Is It
• Cold Ashes, Dead Tree

Sources

• contentZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation

  Zen project editorial

  Jingde Chuandenglu, Vol. 1, Punyamitra chapter

  Jingde Chuandenglu: The Third Son's Understanding