Why Did You Become a Monk?

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Puṇyamitra was said to be of royal birth who renounced his position to seek the Dharma. When Vasiṣṭha asked him upon their first meeting: 'Why did you leave the palace?' Puṇyamitra said: 'I saw that the palace was built on sand, and the sand was built on nothing. I wanted to find what the nothing was built on.' Vasiṣṭha said: 'And have you found it?' Puṇyamitra said: 'I am standing on it.' Keizan's verse: Palace walls rise and fall— / a lifetime of sand-building. / One morning, the question arises: / What holds up the ground itself?

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Speaker
  Punyamitra

Lineage: Indian Patriarchs

By Punyamitra

• The Third Son's Understandingdialogue
• Walk, Do Not Talkproverb
• Old Age Teaches by Itselfproverb
• Do Not Pity Yourselfproverb

From Denkoroku

• The Robe That Never Wears Out
• The Fragrance Without a Flower
• The Mind That Is Like Space
• The Auspicious Cloud
• The Wine Jar and the Dharma
• The Star That Does Not Move
• Entering the Gate as a Householder
• The Vow of Pārśva
• The Debate That Ended Without Debate
• Meeting Nāgārjuna

Sources

• contentZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation

  Zen project editorial

  Denkoroku, Case 27

  Denkoroku: Why Did You Become a Monk?