The Final Transmission

Text

As Siṃha Bhikṣu was about to be executed by the order of King Mihirakula, he asked Vasiṣṭha to come close. He said: 'The king takes my head. Does the Dharma also lose its head?' Vasiṣṭha said: 'The Dharma has no head to lose.' Siṃha said: 'Then nothing is lost today.' And he placed his neck before the sword. Keizan's verse: The sword severs the neck / but cannot touch what was never born. / Milk pours from the wound / and the ground knows what blood never could.

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Speaker
  Simha

Lineage: Indian Patriarchs

By Simha

• The Lion's Roarsaying

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 25; Fù Fǎ Zàng Yīnyuán Zhuàn

  Denkoroku: The Final Transmission