Tianlong Raises One Finger

Text

A monk asked Tianlong, "What is the Buddha?" Tianlong simply raised one finger. The monk asked, "What is the Dharma?" Tianlong raised one finger. The monk asked, "What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the West?" Tianlong raised one finger. Whatever he was asked, Tianlong only raised one finger. His student Juzhi saw this and was greatly enlightened, and thereafter he too answered every question by raising one finger.

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Speaker
  Hangzhou Tianlong

Lineage: Guiyang

From Traditional Zen Encounter Dialogues

• My Mind Is Not at Peace
• Thinking of Not-Thinking
• Not Knowing Is Most Intimate
• The Boat Monk's Transmission
• The Sound of Bamboo
• Vast Emptiness, Nothing Holy
• Ordinary Mind Is the Way
• Nanquan Kills the Cat
• Wash Your Bowl
• The Oak Tree in the Garden

Sources

• contentWikisource — English-language free library

  Wumenguan, Case 3, Tianlong's one-finger teaching

  Traditional Zen Encounter Dialogues: Tianlong Raises One Finger