What Kings Cannot Destroy

Text

After receiving the transmission from Siṃha Bhikṣu under conditions of persecution, Vasiṣṭha wandered in hiding. A student found him and asked: 'If the king destroys the Dharma, what do we do?' Vasiṣṭha said: 'The king cannot destroy the Dharma. He can destroy monasteries and books and monks. But that which is transmitted from mind to mind—he has never seen it and does not know where it lives.' Keizan's verse: The dynasty crumbles to dust. / The monasteries burn to ash. / That which was transmitted before words— / it was never in the building.

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Speaker
  Vasasita

Lineage: Indian Patriarchs

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 26

  Denkoroku: What Kings Cannot Destroy