Xueyan Tests a Student

Text

A monk came to Xueyan and said, "I have come from a distant province specifically to receive your teaching." Xueyan said, "Why did you leave where you were?" The monk said, "To seek the Dharma." Xueyan said, "The Dharma in your home province—was it deficient somehow?" The monk was speechless. Xueyan said, "You have traveled a thousand miles carrying a load that was never yours to begin with. Put it down."

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Speaker
  Xueyan Zuqin

Lineage: Yangqi line

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

  Wudeng Huiyuan, Xueyan Zuqin chapter

  Traditional Zen Encounter Dialogues: Xueyan Tests a Student