The Arrow on High

Text

Yaoshan called the assembly together and said, "I have an arrow here that has been set aside for a long time. Today I intend to release it." A monk said, "What is the target?" Yaoshan descended from his seat, seized the monk, and said, "What do you call a target?" The monk could make no reply. Yaoshan released him and said, "Go—you have lost the arrow."

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Speaker
  Yaoshan Weiyan

Lineage: Qingyuan line

By Yaoshan Weiyan

• Don't Thinkdialogue
• Meeting the Poet Li Jidialogue
• Thinking of Not-Thinkingdialogue

From Jingde Chuandenglu

• On Gradual Cultivation
• Watch the Mind
• On Sudden Enlightenment
• The Debate at Huatai
• Before Thinking Arises
• The One Who Has No Rank
• Meeting the Poet Li Ji
• Just This Is It
• Cold Ashes, Dead Tree
• The Encounter with Linji

Sources

• contentZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation

  Zen project editorial

  Jingde Chuandenglu, Vol. 14, Yaoshan Weiyan chapter

  Jingde Chuandenglu: The Arrow on High