Koan – Hekiganroku – No. 3 – Zen Master Baso’s “Sun-faced Buddha, Moon-faced Buddha”

The Case

The great zen master Baso was seriously ill. The chief priest of the temple came to pay his respects. He asked, "How do you feel these days?'' The master said, "Sun-faced Buddha, Moon-faced Buddha."

Engo's Introduction

Each ki and every kyo, every word and phrase is a means, for the moment, of leading students to realization. But every such manipulation is like performing an operation on a healthy body an will give rise to complication upon complication. The Great Way manifests itself naturally. It is limited by no fixed rules.

But I must tell you that there is an advanced theme that you will have to learn. It presides over heaven and earth. However, if you try to guess at it you will be confused. This can be right, and that also can be right. It is so delicate. This cannot be right, and that also cannot be right. An unapproachable cliff face! How could you manage without stumbling here or there?

Verse

Sun-faced Buddha! Moon-faced Buddha! Compared with them, How pale the Three Sacred Sovereigns, the Five Ancestral Emperors! For twenty years I have had fierce struggles, Descending into the dragon's cave for you. The hardship defies description. You clear-eyed monks - don't make light of it.