Zen Koan – Hekiganroku – No. 48 – O Taifu and the Tea Ceremony

The Case

O Tifu went to Shokei Temple for the tea ceremony. Ro Joza, lifting the kettle to bring it to Myosho, happened to overturn it. O Taifu said, "What is under the kettle?" Ro said, "The god of the hearth." Taifu said, "If it is the god of the hearth, why has it upset the kettle?" Ro said, "A thousand days of government service, and one accident!"

Taifu swung his sleeves and left the room. Myosho said, "Ro Joza, you have long had food from Shokei Temple, and still you wander about the countryside, working with a stump." Ro said, "What about you?" Myo said, "That is where the devil gets the better of you."

[Setcho says, "Why didn't you, at that moment, trample on the hearth?"]

Engo's Introduction

The imperial court master Wang was a private scholar in Zen matters and had done a lot for the Zen monastery during his time in office. Due to a political miscalculation, the court master said goodbye to the emperor around the year 932, shortly before he went to the monastic place of peace and reflection in the tea room. Setcho chose this example to show the different levels of more or less failed Zen. It should serve as a warning example as a reminder.

Verse

Cleaving the air, the question came; The answer missed the point. Alas! The one-eyed dragon monk did not show his fangs and claws. Now fangs and claws are unsheathed, Lightning flashes, stormy clouds! Surging billows rage around, falling back against the tide.