Lingzhao’s “Bright and Clear”
While sitting, Layman Pang asked his daughter Lingzhao, “A teacher of old said, ‘Bright and clear are the one hundred grasses; bright and clear is the meaning of the ancestral teaching.’ How about yourself?”
Lingzhao said, “How could someone who is mature and great say such a thing?”
Pang said, “How would you say it?”
Lingzhao said, “Bright and clear are the one hundred grasses; bright and clear is the meaning of the ancestral teaching.”
Pang laughed.
Student: “Why did Lingzhao repeat Pang’s question as an answer to his question?”
Master: “Pang was caught hiding the true-Self by his daughter.”
Commentary:
Hiding the true-Self is much more difficult than revealing it because the action of hiding it is also the expression of it.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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