Once upon a time in China many monastics wanted to go to Mt. Ohdae that was famous as a place where Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of wisdom resided. There lived an old lady at the foot of the mountain. Whenever a monastic asked her the way to the mountain, she answered, “Go straight.” Seeing the monastic go straight just as she had told him to, she said behind him, “A normal monastic goes in such way again.” When one of Joshu’s students told Joshu about the lady, Joshu said, “Ok, I’ll go and check her” and went to her and asked her, “What is the way to Mt. Ohdae?”. The lady made the same answer ‘Go straight’. Seeing Joshu leaving her place, she said again, “A normal monastic goes in such way again.” Joshu returned to his temple and said to his students, “I checked her.”
Student: “Why did she say, ‘A normal monastic goes in such way again’ behind the monastics?”
Master: “Because they didn’t go the way she had told them.”
Student: “How should they have gone?”
Master: “A wise monastic ought to have reached the destination upon hearing the answer.”
Commentary:
Manjushri never moves about, but there is nowhere that he doesn’t reach.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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