Go Drink Tea!

How Can I Speak?

T'aego was one of the great masters of the Korean Zen tradition. His wisdom was such that he was able to unify the Nine Mountains schools of Korean Zen into a single order (the Chogye Order, still the largest order of Korean Zen).

He was a prolific writer of essays, talks, and poetry. Here's a poem for your consideration:

How Can I Speak
All phenomena are beyond names and forms
The sounds of the streams and the colors of the mountains are closest
What is closest?
You can only please yourself: how can I speak?

Commentary
T'aego's poem has a teaching direction, with each line functioning as a koan (Korean: kong-an). Here are questions that might arise from this poem:

1. What does "all phenomena are beyond names and forms" mean?
2. What does "the sounds of the streams and the colors of the mountains are closest" mean?
3. What is closest?
4. How can you speak?

In the Korean Zen tradition, students are often asked to respond to specific questions about a case or story. Some of the questions have a "wide gate," through which several types of answers might pass. Others have a "narrow gate," which would permit only a very precise answer. You might consider each line of T'aego's poem from this perspective.

You can learn more about T'aego in A Buddha from Korea: The Zen Teachings of T'aego, by J.C. Cleary.

Image by GR L. Painting by Fa Kuan (approximately 990 - 1030 CE).

The Temple Gate

First Case
When he reached the temple gate, the great Korean Zen master, T'aego, said: "I never left this gate in the old days and I am not entering it today. Nor is there any place within it to stay. Where will all of you go to see where I wander at play?" He brandished the staff.

After a long silence, T'aego said: "On the northern ridge, idle flowers red as brocade. In front of the mountain stream, flowing water green as indigo plants."

Second Case
When he reached the temple gate, T'aego said: "All the buddhas of the past, present and future all come in and go out through this gate. But tell me, today am I going out or coming in? I am neither going out nor coming in: what is the principle of this?" He brandished the staff three times.

Commentary
T'aego (1301-1382) was the great unifier of Korean Zen. He brought together the Nine Mountain Zen sects of Korea, which dated back to the eight century, into one school, the Chogye Order. This order remains the dominant order of Korean Zen. Nearly all current Zen lineages in Korea trace back to T'aego.

T'aego freely came and went, but his gate poses many problems for Zen students. No wonder he brandished his staff so frequently.

Source: Zen Sourcebook, edited by Stephen Addiss
Photo by Oceandestoiles

Bungling

One day, Layman P'ang addressed Ma-tzu, saying: "A man of unobscured original nature asks you please to look upward."

Ma-tsu looked straight down.

The Layman said: "You alone play marvelously on the stringless ch'in."

Ma-tsu looked straight up.

The Layman bowed low. Ma-tsu returned to his quarters.

"Just now bungled it trying to be smart," then said the Layman.

Commentary
Layman P'ang understood his own unobscured nature. How did that help him?

Photo by Daniel Djang
Source: Recorded Sayings of Layman P'ang, by Ruth Fuller Sasaki