The 31st Zen patriarch, Dai I Zenji, made his bows before Kanchi Daishi and said, « I beg the compassion of your reverence. Please teach me the Dharma way of emancipation. »
The patriarch said, « Who is binding you? »
Dai I Zenji said, « No one is binding me. »
The patriarch said, « Then why should you search for emancipation? »
Hearing this, Dai I Zenji had great realization.
Denkoroku, Case 31
(The Record of Transmitting the Light)
Who is binding you?
About the Author: zenscribe
Enseignante Zen et poète, Sensei Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell est née et a grandi à Minneapolis, aux Etats-Unis. Arrivée en France en 1981 pour étudier la littérature et l’histoire, elle y est restée, s’installant à Paris, où elle élève ses deux enfants et gagne sa vie en tant que journaliste.
The Zen teacher and poet Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell Sensei was born and raised in Minneapolis, but came to France in 1981 to study literature and history and has lived in Paris ever since, raising her two children and making a living as a journalist.
Nothing is binding me but the idea of emancipation, and of a me to be emancipated. Knowing this is not enough, though. Even this must fall away, I guess…
No one is binding me.
So simple. So true. So frightning.
this is the most fundamental comentaire on the Giacometti text.
– the most fundamentql commentaire on anything.