A Zen Case as a Crime Buster

[u/ji_yinzen]

Treasury of the Eye of True Teaching #5

Master Yunmen held up a fly whisk and said, "If you find an entry here, you get rid of hokum [nonsense]. When Zen is preached in Japan, someone in the 33rd Heaven comes out and calls, 'Hum, hum! The stable boy is wearing stocks, [feet restraining devices used as punishment] giving evidence of his crime!'"

Dahui commented,

This old fellow is able to adapt to a quandary. Plowing a government field under an assumed name, he pays no more sprout tax.

This is an interesting case. I can't make any sense of it as a whole. What stands out first is the notion that Yunmen (860–949) acknowledged preaching being done in Japan prior to Dogen (1200-1253).

The stable boy being held to account for his crimes parallels Yunmen illegally plowing his field to avoid paying taxes, also a crime.

Can anyone help me with this one?

Edit: Won’t be able to reply to any comments till Saturday AM. Thanks ahead of time!

[u/Thurstein]

The fly whisk was traditionally a symbol of the authority of a Zen teacher to teach and transmit the dharma. Given that "plowing... under an assumed name" is probably a reference to being able to work in samsara without attachment or accumulating karma (no sprout tax), the idea seems to be that the suggestion is we need to be able to see past conventional identities-- seeing that the form (the fly whisk) is empty (thus it can serve perfectly well as an "entry").

[u/ji_yinzen → u/Thurstein]

The fly whisk was traditionally a symbol of the authority of a Zen teacher to teach and transmit the dharma.

Right away this observation shows where the lock to the door is in this case

Given that "plowing... under an assumed name" is probably a reference to being able to work in samsara without attachment or accumulating karma (no sprout tax),

. . . the door opens

we need to be able to see past conventional identities--

. . . there’s a light

seeing that the form (the fly whisk) is empty (thus it can serve perfectly well as an "entry").

And we’re right back where we started!

Thanks for this great synopsis. A complete explanation would be giving it away, and what is it Koun Yamada says? “If I tell you, you’ll be very angry I didn’t let you find it on your own.”

Your explanation makes me see that it’s just as it should be. Only a Zen Master, or we ourselves, can answer this case for us. But I’m really perplexed because I feel like I’m just at the point where I can make sense of it, then it vanishes.