‘When Mazu heard that Damei lived on the mountain, he sent a monk to call upon him and ask the question, “When you saw Master Mazu, what did he say that caused you to come and live on this mountain?”
Damei said, “Master Mazu said to me, ‘Mind is Buddha.’ Then I came here to live.”
The monk said, “These days Master Ma’s teaching has changed.”
Damei said. “What is it?”
The monk said, “Now he says, ‘No mind. No Buddha.'”
Damei said, “That old fellow just goes on and on, confusing people. Let him go ahead and say, ‘No mind. No Buddha.’ As for me, I still say ‘Mind is Buddha.’
The monk returned and reported this to Master Mazu.
Mazu said, “The plum is ripe.”‘ (Zen’s Chinese Heritage)
Well, isn’t this confusing? Just yesterday, Shohaku was cautioning us not to cling to a teaching, yet here is Damei holding tight to one of Master Ma’s sayings, and being approved for it. I say that the monk makes the mistake by saying that the master’s teaching has changed. What do you say? Perhaps I should not be clinging to Shohaku’s teaching…
Shundo David Haye 