Yamaoka Tesshū, who was noted as the founder of the Itto Shoden Muto-ryu School of swordsmanship, was a famous Japanese sword master in the Meiji period. He often traveled around to visit famous masters. One day, he met Master Duyuan of Shōkoku-ji, a Buddhist temple in northern Kyoto.
In order to show off his level of enlightenment, Yamaoka said to Duyuan complacently, “Mind, Buddha and mortal beings are nothing. The truth of phenomena is nothing. No enlightenment, no delusion. No saint, no mortal. No giving, no receiving.”
Duyuan was smoking and made no reply. Suddenly, he beat Yamaoka over the head with his smoking pipe and the young Buddhist master was badly irritated.
“Everything is nothing,” asked Duyuan, “Then, why are you so pissed off?”
View: 4469
