Lin Chi on Adding Mud to Dirt, Slavery, Movement and Stillness

Adding Mud to Dirt:

There are Zen students who are in chains when they go to a teacher, and the teacher adds another chain. The students are delighted, unable to discern one thing from another. This is called a guest looking at a guest.

Slavery:

When I say there is nothing outside, students who do not understand me intepret this in terms of inwardness, so they sit silent and still, taking this to be Zen Buddhism. This is a big mistake. If you take a state of unmoving clarity to be Zen, you are recognizing ignorance as a slave master.

Movement and Stillness:

If you try to grasp Zen in movement, it goes into stillness. If you try to grasp Zen in stillness, it goes into movement. It is like a fish hidden in a spring, drumming up waves and dancing independently. Movement and stillness are two states. The Zen master, who does not depend on anything, makes deliberate use of both movement and stillness.

Translated by Thomas Cleary