Zen Master Kyosei's Instruction on Pecking and Tapping |

The Case

A monk said to zen master Kyosei, "I want to peck from the inside. Would you please tap from the outside?" Kyosei said, "Could you attain life or not?" The monk said, "If I could not attain life, I would become a laughingstock." Kyosei said, "You too are a fellow in the weeds!"

Engo's Introduction

There is no byroad to the Way. There one stands absolutely firm. The Law transcends seeing and hearing. There one is independent of words and thoughts. If you make your way through all the thorny entanglements, break down the barriers of the Buddha and the patriarchs, and attain the quiet and secret land, there heaven will find no way to send down flowers to you, and the devil no way to spy you out.

All day long you act without acting, preach without preaching. Then you have learned to tap the eggshell at the moment the chick is emerging, to wield the death-dealing sword that also gives life. However, going still further, when you realize in your activity along the constructive route how to grasp the student on the one hand and release him on the other, you will deserve to be called a master. But in the realm of the absolute, things will become different. Now, how will it be with the matter of the absolute?

Verse

Old Buddha had his way of teaching, The monk's answer won no praise. Strangers to each other, hen and chick, Who can peck when the tapping comes?
Outside, the tap was given; Inside, the chick remained. Once again the tap was given; Monks throughout the world attempt the trick in vain.