Great Enlightenment
Rinzai asked Ôbaku, “What is the great meaning of the Buddha-Dharma?” Ôbaku hit him. This happened three times. Rinzai then took his leave and went to see Daigu. Daigu asked, “Where have you come from?” Rinzai said, “From Ôbaku.” Daigu said, “What did Ôbaku have to say?” Rinzai said, “I asked him three times, ‘What is the great meaning of the Buddha-Dharma?’ and I got his stick three times. I don’t know if I was in error or not.” Daigu said, “Ôbaku was overly gentle like an old grandmother; he completely exhausted himself for your sake. Yet you come here and ask if you were in error or not!” With these words, Rinzai came to great enlightenment
Enlightenment
Beiko had a monk ask Kyôzan, “Do people these days really need enlightenment or not?”
Kyôzan said, “It is not that there is no enlightenment, but how can it be helped that it falls into the second class?”
The monk went back to Beiko and told him about it. Beiko deeply agreed.
Monkey
Kyôzan asked Chûyû, “What does buddha-nature mean?” Chûyû said, “I will explain it for you by allegory. Suppose there is a room with six windows. Inside there is a monkey. Outside, someone shouts, ‘Monkey! monkey!’ It immediately responds. If someone calls, ‘Monkey!’ through any of the windows, it responds just the same. It is just like that.”
Kyôzan said, “How about when the monkey is asleep?” Chûyû descended from his Zen seat, grasped Kyôzan and said, “O monkey, monkey, there you are!”
