Zen Women

Zhaozhou Recites the Sutra

In the district of Zhaozhou, an old woman sent a message to the master [Zen Master Zhouzhou] with a donation and a request that he recite the entire collection of Buddhist sutras.

Hearing of this, the master stepped down from his seat and walked around the chair one time. Then he said, "I have finished reciting the collection of sutras."

The messenger returned to the old woman and told her what happened with Zhouzhou. The old woman said, "I asked Zhaozhou to recite the complete collection of sutras. Why did he recite only half the sutras?"

Commentary
Should Zhaozhou have walked twice around the chair?

Source: Opening a Mountain by Steven Heine

Mrs. P'ang Transfers Merit

One day Mrs. P'ang went into the Deer Gate Temple to make an offering of food.

The temple priest asked her the purpose [of the offering] so that he could transfer the merit.

Mrs. P'ang took her comb and stuck it in the back of her hair. "Transference of merit is complete," she said, and walked out.

Commentary
The P'ang Family -- P'ang-yun, his wife, son, and daughter -- were enlightened students and peers of Ma-tzu and other masters of the early Tang Dynasty. Together, they sank their possessions and money in a river, gave their house to be used as a temple, and began an itinerant life of practice and pilgrimage. Layman P'ang and his daughter, Ling-chao appear to have had a particularly close relationship and she was with him right to the end. As this story demonstrates, Mrs. P'ang herself had deep attainment of truth and function.

Source: The Recorded Sayings of Layman P'ang by Ruth Fuller Sasaki, et al