Tao Te Ching
Layman Pang 龐居士
740 – 808 CE
Layman Pang 龐居士 Páng Jūshì, Hōkoji (740–808)
Successful merchant, family man, celebrated lay Buddhist; like Vimalakīrti and Marpa the translator, Pang exemplifies possibilities of the highest realization and enlightenment for people in everyday walks of life without needing to live in a monastery or remote cave, without being a yogi, monk, or nun. He did however worry about his success and wealth becoming an impediment to his spiritual path and at one point loaded all his riches in a boat that he sunk in a river. He and his family then traveled around China visiting great teachers and surviving by making and selling bamboo utensils. These travels and his words were immortalized in Blue Cliff Record koans as was his daughter Ling Zhao’s words, "Neither difficult nor easy, on the hundred grass tips, the great Masters' meaning" and "Not difficult, not easy—eating when hungry, sleeping when tired."
Lineages
Apostles of Doubt Business Zen
Eras
Chinese
Tang Dynasty 唐朝 (618 – 907 CE)Unlisted Sources
Quotes by Layman Pang (10 quotes)
“How miraculous and wondrous, hauling water and carrying firewood!”
Chapters:
34. An Unmoored Boat
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“Good snow – flake by flake doesn't fall in any other place.”
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“Your eyes see like a blind man, your mouth speaks like a mute.”
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“Regard everything as empty, don’t give substance to that which has none.”
Chapters:
11. Appreciating Emptiness
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“The world is just reflections and echoes.”
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“When the mind is at peace, the world too is at peace.”
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“The past is already past—don’t try to regain it. The present does not stay, don’t try to touch it from moment to moment. The future is not come, don’t think about it beforehand.”
Chapters:
40. Returning
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“Not holding on to reality, not getting stuck in the void, you are neither holy nor wise, just an ordinary person”
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“When the mind is at peace, the world too is at peace... I don't hold on to anything, don't reject anything; nowhere an obstacle or conflict.”
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