Tao Te Ching

The Power of Goodness, the Wisdom Beyond Words
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Andy Ferguson

Touzi Yiqing 投子義青

(Tōsu Gisei, “Zen Master of Complete Compassion”)

1032 – 1083 CE

Said to have left his family when only 7 years old to study Buddhism, Touzi came to to the realization that a reliance on words to teach the ultimate truth would always be bound to fail. First leaving one then another tradition, he finally settled into the early Caodong/Soto Zen school and became the dharma heir although he had never met or studied with the previous lineage holder, Dayang Jingxuan. This broke the common practice of direct teacher-to-student transmission and further communicated the depth beneath the words, the heart of understanding under superficial beliefs.

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Trickster Zen

Eras

Quotes by Touzi Yiqing (8 quotes)

“Dharma is not found in the written word, how can one speak of it?”

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“Even three feet of snow can’t crush a one-inch spiritual pine.”

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“Don’t stop in a run-down shack in an isolated village. Go through the mountain pass of the buddhas and ancestors.”

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“My parting message to all of you: don’t go seeking after something. (from his death poem)”

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“This affair is like a phoenix soaring into the heavens, not leaving a trace behind.”

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“If you go forward, you fall into the hands of the celestial demons. If you retreat, you slip into the realm of hungry ghosts. If you go neither forward nor backward, you will drown in the dead water.”

Themes: Wu Wei

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“[When asked ‘Why don’t you try practicing Zen?’] Touzi said, ‘Fancy food doesn’t interest someone who’s full.’”

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“When questioned with disbelief in his realization by a Zen master, Touzi said 'What point would there be in waiting until you believed it?'”

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Quotes about Touzi Yiqing (0 quotes)

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