A fox hid in a temple, was caught by a monk, and its tail set afire. Panicked, it ran into the library, burning the scriptures. The master said: “Acting without reason invites great disaster.”
Let your spirit be lofty, not arrogant; your mind be precise, not trivial; your taste be simple, not barren; your principles be firm, not harsh.
A student asked: “What is large?” The master replied: “Boundless.” “What is small?” “Invisible.” “Then where is the place between them?” The master asked: “Where is it not?”
Ikkyu broke his teacher’s teacup and asked: “Why must people die?” The teacher said: “All that is born must die.” Ikkyu replied: “Then your cup’s time has come.”
A man asked: “I have a stone I sit and lie on. May I carve it into a Buddha?” The master answered: “Yes. A stone is a Buddha, a Buddha is a stone—all is but a single mind.”