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    The Sayings of Layman P'ang: A Zen Classic of China
    The Sayings of Layman P'ang: A Zen Classic of China
    The Sayings of Layman P'ang: A Zen Classic of China
    Ebook150 pages1 hour

    The Sayings of Layman P'ang: A Zen Classic of China

    By James Green

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    About this ebook

    These wise and funny stories have been an inspiration to spiritual practice for more than twelve centuries, particularly for all those who follow the Buddhist path as laypeople. Layman P’ang (740–808) was a merchant and family man who one day put all his money and possessions in a boat and sunk it in a river, so that he could devote his life to the study of the dharma. His wife, son, and daughter joined him enthusiastically on his new path, taking up a joyfully itinerant life together as they traveled from temple to monastery across southern China. This collection of anecdotes and verses about the enlightened layman and his family has become an enduring Zen classic.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherShambhala
    Release dateMar 10, 2009
    ISBN9780834822894
    The Sayings of Layman P'ang: A Zen Classic of China

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      Book preview

      The Sayings of Layman P'ang - James Green

      P’ang the Layman is terrific at pulling the rug out from underneath you just at the right time. He is one of the great, wild, exhilarating Zen figures, a pioneer in the adventure of understanding the mind. James Green is one of the very best translators we have, and this book is a classic.

      —John Tarrant, Roshi, author of Bring Me the Rhinoceros

      ABOUT THE BOOK

      These wise and funny stories have been an inspiration to spiritual practice for more than twelve centuries, particularly for all those who follow the Buddhist path as laypeople. Layman P’ang (740–808) was a merchant and family man who one day put all his money and possessions in a boat and sunk it in a river, so that he could devote his life to the study of the dharma. His wife, son, and daughter joined him enthusiastically on his new path, taking up a joyfully itinerant life together as they traveled from temple to monastery across southern China. This collection of anecdotes and verses about the enlightened layman and his family has become an enduring Zen classic.

      JAMES GREEN is a longtime Zen student and former monk who is a disciple of the renowned Japanese Zen master and artist Keido Fukushima Roshi. He is also the translator of The Recorded Sayings of Zen Master Joshu. He lives in Vietnam.

      Sign up to learn more about our books and receive special offers from Shambhala Publications.

      Or visit us online to sign up at shambhala.com/eshambhala.

      The Sayings of

      Layman P’ang

      A Zen Classic of China

      Translated by James Green

      Foreword by Dennis Genpo Merzel Roshi

      Preface by Keido Fukushima Roshi

      Introduction by Jeff Shore

      Illustrations by Michael Hofmann

      SHAMBHALA

      Boston & London

      2011

      Shambhala Publications, Inc.

      Horticultural Hall

      300 Massachusetts Avenue

      Boston, Massachusetts 02115

      www.shambhala.com

      © 2009 by James Green

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Pang, Yun, ca. 740–808.

      [Pang ju shi yu lu. English]

      The sayings of layman P’ang: a Zen classic of China / translated by James Green; foreword by Dennis Genpo Merzel; preface by Keido Fukushima; illustrations by Michael Hofmann.

      p.     cm.

      eISBN 978-0-8348-2289-4

      ISBN 978-1-59030-630-7 (pbk.: alk. paper)

      1. Zen Buddhism—Early works to 1800. I. Green, James Reid, 1948– II. Title.

      BQ9265.P3613 2009

      294.3′927—DC22

      2008030702

      Dedicated, with loving gratitude, to Keido Fukushima Roshi

      Contents

      Foreword by Dennis Genpo Merzel Roshi

      Preface by Keido Fukushima Roshi

      Introduction by Jeff Shore

      Translator’s Note

      Acknowledgments

      The Recorded Sayings of Layman P’ang

      PROLOGUE

      DIALOGUES WITH SHIH-T’OU (SEKITO)

      1. Suddenly Stopping the World

      2. Subtleties of Daily Life

      DIALOGUES WITH MA-TSU (BASO)

      3. One Gulp

      4. A Distinctly Authentic Person

      5. The Bone and Muscle of Water

      DIALOGUES WITH YUEH-SHAN (YAKUSAN)

      6. One Vehicle

      7. Viewing the Snow

      DIALOGUES WITH CH’I-FENG (ZAICHO)

      8. There You Are

      9. Front and Rear

      10. The Distance to the Mountaintop

      11. That Which Is Not Spoken

      DIALOGUES WITH TAN-HSIA (TANKA)

      12. Meeting Ling-chao

      13. Deaf and Dumb

      14. The Layman and Mr. P’ang

      15. The Eye of the Heritage

      16. The Head Scarf

      17. Seven and One

      18. Making Waves

      DIALOGUES WITH PAI-LING (HYAKUREI)

      19. Potent Instruction

      20. Speaking and Not Speaking

      21. What Did You Say?

      22. The Eyes

      DIALOGUES WITH P’U-CHI (FUZAI)

      23. Haggling Over a Basket

      24. Speaking Words

      25. A Word from the Womb

      26. Open or Closed?

      DIALOGUE WITH CH’ANG-TZU (CHOSHI)

      27. Not Violating the True Self

      DIALOGUES WITH SUNG-SHAN (SHOZAN)

      28. Why Don’t You Say Something?

      29. The Ox Doesn’t Know

      30. Sung-shan’s Staff

      31. Yellow Leaves and Green Leaves

      32. Sung-shan’s Ruler

      DIALOGUES WITH PEN-HSI (HONGOKU)

      33. Don’t Tell Someone What to Do

      34. Is This So, or Not?

      DIALOGUE WITH TA-MEI (DAIBAI)

      35. The Plum’s Core

      DIALOGUES WITH TA-YU (DAI’IKU)

      36. Dining Etiquette

      37. Fundamental Truth

      DIALOGUES WITH TSE-CH’UAN (SOKUSEN)

      38. Old and Young

      39. The Intangible Dharma Body

      40. Host and Guest

      DIALOGUE WITH LO-P’U (RAKUHO)

      41. Hot and Cold

      DIALOGUES WITH SHIH-LIN (SEKIRIN)

      42. Tan-hsia’s Activities

      43. Say It Succinctly

      44. It’s Indescribable

      DIALOGUE WITH YANG-SHAN (KYOZAN)

      45. Respected Mountain

      DIALOGUE WITH KU-YIN (KOKUIN)

      46. Wild Fox Zen

      DIALOGUE WITH A MONK WHILE READING THE SUTRAS

      47. Reading the Sutras

      DIALOGUE WITH A MONK DOING RITUAL BEGGING

      48. Accepting Charity

      DIALOGUE WITH AN OXHERD

      49. Where the Path Leads

      DIALOGUE WITH A MEDITATION TEACHER

      50. The Message of the Diamond Sutra

      THREE VIEWS OF HARD AND EASY

      51. Three Views of Hard and Easy

      THREE-STANZA POEM

      52. Three-Stanza Poem

      DIALOGUES WITH LING-CHAO (REISHO)

      53. Each Blade of Grass Is Clear-Cut

      54. Helping Someone Up

      THE LAYMAN’S DEATH

      55. The Layman’s Death

      DIALOGUES FROM OTHER SOURCES

      56. Tan-hsia’s Rosary

      57. Pen-hsi and the Skull

      58. Mrs. P’ang Goes Back

      Appendix: Brief Ancestor Chart

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      Foreword

      Dennis Genpo Merzel Roshi

      Layman P’ang continues to be an inspiration and a model within the Zen tradition twelve hundred years after his death, not only because of this colorful book you hold in your hands, but also because of what he represents. As a layperson who is regarded as both a living exemplar and a teacher of Zen, he is one of a line of outstanding human beings, men and women, renowned and obscure, stretching from the great contemporary of Shakyamuni Buddha, Vimalakirti, through Hui-neng, the pivotal Sixth Patriarch of Zen in China, to those who are reinvigorating Buddhism throughout the East and West in our own time. The very name by which we know him, Layman P’ang, raises questions that are at least as old as Buddhism itself: What does it mean to be a layperson in Zen? What is the difference between a

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