The Final Word.

[Shi Da Dao]

Heng Yu asked Wen Shu: 'What is your 'Final Word'?
Wen Shu looked into the distance, and then left and right in a measured manner and replied: 'I am going.' Wen Shu then turned around and walked away, he did not look backwards and was never seen again.

Commentary.
What did Heng Yu mean by 'Final Word'? In ancient times, when a Ch'an master was about to leave his body, students and disciples often asked for a 'Final Word' to encapsulate the master's Ch'an teaching. Wen Shu was not dying, and yet, nevertheless he was leaving never to return in physical form - guest was returning to host - 'I am going'.

Looking left and right, and turning around indicate that all phenomena has the Mind Ground as an essence, and there comes a time when physical expressions return to that essence. The Ten directions manifest only within the One Mind and are a function of the Mind Ground - Wen Shu was saying 'All things are returnable to the One, where does the One return?'

[dazen]

Hekiganroku ~ case 84 : Vimalakirti and "Not~Two

Vimalakirti asked manjushri,
" What does it mean that the Bodhisattva enters the Dharma~gate of Not~Two?
Manjushri said,
" I see it like this : in all phenomena, there are neither words nor explanations, neither presentations nor knowledge: it is beyond all questions and answers. That is what I understand with ' to enter the Dharma~gate of Not ~ Two"....

[dazen]

Hekiganroku ~ case 37 : Banzan's " Not One Thing in the Three Worlds"

Banzan, giving instruction, said, " In the Three Worlds, there is not one thing. Where should one seek the mind ?"

[Shi Da Dao]

There is a humerous postscript - Wen Shu lived for another two years and made fools of us all! He left withot going and arrived without leaving. Even Bodhidharma remembered a sandel - Wen Shu did not even remember this. What a worthless fellow.