Quote from The Hidden Lamp
The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women
edited by Florence Caplow and Susan Moon
Wisdom Publications, Boston, Massachusetts; © 2013; 421 pp.One hundred stories and koans of awakening, many from the Zen tradition, commented upon by modern women Buddhist practitioners.
Two examples are below:
-- Manseong's No Cultivation, Korea, Twentieth Century
"One day a nun asked Manseong Sunim, 'How do I cultivate the Way of the Buddha?'
'No cultivation,' answered Manseong.
The nun preserved: 'How, then, can I obtain release from birth and death?'
'Who chains you to birth and death?' Manseong asked in return."
-- Barbara Rhodes's Reflection
"I picked this koan because to me it strikes right at the heart of what a student and teacher can be for each other. The nun's questions were direct and clear. The teacher's responses were also like that. No hesitations, no filters, just an intimate exchange." (p. 30)
-- submitted by Jennifer Knight
The nun preserved: 'How, then, can I obtain release from birth and death?'
'Who chains you to birth and death?' Manseong asked in return."
-- Barbara Rhodes's Reflection
"I picked this koan because to me it strikes right at the heart of what a student and teacher can be for each other. The nun's questions were direct and clear. The teacher's responses were also like that. No hesitations, no filters, just an intimate exchange." (p. 30)
-- submitted by Jennifer Knight