Teachings From Ancient Vietnamese Zen Masters – 172
71 Outside the Scriptures
The profound Way of Buddha and Patriarchs
should be transmitted specially outside the scriptures.
If you want to see the distinction,
just look for the fog under the sunrise.
MINH TRÍ (? - 1196)
(COMMENT: Word is word, and Zen is Zen. Words can not carry the
wordless, so Zen is transmitted outside the scriptures. Can you put the
reality into words? Still, you need scriptures, because you need a finger
pointing to the moon.
Just like you hear a bird singing, and you try to put all the sounds into
words, you know something is left outside the text. When you walk in a
forest, and hear birdsong around, do you feel that you are hearing your
mind echoing?)
