Teachings From Ancient Vietnamese Zen Masters – 86
36 The Iron Girl
In this world of light and dust,
it’s constantly free of light and dust.
When the mind is completely still,
it has no relation to anything in this world.
Its essence is originally spontaneous;
it reflects all things impartially.
It holds all heavens and earth,
reaches far beyond humankind,
nurtures all things,
helps all things bring forth the spring,
makes the iron girl dance,
and leads the wooden human to play a drum.
TRUONG NGUYEN (1110 – 1165)
(COMMENT: Is there any light without shadow? When you see
something beautiful and have a thought of desire, or when you hear
something offensive and have a thought of aversion, you fall into the
world of light and dust – the light casts shadows, dust particles appear,
and you get stuck in this suffering world. Manifesting through the six
senses, the light in you originally has no shadow and collects no dust.
You can experience this: breathe in and out gently, watch your mind
gently, see the stillness in your interaction with all things at all times,
and then later you would see the unborn nature of the mind.
How can the iron girl dance? How can the wooden human drum? Some
Zen masters like to ask their guests, “Hey, guest! What makes this
corpse walking here?”
The unborn nature makes the iron girl dancing, leads the wooden
human drumming, and induces a corpse walking. Because it is unborn,
it is undying and non-self.)
