A Zen story on confusing cause and effect with the realisation of what is ‘already the case’. It recounts the first meeting between Mazu and Huairang, and is one of the most famous encounters of Zen history.
Huairang: Why are you sitting in meditation?
Mazu: Because I want to become a Buddha.
Huairang: Why are you polishing that brick?
Mazu: Because I want to make a mirror.
Huairang: How can you make a mirror by polishing a brick?
Mazu: If I cannot make a mirror by polishing a brick, how can you become a Buddha by sitting in meditation?
Mazu: Then what shall I do?
Huairang: When an ox-carriage stops moving, do you hit the carriage or the ox?
Mazu: (no reply)
Huairang: Are you practicing to sit in meditation, or practicing to sit like a Buddha? As to sitting in meditation, meditation is neither sitting nor lying. As to sitting like a Buddha, the Buddha has no fixed form. In the non-abiding Dharma, one should neither grasp nor reject. If you try to sit like a Buddha, you are just killing the Buddha. If you attach to the form of sitting, you will never realize the principle.
Mazu: (feeling as if he had tasted ghee)
Mazu Daoyi (709–788) was an influential abbot of Chan Buddhism during the Tang dynasty. He is known as the founder of the Hongzhou school of Zen. The earliest recorded use of the term “Chan school” is from his Extensive Records.
His two key teaching statements are: “This Mind is Buddha” and “Ordinary Mind is the Way.”
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