User:WikiDao/The Gateless Gate/35

35. Two Souls

"Seijo, the Chinese girl," observed Goso, "had two souls, one always sick at home and the other in the city, a married woman with two children. Which was the true soul?"


 * Mumon’s comment: When one understands this, he will know it is possible to come out from one shell and enter another, as if one were stopping at a transient lodging house. But if he cannot understand, when his time comes and his four elements separate, he will be just like a crab dipped in boiling water, struggling with many hands and legs. In such a predicament he may say: "Mumon did not tell me where to go!" but it will be too late then.
 * The moon above the clouds is the same moon,
 * The mountains and rivers below are all different.
 * Each is happy in its unity and variety.
 * This is one, this is two.