User:WikiDao/The Gateless Gate/37

37. A Buffalo Passes Through the Enclosure

Goso said: "When a buffalo goes out of his enclosure to the edge of the abyss, his horns and his head and his hoofs all pass through, but why can't the tail also pass?"


 * Mumon’s comment: If anyone can open one eye at this point and say a word of Zen, he is qualified to repay the four gratifications, and, not only that, he can save all sentient beings under him. But if he cannot say such a word of true Zen, he should turn back to his tail.
 * If the buffalo runs, he will fall into the trench;
 * If he returns, he will be butchered.
 * That little tail
 * Is a very strange thing.