841Uif

86 /BASSUI ' s SERMON AND LETTERSno more. A tranquility not tml.ike the serenity of moonlight floodingthe countryside suffuses the heart, but this can't be put intowords. Such serenity is the outcome of some Zen practice, yet themind is. still sick, for the Self is still topsy-turvy, and this inversionis the root-source of delusion. What is meant by cutting away theroot is breaking through this serene state of mind.One who lacks a genuine thirst fo r Self-realization digs up oldkoans and, reasoning out "answers," considers himself enlightened.You must not become attached to anything you realize, you mustonly search directly for the subject that realizes. Thus like somethingburnt to a crisp or slashed to bits, your preconceived notions willall be annihilated. You will perceive the master only after you haveprobed "What is id " with your last ounce of strength and everythought of good and evil has vanished. Not w1til then will you feellike one who has actually been resurrected.Tokusan said: "Even though you can say something about it, I willgive you thirty blows of the stick. . . ."1 Can you avoid the stick?If you can, you understand the import of "The East Mountain stridesover the water."•I am afraid I have written too much, but I have done so becauseI admire your determination to become enlightened. These ideas arenot mine but what I have learned from the teachings of the ancientZen masters.1 The koan in irs entirety reads: "Even though you can say something about it, II will give you thirty blows of the stick. I And if you can' r say anything about it,/I will also give you thirty blows of the stick."2 This is from Ummon's Collected Sayings. A monk asked Ummon: "Where doBuddhas come from?" (i.e., What is the Buddha-mind?) Ummon replied: "TheEast Mountain strides over the water."