[Buddha-l] Tozan's blue mountain and white cloud

[Benito Carral]

On Thursday, April 17, 2008, Dan Lusthaus wrote:

> This  is  from  the  Record  of Tung-shan (Dongshan).
> [...]

   Thank you for the info, Dan.

   I  assume  that  Suzuki  roshi  just offered his own
interpretation  of  this  dialogue.  I  can't  see  how
Dongshan's  word  could match his reading, but that's a
different question.

   BTW, Charles Luk provides the following notes to the
dialogue:

           Blue  mountain  symbolizes  the imutable and
        unchanging   self-nature   which  produces  all
        phenomena, including the white clouds which are
        always changing. That which is not luxuriant is
        the   self-nature  or  host  which  is  neither
        luxuriant nor scanty.

           The  phenomenal  knows  nothing  about east,
        symbol of host, and west, symbol of guest.

           The  white  clouds,  representing shadows or
        appearances,   exist   because   of   the  blue
        mountain,  or  self-nature. Like a shadow which
        cannot stray from an object to exist of itself,
        the  phenomenal  cannot exist in the absence of
        the noumenal which creates it.

           The   self-nature   is  indifferent  to  all
        appearances which are created by it.

   Best wishes,
   
-- 
   Benito Carral
     Asturias, Spain