Master Hsu Yun (1840 –1959)

After making obeisance to His Reverence Hsu Yun, the supervising monks invited him to come to the Meditation Hall of the monastery. He then stood in the center of the hall, while the supervisors, one of whom held a [warning] slapping board, stood in two rows on each side of the Master. The disciples in attendance, who had vowed to join this Seven Days' Meditation, and who had come from all parts of the country, stood about him in a large circle. Then the Revered Master raised his own slapping board and addressed the assembled company as follows: "This is the new month of the New Year, and now, fortunately, we can all join this Seven Days' Meditation practice. This is the place to leam the teaching of Not-Doing (Wu Wei). 'Not-Doing' means that there is absolutely nothing to be done or to be learned. Alas! Whatever I can say about 'nothingness' will miss the point. Oh, friends and disciples, if you do not attach yourselves to the Ten Thousand Things with your minds, you will find that the life-spark will emanate from everything.

"Today is the first day of our Meditation. Friends, what do you say? Ah-h-h!" Then after a long silence, the Master cried: "Go!" Immediately all the disciples, responding to his call, followed him, running in a large circle. After they had run for a number of rounds a supervising monk made the "stopping signal" by suddenly whacking the board on a table, making a loud slapping noise. Instantly all the runners stopped and stood still. After a pause they all sat down on their seats in the cross-legged posture. Then the entire hall became deadly quiet; not the slightest sound could be heard, as though they were in some deep mountain fastness. This silent meditation lasted for more than an hour. Then everyone rose from his seat and the circling exercise started again. After running a few more rounds, all suddenly stopped once more when they heard the slapping board make the signal. Then the Master addressed the company as follows: "The Head Monk in this monastery is very kind and compassionate. It was through his sincere efforts that this Seven Days' Meditation was made possible. All the elders in the Order, and you lay-patrons as well, are diligent. His teachings are all recorded and expounded in the Three Great Canons. So what is the use of my making more talk? The most I can do, and the best, is to repeat the words of our Lord Buddha and the Patriarchs. In any case, we should know that the teaching of Zen is transmitted outside the regular Buddhist doctrine. This is and inspired in the work of Tao. I was requested by all of you to lead the group in this Seven Days' Meditation. I feel greatly honored and inspired on this wonderful occasion. But I have not been too well of late; therefore I cannot talk very long. Our Lord Buddha preached the Dharma for more than forty years, sometimes preaching explicitly, sometimes implicitly illustrated most effectively in the first Zen koan. When Buddha held the flower in his hand and showed it to his disciples, no one in the assembly understood his purport except Mahakasyapa, who smiled to indicate that he understood what Buddha meant. The Buddha then said, 'I have a treasure of the righteous Dharma, and the marvelous Mind of Nirvana—the true form without any form. I now impart it to you.' Therefore you should understand that Zen is a teaching transmitted outside the regular channels of Buddhist doctrine, without resorting to many words or explanations.

(From THE PRACTICE OF ZEN by Garma C. C. Chang)