The Vigorous Nature of Working Zen

Zen students sometimes seem to think that Zen is a passive process. One just sits and the magic happens. Nonsense!

And Sōtō students sometimes dismiss wholehearted application of the method by attributing "hair on fire" training to Rinzai Zen. Double nonsense!!

Here's a bit from the Cáodòng/Sōtō master Wànsōng - his preface to Record of Going Easy (J. Shōyōroku), Case 85: "The Appearance of the National Teacher’s Monument.'

It's Wànsōng teaching about what it takes to truly "go easy:"

Smashing space beneath the blows of a hammer. Breaking open Flower Peak with the base of a lever. Then, for the first time, you’ll arrive where there is no seam or crack, where you don’t see flaws or scars. Yet, who is this way?

So there's diligent work to be done. Let's get to it!