TAKE THE STAFF
ONCE IN AN ASSEMBLY OF MONKS, UMMON HELD UP HIS STAFF, AND SAID, "WE ARE TOLD IN THE SCRIPTURES THAT AN ORDINARY MAN THINKS THE STAFF IS A REAL EXISTENCE; THAT THOSE OF THE HINAYANA TAKE IT AS NOTHING; THAT THOSE BELIEVING IN THE PRATYEKABUDDHA TAKE IT AS AN ILLUSORY EXISTENCE; THAT BODHISATTVAS SAY ITS REALITY IS EMPTINESS. BUT I SAY UNTO YOU, TAKE THE STAFF AS JUST A STAFF. MOVEMENT IS MOVEMENT; SITTING IS SITTING. BUT DON'T WOBBLE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!" UMMON PICKED UP HIS STAFF, AND, SHOWING IT TO THE ASSEMBLED MONKS, SAID, "MY STAFF HAS TURNED INTO A DRAGON AND SWALLOWED UP THE WHOLE WORLD. WHERE ARE THE POOR MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS AND GREAT EARTH NOW?"
Ummon is simply one of the most insightful masters who has walked on the earth. He says, BUT I SAY UNTO YOU, TAKE THE STAFF -- and he is holding his staff in his hand -- AS JUST A STAFF. MOVEMENT IS MOVEMENT; SITTING IS SITTING. There is no need to talk about whether it is real or unreal; the very division between reality and unreality makes all kinds of confusions in your mind. What to choose, what not to choose, whether it is real or unreal. Take everything as it is, without any judgment about its reality or unreality. BUT DON'T WOBBLE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! What is wobbling? The arising of thought -- whether this is real or unreal -- and you have started wobbling. Just see things straight as they are, they don't need any judgment from you. A staff is a staff. UMMON PICKED UP HIS STAFF, AND, SHOWING IT TO THE ASSEMBLED MONKS, SAID, "MY STAFF HAS TURNED INTO A DRAGON AND SWALLOWED UP THE WHOLE WORLD. WHERE ARE THE POOR MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS AND GREAT EARTH NOW?" His meaning is that if you can realize a non-judgmental clarity, even this simple staff becomes your greatest meditation. And in that meditation the oceans will disappear and the mountains will disappear, because in that meditation you will disappear. The observer suddenly becomes the observed.
Yuishen, another master, wrote in praise:
WHY, IT IS BUT THE MOTION OF EYES AND BROWS!
AND HERE I HAVE BEEN SEEKING IT FAR AND WIDE.
AWAKENED AT LAST, I FIND
THE MOON ABOVE THE PINES,
THE RIVER SURGING HIGH.
The river is the river, the pines are the pines, and the moon is the moon. All that is needed is a clarity of vision, not that stupid mind that goes on continuously making judgments.