Australia and the World Past and Present

Gutei raised his finger whenever he was asked a question about Zen. A boy attendant began to imitate him in this way. When anyone asked the boy what his master had preached about, the boy would raise his finger.

Gutei heard about the boy’s mischief. He seized him and cut off his finger. The boy cried and ran away. Gutei called and stopped him. When the boy turned his head to Gutei, Gutei raised up his own finger. In that instant the boy was enlightened.

When Gutei was about to pass from this world he gathered his monks around him. “I attained my finger-Zen,” he said, “from my teacher Tenryu, and in my whole life I could not exhaust it.” Then he passed away.

Mumon’s comment: Enlightenment, which Gutei and the boy attained, has nothing to do with a finger. If anyone clings to a finger, Tenryu will be so disappointed that he will annihilate Gutei, the boy, and the clinger all together.

Gutei cheapens the teaching of Tenryu,
Emancipating the boy with a knife.
Compared to the Chinese god who pushed aside a mountain with one hand
Old Gutei is a poor imitator.

Translation into Japanese

愚貞の指

愚貞は禅について質問されるといつも指を立てた。少年の従者がそのように真似をするようになった。誰かが少年に師匠が何を説いたのか尋ねると、少年は指を立てた。

愚貞は少年のいたずらを聞き、少年を捕らえて指を切り落とした。少年は泣きながら逃げた。愚貞は呼びかけて少年を止めた。少年が愚貞のほうを向くと、愚貞は自分の指を立てた。その瞬間、少年は悟りを開いた。

愚貞がこの世を去ろうとしたとき、彼は僧侶たちを自分の周りに集めた。「私は師匠の天龍から指禅を授かったが、一生かけてもそれを使い果たすことはできなかった」と彼は言った。そして彼は亡くなった。

無門のコメント：愚貞と少年が得た悟りは、指とは何の関係もない。誰かが指にしがみつこうとすれば、天龍は失望して、愚貞、少年、しがみつく者を皆殺しにするだろう。

愚貞は天龍の教えを軽視し、
少年をナイフで解放する。
片手で山を押しのけた中国の神と比べると、
老愚貞は下手な真似をする者だ。

Notes on translation:

Gutei, or Juzhi Yizhi, lived in present-day China in the 9th century. His name in Chinese is 俱胝