The Core
The Shoyoroku Case 12: Dizang Plants the Field is a koan in which Master Xiushan believes that "exchanging discussions is Buddhism itself," while Dizang replies that "Buddhism is plowing the fields, making rice, and eating it."
Usually, people say that "the highest enlightenment exists right inside ordinary life." However, in this dictionary, we define it as a practical lesson: "the true Way exists right inside making honest and steady efforts in our daily lives after completing our training and studies."
Q&A
- Q: Why did Dizang ask Master Xiushan in return, "Where are the Three Realms?"
- A: Because he wanted to break through Master Xiushan's dualistic misconception of trying to escape the Three Realms (the world of confusion) to go to "some other special world."
Master Xiushan could not agree, thinking, "If we only live an everyday life, we cannot achieve liberation (becoming free from the Three Realms)." However, Dizang tried to make him realize the true world—where "form is emptiness and emptiness is form"—showing that whether we go beyond the Three Realms or not, we work and eat in this exact same world before our eyes in the end.
