[Discussion-AZC] Bassui Tokusho's death poem

[drstopher]

For Barbara's non-duality class
(Source: "Japanese Death Poems" - compiled by Yoel Hoffmann)

Bassui Tokusho died on the twentieth day of the second month, 1387 at
the age of sixty-one.


POEM:

Look straight ahead.  What's there?
If you see it as it is
You will never err.

When Bassui was about thiry-one years of age, he heard the running of
water in a brook and was enlightened.  Thereafter, he spent most of
his days in a hut in the mountains.  When people heard of the
solitary monk and gathered to hear the dharma, he would flee.  In
spite of his longing for solitude, Bassui did not turn his back on
the simple people, but taught them Zen in words they could
understand.  He often warned his followers against the dangers of
drinking, and forbade them to taste "even a single drop."  On the
margin of his portrait he wrote, "I teach with the voice of silence."

Just before his death Bassui turned to the crowd that had gathered
around and said the words above.  Repeating them in a loud voice, 

LOOK STRAIGHT AHEAD!  WHAT IS THERE!
IF YOU SEE IT AS IT IS,
YOU WILL NEVER ERR.

...he died.

:) gasshoing :)
Rinshin