Wild Fox Zen
Above is a ragged wild fox looking for hand outs at the border. Really. My son and I saw him or her on the way into Canada in June, hanging around the line of cars waiting to go through Customs.
Speaking of which, that old ragged fox koan is up for me again. It is such a wonderfully rich koan with many levels, a delightful play of freedom and bondage, liberation and karma.
Here’s the story in case you, dear reader, are not yet infected with it.
When Baizhang would give teachings to the assembly an old man would often appear and listen to his Dharma talks. The old man usually left after the talks but one day he remained behind. Baizhang asked, “Who are you?”
The old man said, “I am not actually a human being. In ancient times, at the time of Kashyapa Buddha, I lived and taught on this mountain. One day a student asked, ‘Does a person who has cultivated great practice still fall into cause and effect?’
I said to him, ‘No, such a person does not.’
Because of this I was reborn as a wild fox for five hundred lifetimes. Venerable Master, please say a turning word and free me from this body of a wild fox.”
Then he asked Baizhang, “Does a person who has cultivated great practice still fall into cause and effect?”
Baizhang said, “Do not ignore cause and effect.”
Immediately the old man had a great realization.
Bowing, he said to Baizhang, “I am now liberated from the body of a wild fox.”
Today I’m interested in just the last part that I’ve quoted (the story goes on) – the person who is free from the body of the wild fox. Such a person would be free from the shape-shifting ego. Free from giving the right answer and free from being right. Free from being caught up in being free from cause and effect.
What would such a person do or say?
Maybe, “I’m sorry, I must be mistaken.”
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In