Wild Fox Zen
Once upon a time in ancient India, about when Christ was born a few thousand miles to the west, a woman dreamed of a great spirit holding a mirror. When she awoke she was pregnant and in just seven days she gave birth to a son, Jayashata.
It is said that his skin was clear like crystal but most surprisingly, a mirror was born together with him. This mirror followed him wherever he went and yet his form was not hidden.
When Jayashata sat down, the mirror appeared right in front of him and all the actions of all the Buddhas appeared in it. When Jayashata walked, the mirror followed him like a halo. When he lay down, the mirror became a canopy.
When Jayashata was still a boy, he met the seventeenth Indian ancestor, Sanghanadi. Referring to the mirror, Sanghanadi said to him, “The What is present in your hand.”
Jayashata said, “The great, perfect mirror of Buddhas is free from flaws and blurs, inside and outside. Both of us can see it, our minds and eyes resemble each other.”
When his parents heard this reply, they gave their permission for Jayashata to leave home and become a novice monk. When Sanghanandi gave him the precepts, the mirror disappeared.
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