Zen Master Wu Kwang Congratulates Zen Master Soeng Hyang

I want to second Zen Master Wu Bong’s congratulations to all of us, and appreciation to you, Zen Master Soeng Hyang, for taking on this job.

There’s a kong-an in The Blue Cliff Record: One day Zen Master Yen-kuan said to his attendant, “Bring me my rhinoceros horn fan,” to which the attendant answered,

“The fan is broken.” Zen Master Yen-kuan said, “Then bring me the rhinoceros.” The attendant did not know what to say. The next part of the kong-an is interesting: Sometime later, other monks related what they would have said if they had been the attendant. The attendant had had nothing to say when the master demanded, “Then bring your spirit out like a rhinoceros.” These monks put in their two cents and said, “If I had been there I would have said blah, blah, blah,” and the compiler of TheBlue Cliff Record, as was his custom, wrote in a brief remark after each of their presentations of what they would have said.

The first monk said, “I would bring it out, but I’m afraid that the horn on its head might be imperfect.” To this the compiler added, “I want the imperfect horn.” Now, if you listened to the School Zen Master’s talk, you will understand that “I want the imperfect horn” is her credo of giving freely, without holding back, without hesitation, without being hindered by thoughts of good and bad – both for herself and for her students. So [turning to ZMSH] I hope you continue to encourage us all to bring out the imperfect horn.

The next commentator said, “If I return it to the Master then I will not have it anymore.” That is a big problem. However, Zen Master Soeng Hyang does not seem to be afraid of losing anything. The compiler wrote, “The rhino is still there.” He must have known you!

The third commentator did not open his mouth; instead, he drew a circle and wrote the Chinese character for rhino inside. The compiler wrote under that, “Why didn’t you bring it out?” A picture of a sandwich never satisfies anybody. Bobby Rhodes is big on encouraging us to “Do something. Do not just talk about it. Do not make some fancy design. Do something. Contribute something!”

The last commentator is rather interesting too. He said, “The master is old. Maybe somebody else would be good to be his attendant.” The compiler made the annotation, “Such hard work with no merit.” So thank you, Zen Master Soeng Hyang for taking on this no-reward job and may you keep it for a long time. Congratulations!