Mumonkan Case #2- Hogen Bays Roshi

Had to Be re uploaded because of an error.

Hogen Explores the second Koan. It is as follows:

Whenever Hyakujo delivered a sermon, a certain old man was always there listening to it together with the monks; when they left the hall, he left also. One day,however he remained behind, and Hyakujo said to him, “Who might you be?”
The old man replied, “Yes; I am not a human being. In the distant past, in the time of kasho Buddha, I was head monk here. On one occasion a certain monk asked me whether an enlightened man could fall again under the chain of cause and effect, and I answered that he could not. Thus I have been reborn a fox. I now beg you to release me from this rebirth by causing a change of mind through your words.”
Then he asked Hyakujo, “Can an enlightened man fall again under the chain of cause and effect or not?”
Hyakujo answered, “No one can set aside the law of cause and effect.”
The old man immediately became enlightened, and making his bows, he said, “I am now released from rebirth as a fox and my body will be found on the other side of the mountain. I wish to make a request to you. Please bury me as a dead monk.”


Edited By: Camille Mullins-Lemieux