Died on the twentieth day of the second month, 1387 at the age of sixty-one
Look straight ahead. What's there?
If you see it as it is
You will never err.
When Bassui was about thirty-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 word," 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, he died.
BASSUI TOKUSHO
抜隊 得勝
Died on the twentieth day of the second month, 1387 at the age of sixty-one
Look straight ahead. What's there?If you see it as it isYou will never err.When Bassui was about thirty-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 word," 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, he died.