Barry Magid — Silence or Unrestrained Tears

In the Platform Sutra,

we read that when the Sixth Patriarch announced to his disciples

that he was about to die,

all of them broke into tears except Shen-hui.

Whereupon Hui-neng declared that it was only he

who truly understood his teaching.

If we truly understand the emptiness of the self,

there is no death

and no one who dies.

And yet, as Dogen says in Genjokoan,

still flowers fall

and we are not unmoved by their falling.

We can express our understanding

either with silence

or with unrestrained tears.

Barry Magid

Nothing Is Hidden: The Psychology of Zen Koans