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Main Case Edit

When Xuansha traveled with Xuefeng, Xuefeng pointed at the ground in front of him and said, "This piece of field may be suited for building a seamless stupa."1

Xuansha said, "How high should it be?"2

Xuefeng looked up and down.3

Xuansha said, "It's not that you don't have a good influence on humans and devas. It's just that you have not even dreamed of the Buddha's affirmation of the attainment of Buddhahood on Vulture Peak."4

Xuefeng said, "How would you say it?"5

Xuansha said, "Seven or eight feet."6

Notes Edit

Without a seam or all seams-- either way is OK. He wants to test his teacher. How big is up and down? After all, Xuefeng never really got the last word of Zen. He wants the child to take up the parent's work. This seems pretty specific; what does he have in mind?

The point of this encounter is not whether or not Xuefeng's answer is wrong ot Xuansha's answer is right. Rather, it is about the affirmation of Mahakasyapa by the Buddha. In the affirmation of Mahakasyapa, all sentient beings are affirmed in their suchness. Thus dragons and snakes, sages and fools, you and I, are all affirmed at once.

Xuefeng's looking at the height of the stupa is not what is affirmed by the Buddha. What is affirmed is not merely symbolic but, rather, an expression of the truth of suchness. Xuansha's "seven or eight feet" is an affirmation of and by this very moment.

Capping Verse Edit

The seamless stupa fills all of space-

nothing is hidden.

Cast and boundless, without edges-

the truth is affirmed, genration after genertion.

Appearances Edit