Deshan and the rice cakes
- Told in
- The Blue Cliff Record (commentary to case 4 (T48n2003_p0143b27–c18))The Gateless Gate (case 28, Wumen’s comment (T48n2005_p0296c02–c10))
- People
- Deshan Xuanjian (the scholar)The old woman selling rice cakes (the questioner)
- Place
- the road to Longtan, Hunan
- Used as
- Teaching story
- Standing
- Traditional: told by the tradition, not independently attested
Deshan Xuanjian had spent his life on the Diamond Sutra. He carried a commentary on it. When he heard that teachers in the south were saying that this very mind is Buddha, a teaching outside the scriptures, he set out to refute them.
On the road he stopped where an old woman was selling fried rice cakes. He asked for some to refresh himself. She asked what he was carrying. His commentary on the Diamond Sutra, he said. Then she had a question, she said, and if he could answer it the cakes were free; if not, he could buy them elsewhere. The sutra says the past mind cannot be grasped, the present mind cannot be grasped, the future mind cannot be grasped. Which mind did he mean to refresh?
Deshan could not answer. He asked her whether there was a teacher nearby, and she sent him to the master at Longtan, five li away. Later, after his understanding had changed, he burned the commentary.
Retold for this site from The Blue Cliff Record, commentary to case 4 (T48n2003_p0143b27–c18).
In the text
婆云。我有一問。爾若答得。布施油糍作點心。若答不得。別處買去。德山云。但問。婆云。金剛經云。過去心不可得。現在心不可得。未來心不可得。上座欲點那箇心。山無語。
The woman said: I have a question. If you can answer it, the fried cakes are a gift for your refreshment; if not, buy them elsewhere. Deshan said: ask. The woman said: the Diamond Sutra says the past mind cannot be grasped, the present mind cannot be grasped, the future mind cannot be grasped. Which mind, Venerable, do you mean to refresh? Deshan had nothing to say.
What the tradition does with it
- sutras and direct seeing
- women who outwit monks
- the word for “refreshment” (dianxin) means “to point to the mind”
Sources
- Xuedou Chongxian 雪竇重顯 (verses); Yuanwu Keqin 圜悟克勤 (commentary), Biyan lu 碧巖錄 (Blue Cliff Record) (1125), Taishō T.2003
- Wumen Huikai 無門慧開; compiled by Zongshao 宗紹, Wumen guan 無門關 (Gateless Gate) (1228), Taishō T.2005
Checked against sources 2026-10-31 by pipeline/opus@c0eea00. Report an error.