There is a kōan in the Mumonkan, Case 12, known as Zuigan Calls His Master.
Every day, Master Zuigan would call out to himself, “Master!” and answer, “Yes, sir!” Then he would say, “Be wide awake!” and answer, “Yes, sir!” Finally, he would warn himself, “Don’t be deceived by others, any day or any time!” and once again reply, “Yes, sir!”
It is a strange little exchange. Zuigan calls himself and answers himself. Master and student appear to be the same person. So who is talking to whom?
That question is what interests me most.
We all talk to ourselves. There is an almost continuous internal conversation going on: commenting, judging, remembering, planning, imagining, worrying. Sometimes I can become completely absorbed in it without even noticing.
Zuigan’s “Be wide awake!” has become a useful reminder for me. Not a command to achieve some special state, but simply a call to notice what is happening.
Am I here, or am I lost in the story in my head? Am I actually seeing what is in front of me, or am I seeing my thoughts about it? Am I listening, or already preparing my answer?
“Master!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Be wide awake!”
“Yes, sir!”
There is something wonderfully direct about it. No complicated philosophy is required. Zuigan calls, Zuigan answers, and the day continues.
The final line adds another dimension: “Don’t be deceived by others, any day or any time!”
I don’t hear this simply as a warning about other people. Deception can come from anywhere, including my own assumptions, opinions and certainties. I can become convinced by the stories I tell myself just as easily as by something someone else tells me.
And perhaps that is why the calling has to continue.
Not once. Not because something has finally been understood. Again and again, in the middle of ordinary life.
When I am caught in speculation: “Master!”
When I am lost in judgement: “Master!”
When I have disappeared into some elaborate story of my own making: “Master!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Be wide awake!”
And then?
Who is calling whom?
