For almost a year he pondered what the sound of one hand might be.Īt last little Toyo entered true meditation and transcended all sounds. The sound of one hand was not the locusts.įor more than ten times Toyo visited Mokurai with different sounds. In vain Toyo meditated to hear the sound of one hand.
"That is the sound of dripping water, but not the sound of one hand. When he next appeared before his teacher, Toyo imitated dripping water. "What can the sound of one hand be?" He happened to hear some water dripping. Thinking that such music might interrupt, Toyo moved his abode to a quiet place. The next evening, when his teacher asked him to illustrate the sound of one hand, Toyo began to play the music of the geishas. From his window he could hear the music of the geishas. Toyo bowed and went to his room to consider this problem. "You can hear the sound of two hands when they clap together," said Mokurai. He struck the gong to announce his presence, bowed respectfully three times outside the door, and went to sit before the master in respectful silence. In the evening little Toyo went at the proper time to the threshold of Mokurai's sanzen room. "You are too young."īut the child insisted, so the teacher finally consented. The cartoon recalls the well-known Zen koan of Hakuin Ekaku (16851768) about the seemingly impossible sound of one hand clapping, which serves in popular. Toyo saw the older disciples visit the master's room each morning and evening to receive instruction in sanzen or personal guidance in which they were given koans to stop mind-wandering. He had a little protege named Toyo who was only twelve years old. The master of Kennin temple was Mokurai, Silent Thunder.
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