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Grateful for his attendant’s thirty years of service, Imperial Master Nanyang Huizhong wished to repay him by helping him attain awakening. One day, he called out, “Attendant!” Straight away, the attendant responded, “Imperial Master, what do you need?” “Nothing!” the Imperial Master replied softly.
After doing this several times, the master changed his approach. “Buddha! Buddha!” he cried out. Completely at a loss, the attendant asked, “Imperial Master, whom are you calling?” “I’m calling you!” replied the master. The attendant was baffled. “Imperial Master, I’m an attendant, not a Buddha!” “After this,” sighed the master, “don’t say I let you down. It is you who have let me down!” But the attendant protested, “Imperial Master! No matter what happens, I will never let you down, and you will never let me down!”
“In truth,” replied the master, “you have already let me down.”
The Chan School urges all sentient beings to “shoulder our responsibilities without reservation.” Nevertheless, though there is no distinction between mind, Buddha, and sentient beings, we see ourselves as sentient beings only, and fail to see that we are Buddhas. Sadly, therefore, we find ourselves mired in the cycle of birth and death, unable to return home.