Case 96: Zhaozhou’s Turning Phrases

in a furnace. The wood Buddha can't dwell in a fire. The clay Buddha can't dwell in water.)" © David Needham, 2019 — *“Zhaozhou taught the assembly with three turning phrases. (The gold Buddha can’t dwell in a furnace. The wood Buddha can’t dwell in a fire. The clay Buddha can’t dwell in water.)”*
© David Needham, 2019

Title in Sullivan (2021): Zhaozhou’s Turning Phrases
Title in Cleary and Cleary (1992): Chao Chou’s Three Turning Words
Title in Sekida (2005): Jōshū’s Three Turning Words
Named characters (in Pinyin):
- Zhaozhou Congshen (778-897)
Named characters (in Wade-Giles):
- Chao Chou
Named characters (in Japanese):
- Jōshū
Historical commentaries:
- Chan Masters Miaozong, Baochi and Zukui (contained in Zen Echoes, Beata Grant, 2017)
- Ikkyū (poem #157, contained in The Kōan: Texts and Contexts in Zen Buddhism, Heine and Wright eds., page 220, 2000)
- Hakuin Ekaku and Tenkei Denson (contained in Secrets of the Blue Cliff Record, Thomas Clearly, 2002)
Modern commentaries:
- Matthew Juksan Sullivan (contained in The Garden of Flowers and Weeds, 2021)
- Doshin Kusan (dharma talk)
- Michael Kieran (dharma talk)
- Geoffrey Shugen Arnold (audio dharma talk 1 and 2)
- Genjo Marinello (audio dharma talk)
- Yamada Kôun (dharma talk with paywall)
Scholarly commentaries:
- Steven Heine (contained in Chan Rhetoric of Uncertainty in the Blue Cliff Record, page 124, 2016)