Who will there be?
Pick it up. Let it fall.
Who is mindful of the Buddha?
Ha! Ha! Ha!
Put it down. Can’t let it go?
Who’s the Buddha mindful of?
Ho! Ho! Ho!
It is not you. It is not me.
The two of us are two too many.
It is you, and it is me.
But when Sumeru topples,
Who will there be?

Verse for starting the Chan session
Gold Mountain Chan Monastery, San Francisco
March 11th, 1972

“Mind from the West Mind from the West
Teach me a way to escape from this cage.”
“To escape from the cage; To escape from the cage;
Put out both legs, close both eyes.
This is the way, to escape from the cage!”