Butei, the Emperor of Liang, asked Bodhidharma, “What is the first principle?”
Buddha [Bodhidharma] said, “Who is it in front of you? There is no holy person or common person.”
And the Emperor said, “Who are you in front of me?”
Bodhidharma said, “I don’t know.”
Sumi painting by Michael Hofmann
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-11-11 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.