There was once a Chan Master who asked his disciple: “A live goose was raised in a bottle ever since it was a gosling. Without breaking the bottle, how can you get the goose out of the bottle?” Even though the master kept questioning the disciple again and again, he could not come up with an answer. Finally, the master left. But after a few steps on his way he turned his head and called out to his disciple “You there!” The disciple immediately responded “Yes!” At that very moment, the disciple was no longer in that bottle. He had already come out. With only one shout he got out. Right? But I shout and you don`t even turn your head. Even in front of a red light, you keep going without turning around. Isn`t that so?

What is this body of ours? It is composed of the four elements. There is nothing in there to hold on to. The important point for us to remember in our Chan practice is Self-mastery.

When you sit down to meditate, you become drowsy; when you concentrate on your breath, you lose it right away; when you listen to silence, you feel that your ears are ready to explode. How about it? In your listening to silence, have you realized how the goose got out of the bottle?

From the beginning there is nothing at all. It is only a habit of ours to think that there is such a thing as a snail shell, and to fuss about it. Trying to protect it as much as we can we start creating Karma because of it, both good Karma and also bad Karma. Through our Chan practice - if we do it well - we slowly, slowly give up our habit of looking at things as solid. Only then can we come out of that bottle.

Dharma Master Hsin Tao
(Translated by Maria Reis Habito)

瓶中鵝

僧眾春安居 心道法師說禪宗故事

我們禪修打坐一開始碰到的狀況就是腳痛、肩膀痛、背痛，在這個身體上花掉很多時間和精神，因為我們就是「有殼蝸牛?，有身體這個蝸牛殼，我們老是放不下這個蝸牛殼，雖然是很累贅，還是把這個蝸牛殼拖起來到處跑，所以我們修行就是要能夠突破這個蝸牛殼的負擔。

以前有個禪宗的和尚問他的徒弟：有個瓶子裡面養了一隻鵝，那個鵝從小就在瓶子裡面，怎麼樣才能把鵝從瓶子裡面救出來又不打破瓶子？(這個瓶子就是我們的身體，我們要怎麼從瓶子裡出離？)那個和尚那個問了半天，徒弟答不出來，到最後和尚就走了，走了幾步路又回頭喊徒弟的名字，「某某人?，他就答「有！」這時他就已經不在瓶子裡面了，已經出來了，因為一叫就出來了，是吧？可我們是叫也叫不回，即使遇到紅燈也是一直走，叫也叫不回，是吧？

我們這個身體是一個什麼呢？四大假合而成，沒有可以執著的，最重要的是我們作主的那個，那才是我們修行的重要關鍵。

上了座，打瞌睡；觀呼吸，連氣都喘不過來；聽寂靜，耳朵聽到快爆了，是吧？怎麼樣？有沒有聽出那個鵝怎麼出來的？本來就無一物，只是我們的慣性是這樣，我們總覺得有一個蝸牛的殼，對這個蝸牛的殼非常在意，保護得好好的，所以我們都為了它造業，造各種好好壞壞的業。所以禪修，好好修行，慢慢就會把我們這個習慣、身見的習慣慢慢驅逐，才有辦法出離這個蝸牛殼。

─── 心道法師