Life of the Ven. Hsu Yun - A Cup Falls to the Floor -- The Root of Doubt is Severed

During the twelfth lunar month, on the third evening of the eighth week of the session, after six hours of sitting in meditation, the attendant made his rounds, filling up the tea cups. The Master's hand was burned by spilled boiling water, and his cup fell to the floor. At the sound of the crash, the root of his doubt was instantly severed. He was joyous beyond words at having fulfilled his lifelong ambition. It was as if he had just awakened from a dream, and he observed how the conditions of the past unravel. If he had not fallen into the river and become gravely ill, if he had not met good advisors who plied him with both adversity and felicity, how would this present experience have been possible?

The Master's verse of explanation says:

A cup fell down and struck the floor,

The sound of the crash distinctly heard;

Emptiness was pulverized

And the mad mind stopped on the spot.

Another verse by the Ven. Hsu Yun says:

The hand let go

    -- the cup was shattered

Family is broken up, people have died

    -- there's no way to talk about such things.

Spring arrives, flowers are fragrant,

    -- everywhere is infused with splendor.

The mountains, rivers, and great earth itself

    are just the Tathagatas.

A Pictorial Biography of the Venerable Master Hsu Yun,
composed by the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua