Ed Gabrielsen

“After his enlightnement under Cuiwei, he roamed throughout China, eventually returning to his old home and settling on Mt. Touzi. There he built a thatched hut and remained obscure for more than thirty years. Touzi’s eminence as a Zen adept could not be concealed, and the great Zhaozhaou came looking for him.¹

There is something extraordinary about this story. Given the current context of spiritual teaching, where Dharma Centers, Yoga Schools, Churches, so many types of spiritual groups and organizations, dedicate so much energy toward maintaining an infrastructure, to read that this highly regarded Zen Master built a thatched hut and lived in obscurity for more than thirty years seems quite incredible.

Tosu is his Japanese name. But Ferguson’s great work lists him according to his Chinese name, Touzi Datong. I wonder what it was like for him, returning home after wandering about as a young man. He must have had many adventures in his travels. He was looking for something. But when he found it, he went back home. He built a thatched hut and lived there for more than thirty years.

He built a thatched hut means that he gave up all ambition. He found contentment. It was enough for him to live simply. I imagine him quietly happy and at ease. Maybe he cut firewood and hauled water from a spring somewhere on the mountainside. Ferguson calls him an eminent Zen adept. But Tosu was not looking for fame or reputation. He discovered what he was looking for and then let everything else go, seeing through all other delusions. As Joshu said, he had undergone “the great death and thus attained life.”

1. Andy Ferguson, Zen’s Chinese Heritage (Somerville, Massachusetts: Wisdom Publications, 2011) ↩︎