Shitou's Slippery Path

Here's a story I was going to tell last Sunday, but never got around to:

Deng Yinfeng was leaving Mazu, his teacher. Mazu asked, “Where are you going?”

Deng Yinfeng said, “I’m going to Shitou.”

Mazu said, “Shitou’s path is slippery.”

Deng Yinfeng said, “Oh, don't worry. I’m bringing a tent pole for traveling theaters with me. I will improvise according to the situation.” He immediately departed.

As soon as he reached Shitou, Yinfeng immediately circumambulated the meditation hall one time and then rudely shook the monk’s staff to make a sound, stood before Shitou, and asked, “What is the essential meaning?”

Shitou said, “Blue sky, blue sky.”

Deng Yinfeng was speechless. Unlike Western culture, where blue skies are a symbol for optimism, in the East, blue sky is an expression of sorrow, usually accompanied by sighing and weeping.

He returned to Mazu and told the story to him.

Mazu said, “You should go again and when he says ‘Blue sky,’ you should immediately make a sound of crying.”

Deng Yinfeng went to Shitou again and asked the same question. “What is the essential meaning?”

Shitou immediately made a sound of crying.

Deng Yinfeng was again speechless and returned back to Mazu.

Mazu said, “I told you that Shitou’s path was slippery.”