You may have come across Yantou in the koan collections as the student of Deshan and the good dharma brother of Hsueh-feng. Yantou lived in 9th century China at a time of great upheaval. Yantou was attacked and murdered by bandits as he sat in zazen in his monastery. As he was stabbed, Yantou let out a great shout which was said to have reverberated for miles around. In 13th century Japan, Hakuin Zenji was greatly troubled by this story. How could a revered Zen master show such emotion at his death? Wouldn’t it be better to die in silence, with acceptance? One evening, the sound of the chirring of crickets put all Hakuin’s doubts to rest.

In 21st century Australia, what can these stories mean for us? We too live in a world undergoing great upheaval. We also seem to live in a world now where everybody has an opinion, a very loud one. At all the many levels of government and society, there seems to be a prevalence of various hostile groups shouting at each other with vitriol, the very antithesis of Yantou’s great shout.  How do we refrain from joining in the shouting or getting caught up in the turmoil? Or on the other hand, acting as if we are deaf and are only the innocent bystander?

Yantou’s shout cuts through this or that, right or wrong. It points us to action that is wholehearted and open to this moment now, responding to this moment as is needed. When we hear Yantou’s shout, it says to us ‘Wake up! Stop wandering in your head! Here it is!’, and our response is to truly live each moment directly, making alive the way of compassion. This is embodying the Buddha Way, making the teachings our own life, making each step along the Path a step of love.

On a practical note, I was reading about Robert Aitken Roshi’s ‘one-breath zazen’ in his The Practice of Perfection.  Just a breath before you pick up the phone, a breath after you put it down. Just a breath before you turn on the news, a breath after you see the spring blossoms which bloom for all to enjoy regardless of which ‘side’ you are on.

We can take to heart Yantou’s words to Hsueh-feng: ‘If you want to propagate the Great Teaching, it must flow point by point from within your own breast to cover heaven and earth. Only then will it be the action of someone with spiritual power.’

These ‘Encouraging Words’ were written by Jane Andino, roshi for the October/November 2026 Newsletter.