Also called Zhaozhou’s Cypress tree or the cypress tree seeds in the front courtyard. Zhaozhou TzongNian master use the cypress tree seeds in the front courtyard to reveal the fundamental meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West. In Essential Records of the Linked Lamps, fascicle 6, under the entry on Zhaozhou TzongNian (Continuous of vol. 136, p. 264 part 1), :
A monk asked, “What is the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West?” The master said, “The cypress tree seed in the front courtyard.”
The monk said, “Master, do not use external objects to instruct people.” The master said, “I am not using external
objects to instruct people.”
The monk said, “Then what is the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West?” Zhao Zhou said, “The cypress tree seeds in the front courtyard.”
In this gong-an, Zhao Zhou used “the cypress tree seeds in the front courtyard” to teach people to directly apprehend what is right before their eyes, cutting off the practitioner’s tendency to seek the Buddha Dharma elsewhere. By doing so, he presented the original, fundamental scenery that transcends dualistic distinctions between subject and object, and brought forth the true spirit of Bodhidharma’s essential teaching.
[Sources: Matters of the Patriarchs’ Courtyard, fascicle 3; Recorded Sayings of Chan Master Dahui Pujue, fascicles 5 and 8; The Gateless Gate, case 37; Compendium of the Five Lamps, fascicle 4; Continued Collection of Essential Teachings of the Chan School, fascicle 6]