Steady. Present. Today
Sonoma County, March 2006
A Zen Story
Master Ummon (Yunmen in Chinese; d. 949) once said to the assembly:
“I don’t ask you about before the fifteenth day; try to say something about after the fifteenth day.”
Then Ummon himself answered for everyone: “Every day is a good day.”
(Case 6, Blue Cliff Record)
Context of the Koan
The first part of this koan is not as enigmatic as it may seem.
In the old Chinese calendar, the month was divided into two parts of fifteen days each, and the monks met on the first and fifteenth days of the month to perform the Uposatha Ceremony, a ceremony of avowal of karma and renewal.
Ummon was probably speaking on the fifteenth day. His meaning may have been:
Say something about the past, or about the future. Compare this time to that time.
What is the difference between before you have avowed your karma and after?
The Teaching
And he answered for everyone: “Every day is a good day.”
