Huairang asked [Mazu], "Why are you sitting in meditation?" [Mazu] replied, "Because I want to become a Buddha." Thereupon Hauirang took a brick and started to

Huairang asked [Mazu], "Why are you sitting in meditation?" [Mazu] replied, "Because I want to become a Buddha." Thereupon Hauirang took a brick and started to polish it in front of [Mazu]'s hermitage. [Mazu] asked him, "Why are you polishing that brick?" Huairang replied, "Because I want to make a mirror." [Mazu] asked, "How can you make a mirror by polishing a brick?" Huairang said, "If I cannot make a mirror by polishing a brick, how can you become a Buddha by sitting in meditation?" [Mazu] asked, "Then what shall I do?" Huairang asked, "When an ox-carriage stops moving, do you hit the carriage or the ox?" [Mazu] had no reply. Huairang continued, "Are you practicing to sit in meditation, or practicing to sit like a Buddha? As to sitting in meditation, meditation is neither sitting nor lying. As to sitting like a Buddha, the Buddha has no fixed form. In the non-abiding Dharma, one should neither grasp nor reject. If you try to sit like a Buddha, you are just killing the Buddha. If you attach to the form of sitting, you will never realize the principle." Upon hearing this [Mazu] felt as if he had tasted ghee.