The film crew’s jaw had dropped when they heard the gatha by Zhang Ye. They did not understand Buddhism nor had they learned anything about Zen. Just as they had heard the talk about Zen between the abbot and Zhang Ye earlier, they were only listening for the sake of listening. They knew that Zhang Ye was very good at it, but they did not understand its meanings. But this gatha was different. Not only the monks, even those who were just laymen on Buddhist teachings had heard and understood it clearly. At the beginning, they felt that the abbot’s gatha was already very good, but when Zhang Ye’s ‘By origin, there is no Bodhi tree’ was said, everyone was stunned to the heavens. In that moment, they saw the gulf between the abbot’s gatha and Zhang Ye’s gatha!
Everything does not stand up well with comparisons!
When the 2 gathas were compared, if we say that Teacher Zhang Ye was a reverend monk, then the abbot could be thought of as someone who had just entered the monastery or had even not yet become a monk!