The Great Spirit of Zen

From the Ninden Ganmoku:

The great spirit of Zen, a fledgling almost falling out of its nest in its vigorous activities, dances about like a tiger, leaps like a dragon, flies like a star, roars like thunder, opens and closes the Gate of Heaven, turns the Earth on its axis, displays its high spirits to the extent of pushing up Heaven, and goes beyond the dualities of rolling and unfolding, catching and freeing, and killing and reviving in the exceptional way.

Both Man and Ox Completely Forgotten:

There are no clouds nor moon.

The katsura and all other trees are withered.

Everything is driven away

From the empty sky.

Originally, there is no duality

Between Dharma and Mind.

What should be meant

By dreams and realities?

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Notes:

What is a Katsura (桂)?

桂 etymology:

From Old Japanese. Originally a compound of 香 (ka, “fragrance, good smell”) +‎ 出 (zu, “to come out, to put something out”) + ら (ra, nominalizing suffix): "that which puts out a good smell", from the way the wood smells good.

Information on the Katsura:

Have you ever noticed the shadow on the moon? Ancient Chinese and Japanese folklore says that the shadow on the moon was created when a man being punished by the gods was sentenced to cut down a giant Katsura tree on the moon. The shadow is said to belong to the magic Katsura tree which can’t be cut down. As for the man, he is trapped on the moon forever.

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If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon. If you believe there's nothing up his sleeve, then nothing is cool.

Is Nothing cool again?

Submitted December 21, 2017 at 10:14PM by Dillon123 http://ift.tt/2CRnwHi