Inside and Outside

I recently finished reading “The Sayings of Joshu.” And yes, it does have some of the funniest moments I have seen in the zen texts.

I noticed Joshu talking about inside and outside. I made a post about inside and outside a while ago.

Here is Joshu’s take on it.

No. 64

A Monk asked, “I am told that the master said, ‘The Way has nothing to do with the practice. Where there is no defilement, nothing is lacking.’ This ‘no defilement’ - what does it mean?”

Joshu said, “Examine the inside and the outside.”

The monk said, “Do you yourself examine them?”

Joshu said, “I do.”

The monk said, “What is wrong with you that you must examine them?”

Joshu said, “What about you?”

No. 341

Someone asked, “Master, what is your style?”

Joshu said, “There is not a single thing inside. There is nothing I wish for outside.”

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Here we have another old dude saying it’s not practice, and using inside and outside to spit it out. When faced with the question “what’s wrong with you that you examine?” Joshu gets right to the core of the matter at hand.

At another time a person asked about his style, and instead of answering with a “teaching” or “doctrine” or “practice,” he spits it out.

So what about you? SPIT IT OUT!

Submitted May 25, 2019 at 10:17PM by arcowhip http://bit.ly/2QrNCc6