The Gateless Gate: exploring the nature of concepts with Jõshû's Oak Tree.

The Gateless Gate: Jõshû's Oak Tree [37th Case]

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A monk asked Jõshû, "What is the meaning of Bodhidharma's coming to China?"

Jõshû said, "The oak tree in the garden."

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Mumon's Comment

If you understand Jõshû's answer intimately, there is no Shakya before you, no Maitreya to come.

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Mumon's Verse

Words cannot express things;

Speech does not convey the spirit.

Swayed by words, one is lost;

Blocked by phrases, one is bewildered.

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Commentary and questions: First, a monk asks Joshu an interesting question, "What is the meaning of Bodhidharma's coming to China?" Why exactly did he ask this question? To even be able to ask such a thing points in the direction of revealing that the monk 'knows something' about the matter in the first place. Was he testing Joshu, or testing himself?

Then, Joshu answers, "The oak tree in the garden," which can be understood in myriad ways. It could be quite literal and ordinary, as in simply stating the existence of the oak tree in the garden. Knowing Joshu's way with words, it could also be something profound or multifaceted, as in the 'miracle' of it even being possible for there to be a 'garden' or an 'oak tree' to begin with. All in all, Joshu's answer seems to point the monk directly back to his own mind.

Joshu's answer is perhaps best viewed through the lines of Mumon's verse: words cannot express things. With this, the oak tree is revealed to not be the words about it, but the oak tree itself and as it is, specifically without concepts. Then, Mumon teaches: blocked by phrases, one is bewildered, which then points to something else even more revealing: the oak tree is no longer the words mentioned about the oak tree, but now the oak tree isn't even an 'oak tree' any more.

Submitted November 11, 2019 at 08:50PM by WanderingRoninXIII https://ift.tt/2KbwRzJ