A monk asked Joshu, “Has the dog the Buddha nature?”
Joshu replied, “Mu!”
Arges Comment:
If you don’t yet understand where Joshu is coming from, examine that confusion. Why don’t you understand?
“Mu” is the only gate, but what does it mean? It is neither yes or no, is or is not. There’s nowhere for you to sink your teeth into, so you settle on one or the other side.
When he speaks of the west, you go into the East, when he speaks of the East, you go into the west.
Here he has given a turning word. Mu doesn’t settle on this side or that. It doesn’t define if the dog has it or not. It doesn’t avoid the question, but it doesn’t answer it in the usual way either.
Joshu here is showing the Way as clear as the other masters, it is beyond conceptual thinking.
Submitted January 23, 2020 at 11:05PM by ArgesAwoken https://ift.tt/38Akbwd
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