Jōshū preached to the people. He said: "I will teach you how to say it. When you are asked, just say, 'I have studied with Jōshū.' If you are asked, 'What does he teach?,' just say, 'When cold-cold; when hot-hot.' If, on top of that, one says to you, 'That is not what I am asking,' just say, 'What is it that you are asking?' If you are again asked, 'What does he teach?,' reply at once, 'When I came here, my master did not give me a message for you. If you want to know about Jōshū, you should go to him yourself and ask.'"
IK Comment: I haven't finished this book, 'Radical Zen: The Sayings of Jōshū' yet but seeing that Hoffman(translator) quotes this very saying in the very first few pages, I wonder if it really can't be seen as what Jōshū felt would be the most appropriate teaching to impart. After all, he says it himself, 'If they ask what I teach...[tell them] when cold-hot, when hot-hot.' So what could be the message here and why didn't he mention something like One Mind, Buddha, no-Mind, or no-Buddha. He simply brings up two different conditions and points to their self-evidence. What could an adept such as Master Jōshū be hinting at by pointing to something so obvious? I'll have to pay closer attention to know for sure.
Submitted July 16, 2020 at 06:34AM by IlluminatedKnight https://ift.tt/3jaRJab
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