Linseed’s First Day with No Tea: How Joshu Can Help With That

Hey folks!

Gonna keep it sweet and simple, as I filmed ya all a new video [only 18 minutes, case discussion]. So I don’t want to distract none with words that’ll get half the rug rats in here angry anyway, on account a all them YouRube™️ demons maraudin’ around in their brains pretending to be “ideas”.

I’ll provide the cases discussed, in case a yer wanton’ to see the text, but I’m gonna spoiler them at the bottom—so’s those of ya who like surprised won’t be foiled.¹

Anyway, screw the ado:

“Tea Kettles and Tail Chasers.”

Sayings of Joshu #55A nun asked, "Master, will you teach me the truth that has never been spoken?"Joshu rebuked her: "Hey! The kettle is scorched!"The nun added water to the kettle and said, "Master, please answer."Joshu laughed.

Sayings of Joshu #402Joshu asked two newly arrived monks, "Have you been here before?"One monk said, "No, I haven't." Joshu said, "Go and have some tea."Then he asked the other one, "Have you been here before?"The monk said, "I have."Joshu said, "Go and have some tea."The head monk asked, "Master, you told the monk who has never been here before to go have some tea. I will say nothing of this. But why did you tell the monk who has been here before to go have some tea?"Joshu said, "Head monk!"The head monk answered the call.Joshu said, "Go have some tea."

>! When Minister Wang entered Chao Ch'ing, they were making tea. At the time Elder Lang was holding the kettle for Ming Chao. Lang turned the tea kettle over. Seeing this, the Minister asked the Elder, "What's under the tea stove?" Lang said, The spirit who holds up stoves." The Minister said, "If it's the spirit who holds up stoves, why then did you turn over the tea kettle?" Lang said, "Serve as an official for a thousand days, lose it in a single morning." The Minister shook out his sleeves and left. Ming Chao said, "Elder Lang, you've eaten Chao Ch'ing food, but still you go beyond the river to make noise gathering charred wood." Lang said, "What about you, Teacher?" Ming Chao said, The spirit got the advantage." Hsueh Tau said, "At the time I just would have kicked over the tea stove."!<

Hmm. I dunno how that’s gonna look or work, that spoilerin’ like that. Hopefully okay for now.

But the long story short is that I’m back to making OPs, scorched kettle or no.

Better yet—spring is on the way.

So I sure am glad I’ve got r/zen to have some tea with again. Last year was a real hoot.

And if I’ve ever understood my Joshu, this one’ll be even better.

—Linseed

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¹ Caveat emptor, corporatists and new agers—I’ve been working on making my Mercutio jokes real pointy lately.

Submitted March 07, 2022 at 11:22AM by lin_seed https://ift.tt/2ME9kXy