Nansens Cat, Joshu’s Flip Flop

Going out on a whim here.

Sayings of master Joshu 6 Greens Trans

At Nan-ch’uan’s (Nansen’s) temple one day, the monks of both the east and west halls were arguing about a cat. Nan-ch’uan came into the room, held up the cat, and said, “If you can say something, I won’t kill it. If you can’t say anything, I'll kill it.” No one in the assembly could understand Nan-ch’uan’s mind, so he killed the cat. The next evening, the master returned from somewhere and, while they were exchanging greetings, Nan-ch’uan told him what happened and said, “What would you have done to save the cat?” The master took off one of his sandals, put it on his head, and left. Nan-ch’uan said, “If you had been there, the cat would have been saved.”

The arguing about a cat cracks me up 😂 but here’s my whim.

Nansen is asking the monks to say something but they don’t know what to say…chop suey 🐱

Could this have also been

if you can say something, I’ll kill it, if you can’t say anything, I won’t kill it

But instead he went , If you can, I won’t , If you can’t, I will

Either way, it ended the argument like a slap to the face.. or a flip flop

Joshus response would of saved the cat and it’s because of his incredible way of confusing you so much that you actually get it, understand everything without him even answering you, it could be said.. this is the ’Direct transmission of wisdom without words’ ‘Does not rest on words or letters but is a special transmission outside of the scriptures.’ I wanted to say ‘is this the pure transmission of mind’ but having only just read the translators introduction I feel I’d be undermining Huang-po and insulting him to use those words without reading his book first. But please add an example from Huang-po If you have any.

Here’s some examples:

1. The Flower Sermon - ’One day the Buddha silently held up a flower before the assembled throng of his disciples.’

2. Mazu silent gestures - ’non-responsive answers to questions, and was known to grab and twist the nose of a disciple.’

3. Gutei’s finger - ’Gutei raised his finger whenever he was asked a question about Zen.’

4. Qianfeng’s One Road - ’Qianfeng picked up his staff and drew a line and said, “Right here.”

5. Nansen’s cat - ’Nan-ch’uan came into the room, held up the cat’

6. Joshus flip flop - ’The master took off one of his sandals, put it on his head, and left.’

All these things are so inconspicuous that they not only shut off everything but also answer everything in the simplest way. Just imagine somebody asking some delusional questions or having an argument and somebody walks in with a sandal on his head, like joshu. If this doesn’t stop the stream of questions or arguments what will?

What would you have done to save the cat?

Submitted March 04, 2022 at 05:55PM by S1L3NTASSAS1N https://ift.tt/iBeJntC