Joe,

I'm familiar with the Chinese expression Wu Wei (doing nothing or no effort), 
but that's the first I've heard of Kai Wu. I've always found Wu Wei useful in 
my martial arts practice because even the slightest thought/doubt/worry in a 
fight slows us down and stops the natural flow of the body. Quite similar to 
'mushin' although I tend to view mushin as stationary (I know it's not) and Wu 
Wei as movement. My fighting transformed quite radically afterI 'discovered' 
both.

Mike




________________________________
 From: Joe <[email protected]>
To: [email protected] 
Sent: Sunday, 28 October 2012, 16:46
Subject: [Zen] Re: if one looses one's mind can  one still experience zen?
 

  
Mike,

Yes; to "increase the chances that lightning will strike".  I either made this 
line up or stole it, I forget.

But maybe "drop the fixation upon a mind", and eventually one may experience 
and be left with: "Kai Wu".

My Shih-fu translated this Kai Wu as "to have nothing".  It's his word for 
Enlightenment, or Awakening.  Kai Wu... .

The Wu in Chinese is the same as Chao-chou's "Mu" in Case One of the Mumonkan, 
in the context of a dog having the Buddha Nature, or not.  I won't say 
"regarding" whether it does!  Chao-cho really said "Wu", and "Mu" is the 
Japanese translation, or equivalent.  And in Japan, Chao-chou is Joshu, you 
know.

Of course, the dropping is preceded by lots of zazen, and the dropping takes 
place as if under Gravity, not by throwing down, I'd say; just as you're 
saying, by "grace".  It's not an act of will; but, at first, practicing Zazen 
is!  So, I don't know... there's a chain of causality in there.  ;-)

--Joe

> mike brown <uerusuboyo@...> wrote:
>
> Bill!,
> 
> >Drop the mind 
> 
> Is that a command or a suggestion? To be honest, I don't think either are 
> possible. That'd be like satori or demand. I see dropping the mind as a kind 
> of 'grace' rather than something you can 'do'. Who was it here (I think it 
> was Chris) who quoted someone who said something similar? To paraphrase, 'If 
> Enlightenment is an accident, then zazen makes us accident-prone'. 


 

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