From: mike2050us
Master Joshu's Dog
by Gudo Wafu Nishijima (translated by Brad Warner)
http://homepage.mac.com/doubtboy/joshusdog.html
I was asked to contribute something to a collection of articles
about the famous Zen koan "Mu" or "No." One of the fundamental
tenets of Buddhism is that everything has the Buddha Nature. But in
this story a famous Zen master seems to deny this idea. In order to
begin writing my own commentary about this story, I decided to
translate my own teacher's comments about it. The koan "Mu" is
famous as the traditional beginner's koan in the Rinzai sect of Zen
Buddhism. The Soto sect also teaches about the koan "Mu," but in an
altogether different way. In this short piece Nishijima explains the
fundamental difference in approach. This is the first part of a very
short book Nishijima put together last year (2004) commenting upon
twelve of the koans in the Rinzai koan collection Mumonkan or "The
Gateless Gate." Take it away Nishijima Sensei...
At one time a monk asked Master Joshu, "Does a dog have Buddha
Nature or not?" Master Joshu answered, "No."
In the chapter of Shobogenzo titled Bussho or "Buddha Nature" Master
Dogen talks about the meaning of this word "no" as it relates to a
conversation between the fifth and sixth patriarchs. He
says, "This `no' is not the `no' of `have' or `have not.' It is the
no of no no."
The no of no no is a way of expression that we do not often hear.
The no of no no means that even no is denied.
In other words, this is not the kind of no which we conceive in our
brains as the conclusion to the question of whether something exists
or not. The meaning of no as it is used here does not require any
kind of thinking at all.
In regards to this koan there is no shortage of explanations that
this "no" represents the no of no in other words the absolute no, or
that it represents the absolute void, or that it's something that
cannot possibly be understood, or other similar nonsense which even
those who spout it don't seem to understand.
But by slandering the Buddha's truth with such nonsense, people who
put out these kinds of explanations are really just floundering in
the darkness, not knowing what is what and tasting the miseries of
Hell.
In the chapter of Shobogenzo titled "Sutra of Mountains and Water"
Master Dogen says that any koan has a superb theoretical meaning.
The purpose of the koan stories is to make difficult points of
Buddhist philosophy clear by using a concrete example. The tendency
among many Chinese monks to view the koans as some kind of riddle
whose original meaning was impenetrable was something Master Dogen
scoffed at.
A dog which exists before your eyes is most certainly a dog. There
is nothing extra added to that dog. And there is nothing lacking in
the dog either, nothing apart from itself that it needs in order to
be what it is - a dog. A dog is a dog. Joshu understood that to
theorize about whether a dog has Buddha nature or not is just adding
something extra. When dealing with any koan it is necessary to read
it in this way on the basis of Buddhist philosophy.
I am an old monk of over 70 years who has spent the past fifty or
more years studying Master Dogen's Shobogenzo. Therefore I am an
amateur when it comes to the koans included in Mumonkan and I have
some misgivings. But on the basis of the Buddhist philosophy which I
have absorbed through long years of studying Shobogenzo, there is no
room for doubt about the meaning of this koan. With such meaning in
mind, I would like to proceed with the reading of some of the other
koans in the collection.
BONUS SELECTION:
Here are Master Dogen's comments on this koan as presented in the
Bussho chapter of Sobogenzo referred to in the text above. The
following translation is by Gudo Nishijima and Chodo Cross. This
part can be found on page 29 of volume two.
A monk asks Great Master Shinsai of Joshu, "Does even a dog have
the Buddha-nature or not?"
We should clarify the meaning of this question. "A dog" is a dog.
The question does not ask whether the Buddha-nature can or cannot
exist in the dog; it asks whether even an iron man learns the
truth. To happen upon such a poison hand may be a matter for deep
regret, and at the same time the scene recalls the meeting, after
thirty years, with half a sacred person.
Joshu says, "It is without." When we hear this expression, there
are concrete paths by which to learn it: the "being without" with
which the Buddha-nature describes itself may be expressed like this;
the "not having" which describes the dog itself may be expressed
like this; and "there is nothing," as exclaimed by an onlooker, may
be expressed like this. There may come a day when this "being
without" becomes merely the grinding away of a stone.
The monk says, "All living beings totally have the Buddha-nature.
Why is the dog without?" The intention here is as follows: "If all
living beings did not exist, then the Buddha-nature would not exist
and the dog would not exist. How about this point? Why should the
dog's Buddha-nature depend on `non-existence.'?"
Joshu says, "Because it has karmic consciousness." The intention of
this expression is that even though the reason it exists is karmic
consciousness and to have karmic consciousness is the reason it
exists, the dog is without anything, and the Buddha-nature is
without anything. Karmic consciousness never understands
intellectually what the dog is, so how could the dog meet the Buddha-
nature? Whether we cast away duality or take up both sides, the
state is just the constant working of karmic consciousness.
A monk asks Joshu, "Does the Buddha-nature exist even in a dog or
not?"
This question may be the fact that this monk is able to stand up to
Joshu. Thus, assertions and questions about the Buddha-nature are
the everyday tea and meals of Buddhist patriarchs. Joshu says, "It
exists." The situation of this "It exists" is beyond
the "existence" of scholastic commentary teachers and the like, and
beyond the dogmatic "existence" of the Existence School. We should
move ahead and learn the Buddha's Existence. The Buddha's Existence
is Joshu's "It exists." Joshu's "it exists" is "the dog exists,"
and "the dog exists" is "the Buddha-nature exists."
The monk says, "It exists already-then why does it forcibly enter
this concrete bag of skin?" This monk's expression of the truth
poses the question of whether it is present existence, whether it is
past existence, or whether it is Existence already; and although
Existence already resembles the other "existences," Existence
already clearly stands alone. Does Existence already need to force
its way in? Or does Existence already not need to force its way in?
The action of forcibly entering this concrete bag of skin does not
accommodate idle heedless consideration.
Joshu says, "Because it knowingly commits a deliberate violation!"
As a secular saying these words have long since spread through the
streets, but now they are Joshu's expression of the truth. What they
discuss is deliberate violation. Those who do not doubt this
expression of the truth may be few. The present word "enter" is
difficult to understand; at the same time, the word "enter" is
itself unnecessary. Moreover, If we want to know the immortal
person in the hut, How could we depart from this concrete skin-bag
here and now? Even if the immortal person is anyone, at what moment
is it [necessary to say] "Do not depart from your skin-bag!"? A
deliberate violation is not always entry into a skin bag, and to
have forcibly entered a concrete skin bag is not always to knowingly
commit a deliberate violation. Because of knowing, there can be
deliberate violation. Remember, this deliberate violation may
contain the action of getting free of the body-this is expressed
as "forcibly entering." The action of getting free of the body, at
just the moment of containment, contains self and contains other
people. At the same time, never complain that it is impossible to
avoid being a person before a donkey and behind a horse. Still
more, the founding Patriarch Ungo says, "Even to have learned
matters on the periphery of the Buddha-Dharma is to have adopted a
mistaken approach already." That being so, although we have been
making the mistake for a long time-which has deepened into days and
deepened into months-of half-learning matters on the periphery of
the Buddha-Dharma, this may be the state of the dog that has
forcibly entered a concrete skin bag. Though it knowingly commits a
deliberate violation, it has the Buddha-nature.
May All Beings Be Free From Suffering
DONATIONS toward the building of a Dharma Hall at Daihoji are welcome. Please
send your dana to: Rev. Sodaiho Hilbert, Daihoji Zen Temple, 5 Arrow Road,
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