ahhh yes thank you very much that does help that story was my only reference to understand MU but how you explained helped a great deal..ty Theresa
Bill Smart <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: --- In [email protected], Theresa Lovegrove <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I took it as Mu meant it's not yes it's not no, it has no answer..yes? > > Theresa > No. Koans do definitely have answers/responses. The koan Mu and every koan has an infinite number of possible answers/responses. Whether the answer is 'correct' or not can only be discrened by a 'keen-eyed' zen master. My answer/response will probably not be the same as your answer/response; and if asked the same koan a day, a month or a year later, even your answer will probably not be the same as your original one. Linguistically the Japanese word 'mu' just means 'no'. Joshu just said 'no'. In the koan Joshu was asked by one of his students if a dog has buddha nature. Now EVERYONE including the student knew that Buddha has already stated in the sutras that all beings have buddha nature, so the expected answer would be 'yes'. It would be like a Catholic monk asking his Father Superior if Jesus had died for our sins and the Father answering 'no'. The question is actually more like asking if water is wet. Water makes wet. Wet reveals the presence of water. The two are not separate things that can exisit independently. If you have water you have wet. If you have wet you have water. If you know water you know wet, and vice/versa. So by asking the question Joshu's student revealed the fact that he did not know what buddha nature is. If Joshu had answered 'yes', he would just been affirming what Buddha and all Buddist literature has already stated, BUT he would not have been helping his student realize buddha nature. By answering 'no' he set up an unsolvable logical problem for his student giving him a big brick wall (MU) to bang his logical mind against until it either gave up, locked-up or became bored... and would then STOP. Then and only then could the student could realize buddha nature. The koan has nothing to do with dogs, 'yes', 'no' or even 'mu'. Hope this helps. Gashho...Bill! Current Book Discussion: Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi Roshi SPONSORED LINKS Zen buddhism Zen practice Theravada buddhism Tibetan buddhism Zen alarm clock Zen garden --------------------------------- YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS Visit your group "ZenForum" on the web. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. --------------------------------- --------------------------------- Yahoo! FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in one click. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Click here to rescue a little child from a life of poverty. http://us.click.yahoo.com/rAWabB/gYnLAA/i1hLAA/S27xlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Current Book Discussion: Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi Roshi Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZenForum/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
