Theresa, I'm glad you think that story helped, but it might have
also hurt. In my opinion the less you know about koans ahead of
time the better. The object of koans is not to 'figure them out'
or 'understand' them; so the more you think you understand the
harder it is work properly on the koan. Every thing I said below is
just a story and really has no bearing on the koan itself. When the
koan is presented to you by a teacher he/she will ask you for a
response. You must be very attentive to what he/she asks. I can
guarentee you it will not be: 'What is the definiton of Mu?'. I
know from talking to other zen students some teachers ask 'WHAT is
Joshu's Mu?', but that is not what I was asked and I don't
think 'What...?' is a very good question to test you on the koan
since 'What...?' implies an explanation is expected.
I was asked/instructed: 'SHOW me Joshu's Mu!'.
Having said that I need to ammend the last satement I made in the
previous posting listed below. I should have said:
The koan has nothing to do with dogs, 'yes', 'no' or even THE
DEFINTION OF 'mu'. This particular koan's effectiveness has a lot
to do with the sound 'mu'. 'Mu' is one syllable. It starts with a
semi-hard consonant and ends with a drawn-out long vowel 'ooohhhh'.
It is ideal to use as a mantra sychronized with your breathing
(veralized or visualized).
Gassho...Bill!
--- In [email protected], Theresa Lovegrove
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> 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
>
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