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NO MIND, NO BUDDHA 無門關 三十三
Baso knows well only the ox truly understands the yoke but if you offer it the ox will not accept. Why would you seek to become the ox? It would be better to burn the yoke. A reflection on Case 33 of The Mumonkan (The Gateless Gate)
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MU MONKAN
Walking on the road today, I didn’t see the Buddha and thus had no need to kill him. I did find what I thought to be a dog’s Buddha nature, but it proved to be nothing- ness, so I walked on through the gate that led exactly nowhere. This evening it rained and I picked…
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BUDDHIST RELATIVITY
Now then, he says, and at once he is again victim of the confusion that he spreads in his wake. She takes him to task again, but he protests that what was now is clearly then, now, and this now, too, is now then, for each now is gone in the time it takes to…
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GENSHA’S IRON BOAT 鐵笛倒吹 八十語
Do not suggest you can only be enlightened on a cold day in hell unless you are prepared to carry the air conditioner across the River Styx. Even Cerberus has Buddha nature although none of the heads will say so.
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ONE FLAVOR ZEN
How far must you wander to taste the pure essence, hear the pure note, see deeply into beauty, smell the first flower of spring, touch another heart? Will you grow tired from standing still in total silence contemplating this? A reflection on Shobogenzo Case 65 (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)
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A BUDDHA SPEAKS
A three year old can easily understand that a full cup can hold nothing more but an empty cup has an infinite capacity.
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SOZAN’S FOUR DON’TS 鐵笛倒吹 九十二
You may seek to follow the path of the dove – a fool knows many roads. You may wrap yourself in fine linen – an infant wears only his skin, and knows this moment is already gone. Think long before you speak of how to walk along the path, of where it leads. The baby…
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DOGO’S GREATEST DEPTH 鐵笛倒吹 六十六
If you walk into the room and many are meditating, how will you know which is the teacher, which the students? If one sits on a higher platform will you assume him teacher and ask the depth of his Zen? If he comes down to you and says he has no depth to offer do…
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A MEDITATION
The cat curls on the mat and you assume she is not practicing zazen, that is just something cats are prone to do. Hakuin Ekaku only ascribed such nature to dogs, but perhaps true Buddha nature is a secret held close by our felines.
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AN OX GOES THROUGH A LATTICE WINDOW
If you see an animal sitting neck-deep in the mud do you wonder how lucky it is that, having fallen in, its head has not been swallowed? Or do you consider that it stuck its head out of the mud to gaze into the sky? When you are immersed in dharma do you hold back your…
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an old writer and his words 