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ATOP THE POLE 無門關 四十六
Sitting atop a hundred foot pole you are convinced there are only two directions: pole and down. Old Osho asks: “How will you proceed?” and you stare back at this lunatic. “How will you proceed?” he repeats. You release the pole and step slowly away, looking in all ten directions before you, only then do…
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ESSHŌ’S PATH 正法眼蔵 三十七
If you are seeking the way do not consult a map and most certainly do not follow in the footsteps of the wisest person. Do not ever ask directions for it is only when you are utterly lost and have no idea which way to go, that your every step is a step along the…
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DRAGON HOWLING IN A WITHERED TREE 正法眼蔵 二十八
Cut the hook off the line and throw it into the lake, dump the bait container onto the damp soil along the shore. Now sit silently in the oarless boat in the middle of the lake and drop your line and wait for the dragon to bite. And when it does, yell at it, hear…
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MUGO’S FANCIES 鐵笛倒吹 語十九
If you stand on the shore of a still pond and toss a stone into its middle the ripples will spread slowly until the water laps your toes. If you stand on the shore of a still pond and toss a ring of the finest gold into the middle, the ripples will spread slowly until…
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MORE MUSIC OF THE FLUTE
SANSHO MEETS A STUDENT 鐵笛倒吹 十二 One goes to the gate to welcome the new student and with a broad smile turns his back in silence, offering nothing. Another will not leave the Zendo, sitting in stillness at the sound…
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TWO JOURNEYS THROUGH THE GATE
Tosotsu’s Three Barriers 無門關 四十七 Before you sit Tosotsu’s three mountains how will you traverse them, legless on your zafu? Look within your mind, search diligently, for when you find nothing, all is laid out before you. Confuse life and death for one is the other, the other the one. Search…
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BUDDHA’S BODY
If you see the golden body of the Buddha standing in the road will you stop for him? If you stop and ask him to teach you you will be rejected. If you stop and do not ask him to teach you you will be rejected. If you run him over and leave him…
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A FLUTE PLAYED BACKWARD : THREE CASES (100 – 98) FROM TETTEKI TŌSUI
ISAN’S TEN FOOT SQUARE 鐵笛倒吹 百 Ten thousand words what do they mean – with which will you compose a poem for the wall of your room. Leave the room, does the poem remain? Enter the room is this the same poem? Write them on the wind with a pointed leaf, that is a fine…
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WALKING AMONG SAND AND PEBBLES: SHASEKI-SHU
CUP OF TEA 沙石集 一 When the cup is half full what more can be added? In the garden, the moon can exist in a full cup or one only half full. It is the empty cup that can hold entire universes, infinite in capacity. FINDING A DIAMOND 沙石集 二 There are endless paths…
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LISTENING TO THE FLUTE
YAKUSAN HOLDS IT 鐵笛倒吹 十 Sit just above the peak of the highest mountain and reach up with open fingers, what will you grasp? Walk slowly across the floor of the deepest sea, what do you see below you? If you have three daughters is any one less beautiful than the others? JOSHU COVERS…
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an old writer and his words 