zen

[case#46cw39]

The truth at the end of the road ...

"Friends, I tell you this: there is no Buddha, no spiritual path to follow, no training and no realization. What are you so feverishly running after? Putting a head on top of your own head, you blind idiots? Your head is right where it should be. The trouble lies in your not believing in yourselves enough. Because you don't believe in yourselves you are knocked here and there by all the conditions in which you find yourselves. Being enslaved and turned around by objective situations, you have no freedom whatever, you are not masters of yourselves. Stop turning to the outside and don't be attached to my words either. Just cease clinging to the past and hankering after the future. This will be better than ten years' pilgrimage." -- Zen Master Linji

 

[Ron_Tomkins]

What is Buddha?
The river flows in one direction.

 

[nowornever]

What is Buddha?
In the morning, the bird whistles. In the evening, the owl hoots.

Correct!

"The lame donkey brays at midnight.
The trees burble silently."
Right

"I thank the desk
I praise the margarine
I refuse the placemat
Vengeance is mine, says the scrabble board"
Wonderful!

"The river flows in one direction."
Great!

 

[Ron_Tomkins]

What is Buddha?
When the rain falls, the crickets chirp, the mist descends and you can't find a cab.

 

[Piscivore]

Correct!

"The lame donkey brays at midnight.
The trees burble silently."
Right

"I thank the desk
I praise the margarine
I refuse the placemat
Vengeance is mine, says the scrabble board"
Wonderful!

"The river flows in one direction."
Great!

What specifically is "correct", "right", "wonderful", and "great" about these phrases? What do you understand from them? What do you think their authors understand because of them?

 

[nowornever]

I passed koan WHAT IS BUDDHA?
Zen Masters confirmed it.

 

[dafydd]

I passed koan WHAT IS BUDDHA?
Zen Masters confirmed it.

Please stop it. Please somebody stop his threads. Please.

 

[Piscivore]

I passed koan WHAT IS BUDDHA?
Zen Masters confirmed it.

They lied. A koan is not a test, not a puzzle, not a question on a game show.

 

[Ron_Tomkins]

What is true Buddha?
When you open your mouth to speak, you no longer think.

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

For ****'s sake, I'm the Buddha!

 

[dafydd]

I am Spartabuddhacus!

 

[crimresearch]

I passed koan WHAT IS BUDDHA?
Zen Masters confirmed it.

Too bad you haven't passed the one about WHAT IS A FAKE ZEN MASTER?

 

[dafydd]

Too bad you haven't passed the one about WHAT IS A FAKE ZEN MASTER?

That is one koan with an answer. All of them.

 

[Verde]

They lied. A koan is not a test, not a puzzle, not a question on a game show.

I'll admit to not having heard the word before.

After it was mentioned here I did a bit of searching.

It turns out to be a complete load of nonsense, but the E in JREF comes to roost again.

V.

 

[nowornever]

There are 2 kinds of koans:
a)open koans which have many korrect answers e.g.What are you interested in?
b) one-answer, concrete koans e.g. 2+2?

 

[Piscivore]

There are 2 kinds of koans:
a)open koans which have many korrect answers e.g.What are you interested in?
b) one-answer, concrete koans e.g. 2+2?

Neither of those are koans, and the answer to neither is "the wall is yellow". You've been lied to and misled.

 

[crimresearch]

There are 2 kinds of koans:
a)open koans which have many korrect answers e.g.What are you interested in?
b) one-answer, concrete koans e.g. 2+2?

And which type of koan kills the monkey mind?

 

[dafydd]

And which type of koan kills the monkey mind?

Peanut allergy koans.

 

[Ron_Tomkins]

What is true Buddha?
Flowers attract bees. Honey attract bears.

 

[tsig]

And which type of koan kills the monkey mind?

A small lead one traveling at thousands of feet per second.