Zen Kōan's are pretty cool

[lmfao]

1) A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.

Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted! 

2) Kyogen said, "It (Zen) is like a man (monk) hanging by his
teeth in a tree over a precipice. His hands grasp no branch, his
feet rest on no limb, and under the tree another man asks him,
'Why did Bodhidharma come to China from the West (India)?' If
the man in the tree does not answer, he misses the question, and
if he answers, he falls and loses his life. Now what shall he do?"

 

[Salvijus]

Why missing a question is a bad thing in this scenario?

[Leo Gura]

Mu!

[here-now]

Energy

Disciple: “How about if I aim to be Buddha?”

Master: “What an immense waste of energy!”

Disciple: “How about if I am not wasting my energy?”

Master: “In that case, you are Buddha!"

[lmfao]

@here-now A koan I think I'll never get is this:

Nansen saw the monks of the eastern and western halls fighting over a baby cat. He seized the cat and said, "If (any of) you can say (a word of Zen), you can spare the cat. Otherwise I will kill it." No one could answer. So Nansen cut the cat in two . That evening Joshu returned and Nansen told him what had happened. Joshu thereupon took off his sandals and, placing them on his head, walked away. Nansen said, "If only you had been there, you could have saved the cat."

 

[here-now]

@lmfao I don't get it either.

All I know is that laughter bubbles up inside me when I read it. 

 

[here-now]

(Laughter at the absurdity of the situation.... not at the murder of the cat....)

[kieranperez]

19 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Mu!

“Cows aren’t the only animal that say mu”

 

[Leo Gura]

@kieranperez There is a deeper level

[tsuki]

4 hours ago, lmfao said:

Nansen saw the monks of the eastern and western halls fighting over a baby cat. He seized the cat and said, "If (any of) you can say (a word of Zen), you can spare the cat. Otherwise I will kill it." No one could answer. So Nansen cut the cat in two . [...]

@lmfao @here-now

Nansen created an impossible situation. In order to save the cat that two monks fight for, they have to do the right thing, without knowing what to do.
There is no 'word of Zen'. The word of Zen is presence without attachment to the past. Not even attachment to what Zen is (as defined right now).
The monks were fighting for the cat. They could have fought for it in the spirit of Zen, or not.
In order to save the cat, they had to be not attached to it. The word of Zen is not getting caught up in the situation.
By being trustfully non-attached, regardless of whether the cat would have been killed or not, they would have been saved.

4 hours ago, lmfao said:

That evening Joshu returned and Nansen told him what had happened. Joshu thereupon took off his sandals and, placing them on his head, walked away. Nansen said, "If only you had been there, you could have saved the cat."

Nansen tells the situation to Joshu, and Joshu plays a trick on him.
Joshu asks: are you attached to that situation?
Nansen replies: yes.

Edited September 6, 2018 by tsuki