![]() ![]() But Joshu shocks everyone with his answer mu or no. A dog is a being, and all beings have Buddha nature. So for this monk to ask, “Does a dog have Buddha nature?” the answer should be quite obvious. And in Mahayana Buddhism, we learn about this concept of Buddha nature, which is the fundamental nature of all beings, not just human beings. So this Zen master, and presumably the monk, were from China where Mahayana Buddhism is the predominant school of Buddhism. ![]() So let me give you a little background to set up the question and explain why this is a riddle in the first place. The monk asked Joshu, “Has that dog a Buddha nature or not?” The monk had barely completed his question when Joshu shouted, “Mu!” Mu is often translated as meaning no. One day, a troubled monk approached him and intending to ask the master for guidance, a dog walked by. Now, this is about Joshu, a famous Chinese Zen master, who lived in Joshu, the province from which he took his name. So let’s jump into another famous riddle, a zoan. That’s kind of the catch-22 in all of this. So what we’re trying to do is change our relationship with the way we see things, even though the way we see things may never change. Then we’re limited by seeing with how we see, and how we see is always going to be tainted with the conceptual fog of beliefs, and ideas, and opinions, and all of that. So our practice in Buddhism is to remove as much as possible the lenses that distort our ability to see while at the same time understanding that we can’t completely remove them all because our nature is to have lenses. It’s, well, tinted specifically, right? And I see something because of the way that my eyes look through those lenses. And if you have colored lenses over your eyes, the way that you see and perceive reality is tainted. That’s the conceptual fogĪnother analogy that I use is talking about colored lenses. What is it that limits us from seeing things as they are? Our concepts and our ideas. So when we’re talking about Buddhism, we’re often talking about this conceptual fog, this way of perceiving that is limited. You get a glimpse of how things really are. But you break through and suddenly you see something. This is where the expression comes from about fogginess, whether that be fogginess in what you see or what you’re thinking. If you’ve ever been in fog, you know that your view of things is severely limited. What is that? Well, we all know what fog is. So with that out of the way, here are some of my thoughts on the idea of finding one’s true self. Interrupt your train of thought and say, “Okay, I already got it wrong,” because that’s how these riddles are supposed to work. In fact, with koans, the moment you start to explain it and think to yourself, “Well, I think the teacher is saying,” stop. You may come to other conclusions, and that’s perfectly okay. Opinions and ideas that I’m sharing, but they make sense to me. I want to continue talking about more koans, but these are my opinions. So that’s all I’m going to say about that one. For me, it’s an invitation to act skillfully. And to me, this story reminds me of a couple of things. But when we talk about koans, there isn’t an answer, right? It’s just a story. For me, this is about cleverness, about being skillful in that moment, you could say skillful action, and of course the obvious, the reminder that all things end. This to me reminds me of when you do something wrong and you’re trying to figure out a clever way to get out of it, and that’s what I see in this koan. It makes me laugh as I try to picture this. “Everything has to die and has just so long to live.” Ikkyu, producing the shattered cup, added, “It was time for your cup to die.” When the master appeared, Ikkyu asked, “Why do people have to die?” “This is natural,” explain the teacher. Hearing the footsteps of his teacher, he held the pieces of the cup behind him. Ikkyu happened to break this cup and was greatly perplexed. His teacher had a precious teacup, a rare antique. Ikkyu, the Zen master, was very clever, even as a boy. So let’s start out with last week’s Zen koan. You can use what you learned to be a better whatever you already are. Keep in mind you don’t need to use what you learned from Buddhism to be a Buddhist. And today, I’m talking about finding one’s true self. Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Secular Buddhism podcast. I will also discuss a few more zen koans including “MU” and “Temper”. What happens when we break through the conceptual fog that often blinds us from seeing ourselves as we really are? In this podcast episode, I will talk about the idea of finding your true self. ![]()
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