Buddha speaks!

[nightwatchdog]

Mantis asked a question on another thread that got me thinking about the nature of question and answer games, aka Koans, in relation to enlightenment. Traditionally a teacher examines your response to a koan and either discards your answers until you "get it right", or accepts your answer and the offers another koan.

 

It might be fun to play the "Koan Game" with you bunch of 'Bums, then offer another koan immedeatly afterword. So here're the rules:

 

1. Quote the previous poster's Koan.

2. Answer the Koan.

3. Offer a new Koan.

 

Care to play?

 

I'll start... errrr... Mantis started.

 

how did the first enlightened being come into existence?

 

Answer: The sun did not rise today. It is very bright. It did not set last night. It was very dark.

 

 

 

Koan:

 

How does the Bodhisattva of Greatest Compassion use her thousand hands and eyes to help the world?

[林愛偉]

Koan:

 

How does the Bodhisattva of Greatest Compassion use her thousand hands and eyes to help the world?

 

Answer: Affinities created, is the call to the one who hears. Conditions arise, Dharma is taught.

 

Koan:

 

Defilements myriad, Dharma arises.

Four views cut off, the ground is pure.

Who remains to tend the fields?

 

 

Peace,

Lin

 

P.S.- Nice thread.

Edited November 2, 2007 by 林愛偉

[Shen Ming-Kuan]

Koan:

 

Defilements myriad, Dharma arises.

Four views cut off, the ground is pure.

Who remains to tend the fields?

"Answer" (?): That which asks, sees a field to work upon.

 

 

Koan:

 

Which koans have no answer?

I am a true thief on this board.

[林愛偉]

"Answer" (?): That which asks, sees a field to work upon.

Koan:

 

Which koans have no answer?

I am a true thief on this board.

 

 

Answer: Those which are not asked.

 

Koan:

 

He who seeks, attains the seeking.

He who creates, attains intended results.

When seeking and creating are dropped,

who is left to attain nothing?

[affenbrot]

How does the Bodhisattva of Greatest Compassion use her thousand hands and eyes to help the world?

maybe with a dance ...

[林愛偉]

maybe with a dance ...

 

 

The performers in that video were all deaf before preparing for the performance. Some born that way, others became deaf after taking medicine for a fever, and some other sicknesses.

 

Not joking.

 

Edited November 3, 2007 by 林愛偉

[Smile]

It's not the answer, it's the quality of energy that shines through it.

[thelerner]

 

Koan:

 

He who seeks, attains the seeking.

He who creates, attains intended results.

When seeking and creating are dropped,

who is left to attain nothing?

 

 

Answer: Just the man.

 

 

 

Koan:

 

The sun shines brightly on a thousand paths

Which way should a man go?

[xenolith]

Answer: Just the man.

Koan:

 

The sun shines brightly on a thousand paths

Which way should a man go?

Answer: in.

 

Koan: With form, without form, everywhere, nowhere. What?

[thelerner]

Answer: in.

 

Koan: With form, without form, everywhere, nowhere. What?

 

Not What, NOW.

 

 

Who are you when you're sleeping?

Who are you when you're dead?

[nightwatchdog]

Who are you when you're sleeping?

Who are you when you're dead?

 

Answer: Changes... changes... Form in Emptiness, emptiness in form.

 

That was a good one thelerner! Now for an oldie, but a goody:

 

Koan:

 

"A man hangs in a tree by his teeth over a precipice. His hands grasp no branch, his feet rest on no limb, and under the tree another person asks him: `Why did Bodhidharma come from the west?'

 

If the man in the tree does not answer, he fails; and if he does answer, he falls and loses his life. Now what shall he do?"

[thelerner]

*Note* Not the official answer. Someone wiser and more serious should answer this.

 

 

Koan:

 

"A man hangs in a tree by his teeth over a precipice. His hands grasp no branch, his feet rest on no limb, and under the tree another person asks him: `Why did Bodhidharma come from the west?'

 

If the man in the tree does not answer, he fails; and if he does answer, he falls and loses his life. Now what shall he do?"

 

 

But if I were to answer-

 

I'd shout 'Don't Move' and aim to land on the idiot below asking the question.

 

 

 

When push comes to shove I'm more practical then spiritual

Michael

[nightwatchdog]

That's not a bad answer. It's not a great answer either. It is funny though.

 

What happens when you realize that the "idiot below asking the question" is you?

 

[thelerner]

The guy under the tree is still an idiot - me or not. When someones life is in danger, don't talk philosphy, get a ladder, rope or mattress. Above all Zen is practical.

 

My answer was in jest and I would like to see a proper answer for it. Still much truth is said jest.

 

 

"What happens when you realize that the "idiot below asking the question" is you?" Dog, Is this the next Koan?

 

 

 

Michael

[Mal]

"A man hangs in a tree by his teeth over a precipice. His hands grasp no branch, his feet rest on no limb, and under the tree another person asks him: `Why did Bodhidharma come from the west?'

 

If the man in the tree does not answer, he fails; and if he does answer, he falls and loses his life. Now what shall he do?"

 

Eat the strawberry!

 

 

 

I can't do these (obviously) but I like the thread and today my Zen email was :-

 

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!

[thelerner]

Koan:

 

"A man hangs in a tree by his teeth over a precipice. His hands grasp no branch, his feet rest on no limb, and under the tree another person asks him: `Why did Bodhidharma come from the west?'

 

If the man in the tree does not answer, he fails; and if he does answer, he falls and loses his life. Now what shall he do?"

 

An enlightened layman lets go and shouts 'FREEDOM'

An enlightened monk lets go and says freedom quietly

[nightwatchdog]

I see what you mean. That is a very good answer!

 

No freedom.

 

No speech.

 

No monk.

 

No layman.

 

No enlightenment.

 

 

Koan:

 

The man in the tree and the one on the ground are the same. The one on the ground is buddha nature. The one in the tree is buddha nature. Who talks to buddha nature? Who dies when he speaks?

[thelerner]

(Seems to me Buddha nature gets it either way )

 

M

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Someone deeper then I should probably field it.

[Mal]

The man in the tree and the one on the ground are the same. The one on the ground is buddha nature. The one in the tree is buddha nature. Who talks to buddha nature? Who dies when he speaks?

 

No one talks to Buddha nature. I die when Buddha nature speaks.

[Mal]

Must admit I was expecting a slap and being sent away to meditate .......

 

Shuzan held out his short staff and said, "If you call this a short staff, you oppose its reality. If you do not call it a short staff, you ignore the fact. Now what do you wish to call this?"

[Wayfarer64]

If I were hanging by my teeth and someone below me was triffling with me I would pee on him and try not to laugh....

 

or perhaps, I'd just laugh and wave bye bye...

 

Maybe this is a sort of bi-polar reaction -as in an unresolved paradox, but if I became foolish enough to be in such a position I guess I'd be ready for a new start from any direction...

[thelerner]

Must admit I was expecting a slap and being sent away to meditate .......

 

Shuzan held out his short staff and said, "If you call this a short staff, you oppose its reality. If you do not call it a short staff, you ignore the fact. Now what do you wish to call this?"

 

Grab the stick, bang it twice and answer "This is a short staff". Words are not reality, you can't hold words, but you can hold and bang a short staff.

 

 

Why is the Buddha fat?

[林愛偉]

Answer: Changes... changes... Form in Emptiness, emptiness in form.

 

That was a good one thelerner! Now for an oldie, but a goody:

 

Koan:

 

"A man hangs in a tree by his teeth over a precipice. His hands grasp no branch, his feet rest on no limb, and under the tree another person asks him: `Why did Bodhidharma come from the west?'

 

If the man in the tree does not answer, he fails; and if he does answer, he falls and loses his life. Now what shall he do?"

 

 

If the man on the tree still has the view of a man on the tree, there is death. A desire for answering the question shows the man unenlightened, for there is still desire. Both life and death are of the mind. Bodhidharma never came and never left.

 

 

 

 

Grab the stick, bang it twice and answer "This is a short staff". Words are not reality, you can't hold words, but you can hold and bang a short staff.

Why is the Buddha fat?

 

 

Only according to the conditions of those who view the Buddha.

 

 

no Tree, no holding onto, from where does the mind arise?

[rain]

..........

Edited April 17, 2008 by rain

[thelerner]

I wrote a bad koan, an embarassingly bad one 'Why was the Buddha fat?'

 

I think I get a good answer to it though. The answer I get is 'Why does the conditioned mind have the need to attack so much?'

 

Because the original question points to the hostility of the one who asks. My initial answer and Wayfarers to the hanging man koan, wreak of attack. I'd try to kill the asker, he'd try to piss on him! A koan's purpose is to point you toward enlightenment, not anger, cuteness or cleverness.

 

You're screwed and about to die. The asker isn't you and they're not making a flippant remark like 'have a nice trip'. They're a master trying to give you a last chance to settle your mind and see truth.

 

Michael