Mumon Answers Goso

The Reading:

THE CASE


Goso said, "When you meet a man of the Way on the way, do not  greet him with words; do not greet him with silence; tell me, how will you greet him?"

THE COMMENTARY (by Mumon)

If you can answer Goso intimately, you are to be congratulated on your genius; but if you can't, you must endeavor to look at everything you come across.

Case XXXVI, Goso's No Words Or Silence, Mumonkon, R.H. Blyth 

The Commentary:

Does Mumon answer Goso?  Is Goso proposing a puzzle?  When will you know how to answer Goso?  What is your answer to Mumon?

In many religions you are encouraged to give an answer that has been prepared, and you are expected to give this answer with heartfelt sincerity.  Can you put someone else's words in your mouth and still be yourself?  Can you be sincerely yourself when you speak with someone else's tongue?

In Zen, you must only give your own answers.  If you cannot answer, then by all means, follow Mumon's exhortation to the letter.  It's not Zen, but it's better than being someone besides yourself.

Greeting the Master

The Reading:

THE CASE


Goso said, "When you meet a man of the Way on the way, do not  greet him with words; do not greet him with silence; tell me, how will you greet him?"

Case XXXVI, Goso's No Words Or Silence, Mumonkon, R.H. Blyth

Discussion:

What wonderful simplicity.  

In Blyth's time Zen was fading, it seems to be well on it's way to extinction.  Blyth attributed this to, among other things, the over emphasis on lineage.  It seems to me though that there is an under emphasis on Zen.  Many people invoke Zen as a part of a message of love, or hope, or charity.  Where are the Zen Masters who "do not know"?  They are difficult to find.  Where are the Zen Masters who do not accept money?  Who do not lead retreats?  Who wander?  There must be very few.

If you meet one, one time in your life, what will you say?

Goso's Sermon

The Reading:


One of Goso's sermons in his old age.

"Yesterday I found a certain passage, and I wondered if I should bring it up before all of you.  But as I am an old man I have forgotten the whole thing entirely.    (For some time he remained silent, and then he continued)  I have forgotten, I have forgotten.  (Then he added)  There is a Mahayana dharani named "The Wise Enlightening King"; if you recite it, you remember what you have forgotten.  (Then he repeated) An-a-ro-roku-kei-sha-ba-ka.  (Clapping his hands he laughed loudly and cried) I remember, I remember.  "If you try to find a Buddha, you can never see him.  If you search for a Patriarch, you will never meet him.  The sweet melon is sweet to the root, the bitter melon is bitter to the root."

Introduction to Case XXXVI, Mumonkan, R.H. Blyth

Discussion:

This is lovely, another gift from Blyth who had such a wonderful library and such a good teacher.

It reminds me of a joke I heard once:  An Irish comedian was talking about how he want to tell his father that he loved him, but he could not come out and say it.  So he went out drinking with his father, and on their way home, when they were both very drunk, he mustered up all his courage and he said to his father, "There is something I want to say... Dad, I love you."

His father replied, "Well why wouldn't you?"

What is the Buddha?

The Reading:

THE CASE

A monk asked Baso, "What is the Buddha?"  Baso answered, "Not mind, not Buddha."

THE COMMENTARY

If you understand what Baso said, your study of Zen is at an end.

-Mumon

Case XXXIII, Mumonkan, R.H. Blyth

Discussion:

This commentary elevates Mumon to the heights enjoyed by other Zen Masters.  Few will understand him, few will remember him.

It is interesting to note the difference between the teaching offered by Baso, and that offered by Mumon.  Blyth on occasion takes an interest in how the teach of Zen changes, reflecting not just the world that each successive Zen Master lives in, but the context of each successive teacher against the backdrop of the teachers that came before.  Teaching Zen is not teaching what is already taught, but it is not ignoring the heritage either.

On the one hand, Baso says what Zen is not, and Mumon says what Zen is.  On the other hand, Baso points directly to Zen, whereas Mumon points to a man, pointing.  Both are amazing teachers, but they are not teaching the same thing.  Both are teaching Zen.

Investigating Joshu's Old Woman

The Reading:

THE CASE


A monk of Joshu's asked an old woman the way to Taizan.  She said, "Go straight on?  After the monk had taken three or five steps, she said, "This monk also goes off like that."  Afterwards, another monk told Joshu about this, and Joshu said, "Wait a bit; I'll go and investigate this old lady for you."  The next day off he went, and asked the same question and got the same reply.  On returning, Joshu said to the congregation of monks, "I've investigated the old lady of Taizan for you."

-Mumonkan

With a smattering of Zen it is not difficult to make a fool of people.  There seem to have been quite a number of old women who made themselves useful round the famous mountains (temples), pulling the legs of young monks.  No doubt some of the old women were genuine, some not, and this is what Joshu "investigates."


The monk asks the way to the temple.  The old woman answers if he were asking about the Way, and tells him,    as Stevenson says, "The way is traight like the grooves of launching," bu the monk is quite oblivious of this, and thinks she is answering the plain, relative question in the plain relative way.  When the monk does not respond to her absolute answer, she sneers at him, out loud.  Joshu conducts his investigation.  Though he does not tell his monks the result, he cunningly suggest that he has found her out, in order to make a fool of them, for unless they become more foolish than they already are by birth they can never become clever.


In actual fact, the old woman's treating Joshu in the exactly the same way as the young monk, shows that her Zen was half-baked...


From this Case we learn two things.  First, not to do as Joshu did, investigate other people's Zen...

CASE XXXI, Mumonkan, R.H. Blyth

Discussion:

Blyth fails us here, as does Mumon - but Mumon cannot fail us, because he is only indulging himself, and in that he can never fail.  Blyth, like many of us, thinks he knows.  He thinks he knows about the Old Woman's Zen, he thinks he understands what Joshu tells the monks, it is all very clear to him!  

Blyth fails to understand this koan as many do.  It is a very difficult koan, lacking the referential immediacy of one hand clapping or three pounds of flax.  Begin with Joshu's answer and it should be clear to you: he investigated the Old Woman.

What more can the monks ask for, without asking for enlightenment?  So there it is, Joshu has answered their questions by pointing to the answer they already have but do not know.  

Zen Masters from the beginning have investigated other people's Zen.  It is both a hand shake and a rebuke, it is both a terrible insult and the kindest warmest most intimate private joke between two people.  Do not hesitate to investigate other people's Zen.  Begin with your own.

Speaking of Zen, Caught Red Handed

The Reading:

In the Introduction to Case II of the Hekiganroku we have:
    Say the word "Buddha", and you wallow in mud and flounder in puddles.  Say the word "Zen", and your whole face is as red as a beetroot with shame and humiliation.

Case XXX, Mumonkan, R.H. Blyth

THE VERSE


It is broad daylight, a fine day;
It is silly to rummage around,
And asking about the Buddha
Is like declaring oneself innocent while
  holding onto stolen goods.

-Mumon

Discussion:

Zen Masters are notorious for their anger at the questions of the unenlightened, not the least because these questions have no answers, cannot be answered, aren't understood by the questioner, when answered the answers won't be understood by the questioner, are impertinent, contain the answer, and most embarrassingly, reveal that Zen Masters know nothing of Zen, and thus cannot reply without humiliating themselves.

The greatest koans are just the best examples of embarrassing behavior which we have forgiven.  If ever I sit in an audience of such questioners, I will feel the embarrassment acutely myself.  We have all asked, but for some of us who later understood what we were asking, it is easy to forgive the questioner, hard to forgive anyone who is being asked.  

Better to put donkey ears on the poor Zen Master and take turns putting a boot to his behind then ask him about Zen.  At least then the embarrassment can be felt all the way around.

It is not the wind, not the flag, not the mind

The Reading:

THE COMMENTARY


It is not the wind that moves, it is not the flag that moves, it is not the mind that moves.  How shall we understand the Patriarch?  If you have a close grasp of the meaning, you will see how the two monks, intending to buy iron, got gold.  The Patriarch could not repress his compassion, and so we have this disgraceful scene.


THE VERSE


The wind moves, the flag moves, the mind moves,-
All confirmed as guilty of error.
We know we  open our mouths,
But we don't know we go all wrong.

-Mumon

Mumonkan, R.H. Blyth

Discussion:

It cannot be any clearer.  There are no words or sentences which express Zen.  There is are no teachers of Zen.  There is no flag, no mind, no Patriarch.  

Mumon is pointing the way when he tells us that "all are confirmed as guilty of error."  Mumon is pointing to the errors of all those who teach Zen, and further, Mumon is reminding us that we cannot help but open our mouths and commit errors, even if we are Patriarchs, because to talk about Zen is to talk about something other than Zen.

Go forth!  Accept no doctrine!  Teach nothing!