Eko Sensei Dharma Talk on Zen and the Koan What is Mu

what is mu? the famous koan about a dog. a monk asked Joshu "does a dog have Buddha nature", joshu replied "MU".

[@fissionmailed23]

thank you for stating that you have to build up your joriki (concentrative power) to work on koans. i recently read a book by Albert Low called "Working With Koans" and he says that you don't have to be in any kind of special state of consciousness to work on a koan. I think this statement can be confusing to many students.He never mentions in his book that koans should only be given to a student by a teacher after the student has built up his/her concentrative ability.

[@mtekos]

thanks Joe, theres not alot of direction with koans in general, i hope to write much more about the ins and outs of the process and what it should accomplish and how to work with them in different ways as ones practice progresses!

[@siewkonsum7291]

What is Mu? The earnest seeker has to ask about it day & night - so as to go deep, deep in, far far down into his inner body & mind to realize its profound meanings. Perhaps comes a day, suddenly 🤯 Boom!!!💥, he will get the Truth of it!

[@mikelarry88888]

Mu

[@dtseringdorje]

Too much thinking comes from too much understanding...it will bring a headache in a result...better to keep ignorance mind...very important...then when hungry eat...when thirsty drink...somebody tired...give him a rest...RELAX, RELAX, RELAX...enjoy your life...that's enough...you maybe not become a Zen Master...but...you will become a healthy human being...!...a Buddha or...a Bodhisattva....

[@mikelarry88888]

Mu

[@dtseringdorje]

@mIκΣ LαΓrΨ Put it down.

[@dtseringdorje]

Too much thinking...what is Mu...?...just forget everything...forget Mu...and you already attained Mu...that means don't make thinking...just seeing blue sky everyday...is enough...!!!!

[@mikelarry88888]

Mu

[@joshusdog7677]

MU! :3

[@slavojjoshu5518]

You say that "thinking about what Mu is, up here, isn't going to help". My question is "Okay, but does it hurt?". What is being hurt and being helped? Medicine helps us, we feel better, but Mu doesn't seem to really "help" in any real sense at all. It highlights the question of overcoming dualisms. Helping and hurting are certainly dual. So too is night and day, dark and light, sleepy and alert, old and young. Dualisms like these are suffused and distributed like so many thrown stars into our awareness - we ourselves feel "naturally" dual. Isn't that my shadow cast on the wall? Am I not in "life" as opposed to "death"? Dualisms form our very blood and bones. So is Mu really a practice of overcoming dualisms, or seeing through dualisms, or some funky notion about inhabiting the "energy" of the non-dual? (which seems so cloudy, by the way..) Doesn't Mu offer a kind of cul-de-sac of opinion, where the endless premises of the one who would "work it out" are seriously questioned? To what ends, the question, and from what authority the act of questioning? When the authority of the task comes from the task itself, when the whole world speaks the breath of Mu, when Mu cannot be shaken by any inquiry, or wrestled into one position or another, then the dualisms settle into their natural place. One side of the rock is warm, the other side of the rock is cool. Today is cloudy and yesterday was fine. We cannot "escape" dualisms, but we can stop arcing toward them for the meaning and the purpose of life. When we walk through forests where some trees are young, others old, where sometimes the path is wide, sometimes narrow, where there is sometimes light and sometimes dark, but we continue faithfully walking, passing dualisms galore without a break in our stride. Doesn't Mu "break the contract" we have with ourselves that resolving dualisms holds some important key to our survival? Isn't that wonderful? All of that effort we previously made in circling a problem can be saved.

[@mtekos]

sounds good. you have a poetic way of expressing these subtleties and dynamics. with that in mind, i agree that thinking about mu intellectually does help, the more we think and strive the better, but best when grounded with a lot of non-thnking striving to be still and strengthen our qi. the qi is the iron ball in our gut, and the energy frequency that opens up the field where the young and old trees grow.

[@slavojjoshu5518]

Herb Eko Deer What about "suddenly mu breaks open!"? Mummon says "it is like you have swallowed a red hot iron ball, and you can't spit it out." To me that is, walking Mu, sleeping Mu, shopping and cycling Mu, loving Mu, teaching Mu, toe-stubbing Mu - swallowed Mu. All that is good practice - building joriki, or qi? Would you agree that that process (of diligent, continuing practice) draws us ever closer to what is essentially, undeniably present?

[@jimfastenau4984]

Mu