Just the flax facts ...
I changed the translation in the CASE from "hemp" to "flax" because, well, sometimes folks misunderstand the "hemp" part. Possessing three pounds of hemp is still a felony in some places.
In other Koans (such as Case 7), we have encountered Buddha as you and me, now as the most ordinary of things. Is that different? Same? Is the ordinary just ordinary? This is the marvelous ordinarily marvelous, the ordinary marvelously ordinary.
The POINTER presents this most ordinary teaching as a sword that "non-kills" and cannot harm a single hair. This gives life by causing us to lose body and life at once. These teachings cannot be transmitted, so what is the point of these Koans?
The COMMENTARY points out common misunderstandings about the Koan. I don't actually think any of the criticized responses are wrong --IF-- the person really feels and groks in the bones the meaning of "3 pounds of flax Buddha." No mere intellectual understanding or just mouthing the words will do.
In the VERSE, the reference to the raven and rabbit probably means just passing time, the passing days. ... in this moment, every moment (or place or thing) is wisdom to the wise, ignorance to the ignorant. Do not be like the lame tortoise or blind turtle lost in a valley, caught merely in intellectual notions or philosophizing. Those who understand smile at a time of loss and sadness, as did Officer Lu.
QUESTION:
- What is Buddha? (Answer from the heart, quickly.)
.
Gassho, J
stlah
I changed the translation in the CASE from "hemp" to "flax" because, well, sometimes folks misunderstand the "hemp" part. Possessing three pounds of hemp is still a felony in some places.
In other Koans (such as Case 7), we have encountered Buddha as you and me, now as the most ordinary of things. Is that different? Same? Is the ordinary just ordinary? This is the marvelous ordinarily marvelous, the ordinary marvelously ordinary.
The POINTER presents this most ordinary teaching as a sword that "non-kills" and cannot harm a single hair. This gives life by causing us to lose body and life at once. These teachings cannot be transmitted, so what is the point of these Koans?
The COMMENTARY points out common misunderstandings about the Koan. I don't actually think any of the criticized responses are wrong --IF-- the person really feels and groks in the bones the meaning of "3 pounds of flax Buddha." No mere intellectual understanding or just mouthing the words will do.
In the VERSE, the reference to the raven and rabbit probably means just passing time, the passing days. ... in this moment, every moment (or place or thing) is wisdom to the wise, ignorance to the ignorant. Do not be like the lame tortoise or blind turtle lost in a valley, caught merely in intellectual notions or philosophizing. Those who understand smile at a time of loss and sadness, as did Officer Lu.
QUESTION:
- What is Buddha? (Answer from the heart, quickly.)
.
Gassho, J
stlah
Like the "shout" in the prior Koan.
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