Koan Series

I've been fascinated by koans from the Japanese Zen tradition recently. Literally translated as "Public Case", Zen koans are apparent logical absurdities; meditative puzzles that masters issue to their disciples to ponder over. The objective is to gain a glimpse into a secret level of reality, which flirts with the boundaries of logic and defies the reference and predication of language. There is always an irresistible charm to the bewildering nature of the "answers".

Here's an "elementary" koan, taken from the Gateless Gate collection (http://www.csudh.edu/phenom_studies/mumonkan/mumonkan.htm). I will post some initial, non-meditated-over comments, and I look forward to hearing yours!

A monk asked Joshu (zen master), "Does a dog have Buddha nature?"

Joshu replied, "Mu!" (nothing)

It's quite clear why this is supposed to be an introductory koan. Joshu, apparently perturbed by his student's dualistic conditioning (have/have not; dog/non-dog; Buddha/non-Buddha), curtly lashes out the word "nothing", at once attempting to lift him from his dual mindset into an unstructured, transcendental kind of "nothingness". The monk vainly believed that by setting up a presumably sharp contrast between a dog and a Buddha, he had created a type of categorical domain between the two extremes, where entities of progressively "higher" nature may be analysed for their Buddha/non-Buddhahood. However, obviously, such a linear logical approach so typical of our rationality and epistemological tradition, does not sit well with Joshu. Hence Joshu's response can be seen as a complete, radical and fundamental refutation of not just the content, but the form and structure of the monk's doomed query.

Well, as I type, my own dog, Pebbles, is hungry and whining. Does she have Buddha nature? Seriously, there are other things to worry about for now...