Koans

I have always used the ever popular...

Do Fish have water tight butts?

RyuJin wrote: If a tree falls in the forest and noone is there to see, does it make a sound?

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it except for one man, but the tree falls on that man and kills him, does the man dying make a sound?

Yeah...

Splat!!:laugh:

When prison stocks are iron and have no place for the head, the prisoner is doubly in trouble.
When there is no place for Zen in the head of our generation, it is in grievous trouble.
If you try to hold up the gate and door of a falling house,
You also will be in trouble.

Everyday Life is the Path

Joshu asked Nansen: `What is the path?'

Nansen said: `Everyday life is the path.'

Joshu asked: `Can it be studied?'

Nansen said: `If you try to study, you will be far away from it.'

Joshu asked: `If I do not study, how can I know it is the path?'

Nansen said: `The path does not belong to the perception world, neither does it belong to the nonperception world. Cognition is a delusion and noncognition is senseless. If you want to reach the true path beyond doubt, place yourself in the same freedom as sky. You name it neither good nor not-good.'

At these words Joshu was enlightened.

Mumon's Comment: Nansen could met Joshu's frozen doubts at once when Joshu asked his questions. I doubt that if Joshu reached the point that Nansen did. He needed thirty more years of study.

In spring, hundreds of flowers; in autumn, a harvest moon;
In the summer, a refreshing breeze; in winter snow will accompany.
If useless things do not hang in your mind,
Any season is a good season for you.

There is a comic strip called hole mole ,its a great zen like strip....just thought i'd put that out there

This is one of my favorites. I first read it in the masterful koan work 'Bring me the Rhinoceros' by John Tarrant.

---

Emperor Wo of Liang asked the great master Bodhidharma,
"What is the main point of this holy teaching?"
"Vast emptiness, nothing holy," said Bodhidharma.
"Who are you, standing in front of me?" asked
the emperor.
"I do not know," said Bodhidharma.
The Emperor didn't understand. Bodhidharma
crossed the Yangtze River and went to the kingdom
of Wei.
Later, the emperor raised this matter with his
advisor, Duke Zhi. The advisor asked,
"Your Majesty, do you know who that Indian sage was?"
"No I don't," said the emperor.
"That was Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of
Compassion, carrying the seal of the Buddha's heart
and mind."
The emperor felt a sudden regret and said, "Send
a messenger to call him back."
Duke Zhi told him, "Your Majesty, even if everyone
in the kingdom went after him he wouldn't return."

I don't know where I first came across this idea (might have been Watts) but I have given it in koan form here

The Pen

Akkarin was giving a lecture to some Jedi students. He held up a pen and asked "What is this?"
"A pen!" one of the young students shouted from across the room.
"No" replied Akkarin.
That is when Proteus, who had been attending the lecture in silence, stood up and walked to the front where Akkarin was standing. He took the pen and on a piece of paper wrote one word: 'this'.

“The more the farmer increases the scale of his operation, the more his body and spirit are dissipated and the further he falls away from a spiritually satisfying life. A life of small-scale farming may appear to be primitive, but in living such a life, it becomes possible to contemplate the Great Way.”

Masanobu Fukuoka...

Two Jedi Padawans were walking along the road on a bright, winter day when they saw, in the distance ahead of them, an old Master Jedi was slowly hobbling along with his eyes shut.

"Look." Said the first padawan, "He must truly be a Master of the Force to be able to see without using his eyes."

"Of course not." Said the second, "He is still a mortal human, and is therefore a fool."

The two of them started to bicker until finally the old master crossed their paths.

"Master, my friend and I are disagreeing -- I say you must be a Master of the Force because you can walk with your eyes shut, and he says you're a fool for not relying on them when you are still just a human. Which of us is correct?"

The Master didn't open his eyes.

"Neither of you -- the sun is shining into my eyes, and I wouldn't be able to see, even if they were open."