Joshua's Dog

[Jacklinger]

A monk asked Joshua, a zen master, "May even a dog become enlightened?" Joshua answered, "Void!"

This is a zen koan. Koans were short sayings meant to help zen students approach an enlightened state. So now that you've read it, do you feel any more enlightened, or just confused? Zen teachers believed confusion was a good sign because it's a sign that your mind is trying to learn something new.

This koan mostly confuses me. The most I can get from it is Joshua is saying some things are just unknowable, but that doesn't necessarily prevent one from achieving enlightenment.

[hopelessly_spinning]

Interesting. I've never thought of confusion as a good thing, but I suppose it is sometimes. It certainly streches your mind. And I'm defineatly confused by that zen koan.
Void does mean empty or useless. Maybe he's saying dogs don't matter? haha, I don't know. I'm stumped.

[Jacklinger]

Here's another one:


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.

This is one of my favorites. Nansen is telling Joshu that trying to study enlightenment is a good way to prevent it from happening. One must simply experience it through practice and, I guess, meditating on koans like this.

A man with an IQ of 190 can learn everything there is to know about car engines, and then ruin the first one he tries to fix. While a man with a 4th grade education can repair an engine by sheer intuition through taking it completely apart by hand, feeling and seeing how each piece fits together, cleaning them, and then putting them all back together like a puzzle.

This koan also points out the pitfall of duality, and suggests that true enlightenment lies outside of that.