![]() Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. His name was Mu-nan, the man who never turned back.A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. Modern Zen teachers in Japan spring from the lineage of a famous master who was the successor of Gudo. “I am going to follow you all the rest of my life,” declared the man. “Return now,” said Gudo, when the ten miles had been passed. “After another ten miles,” the man replied. “Just another five miles,” he begged Gudo. ![]() After they had gone three miles Gudo told him to return. “How can I ever repay you for this wonderful teaching! Let me see you off and carry your things a little way.” The perception of the husband awoke as if from a dream. If you keep on gambling and drinking, you will have no time left to accomplish anything else, and you will cause your family to suffer too.” “Everything in this life is impermanent,” he explained. He apologized profusely to the teacher of his emperor. “I am Gudo of Kyoto and I am going on to Edo,” replied the Zen master. “Who are you? Where do you come from?” he asked Gudo, who still was meditating. In the morning when the husband awoke he had forgotten about the previous night. He drank the wine at once and laid himself down on the floor. In return I have bought some wine and fish, so you might as well have them.” The man was delighted. “I happened to get caught in the rain and your wife kindly asked me to remain here for the night. I will meditate before the shrine.” When the man of the house returned about midnight, quite drunk, he bellowed: “Hey, wife, I am home. Get me a gallon of fine wine and something good to eat. Sometimes when he becomes thoroughly drunk he does not come home at all. When he loses he borrows money from others. “When he happens to win he drinks and becomes abusive. “My husband is a gambler and a drunkard,” the housewife told him. Observing that the entire family was depressed, Gudo asked what was wrong. He then was introduced to the woman’s mother, and to her children. He entered and recited a sutra before the family shrine. The woman who offered him the sandals, seeing how wet he was, invited him in to remain for the night at her home. At a farmhouse near the village he noticed four or five pairs of sandals in the window and decided to buy some dry ones. It was evening and a heavy rain was falling. Once when he was on his was to Edo, the cultural and political center of the shogunate, he approached a little village named Takenaka. Nevertheless, he used to travel alone as a wandering mendicant. Gudo was the emperor’s teacher of his time. The koan below is taken from the book titled ‘Sands and Pebbles’ (Japanese: 沙石集 shasekishuu), translated from Japanese into English by Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps. I like to think that Zen koans is to riddles what igo is to chess. It is important to always keep in mind though, that koans are not mere riddle it is far deeper than that. To ordinary, non-zen-practicing folks (like me), koans can be read like riddles, to test and entertain one’s mental capacity. Zen koans are often witty, bewildering, and always amusing to ponder. ![]() ![]() A ‘Zen koan’ is a story, dialogue, question, or statement, which is used in Zen practice to provoke the thought and to test a student’s progress in Zen practice.
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