A monk asked Chao-chou Ts'ung-shen: "Does a dog also have the Buddha nature?"
Chao-chou answered: "
Wu!"
:D
Here's the story on the Chinese word "Wu" according to
Wikipedia.
________________________
Wu (
pinyin:Wú)
is a word which can be roughly translated as "without" or "have not".
While typically used as a prefix to imply the absence of something, it
is more famously used as a response to certain
koans and other questions in
Zen Buddhism, intending to indicate that the question itself was wrong.
The 'Wu' koan is as follows: A monk asked Zen master Zhaozhou, a Chinese Zen Master (in Japanese, Jōshū): "Has a dog Buddha-nature or not?", Zhaozhou answered: "Wú" (in Japanese, Mu).
Some earlier Buddhist thinkers had maintained that creatures such as dogs did
have the Buddha-nature; others, that they did not. Therefore, to answer
"no" is to deny their wisdom, whereas to say "yes" would appear to
blindly follow their teachings. Zhaozhou's answer has subsequently been
used by generations of zen students as their initiation into the zen
experience.
Since the expression 'wu' in Chinese is similar to
the sound the Chinese use to imitate a dog's 'woof', an alternate
'explanation' of the utterance has been proposed suggesting that
Zhaozhou was imitating a dog in reply, i.e., he answered the question
by 'being' the dog. This is consistent with the general principle
that Koan 'answers' usually involve adopting radical change of
perspective, instead of a logical or linguistic 'answer'.
_________________________________________________________
So, who wu like to try it? ... :D
I don't have much to say about this. I just like the idea of articulating [interestingly] this sort of mental inconsistency.
Alright. Upon further inspection, I do have something to say about it :D
I've recently been stuck on the importance of personal expression. It's
increasingly apparent we need to express ourselves verbally in direct
relation to the progress we've made mentally. It's interesting. All the
same arguments seem to be present in the minds of most everyone.
Everyone is constantly at war with desires which, at their root, derail
us from the true path of understanding. We're all trying to convince
ourselves our lives have meaning, but no one is seemingly willing to
exemplify the emotional riches to be derived from a truly quiet mind.
We're all faced with overcoming obstacles and barriers in our emotional
life, but I suppose the trick is in the ability and the willingness to
disclose our most prized spiritual conclusions. It's so hard to
maintain a grasp on the progress made on the path to enlightenment when
all thoughts are simply "present" in the mind. I suppose it would be
beneficial to articulate them and keep them in some order, even if it
is only in respect to time. At least they'd have been manifested once.
The things we say maintain a tremendous importance in the validation of
our emotional choices and conclusions. They seem to be so necessary in
the battle to trust ourselves.
So, I guess I'm going to
have to risk being just a bit off-putting to some at times. Hopefully,
the [eventual] emotional value will superesede any social discomfort it
might carry in the moment. If these things need to be said, they will
be said. I have not come to any of my conclusions through any form of
dubiety. Yes, dubiety is essential in the initial questioning of any
given social standard, but it should hardly be seen as a fundament of my
worldview. In this regard, I admire mathematicians. I stand in awe of
their practical manipulation of the notion of infinity. Emotionally
speaking, the notion of infinity is essential in discerning the
implications of a moral precedent when carried out in a social setting.
That's the way it seems to me, anyway. It pushes to light all
possibilities of reactions of all people and weighs them against the
inferred proportion of brotherly love to he who considers. Regardless,
doubt is the idiots' plague and the sages'
contrivance. It's rivalled by an equal measure of trust and it's
compelled by an undeniable acceptance of love.
So... the words we say matter so much to everyone and ourselves.
In that regard, it is important for us to encourage the disclosure of
our findings to everyone, and especially ourselves. I think meditation
helps, also.
In summation, Wu!
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January 2007 
theresalwaystomorrow
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