The Voice of Nothingness

I don't normally advertise anything or anybody, but here is a man - Thomas Roth -  a German film maker - who is trying to raise money to make a film about the Japanese Kyoto School of thought. I like his project, and I would like to help him.

Members of  the Kyoto School were professors and scholars teaching various materials at the University of Kyoto, Japan, before WWII. Although all of them had been deeply marked by their practice of Zen, they were people of different backgrounds, did not always share the same views and did not hesitate to criticise each others' work.

One common point of their work was the investigation of "nothingness" and its influence and importance in the history of philosophy.

The title of the film is "The Voice of Nothingness".

If you have a moment, click on this link and watch the short video to present the project. It is well done, and to the point. If you like it, please contribute by sending any amount you can afford, and share the page with your friends on Facebook or other social media.

Thank you

Joshu's Dog

 

A monk asked Joshu, a Chinese Zen master: "Has a dog Buddha-nature or not?"

Joshu answered: "Mu."

Mushin

Countless Students have lost sleep and appetite on this "MU"...

For one thing, Joshu did not say "MU". He said "WU", because he was Chinese, not Japanese.




And "WU" is  the way Chinese dogs bark, English speaking dogs do "WOOF", Chinese dogs do "WU". Anybody with a bit of common sense knows that.

Japanese dogs, I don't remember...

Two important facts well known by those with the slightest experience of the Canine world: 

1. Dogs don't do "MU" in any language.   
2. No matter their nationality or culture, dogs bark to display their unhappiness about the way things are, and to signify something like  "DON'T DO THIS, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT, DON'T COME HERE, STAY AWAY !"

So some smart disciple asks a question about the nature of a dog, and the Master barks back to him.  That's it! It does not mean "no" it does not mean "yes", it's barking.

Now the student with a lust for deep meaning tries to figure that one out and loses sleep over it. 

When they translated that into Japanese, they should have said the student asked if a cow had Buddha nature, Cows usually do "MU". However, the "MU" of a cow does not carry the same disapproval meaning as the "WU" of a dog... 

Now, do you imagine what would it be if the student had asked "Does a giraffe has  Buddha Nature or not ?" 

Once upon a time, during a sword seminar in Pensacola, my friend Joe asked Carl Long Sensei something like "Sensei, when you perform this waza, do you lean forward, or do you lean backward ? "

And the answer came "YES"...

Practice...