![Preview of Bring Me the Rhinoceros: And Other Zen Koans That Will Save Your Life](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41y1wsRgx5L.jpg)
updated 43m ago
updated 43m ago
No one’s heart seemed to be changing, and though that might be the point of a boring koan, for me this koan was like an apple tree that had always been in the garden but had never flowered. Some passages in life seem plain or nondescript, yet they might make life sing, the way an anonymous brown bird hopping under the orange tree makes the garden m
... See moreSomeone asked Zhaozhou, “Why did Bodhidharma come from the west?” Zhaozhou replied, “The cypress tree in the garden.”
This koan resists the totalitarian impulse in spiritual paths.
DESIRE BURNS at the core of life, and it’s usually complicated. “If you love me then I don’t love you,” as Carmen sings.
Yantou wasn’t impressed either. Xuefeng saw that what had been significant at one time, a glimpse of a great happiness, was indeed real, yet it no longer had the power to soothe.
The hook from an old song looped in his head, “Anywhere else is too far away.” At this moment, his thoughts didn’t feel as if they belonged to him.
Can you find where this moment comes from or where it goes home to?
So we stumbled through our loving, difficult readings and tiny speeches; then the button was pushed, and as the coffin advanced solemnly into the furnace, dysfunctional squawks came like a shower of arrows out of the sound system. The tape kept trying to play and its clicks and grindings were amplified very efficiently into the overhead speakers. T
... See moreRob Tourtelot added 2mo ago
As well as coming at this koan through the question, you can come at it through the answer. This is really quick. Zhaozhou pointed to the cypress tree to point to you. What is the cypress tree in your life? And if you, yourself are the ancestor, what will you do now?
The koan’s been working on me, and I on it. For a while, I’ve been working on the idea that the koan itself is a container, like this: “I don’t need to work on anything else, just these words of the koan; I don’t need to fall apart if I’m having a bad day.” The big negative emotions aren’t scaring me. I like to see how they feel in my body rather t
... See more