Mu: Does a Dog Have Buddha Nature? Part One
Happy New Year! Welcome to another series of blogs, topic: koans!
As I share what I've learned about koans and my experience with them, things might get too obtuse, confusing, or far out. It’s likely helpful then to note that working with these koans helps one to live with more peace, ease, confidence, and compassion. At the very least, having a touchpoint each day, hour, moment is a great mindfulness practice. An excellent way to start 2024 and navigate the inevitable trials of these lives and times!
Koans came about when Buddhism was carried out of India and met Taoism in China. The resulting sect of Buddhism became known as Chan and when that found its way to Japan, it became known as Zen. Koans are awakening stories of various lengths and from a wide variety of people both monastic and lay-folk, but most commonly between students and a master. Eventually they were compiled by future masters into collections that included new commentary on each koan. The collection I’ve been looking at is the Gateless Barrier collected and commented on in the thirteenth century by Wu-Men (Mumon in Japanese). I’m reading it in translation of course and the translators also often offer commentary. I’ll put some links to the books below so if you are interested in discovering more about the history and depth of koans you can check them out.
I am neither a student nor a teacher in the Zen lineage or tradition. So I offer the caveat that if you would like to seriously pursue koan study, you should seek out a Zen teacher. But such teachers are not common in Canada. I’ll also put links to a few Zen centres below. I have studied in other Buddhist traditions and, most intensively, with a non-dual teacher. Non-dual means that which is beyond duality (not the opposite of duality). Beyond everyday experience. It’s the spiritual truth that all religions get to when one is fully immersed in them, devoted, awakened. Koans are exploring that same universal truth and are aids in awakening to it. The setting for these awakening stories is often a group setting. The koans are meant to be discussed, shared, and then most importantly made part of one’s life. The discussion happens across time as well: the discussion between the master and the student is passed down, commented on, translated, passed along some more, to me writing this and you reading it. It is in that spirit I write these blogs: sharing them for contemplation, discussion, and letting them settle into my life and, if you like, yours.
Another caveat: Buddha was not a Buddhist and we are all heirs to Buddha nature. If we set out on the path to discover the truth he realized and taught, we are in the lineage of the Buddha.
On that note, let’s dive into the koan that usually begins a koan journey.
Case 1:
A monk asked Chao-chou,
“Has the dog Buddha nature or not?”
Chao-chou said, “Mu.” *
The easiest pronunciation of this teacher’s name is the Japanese form, Joshu (just like the name Joshua, but without the a). A Chan master in the ninth century, he appears in many koans. The questioner would likely have been hearing the teachings of Joshu for years and may have been a monastic for most of his life. He asks the question maybe not so much about dogs, but about himself. The Buddha said that all beings have Buddha nature. The monk may have heard somewhere that dogs do not and wanted to clear up the confusion. We have such discussions today: Do dogs go to heaven? Is there a doggie heaven? Do they have a soul? We can ask this about anything: like cats! Do they have Buddha nature? Your children, parents, neighbours, criminals?
It may have been a challenge to the teacher: Well, do they or don’t they? Or it could be the monk’s doubt about his own Buddha nature. What is it really and do I have it? If I do, why am I not awake yet? It seems most helpful to me to use this koan as a tool for discovering our own Buddha nature. What is this life? What does it mean? What’s the point? If there is one. What do I believe? Is that true? The koan is a tool for opening to beginner’s mind, a willingness to accept that we don’t know everything. In fact, maybe we know very little.
However, koans aren’t meant to create more thinking and rather meant to be held with curiosity and energy, a sense of joyful discovery, and stillness and peace – all qualities that when cultivated are conducive to discovering Buddha nature. This is where Joshu’s answer comes in. “Mu” translates as “no,” “does not have.” In the commentaries I’ve read, “mu” is interpreted in a few different ways.
As an emphatic NO – not to the dog and its Buddha nature, but to the question itself – this is not the right question! Do not ask whether someone has or has not. Buddha nature is all pervasive and contains all things; all things are Buddha nature. The monk’s question leads away from that oneness and instead separates and divides. John Tarrant, founder of the Pacific Zen Institute, uses “no” to work with this koan. To any concepts and dualities, to anything that separates and divides say, “no.”
But this word “no” has a lot of connotations in our present-day lives and using instead the unfamiliar, “Mu,” gives us a means of breaking up our habitual way of being. It can jog us out of automatic pilot without creating further associations and thinking. In sitting meditation, in daily life, and in every moment that you can remember, and to whatever is arising in that moment say, “Mu.” Everything is “Mu” and this sameness can become a startling surprise. See what happens. What breaks up or loosens? Is there suddenly freshness in the present moment? Does perspective shift? It is especially helpful when challenging mind states are present – what effect does “mu” have on them?
Another suggestion in the commentaries is that mu itself represents Buddha nature. Whenever you remember to say mu, there is a call back to a thing’s original essence, leaving for the moment the busyness and stories of the mind. When we can be here for what is, our response is natural and appropriate to that. Mu can break up a narrow view that is limiting and open it to greater possibility. Such as discovering that you share something with all of life. That all of life shines with something inexplicable. That you are not separate from that. You are that and that is all, to quote my non-dual teacher (who was quoting sages gone by). From Ram Dass,
To see through the veil of your senses and thinking mind to the true Self often feels like humanity's highest aspiration. When you do this, it's as if you find your rightful place in the order of things. You begin to recognize a harmony that's been waiting for you to feel, and once you do this, it's not only for the life hereafter or some abstract thing for later, it's for now, for how you live your life day by day.
The barrier we are meant to cross is gateless because it is no different from everyday life. The change is invisible: only the lack of a perspective taker, commentator, and judge. Whether you are with your dog, washing the pots and pans, walking in the snow, waking up in the morning, try this out. You can use any aspect of a koan – whatever in it speaks to you. Does this or that have Buddha nature? Is Buddha nature right here right now? Who wants to know? What is Buddha nature?
Or, to all of these questions, to whatever is here, whatever arises: “mu.” For example, when the moon is “mu”:
Watching the moon
by Izumi Shikibu
Translated from Japanese by Jane HirshfieldWatching the moon
at midnight,
solitary, mid-sky,
I knew myself completely,
no part left out.
If you follow me on Facebook, you’ve seen this before… A paper wasp has been living in my bedroom — since October! I’ve fed her maple syrup and honey. She’s even eaten off of my finger. She comes out on sunny days. When I saw her this morning it seemed like she waggled her antennae as I wiggled my fingers at her. Buddha nature? Yes, her and I and all around, every sense, every thought, the wiggle and the waggle. Watch a video of her here. Life is surprising, especially when one is curious and in love with the world. Such a moment becomes impersonal beloved interaction. Reverential. Mu!
I have only broken the surface here and If you work with this koan, I encourage you to share your experience with me by email or in the comments. It will give me direction for part 2!
~
The Gateless Barrier, translation and commentary by Robert Aitken.
* The above Koan is quoted from this translation.
The Gateless Barrier, translation and commentary by Guo Gu.
Bring Me the Rhinocerous: And Other Zen Koans That Will Save Your Life, John Tarrant — this a really fun and helpful read whether you have a practice or not!
Pacific Zen Institute, California.
Mountain Cloud Zen Centre, New Mexico.
Toronto Zen Centre, Ontario.
There are several other Zen centres in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and in BC.
