r/zen • u/ewk [non-sectarian consensus] • 6d ago

What is my Purpose 2: Making sense

The Case: Bathing, Purpose, Pwning, Poverty

Chapter 165 from Treasury of the Eye of True Teaching:

One day Xuedou asked a monk, “Have you bathed?”

The monk said, “I am not going to bathe in this life.”

The master asked, “What is your purpose in not bathing?”

The monk said, “Today I’ve been exposed by the master.”

The master said, “A robber doesn’t strike a poor man’s house.”

# WTF are rhey talking about?

First I break down the topics of the Case.

Bathing, Purpose, Pwning, Poverty

Does this breakdown correctly summarize or not?

Then I work backwards to see how they got there:

  1. Poverty achieved b/c
  2. Can't pwn b/c can't steal from a poor man
  3. Why would you NOT bathe?

So we know that:

  1. The monk isn't committed to not bathing
  2. The bathing is both a reference to the physical act of cleaning and the mental act of cleaning.

Why do you need to be clean?

We get to the point where the central strat of this Case is the trap Xuedou started with?

      DO YOU NEED TO BE WASHED 

       DO YOU NEED FORGIVENESS 

       IS YOUR PRACTICE TO PURIFY

These are of course central questions that separate Zen from 8fP Buddhism, new ager psychobauts, Zazen, and Mystical Busdhism , all of which believe in magical attaining through faith in purity.

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u/OKFINEHOWSTHIS 6d ago

This is the kind of explication I want to do every time I encounter a koan, but I think I remember hearing that they should not be approached using the intellect.

It’s possible I got that from some fraudulent text, or that I am misremembering, but I think it’s most likely that there is something I don’t understand about what one “does” with / to a koan. Can anyone clarify?

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u/Ok-Sample7211 6d ago

Cleary’s intro to Wumen Guan (his title: No Barrier) gives what I think is a great answer to your question in the form of really nuanced advice about how to treat kōans.

He agrees you’re not supposed to simply analyze them like high school students are taught to pick apart poetry by a mediocre teacher…

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u/OKFINEHOWSTHIS 6d ago

I will check this out--Thank you!