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    BOOK OF EQUANIMITY - Case 31

    Some folks asked about the long silence since our last Koan. But is not the silence also speaking? If you do not think so, please go back to Koan 1 ... where the Buddha gave up on his talk and went back to bed ...

    http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...ANIMITY-Case-1

    So ...Case 30 never ends, yet now comes ...

    Case 31: Ummon's Free Standing Pillar

    Another Koan on the dance of Relative and Absolute ... Ummon sings of Buddha and a stone pillar mingled, one. In response to the rhetorical question "what level of insight am I expressing", the Koan is filled with many images just the most natural happening, conveying how natural it all is ... . This is not the first time that Ummon (aka Yumen) responded with a very concrete worldly object, for in other Koans he described Buddha as "a garden of flowers", "the five senses and the mind", "the hedge surrounding the privy", and of course, a "dried shit stick".

    The Verse sings ...

    It has never been concealed ... it's affirmed without affirmation (for what affirmation is needed or possible when we transcend relative views and opinions) ... it is adequacy without adequacy ... it is three feet or sixteen feet (or any feet at all), according and fitting all kinds, sizes and situations.

    Questions:

    - Tell me about somebody or something in the world that you have a very hard time experiencing as "Buddha". Next, tell me why you are mistaken!

    - Express how, in life, inadequacy is quite adequate. Give an example from your life.

    - Now, express what is both and neither adequate or inadequate, fully transcending yet holding all adequate and inadequate human views and stone pillars.

    Gassho, J

    PS - I will be in Korea for the next two weeks, but will still be checking into the Forum daily.
    Last edited by Jundo; 08-09-2013 at 01:49 AM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

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