Bb's all alone??!! Oh no, he climbs the peak and stumbles down. Expect minor coherency and haughty analysis.
1 sickewk and two tired dudes get on the case of the case of the fist; bringing their best with rants on modern interpretations, amoeba imagery and confused textual analysis.
The famous, "wash your bowl" koan. Steve shows up, too.
What is outstanding action? Here, it's kicking over a water bottle. Although, Mumon says the guy who did that: "could not jump out of the trap".
The gang talks through the case and then debates what it means to instruct and whether the case is an example of instruction or something else.
Episode 2, featuring, once again, Emperor Wu. Emperor Wu meets Bodhidharma's brother.
The Gang clears up the case by touting the treasure when two translators try to untangle the verbal knot tied by Joshu's tongue.
The Gang does some quickmaffs in counting Yunmen's cards and examines why he'd use such specific numbers as an answer to a monk's question.
One two, skip a few, how far do you want to go?
Welcome to the Sangha.
Oh no! In Mumonkan’s Case 11, an elderly woman seems to be schooling all the monks on their way home! This is far from the first time that the elders of China ask tricky questions to the poor young monks!
Go straight ahead as The Gang investigates Joshu’s investigation: fighting fire with fire and having a gander at this goose!
And, if you do walk the walk, at least talk the talk.
It’s the 26th Case of the Blue Cliff Record:
A monk gets hit, where does it land and why...Dharma combat, extordinary affairs...all the fun stuff
What's brown and sticky? According to Yunmen, it's Buddha!
This week, The Gang tries scraping back the bullshit behind Yunmen's seemingly cryptic answer when asked by a monk what this "Buddha" is.
Feel free to light some candles, turn on the fan, and drink plenty of coffee to prepare for this (maybe not as gross as it seems) discussion on why Yunmen would call Buddha "Kanshiketsu".