Bringing Bankei to your brain with this controversial laden zen-topic parade!
James and Ewk take on a few memes and topics brought on by the density of the case in question.
How does Yunmen's explanation of emptiness: "hearing the sound of the bell", differ from Wittgenstein, and religious concepts of emptiness?
The famous, "wash your bowl" koan. Steve shows up, too.
Our very second Foyan cast. Foyan was much more of a lecturer than the Zen Masters which taught using Cases, and here he outlines the two sicknesses which he sees in the Zen school.
Are you deaf, but wonder how you are going to listen to Knot Zen? Tune in and find out.
After 500 hours of podcasting we finally made it to the Fox Case.
A complicated case in which there's many things to grab on to: cause and effect, rebirth, violence., and if you're lucky, you might regret listening.
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.
How do you find a parched pasture, a place where no grass blades?
Do you look outside the "gate", inside the "gate"? What even is grass..no, no, Steve, that's not what they mean...we think.
Join The Gang for a dharma talk about 3 Zen masters mysteriously weighing in on a metaphor presented by the most prominent among them: Dahui!
Our most cujo-esque-ian episode yet ...the puppy returns! Is Mu meditation? What is this "concentration" that Mumon calls for?
Joshu usually keeps it laconic, but in this saying he sermonizes at length...which means the gang goes along and weaves in many topics, ideas, and controversies!
A Knot Zenner gave this sweet version of the case: Huangbo: "You people are all eating out of the dumpster. When are you going to have your own meal, don't you know there's nobody that cooks for you in all of china?" Monk: "What about all the cooks" Huangbo: "They're not cooking for you".
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.
Again, we are reading from the first chapter in the Blue Cliff Record! This time focusing on Xuedou's verse!
The Gang adds "frost on top of snow" by bringing up a koan that's as cold as the weather in Texas (and the person writing the description uses the sort of Verbal Irony thrown around in the commentary).
Welcome to the Sanga
The great casters, studious as ever in their endeavors, take a stab at birds. One Zen Master sees ducks, one plays "Duck, Duck, You...", and Yuanwu maybe disregards the integrity of either approach in a in a revisionist eulogy.
How BOUT them ducks? When you see them take flight, where do they go? Where have they ever gone?
Welcome to the Sangha.