>Once the monks of the Western and Eastern Halls were arguing about a cat. Nansen, holding up the cat, said, “You monks! If you can say a word of Zen, I will spare the cat. Otherwise I will kill it.” No one could answer, so Nansen cut the cat in two. That evening, when Joshu returned, Nansen told him of the incident. Joshu thereupon took off his sandal, put it on his head, and walked off. Nansen said, “If you had been there, the cat would have been saved!”What did Nansen mean by this?
>>18513394Something something monks must have detachment from worldly desires thus detach yourself from words of threats (and of the morality and all expectations of society) and don’t care whether the cat lives or diesSubvert expectations of society and morality when expected to argue for the sake of the cat, once realised that you are expected to be forced to argue by forcing an attachment to the cat’s life and by that to the cat, you also can’t turn away from the engagement as that might be an expected outcome from society, thus putting the sandal on his head too. (I’m just basing this on this paragraph only and with my on view, without any other context to this)
>>18513394Mahayana is so retarded.
>>18513433Hey, that was pretty good! This made me hate Mahayana slightly LESS!
>>18513523Thanks I guess, take my view with a grain of salt. I do not extensively practice buddhism, I am giving my view from a person who grew up with various chinese religions (as well as the theravada tradition from thailand) practicing it in a folk manner.
>>18513394>>18513433Sounds retarded lol
śūnyatā is the most correct ontology in any philosophy ever considered.
>>18513759TRVKE
Bump
>>18513394>What did Nansen mean by this?They are zen koans. They don't mean anything. The idea is to somehow get you in the spirit of zen and out of your head. Using the words to point to the wordless. Like the one that asks what is the sound of one hand clapping? It's like being an annoying kid and spontaneously throwing a meatball at the wall just to see what would happen. I am reminded of the story of the bodhidharma when he said that the guy that didn't say shit and sat on his ass as the ultimate understanding. I don't know. Some people practice to be a smartass, these people practice to be a dumbass.
>>18513751>Sounds retarded lolThat's because they are literally being retarded on porpoise in order to have a profound epiphany of some kind. They want to scoop their brains up and sweep them underneath the rug.
