My First Koan

Our teacher is gently preparing the sangha for next year's transition. After founding Still Point and offering five years of service, she will step down as our Guding Teacher and pass the reins to a recently ordained Dharma student. He is a great teacher. He oversees the Intensive Practice program. He wakes us up. He is funny, gentle, kind, and very serious about this practice. He will be great for Still Point. What I realize, though, is that I have a limited time to practice and study with my first teacher... the teacher who presided over my precepts ceremony and gave me a name. I intend to take advantage of it. I decided when I learned of the transition that I would attend as many interviews as possible from now through September. That was nearly three weeks ago. I haven't missed one yet.

We sit and she watches as I settle into the cushion and count my breaths. She tells me my practice is strong, that she sees that I am serious about my practice, that she intends to push me a bit if it is okay. I nod and smile. She starts to tell me about Mu.

"You can pour everything into Mu... hope, fear, heartbreak, everything." Then she demonstrates. My first instruction was to count my breaths. Breath in... Breathe out "One...." Breathe in... Breathe out "Two...." Now, I breathe in, and breathe out "Mu". I hear her and I get it... it comes right from the abdomen... gentle but constant like the whisper of sea shells. "Now, you try..." Mine is not as gentle or constant as hers yet... my voice breaks a bit, but I push my belly inwards as I try it. It's not comfortable... I will need to work with it a bit, but the prospect excites me. She tells me that many teachers feel that Mu is all you need. Once you have Mu, you have everything. I feel like I've graduated. I smile and push ego away. So I am instructed to take Mu, use it, make it my own, and go save the world.

The student in me accepts that all I have to do is Mu but has to know more. I wouldn't be satisfied until I properly consulted my books, Google searched, collected and documented my findings. This has been a week-long inquiry.

The first article I read online suggested that Mu is not even something to do... it is something to be:

The teaching of mu is a matter of examining the essential question of whom and what we really are, of being pure at heart, and of no longer being confused by what confronts us.

Being mu, or empty of self, allows one to actively take in whatever comes. Our world today and all in it are separated into dualistic distinctions of good and evil, birth and death, gain and loss, self and other, and so on. By being mu, not only does one's self-centeredness disappear, the conflicts that arise with others dissolve as well.

[quotes from the article The Zen Teaching of Mu by the editorial staff of Kateigaho]

After I read the Kateigaho article, I continued to browse through the results of my Google search. Wikipedia posts a definition of Mu [무] along with its Hanja character and a brief account of the koan that inspires practitioners to penetrate Mu. I think the Hanja would make a good T-shirt.

Many Buddhist teachers and writiers have written commentary on Mu. I've bookmarked several articles that I intend to read later:

• Chau-chau's Dog
• Chao-chou Ts'ung-shen
• Life Koan

I'm sure I will post more on this subject as my practice continues. For now, I'll end with the koan as printed in Zen Flesh, Zen Bones:

A monk asked Joshu, a Chinese Zen master:
"Has a dog Buddha-nature or not?"
Joshu answered: "Mu."

Comments

[ananda k.m. leeke]

thanks so much for this wonderful article ... i really enjoyed learning about mu. it is about what i am trying to face in myself with my kuan yin meditation. i think mu is the next step that i have been seeking ... you know the place that you come to when you realize that releasing the ego is the key to getting to the place of being ... and mu is what takes you there.
i am so grateful for your sharing and the excerpts from different articles and books, and links to the various resources. gracias. peace and bliss and may you continue to be as you were created to be ...
paz y luz, ananda

[Jerry Goldberg]

Nice post. The Mu has other implications. Our minds become distorted by the ripples created by interacting with other sentient beings. The distortions create non-truths which persist through reincarnations. By focusing on the mu field around oneself and shifting it one allows themselves to release these distorted patterns. The trick is to use the distortions to clear the field. Then one becomes whole. Detached awareness and becoming ones own witness are the keys and not externalizing or projecting ones distortions into the world. We are all awakening and in this we are all facilitors. One does not awaken, the awakening is a natural process by which we are directed. We are evolving out of our sense of separateness which is being propogated down here. The process is already encoded into us.

I also wrote a book on the health effects of emf. It seems that this is the first time we have projected into physicality our interconectivity and our consciousness and we are examining the price of being attached to our projections.

Hello,

I am a medical doctor and researcher and have just published a new book on the health effects of emf which includes over 150 of the most current scientific and medical references. The book is written for the lay public in clear to understand language. Also the book contains a complete reference section on nutraceuticals and other natural products that have been shown to be protective along with appropriate references. A preview copy can be obtained by contacting the media relationship department of my publisher at 3korders@authorhouse.com or contact them directly at 888-280-7715. I am interested in presenting this material. Below is back cover excerpt.

Sincerely
G.Goldberg, MD

Would you put your head in a Microwave Oven?

A new book on the environmental health effects of microwave radiation.

About the Book:

Would you stick your head in a microwave oven? Well would you? Of course not.

Technology has transformed this planet into an open microwave system with its satellite transmissions.
This book examines what the health consequences are.
This book simply points out that the gradual rise in illness across broad geographic areas are an early indicator of microwave illness, independently of what the experts lead you to believe.

The handwriting is already on the wall and most of know that something is wrong.

This book discusses in simple terms the effects of microwave radiation on the human body.

I utilize dosimetry studies done by the US Air Force, which outline in clear terms what organs of the body are most vulnerable to cumulative
microwave exposure. I outline the mechanisms by which slow exposure is masquerading as various illnesses across this country.

We are on the verge of a health care crisis which threatens to bankrupt our society and health care system.
Whether we like to consider it or not the planet that we are living on has been transformed into an open microwave system.

In this book I examine the common link between microwave radiation and seemingly unrelated illnesses.
The book demonstrates that the rising incidence of certain illnesses and cancers across broad geographic regions parallels the increasing rise in exposure and use of microwave radiation.
This book is a common sense approach to the subject which is presented in a clear language that the laymen can understand. Also it is liberally referenced from the scientific literature.

The book is designed to be generally informative as well as a reference source for the average reader.
Additionally I have provided a wealth of resources that have been shown to be beneficial to offset the consequences of excess microwave exposure.

Free Preview

This manuscript was written to present the data to the average reader so that they could judge the issue for themselves.
The health consequences from continuous low level exposure from microwave radiation can be catastrophic.
The transmission of microwave transmission can be handled in a safe and effective manner to provide for global communication without affecting the overall health of our planet.

The book starts by examining dosimetry which shows which parts of the body are most sensitive to microwave radiation based on studies done by
our Armed Forces.
Dosimetry is also predictive of the pattern of injury that one would expect to find.

The second chapter explains how microwave radiation produces disease.
It examines the mechanisms of disease production in living systems.
It also explains how microwave injury manifests as specific organ system dysfunction, be it neurological, behavioral, immune, cancer etc.

The third chapter links the rise of radiation against the simultaneous rise of certain illnesses in society.
It demonstrates through the use of graphs that the parallel and symmetrical rise of certain illnesses across broad geographic areas reflects common force acting equally on all these regions.
The graphs also demonstrate that it is the rate of increase not the absolute number of cases in a given region that is important.
It is important to emphasize that microwave radiation is not the only cause of disease.
It is however potentially one of the few common links that unite large segments of our population to recreate and produce similar patterns of illness in widely separated geographic locations.

Microwave injury can also contribute to other patterns of illness.
In the fourth chapter, under medical equivalents, I have grouped the common names that are attributed to illnesses by organ systems.
If common illnesses are examined from the perspective of simultaneous parallel geographic increase than the influence of microwave injury can be discerned.

The fifth chapter deals with common herbs and nutritional supplements which have been found to be usefull and protective against the effects of microwave radiation. The chapter is liberally referenced from the current scientific and medical literature and serves as a handy reference for the average reader who may be interested in prophylactic and preventative strategies to maintain their health.

Sincerely G. Goldberg, MD

E-mail address: glgmd32@hotmail.com
Format: Paperback (6x9)
ISBN: 1425904807

The book can be purchased by going to www.authorhouse.com, click on bookstore icon. After entering the bookstore, type my name, Gerald Goldberg, under the subtitle, author or enter the book title or the ISBN number. Also the book is available on Amazon and Barnes and Nobles.

About the Author

I am a medical internist with over 30 years of clinical experience.
Additionally I have been researching the biomedical literature from a traditional and holistic perspective for the last 15 years.
I have training in herbology, Chinese medicine, nutritional approaches to health and other modalities

I have done extensive research on the causality of disease and its relationship to environmental factors as will as researching approaches to
deal with these issues.
I have been a radio show host involved in sharing information with the public on alternative health issues and perspectives in the NYC area for the
past 5 years and have been actively involved with a nutritional pharmacy.

[Genryu]

"i think mu is the next step that i have been seeking ... you know the place that you come to when you realize that releasing the ego is the key to getting to the place of being ... and mu is what takes you there."

Mu does not take you anywhere. There is no there to get to. Working with MU is simply working with your life, moment after moment. It is not exotic, special or a magic bullet for awakening. It will grab you by the neck and shake you until you realise that where you are is 'there'.

[chalip]

Jerry, Genryu...
Thanks for adding your thoughts about Mu. There is nothing special about zen practice. Chants, bows, koans... I'm starting to think that they are just things to do while we figure it out... that this is it, that here is there.