Observations placeholder
Joshu - from 101 Zen stones
Identifier
016348
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Zhàozhōu Cōngshěn (Chinese: 趙州從諗; Wade-Giles: Chao-chou Ts'ung-shen; Japanese: Jōshū Jūshin) (778–897) was a Chán (Zen) Buddhist master especially known for his "paradoxical statements and strange deeds".
Zhaozhou became ordained as a monk at an early age. After attaining enlightenment, he began to travel throughout China, visiting the prominent Chan masters of the time before finally, at the age of eighty, settling in Guānyīnyuàn (観音院), a ruined temple in northern China There, for the next 40 years, he taught a small group of monks.
Zhaozhou is sometimes touted as the greatest Chan master of Tang dynasty China during a time when its hegemony was disintegrating as more and more regional military governors (jiédùshǐ) began to assert their power. Many koans in both the Blue Cliff Record and The Gateless Gate concern Zhaozhou, with twelve cases in the former and five in the latter being attributed to him. He is, however, probably best known for the first koan in The Gateless Gate:
| “ | A monk asked Chao-chou, "Has the dog Buddha-nature or not?" Chao-chou said, "Wu." | ” |
Bailin Temple in China, famous for his abbacy, was rebuilt after the Cultural Revolution and is nowadays again a prominent center of Chinese Buddhism.
A description of the experience
Joshu's Zen
Joshu began the study of Zen when he was sixty years old and continued until he was eighty, when he realized Zen.
He taught from the age of eighty until he was one hundred and twenty. A student once asked him: ‘If I haven't anything in my mind, what shall I do?'
Joshu replied: ‘Throw it out.'
'But if I haven't anything how on I throw it out?' continued the questioner.
'Well,' said Joshu, 'then carry it out.’