>Whenever Gutei Osho was asked about Zen, he simply raised his finger.
>Once a visitor asked Gutei’s boy attendant, “What does your master teach?”
>The boy too raised his finger.
>Hearing of this, Gutei cut off the boy’s finger with a knife.
>The boy, screaming with pain, began to run away.
>Gutei called to him, and when he turned around, Gutei raised his finger.
>The boy suddenly became enlightened.
Really makes you think.
hmmmm
I dont get it
Have you tried raising your finger?
...
Gutei wants you to chekk his sik digitz
I dont get it
Don't try to "get" it:
>A martial arts student went to his teacher and said earnestly.
>“I am devoted to studying your martial system. How long will it take me to master it.”
>The teacher’s reply was casual, “Ten years.”
>Impatiently, the student answered, “But I want to master it faster. I will work very hard. I will practice ten or more hours a day if I have to. How long will it take then?”
>The teacher thought for a moment, “20 years.”
Nice digits my African friend.
If I do, will you stab me?
Is it a metaphor for an erection or something? His finger is cut off, he cant raise his finger. I feel like an autismo here, help a burger out.
He was fucking with him.
Spoiler, the boy in the last line is actually you
That one actually makes sense though.
>He was fucking with him.
Now you are enlightened.
JIHADED
>special transmission...
>no dependence...
>pointing directly...
>seeing into...
zen is about transcending the hyperlogical, so it either >rlymakesutink until you break out of it or it tries to directly circumvent it
soto or rinzai etc
>you
>A distraught young user approached a Zen master.
>“Please help me,” the user said. “I feel lost and I don’t know who I am. Show me my true self!”
>But the teacher looked away without responding.
>The user asked again, and the master said nothing.
>Finally giving up, the man turned to leave when the master shouted – “Hey!"
>“Yes!” the user replied, turning back around.
>“There it is,” said the master.
Sounds like Gutei Osho was kind of a dick
there is nothing to get. that's zen.
>A monk went to his master and asked "Master, I wanna learn how to walk on water"
>The master answered "It is a difficult feat, but reachable for you. Come back when you'll have mastered it."
>Years later, the monk came back to his master
>"Master! I've learnt from the best! I've trained for years! But now I've learned to walk on water! What does this get me?"
>The master replied "The price of a paddleboat."
Gutei and his finger are enlightened, not the boy
Zen moment is realizing to respect for your master even after they "hurt you"
It's a koan.
Leaf gets it.
>Many Zen master had more than one successor, but Mu-nan had only one: Shoju
>When Mu-nan was dying, he wanted Shoju to have a book of Zen teachings passed down from master to master for generations
>Shoju initially refused, but Mu-nan insisted
>When Shoju took it, he threw it into a nearby fireplace immediately
>WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Yelled Mu-nan
>WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? Yelled Shoju
Zen is a funny journey, where you start out thinking it's all bullshit, master it over years and learn all sorts of amazing things, and at the end of it all, come to the final realization that it's all bullshit, but you're okay with that.
The fact that he doesn't have a finger to raise anymore doesn't matter, it's just a material possession
>Zen is a funny journey, where you start out thinking it's all bullshit, master it over years and learn all sorts of amazing things, and at the end of it all, come to the final realization that it's all bullshit, but you're okay with that.
Perhaps the same could be said of all religions.
You're a right old sack of rice, aren't you
>A man spent his life calmly in his home and was respected by his neighbors
>One of his neighbors found their daughter with child, and she claimed it his
>Is that so? he responded
>His good standing stripped, he cared for the child after birth without complaint
>A year later the daughter confessed, he was not the father, but a young man from the fishers wharf
>When the parents of the daughter came to apologize to the man and explain what had happened, he gave the child without hesitation and only responded
>Is that so?
for me, its chuang tzu
here is a similar tale, from the way of zen:
Hui-neng is said to have had his first awakening when, almost as a boy, he happened to overhear someone reading the
Vajracchedika. He set out almost at once for Hung-jan’s monastery at Wang-mei to have his understanding con+rmed and to receive further instruction. We should note (for future reference) that his original satori occurred spontaneously, without the benefit of a master, and that his biography represents him as an illiterate peasant from the neighborhood of Canton. Apparently Hung-jan immediately recognized the depth of his insight, but fearing that his humble origins might make him unacceptable in a community of scholarly monks, the Patriarch put him to work in the kitchen compound. Some time later, the Patriarch announced that he was looking for a successor to whom he might transmit his o;ce, together with the robe and begging bowl (said to have been handed down from the robe and begging bowl (said to have been handed down from the Buddha) which were its insignia. This honor was to be conferred upon the person who submitted the best poem, expressing his understanding of Buddhism. The chief monk of the community was then a certain Shen-hsiu, and all the others naturally assumed that the office would go to him and so made no attempt to compete. Shen-hsiu, however, was in doubt as to his own understanding, and decided to submit his poem anonymously, claiming authorship only if the Patriarch approved of it. During the night, then, he posted the following lines in the corridor near the Patriarch’s quarters:
>The body is the Bodhi Tree;
>The mind like a bright mirror standing
>Take care to wipe it all the time
>And allow no dust to cling.
The following morning, the Patriarch read the poem and ordered incense to be burned before it, saying that all who put it into practice would be enabled to realize their true nature. But when Shen-hsiu came to him in private and claimed authorship, the Patriarch declared that his understanding was still far from perfect. On the following day, another poem appeared beside the first:
>There never was a Bodhi Tree
>Nor bright mirror standing
>Fundamentally, not one thing exists
>So where is the dust to cling?
The Patriarch knew that only Hui-neng could have written this, but to avoid jealousy he rubbed out the poem with his shoe, and summoned Hui-neng to his room secretly, by night. Here he conferred the Patriarchate, the robe, and the bowl upon him, and told him to /ee into the mountains until the hurt feelings of the other monks had subsided and the time was ripe for him to begin his public teaching.
So let's cut off the finger of the cunt who cut the kid's off?
I know that English majors probably think there is something deep and meaningful about this.
It's just sick shit, and Gutei (whoever he is) needs to have his head cut off.
The point is that buddhism is basically a religion of death. Everything about it is about letting go. So the master showed the boy. The most enlightened finger is the finger that it's master no longer cares about.
Buddhism basically says that all life is suffering. So to endure life, one must try not to care about anything and accept whatever happens. Basically what a dead person does, as a dead person has no worries.
Does a dead person care about love? No.
Does a dead person care about his nation? No.
Does a dead person care about success? No.
A buddhist thinks that love only makes you misserable, because you will never be truly happy and the chances of failure are very high. Constantly striving for love will make you unhappy. So avoid it.
A buddhist thinks that caring for your nation makes you misserable, because you will never be truly happy about it and the chances of failure to keep it safe are very high. Constantly striving for your nation will make you unhappy. So avoid it.
etc. etc.
So why is the "master" not cutting his own fingers off? Why not just kill himself?
What?
Because buddhists also believe in reincarnation. They think that suicide means that you have to start all over from the beginning. Probably because a suicidal man is not at peace with himself or something. A buddhist probably would not mind if someone else killed him. Because a buddhist would think that caring so much about whether you live or not will only make you miserable. All the constant worry and distraction coming from the fear of death is something that a buddhist would want to avoid.
Think of a buddhist master, what does he do? He does not kill himself, nor does he become president. He simply sits in a cave or whatever, with closed eyes and breathes. His existance is like a plant, without any worries.
I can firmly say you've missed the point
It is worth knowing, though. That Schopenhaur, Nietzche and Hitler are basically the opposite of buddhism and the OP.
They did not think "Nothing matters". They thought "Everything matters". They did not think "Peace is happiness". They thought "Struggle is happiness". Life is about the highs and lows, not about the middle. Hitlers book was named "My Struggle". There is a reason for that.
I can say that I've read a whole lot more about it than you have and that certainly, you have missed the point.
Reading books is as good as losing a finger.
Thanks for the explanation. I guess it is quite deep, in a messed up, psychotic kinda way.
From the Buddhist's perspective, the finger doesn't matter to the kid, because the life is meaningless - he will be reincarnated as something else in 70ish years anyway.
A window into the mind of a mentally-ill Buddhist.
Is Buddhism really like that? Or was this guy just a Buddhist extremist?
What is the point that he missed, then?
allahu akbar
There is a difference between understanding buddhism and practising buddhism. Buddhist masters often say "If you think you know buddhism, then you do not know buddhism". Because enlightenment is also about letting go of your desperate need for knowledge and understanding.
Here is the whole thing
Gutei raised his finger whenever he was asked a question about Zen. A boy attendant began to imitate him in this way. When anyone asked the boy what his master had preached about, the boy would raise his finger.
Gutei heard about the boy's mischief. He seized him and cut off his finger. The boy cried and ran away. Gutei called and stopped him. When the boy turned his head to Gutei, Gutei raised up his own finger. In that instant the boy was enlightened.
When Gutei was about to pass from this world he gathered his monks around him. "I attained my finger-Zen," he said, "from my teacher Tenryū, and in my whole life I could not exhaust it." Then he passed away.
Mumon's comment: Enlightenment, which Gutei and the boy attained, has nothing to do with a finger. If anyone clings to a finger, Tenryū will be so disappointed that he will annihilate Gutei, the boy and the clinger all together.
It seems like what it is trying to express is that gutei gained a sense of comprehension for an aspect of his masters comprehension of zen which can not be learned by another through gutei because gutei doesnt have the whole comprehension of zen required to even express it in the first place.
>Is Buddhism really like that?
No.
He's trying to explain the science behind "what is the sound of one hand clapping" instead of considering the implication it is trying to get you to connect with.
By your own admission you do not know buddhism.
An enlightened Buddhist would not care about losing his finger or anything else it might posses. Think of a tree, does it care if it is cut down? Of course not, it has no worries because it is a tree. It's got no brain. It is at peace because it can never worry about anything. It just accepts its destiny.
Some zen buddhists might say stuff like "Be like the water". Because water just flows, it doesn't struggle or cry or laugh or worry or get into an existensial crisis. It's fucking water.
The point is not that you should cut off your finger, but that you should not worry about whether you have a finger or not. Because a love for a finger is the same thing as fear of losing a finger.
I do not practice it.
Its about acceptance of impermanence
He teaches his students "to be"
This all sounds really fucking stupid.
Neither do I.
I also never claimed to understand it.
Just that I can see you do not.
Its helpful to remember buddism isnt the one true secret religion, just yet another cult that laces a few good philosophies into a ball of politicaly manipulative shit
Yeah, it really makes me think your post is garbage.
This is fucking weird.
This is ALL fucking weird. This seems more like insanity and mental illness then what I thought Buddhism was. I
So basically...... Neets?
Nice one m8
>This is fucking weird.
That's the point.
>This seems more like insanity and mental illness
That's because you're trying to listen to concrete rationalizations of somebody designed not to be.