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The Gateless Gate

collection of koans and comments by Mumon

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Dried Dung

A monk asked Ummon: `What is Buddha?' Ummon answered him: `Dried dung.'

Mumon's Comment: It seems to me Ummon is so poor he cannot distinguish the taste of one food from another, or else he is too busy to write readable letters. Well, he tried to hold his school with dried dung. And his teaching was just as useless.

Lightning flashes,
Sparks shower.
In one blink of your eyes
You have missed seeing.

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Mumon

Mumon

Chapters

  • ▼  2007 (32)
    • ▼  March (32)
      • A Philosopher Asks Buddha
      • Joshu's Dog
      • Hyakujo's Fox
      • Gutei's Finger
      • A Beardless Foreigner
      • Kyogen Mounts the Tree
      • Buddha Twirls a Flower
      • Joshu Washes the Bowl
      • Keichu's Wheel
      • A Buddha Before History
      • Seizei Alone and Poor
      • Joshu Examines a Monk in Meditation
      • Zuigan Calls His Own Master
      • Tokusan Holds His Bowl
      • Nansen Cuts the Cat in Two
      • Tozan's Three Blows
      • Bells and Robes
      • The Three Calls of the Emperor's Teacher
      • Tozan's Three Pounds
      • Everyday Life is the Path
      • The Enlightened Man
      • Dried Dung
      • Kashapa's Preaching Sign
      • Do Not Think Good, Do Not Think Not-Good
      • Without Words, Without Silence
      • Preaching from the Third Seat
      • Two Monks Rolls Up the Screen
      • It is Not Mind, It is Not Buddha, It is Not Things
      • Blow Out the Candle
      • Not the Wind, Not the Flag
      • This Mind is Buddha
      • Joshu Investigates
 

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