
| born: c. 810 died: c. 880 place: China |
| Chan master: Zhaozhou (J., Joshu) Chan disciples: 1 recorded as a master |
| stories: Osho No Mind: The Flowers of Eternity, ch. 11 Zen: The Solitary Bird, Cuckoo of the Forest, ch, 2 |
| oshobob The Living Workshop |
| Zen Masters |
| When Koko, a disciple of Joshu, went to see Master Hogen, he was asked where he had been recently. “With Joshu,” he answered. Hogen asked, “I have heard about Joshu and the oak tree; isn’t this so?” Koko said, “It is not so!” Hogen commented, “But everyone says that when a monk asked about the meaning of Daruma’s coming from the West, Joshu answered, `The oak tree in the front garden.’ How can you say it was not so?” Koko replied, “My master said nothing of the kind! Please do not insult the late master.” Hogen commented, “Truly you are a lion’s cub!” I have told you about the difference between fact and truth. Koko is saying, “Factually it may be so, but not in truth. In truth he did not indicate the oak tree, he indicated the life juices in the oak tree which are the same in us.” We are all rooted in the same existence; we are getting our nourishment from the same existence. The oak tree is just a brother, a friend – maybe mute and dumb, but that does not make any difference. Our life sources are coming from the same existence... --Osho No Mind: The Flowers of Eternity, ch. 11 |