Summer, and zen some.

[brokentooth]

Three months, two interesting research ideas, two new roommates, an almost complete thesis, three tough goodbyes, a few hellos, one good reunion with a long interning buddy, much Dickens, much Cohen, much Fairport Convention, Doom Patrol, a birthday, a broken air-conditioner; and I find that somehow, I've survived the summer. Meh, it wasn't half bad, too.

Now that the 'what I did in my summer holidays' essay has been shunted out of the way, onto more pressing matters, I say. Much to write about.

Let's begin with Zen koans.

A short while ago, my good chum Krishna discovered a book called Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, whilst wandering about the Buffalo library in his eternal quest for knowledge. The book draws from classic Zen works, including one called The Gateless Gate, by Mumon; a Zen master who lived in the 12th century and used to lecture monks at the monastery of Ryusho temple in East China. Ever since, we've been sending our discoveries back and forth, in an exchange that gets ever trippier by the day. A sampling:
 

• 
  Nansen saw the monks of the eastern and western halls fighting over a cat. He seized the cat and told the monks: "If any of you can say a good word, you can save the cat."
  No one answered. So Nansen boldly cut the cat in two pieces.That evening Joshu returned and Nansen told him about this. Joshu removed his sandals and, placing them on his head, walked out.
  Nansen said: "If you had been there, you could have saved the cat."
  
• 
  A monk asked Zhaozhou, "What is the meaning of Bodhidharma's coming from the west?"
  Zhaozhou said, "The cypress tree in the courtyard".
  
• 
  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 can I throw it out?" continued the questioner.
  "Well," said Joshu, "then carry it out."
  
  
• 
  Daibai asked Baso: "What is Buddha?"
  Baso said: "This mind is Buddha."
  
  Mumon's comment: If anyone wholly understands this, he is wearing Buddha's clothing, he is speaking Buddha's words, he is behaving as Buddha, he is Buddha. This anecdote, however, has given many a pupil the sickness of formality. If one truly understands, he will wash out his mouth for three days after saying the word Buddha, and he will close his ears and flee after hearing "This mind is Buddha."
  
• 
  A monk asked Baso: "What is Buddha?"
  Baso said: "This mind is not Buddha."
  
  Mumon's comment: If anyone understands this, he is a graduate of Zen.

Someday, if all this electrical engineering mumbo-jumbo starts to get to me, I shall pursue this Zen graduate thing. And then hop on a plane to Nepal, where I intend to live as a goat.