Who says that enlightenment can't be scatological..?
Stumbled across this while browsing in The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion by I. Fischer-Schreiber, F.K. Ehrhard, K. Friedrichs, and M.S. Diener (NY: Barnes & Noble Books, 1999; reprint of a 1989 English translation of a 1986 book published in [West] Germany by Otto Wilhelm-Barth Verlag [English translation copyright 1989 by Shambhala Publications, Inc.]; ISBN: 0-7607-1597-1; 468 pps.):
Kan-shiketsu [Zen] Jap., lit. "dry shit stick"; a Zen expression designating a person who is attached to the world of appearance. Kan-shiketsu is the wato of a famous koan (example 21 of the Wu-men-kuan). The expression stems from a time in China in which a wooden stick was used instead of toilet paper.
(p. 174)
I'd heard of corn cobs being used in lieu of toilet paper by American pioneers and rustics up to, say, the mid-20th century; but sticks? What did they use in lieu of Preparation-H? Goose fat? (Eeeeeeewwwww.)
This definition leaves me with another question:
In Zen terms, is it better to be a dry shit stick -- or a wet one?
Inquiring minds want to know....
Kan-shiketsu [Zen] Jap., lit. "dry shit stick"; a Zen expression designating a person who is attached to the world of appearance. Kan-shiketsu is the wato of a famous koan (example 21 of the Wu-men-kuan). The expression stems from a time in China in which a wooden stick was used instead of toilet paper.
(p. 174)
I'd heard of corn cobs being used in lieu of toilet paper by American pioneers and rustics up to, say, the mid-20th century; but sticks? What did they use in lieu of Preparation-H? Goose fat? (Eeeeeeewwwww.)
This definition leaves me with another question:
In Zen terms, is it better to be a dry shit stick -- or a wet one?
Inquiring minds want to know....