Saturday, January 1, 2022

Losing Your Life in Step 1 - We're Powerless -

 


My friends,

First and foremost, may 2022 bring you joy and freedom. Happy New Year!


Our first koan of the year and a first for 12 & Zen -- I'm looking forward to sharing a guest writer this month, Ken I. who is lives in India. 


Step 1:  We admitted we were powerless over something -- that our lives had become unmanageable.



Koan:  The priest Hsiang-yen said, "It is as though you were up in a tree, hanging from a branch with your teeth. Your hands and feet can't touch any branch. Someone appears beneath the tree and asks, `What is the meaning of Bodhidharma's coming from the West?'”

If you do not answer, you evade your responsibility. If you do answer, you lose your life. What do you do?"

Here is Case 5, "Hsiang-yen: Up Tree." 

Bill K.

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