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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2013 19:43:38 GMT -5
A monk traveled a long way to see the sage Nansen.
The monk met a fellow on the side of the road cutting grass, and unbeknownst to him the fellow was Nansen himself.
The monk asks the fellow:
"What is the way to Nansen?"
The fellow replies:
" I bought this sickle for 30 cents."
The monk says:
"I do not ask you about the sickle, I ask you the way to Nansen."
Nansen replies:
"I use the sickle with full enjoyment."
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Post by laughter on Oct 25, 2013 3:11:02 GMT -5
A monk traveled a long way to see the sage Nansen. The monk met a fellow on the side of the road cutting grass, and unbeknownst to him the fellow was Nansen himself. The monk asks the fellow: "What is the way to Nansen?" The fellow replies: " I bought this sickle for 30 cents." The monk says: "I do not ask you about the sickle, I ask you the way to Nansen." Nansen replies: "I use the sickle with full enjoyment." . Do you see the metaphor in the sickle? Why a sickle instead of a hammer or a trowel?
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Post by earnest on Oct 25, 2013 5:04:03 GMT -5
Cos there ain't no grass getting cut with a hammer?
swish,.. Swish,... SWISH!
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Post by zendancer on Oct 25, 2013 5:20:34 GMT -5
Cos there ain't no grass getting cut with a hammer? swish,.. Swish,... SWISH! Yes. That is the Way to Nansen; that is the way OF Nansen; and that IS Nansen! *swish*
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2013 8:35:53 GMT -5
A monk traveled a long way to see the sage Nansen. The monk met a fellow on the side of the road cutting grass, and unbeknownst to him the fellow was Nansen himself. The monk asks the fellow: "What is the way to Nansen?" The fellow replies: " I bought this sickle for 30 cents." The monk says: "I do not ask you about the sickle, I ask you the way to Nansen." Nansen replies: "I use the sickle with full enjoyment." . Do you see the metaphor in the sickle? Why a sickle instead of a hammer or a trowel? That question is pregnant with a litter. 1. There is Death. But this use of sickle is probably irrelevant. Stillborn. 2. The sickle is a handy tool, when sharp, for the wide swaths it can cut. Not unrelated to #1. In Camus' The Plague, one can hear the wind over the village like the swish of a giant scythe. 3. Solving for pattern. This puppy I hold dear because I knew it in a past life. Wendell Berry wrote a beautiful essay on The Scythe in Unsettling of America. 4. It cuts at the base. It clears.
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Post by ???????? ???????????? on Oct 25, 2013 9:00:15 GMT -5
In my reading zen folks don't use a lot of symbols/metaphors that way. Guy was working with the sickle and it was simple to make a quick and easy pointer with it so that's what they did. Consider the story where the student asks the teacher who was weighing flax what buddha nature is and teacher said "three punds of flax". Same as with the sickle flax has no symbolic meaning.
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Post by acewall on Oct 25, 2013 9:03:28 GMT -5
In my reading zen folks don't use a lot of symbols/metaphors that way. Guy was working with the sickle and it was simple to make a quick and easy pointer with it so that's what they did. Consider the story where the student asks the teacher who was weighing flax what buddha nature is and teacher said "three punds of flax". Same as with the sickle flax has no symbolic meaning. what's on the blue top table, moving about?
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Post by acewall on Oct 25, 2013 9:05:51 GMT -5
A monk traveled a long way to see the sage Nansen. The monk met a fellow on the side of the road cutting grass, and unbeknownst to him the fellow was Nansen himself. The monk asks the fellow: "What is the way to Nansen?" The fellow replies: " I bought this sickle for 30 cents." The monk says: "I do not ask you about the sickle, I ask you the way to Nansen." Nansen replies: "I use the sickle with full enjoyment." ok, the monk was still blind after the altercation?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2013 9:15:19 GMT -5
In my reading zen folks don't use a lot of symbols/metaphors that way. Guy was working with the sickle and it was simple to make a quick and easy pointer with it so that's what they did. Consider the story where the student asks the teacher who was weighing flax what buddha nature is and teacher said "three pounds of flax". Same as with the sickle, flax has no symbolic meaning.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2013 9:16:42 GMT -5
A monk traveled a long way to see the sage Nansen. The monk met a fellow on the side of the road cutting grass, and unbeknownst to him the fellow was Nansen himself. The monk asks the fellow: "What is the way to Nansen?" The fellow replies: " I bought this sickle for 30 cents." The monk says: "I do not ask you about the sickle, I ask you the way to Nansen." Nansen replies: "I use the sickle with full enjoyment." . Do you see the metaphor in the sickle? Why a sickle instead of a hammer or a trowel? "I bought this sickle for 30 cents."
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2013 9:18:39 GMT -5
A monk traveled a long way to see the sage Nansen. The monk met a fellow on the side of the road cutting grass, and unbeknownst to him the fellow was Nansen himself. The monk asks the fellow: "What is the way to Nansen?" The fellow replies: " I bought this sickle for 30 cents." The monk says: "I do not ask you about the sickle, I ask you the way to Nansen." Nansen replies: "I use the sickle with full enjoyment." ok, the monk was still blind after the altercation? Haha some people need struck twice lol
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Post by zendancer on Oct 25, 2013 9:24:38 GMT -5
In my reading zen folks don't use a lot of symbols/metaphors that way. Guy was working with the sickle and it was simple to make a quick and easy pointer with it so that's what they did. Consider the story where the student asks the teacher who was weighing flax what buddha nature is and teacher said "three punds of flax". Same as with the sickle flax has no symbolic meaning. Correct. Everything is immediate and non-symbolic, and Nansen used what was at hand to play with the monk. Nansen could also have said, "Looking for the way to Nansen is a fool's game. Why would Nansen need to go looking for Nansen?" Other equivalent dialogues: 1. A monk asked a sage, "How does one enter the world of the absolute?" The sage responded, "Do you hear the bubbling stream beside us?" The monk replied, "Yes." The sage concluded, "That's the place to enter." 2. A monk asked, "How does one find the Buddha?" A sage replied, "What's your name?" The monk said, "Gosan." The sage said, "How pitiful that a jewel of such value goes unseen while lying in plain sight."
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2013 9:42:36 GMT -5
In my reading zen folks don't use a lot of symbols/metaphors that way. Guy was working with the sickle and it was simple to make a quick and easy pointer with it so that's what they did. Consider the story where the student asks the teacher who was weighing flax what buddha nature is and teacher said "three punds of flax". Same as with the sickle flax has no symbolic meaning. Wrong again. Flax has been known for centuries to be a brilliant digestive. Note the story doesn't have him weighing flour.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2013 9:44:14 GMT -5
A monk asked a sage, "How does one enter the world of the absolute?" The sage responded, "Do you hear the barking spider beside us?" The monk replied, "No." The sage concluded, "That's the place to enter."
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Post by desertrat on Oct 25, 2013 10:22:44 GMT -5
I guess Nansen is cutting some grass to feed his horse/burro so they can go along there way .
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