CASE #60: Dōgen’s To-Do List Dōgen Zenji wrote himself a reminder: To study the Buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to…

CASE #58:    Tōhta’s Haunted Sea A poem by the modern avant-guarde haiku poet Kaneko Tōhta reads: In the blue sea wherecormorants and hungry ghostshave already swum BACKGROUND:Kaneko Tōhta      Tōhta (b. 1919) is one of the most…

CASE #57:    Shakyamuni’s Ignorant Man In the Dhammapada, Shakyamuni Buddha says: The ignorant man is an ox. He grows in size, not in wisdom. BACKGROUND: Dhammapada     One of the best known texts in the Theravada canon,…

CASE #56:    No Fence to the West Kyoshin, who settled in Kako, built no fence to the west: toward the Land of Bliss the gate lay open. Nor, befittingly, did he enshrine an image of worship;…

CASE #55:    Kashyapa’s Preaching Sign Ananda asked Kashyapa: “Buddha gave you the robe of succession. What else did he give you?Kashyapa said: “Ananda.”Ananda answered: “Yes, brother.”Said Kashyapa: “Now you can take down my preaching sign and…

CASE #54:    Nichiren’s One-Eyed Turtle Nichiren Daishonin wrote: “This is as rare as the one-eyed turtle finding a suitable hollow in a floating sandalwood log, or a thread lowered from the heavens passing through the eye…