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Yunmen Says It Upside Down (BCR15)

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KOAN:

Then the student asked Yunmen, “But when it’s not the things I can see, and it’s not what the things are doing, what is it?”
Yunmen said, “Say it upside down.”

—Blue Cliff Record, Case 15

Video April 1, 2023

Winter Sesshin – Trusting in the Dao

John Tarrant

Koans
Bodhidharma's Vast Emptiness (BCR1)(BS2), If You Get It the First Time (BS76), Mazu's Purpose of Your Life, Solitary Boat, The Moon Sets at Midnight (BS76), The Valley Spirit Never Dies (DDJ6), Yunmen Says It Upside Down (BCR15), Yunmen's Give Me the Reaching (BCR33)
Tags
Bodhidharma, Daodejing, Daoism, February 3 2023, Laozi, Mazu, Moon, Mother Deep, Solitary Boat, valley spirit, Vast Emptiness, Winter Sesshin 2023, Yunmen
Category
Video

Explanations of Zen, or of anything, are not it. Zen does not try to make you pure—it tries to make you whole. We can trust in the Dao, but by explaining it, we move away from it. Something deeper is going on, carrying us.

22' 33"