What Face..

[Bohdiyana]

Originally Posted by sky123

The more you try to explain Zen the further you are from seeing. A koan is to help you understand something,

Yes that seems right to me. But then if a person is enlightened, I bet they can explain 24 hours a day and still have only truth come out of their mouth. A unenlightened person can explain in one sentence in 5 seconds and be far away from truth.

[markings]

Originally Posted by sky123

The more you try to explain Zen the further you are from seeing.

I am not explaining, I simply stated that there are right and wrong answers, that anything goes as an answer is not true. which is the impression I got before I interjected..

The monk whose hut was burnt down clearly gave a wrong answer.

[sky]

Originally Posted by markings

I am not explaining, I simply stated that there are right and wrong answers, that anything goes as an answer is not true. which is the impression I got before I interjected..

The monk whose hut was burnt down clearly gave a wrong answer.

I would say the old woman didn't understand his answer, she interpreted his reply incorrectly.

No right/wrong answer, it depends on the individual.

[Bohdiyana]

Many organizations have the correct koan answers written down and they expect their monks to memorize and accept and repeat them but for us lay people is there a right or wrong answer? Probably not since we don't answer to any authority except our own when it comes to interpreting koans.

The koan "THE OLD WOMAN BURNS DOWN THE HUT" is interesting because in it is the question of how does an enlightened person act or react? How should an enlightened hermit react to the hug of a young girl? I think he reacted pretty appropriately myself lol.

The general popular meaning seems to be the monk was lacking loving kindness or lost a certain humanness, he was cold and indifferent to the old woman taking care of him and to the young girl who brought him his food everyday and did other chores for him.

I myself would guess the meaning of a koan like this is much deeper than it appears and it not about those things at all. I would guess the monk and the hermitage would represent the ego or the dualistic mind. The old woman was the true self or highest self. The old woman was taking care of the "monk." In other words, we are the ones feeding the ego and keeping it warm and safe and well fed. The moment of realization is symbolized by the old woman questioning the hermit, the ego. The old woman discovered the nature of ego and threw it out and burned down it's "house." Also the young girl uses the words "just now" which is about the present moment.