407. ZEN REMARKS

 407. At Bodhizendo, koans are presented in English. So practitioners work with koans that have been translated from Chinese to Japanese to Enghish. And translations, being what they are, tend to differ. Take, for example, the koan 'Nansen kills a cat'. In one version it says that he found his monks quarreling over a cat. Other versions have them debating, disputing, arguing. Does it make any difference to our entry into this koan if we see the monks quarreling or arguing or debating? 

406. ZEN REMARKS

 406. MASTER GEN-UN-KEN ( DARK CLOUD ) 

Head and shoulders it stands 

-- Mount Perumalmalai --

above the hills and mountains 

that cluster at its feet. 

Atop this mountain there rests 

-- in solemn stillness --

a Dark Cloud that embraces 

all who would climb its peak. 

Who knows whence it comes 

-- or whither it blows --

the Wind that shapes and moves 

this Dark ( Perumalmalai ) Cloud? 

(For AMA Samy's 85th birthday)