Collection of OSHO

Collected by Sameer Pawar

Zen Stories of Joshu

(Excerpts from Osho's book 'Joshu: The Lion's Roar ')

#1
JOSHU, also known as chao-chou, was born in 778. When he
first met Nansen, JOSHU entered the master's room in the
monastery. Nansen was lying down, and his first question to
JOSHU was: "where have you come from?"
ang temple," replied JOSHU. ("jui-hsiang" means holy
image).
"Do you still see the holy image?" Nansen asked.
"No, i don't," replied JOSHU, "i only see the Tathagata
lying down."
at this, Nansen got up, saying, "are you a monk who has a
master or one without a master?"
"with a master," replied JOSHU.
"Who is your master?" Nansen asked.
"Early spring is cold," said JOSHU. "i am so glad that you
are well."
Nansen called the senior monk and said, "Give him special
treatment."

#2
On first entering Nansen's monastery, JOSHU was made to
serve in the kitchen as the stoker. One day he closed all
the doors and piled wood on the fire until the whole
kitchen was filled with smoke. Then he shouted, "Fire!
Fire! Come to my rescue!"
when the whole community had flocked to the door, he said,
"i will not open the door unless you can say the right
word." no answer came from the crowd. But Nansen silently
passed the key through a window hole. This was the right
word that JOSHU had in mind, and he opened the door
immediately.

#3
JOSHU stayed with Nansen for thirty years. After his
enlightenment he lived for thirty years more in the
Kuan-yin temple. Once, he said:
"Smoke from the chimneys around me i see in vain, no bun or
rice cake since last year have i eaten. Now thoughts of
them make my mouth water.
"Not mindful of buddhism, i often sigh deep sighs. None of
the people of one hundred houses are good: every visitor
only asks me for a cup of tea. If not given enough, he
angrily leaves me."
At another time JOSHU was asked: "a hair's breadth of
difference -- and what happens?"
The master answered, "Heaven and earth are far away."
The monk asked, "and when there is not a hair's breadth of
difference?"
"heaven and earth are far away," JOSHU replied.

#4
On one occasion, JOSHU said to his monks:
I have single-heartedly practiced zazen in the southern
 Collection of OSHO
Collected by Sameer Pawar

province for thirty years. If you want to realize

enlightenment, you should realize the essence of buddhism,
doing zazen.
In the course of three, five, twenty or thirty years, if
you fail to grasp the way, you may cut off my head and make
it into a ladle to draw urine with.
JOSHU is also reported to have said:
thousands upon thousands of people are only seekers after
buddha, but not a single one is a true man of Tao. Before
the existence of the world the self-nature remains intact.
Now that you have seen this old monk, you are no longer
someone else, but a master of yourself. What's the use of
seeking another in the exterior?
Once a monk asked JOSHU: "what is your family's tradition?"
JOSHU responded: "i have nothing inside, and i seek for
nothing outside."

#5
A monk put the question to JOSHU: "I have heard that you
said that when the universe is destroyed the buddha nature
will not be destroyed. What is this `nature'?"
JOSHU responded by saying, "the four elements and the five
components."
the monk asked again, "these are the very things that will
be destroyed; what is this `nature'?"
JOSHU said, "it is the four elements and the five
components."
Once, a monk was saying farewell to JOSHU, who asked him,
"where are you going?"
the monk replied, "All over the place, to learn buddhism."
holding up his mosquito-flapper, JOSHU instructed the monk,
"do not stay where the buddha is! Pass quickly through a
place where there is no buddha! Do not make a mistake and
bring up buddhism to anyone for three thousand leagues!"
The monk said, "in that case i won't go!" to which JOSHU
responded, "farewell! Farewell!"

#6
On one occasion, as JOSHU was receiving new arrivals in his
monastery, he asked one of them, "have you been here
before?"
"yes," the monk replied.
"Help yourself to a cup of tea!" JOSHU said to him. Then he
turned to another new arrival and said, "Have you been here
before?"
"no, your reverence," the visitor replied. "This is my
first visit here."
JOSHU said to him, "help yourself to a cup of tea!"
The prior of the monastery took JOSHU aside and said, "one
had been here before, and you gave him a cup of tea. The
other had not been here, and you also gave him a cup of
tea. What is the meaning of this?"
JOSHU called out loudly, "prior!"
"yes?" the prior replied.
"Help yourself to a cup of tea!" instructed JOSHU.

#7
When Tosu was in Tojo province, JOSHU asked him, "Aren't
 Collection of OSHO
Collected by Sameer Pawar

you the master of Tosu hermitage?"

Tosu said, "Give me some tea, salt, and cash!"
JOSHU went back to the hermitage, and that evening saw Tosu
coming back with some oil. JOSHU said to him, "i heard much
of Tosu, but all i find is an old man selling oil."
Tosu said, "You see the old oil-seller, but you don't know
Tosu."
JOSHU said, "Well, how about Tosu?"
Tosu held up the bottle and said, "Oil! Oil!"
At the funeral of one of his monks, JOSHU joined in the
procession and commented, "what a long procession of dead
bodies follows in the wake of a single living person!"

#8
Once JOSHU was asked, "What is the special teaching of your
school?"
JOSHU's response was, "Though the folding screen is broken,
the frame is still there."
At another time, the same question was asked of JOSHU, and
he replied, "ask in a loud voice -- i'm hard of hearing."
when the monk had repeated the question in a loud voice,
JOSHU said, "you ask me my special teaching -- i know your
special teaching."
Once, JOSHU was asked to go to a Korean temple to a
meeting. When he reached the gate, he asked, "what temple
is this?"
someone answered: "a Korean one."
JOSHU said, "You and i are oceans away."
On another occasion, a monk asked, "When a beggar comes,
what shall we give him?"
JOSHU answered, "He is lacking in nothing."

(Excerpts from Osho's book 'Joshu: The Lion's Roar ')