Ox through a Window

It is as though a water buffalo is passing through a lattice window.  Its head, horns and four legs have all gone through. Why can’t its tail go through? Case 16 Wu’Men Kuan

Koans can truly ring like the theatre of the absurd. Their playful logic challenges us. And vast dimensions revealed in practice resolve in the homely and concrete. This teisho explores the question of that old cow passing through a window. What does it point to? Who is that bovine? How are we training to be “real?” The talk also includes a not incidental meander through the Ten Oxherding Pictures. 

This teisho was given by Maggie Gluek, roshi at the SZC Autumn sesshin 2022