#Post(s) in Question

Post:  https://www.reddit.com/r/zen/comments/1ehq0kj/why_sutras_are_not_zen/

三十八 牛過窗櫺

• Thirty-eight: The Buffalo Passes Through the Lattice

五祖曰。譬如水牯牛過窗櫺。頭角四蹄都過了。因甚麼。尾巴過不得。

• The Wuzu said, "Consider a water buffalo passing through a window latticed frame1. Its head, horns, and four hooves have all passed through. Why then can't the tail pass through?"

【無門曰】

• Wumen says,

若向者裏。顛倒著得一隻眼。下得一轉語。可以上報四恩下資三有。其或未然。更須照顧尾巴始得。

• "If in this matter, you can gain one eye by turning things upside down and articulate a phrase that turns it around, you can repay the four kinds of kindness2 above, and help the three realms below. If not, you must still take care of the tail before you can succeed."

【頌曰】

• The verse says,

過去墮坑塹　回來卻被壞　者些尾巴子　直是甚奇怪

• "Having passed through, it falls into a pit; coming back broke his tail. This tail, indeed, is most peculiar."

1An wood lactice boarder around the inside of a window with no glass, decorative, making the window smaller.

2Metta (good will) , karuna (compassionate helpfulness), mudita (joy in others’ success), and upekkha (acceptance).

 

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#What did we end up talking about?

Yamada "latticed window" and JC has "window frame". It's not a metaphor. It's a double entendre, in which the metaphor for enlightenment depends on the very realistic scenario of a cow trying to go through a large picture window. How does the poem make sense?  Because it totally does, it's simple.

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