In this episode, Roshi John Tarrant tackles the first great gate of koan study, in which a student asks, "Does a dog have Buddha nature or not?" And, Zhaozhou simply answers, "No," (translated as "Mu" in Japanese, and "Wu" in Chinese).

Exploring the vivid commentaries that accompany this foundational koan case, including instructions to "cut off the mind road" and "make your whole body a mass of doubt," Tarrant speaks about entering deeply the very trouble we usually seek to avoid, and the modesty of setting down our most treasured defenses against it. Being clever, being important, being tough won't help. It's when all this falls away that freedom appears.

How then should you work with this? Listen to find out.

"For the practice of Zen it is imperative that you pass through the barriers set up by the founding teachers." - John Tarrant.

Learn more about this episode of Meeting the Inconceivable at https://www.pacificzen.org/08