Question

Why Koan bull passes tail?

Answer 1

here is your answer

This is a koan that has come up for me now since it reflects immediate experience.

The ox passes through the window. The world and this human self is recognized, in immediacy, as awakeness itself. As no thing appearing as something.

Yet the tail does not pass through. There is still identification with the doer and observer. Even as the doer and observer is recognized as awakeness itself, even as it is recognized as a gestalt made up of sensations and images, there is still some remaining identification there.

There is no problem here of course, it just part of the process. It is perfect as is.

And the practical answer to that koan is to continue investigate, including any movement to want it to change, and leave the rest to grace. Let Your will be done, not mine.

Of course, I don’t know if this is what the koan refers to. And I have even less idea of how this koan would be passed when working with a teacher. But I don’t really need to either.


hope you understand

Answer 2

Goso said, "For example, it's just like a cow passing through a laticed window. Her head, horns, and four legs have passed through. Why is it that her tail can't pass through?"

Mumon's Commentary:

If in regard to this you are unable to turn yourself upside down, attain one single eye, and utter a turning word, you will be able to repay the four obligations above and help the living beings of the three realms below. If you are still unable to do this, reflect again on the tail; then you will be able to grasp it for the first time.