The Recorded Sayings of Zen Master Joshu Paperback – September 18, 2001

This is a great overview of ZM Yun Men's teaching. Very thorough.

Buying this for the fourth time, having freely loaned away the first copies, as I let people walk my collection and pick whatever they'd like to take away. This book comes up frequently whenever not-completely-asleep people ask for best-of recommendations. It's simply that good. The collection of koans is superbly fine in coverage and depth, easily on a level with the blue cliff record or Dogen or so forth. The dialogues are so hilarious I've woken up the house laughing when I'm reading in the late evenings. (on rereads for the nth time, not even the original go through) Many of the sayings and exchanges are just astonishingly fresh. Imho, there has probably never been anyone awake quite so specifically skilled as Joshu at fluidly and instantaneously manipulating language. Green's translation takes enormous care to preserve the multiple entendres (sometimes 4+ in some sentences and phrases) and wordplay, and the result is a marvel, even among marvels. Highly and unreservedly recommended.

This truly is monkey zen. his answers to questions are of the simplest possible kind, so simple that some find them very complicated. nonetheless they are all unnecessary complication of a simple matter. that person of no rank is simply the Me within Thou, as it is put in the Rubaiyat of Omar Kayam. an ancient scientist astronomer, a true zen master.why complicate things when they are so simple. Tungshan saw his reflection in the river and realised the ultimate. who was he looking at... not the witness, not mind, not consciousness, not I am, not the true person of no rank, not the natural state. he was just looking at plain old ''ME''. who is reading these words: Me. who sleeps. walks. talks. listens. knows. understands. sees. hears. etc etc. just plain old me. who is it who meditates or doesn't meditate. not the self. that's too abstract. just plain old me.when on the path of renunciation all has been renounced, including Buddha nature. I am nature and Me nature. there is still Me. though there is no longer a sensation of me ness still one is me. plain old me. simple old me. even when the self has been destroyed and consciousness has become ''THAT'', still one is ''ME'', being one and yet zero at the same time. existing and yet not existing at the same time. one is truly zero, zero is truly one.with master Joshu, horses and donkeys both cross over to enlightenment. there is no need of any special enlightenment, no special answer. he has nothing special to give, this is since he knew that all are buddhas regardless of their state. he had a mind of complete freedom. he could say complicated things, but he didn't need to. free to say all are buddhas, free to say none are buddhas. free to bow to master worm, or master sheep in the field behind the monastery. all is enlightenment, nothing is enlightenment. objective:subjective, both, neither, either... as you choose or simply just so. he was free. he could say whatever he wanted. including just its a nice day.this master is profound and I have much to learn from him. another great book is ''Master Yunmen''. his recorded sayings. The ''Record of Tung-Shan'' is slightly too intellectual. contrived. while this is so Joshu is simple and cheeky, nothing intellectual and yet certainly to the point.what is life? Me. what is the meaning of life? Me and who is Me? You. that's fundamental, however we seek love and how to just live in order to bring happiness to this sense of Me ness that we all have. er we seek to make life an art.Theres nothing to worry about, not even nothing at all.best wishes, Tom.

This is one of the first classic Zen texts recommended to me. I have read some of the more modern guys, Brad Warner, Shunryu suzuki, the Dalai lama, and little bit of source material from Dogen as well. This text stands out as my all time favorite so far. It gives a much more radical and critical feel to what we usually associate to Buddhism and Zen. It takes no prisoners and points directly, while having a lot more flavor than say, Bodhidharma.Its an absolute shame there are only seven reviews! I highly suggest this book to anyone interested in Zen. It will challenge you and make you laugh at the same time. Really incredibly!

Joshu is a wiseass. He's fun to read.Pick it up for fun and study. Maybe you'll find the key to the Gateless Gate within ;).

These zen stories are difficult. And yes, true religious insight is difficult. Joshu, who was 80 before he settled down to teach, was one of the great ones; and he did not make it easy for folks; and one might add, given human propensities, how could he?

Not well transliterated