Like Cats and Dogs: Contesting the Mu Koan in Zen Buddhism

by Steven Heine

Koans are dialogues that stand at the center of Zen Buddhist literature and are often used to provoke the "great doubt" in testing a trainee's progress. The Mu Koan consists of a brief conversation in which a monk asks Master Zhaozhou whether or not a dog has Buddha-nature. According to the main version, the reply is "Mu" literally, "No," but implying the philosophical notion of nothingness. This case is widely considered to be the single best- known...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0199837309
• ISBN13: 9780199837304
• Release Date: November 2013
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.1"