In eighth century China, a monk quite seriously asks the Zen master Zhauzhou (Joshu) “Does a dog have buddha nature? Zhaozhou aswers immediately ‘mu’.
A koan is a succinct and paradoxical statement or question designed, when used as an object of meditation, to eventually/suddenly blow away the obscurations of mental activity that prevent deep realization of True Nature.
Mu, one of most famous Zen koans, is fascinating on many levels. One is the fact that, like Om, it is a single syllable empowered with Cosmic energy. Mu is actually the Japanese translation of the Chinese word ‘wu’ as, although Zen has its roots in 7th or 8th century China, most of modern Zen comes from Japan. The origin of the word Zen comes from the Chinese ‘Chan‘ or ‘Channa’, which in turn comes from the Sanskrit dhyana, the 7th limb of Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga, meaning meditation.
Working with Mu first requires a translation. Wu or Mu is a negative. It can be ‘no’, ‘not have’, ‘nothing’, ‘without’, or, ‘not there’. The Taoist expression ‘wu wei’, non-action, is a koan in itself.
As you sit in your meditation practice, the mind will, as its habit, constantly seek something to do, something to grasp, some way to stay busy. There is much ancestral and karmic momentum in the mind field. That is just the way it is.
To work with mu, using somatic wisdom, allow the physiological energy body to rise up from unconscious dullness/tamas to sattva, the balance of weight/groundednes and lightness/spaciousness. Sthira sukham asanam. Then begin relaxing and resting in the breathing to help settle the psychological attention in the sattvic physiological energy. Let your attention on the breathing be light and allow the spaciousness and stillness come to the foreground of attention. Feel calm and alert at the same time. Allow your attention to dissolve into the ungraspable emptiness/fullness/source. Allow your curiosity to awaken.
As we discover again and again, resting in stillness is not so easy. The deeply ingrained habit is for the mind to grasp onto something/anything in the realm of sensation, thought, memory and imagination. This comes from a deep seated terror of ‘no-thingness’ that is a major, and yet totally artificial boundary. Our animal survival instincts are powerful and need to be tamed carefully and patiently. A sattvic/dynamically balanced physiology from our somatic meditation is the key to prepare us to let go into ‘no-thing’-ness. And then ….
Here comes Mu! When you notice mind has grabbed onto some sensation or thought, just say ‘mu’, not there! Return to the breath and relax in the encompassing stillness. Whenever grasping or any other distraction arises, remind yourself ‘mu, not there’. Failure is the inescapable human norm. Be patient, Return to the breath and the encompassing stillness. True Nature can not be found through any attempt to hold on or push away, cannot be found in any conceptualization. ‘The tao that can be spoken is not the True Tao.’ Not There!
Let go into the breath, let go into emptiness, and when distracted, as you will be, mu! Then in your daily life, mu will be with you. Life will flow through you as embodying presence. You will be mu. Not there…everywhere!