Throw It Away

Do you feel you’ve acquired the experiential understanding of your true self? Better watch out, cause a Zen master might recommend that you doubt what that understanding is.

Today’s Koan comes from a dialogue between a monk and master Joshu, which begins with the monk’s asking Joshu how one should practice after realizing one’s true nature and obtaining a deep understanding of emptiness of things. This monk may have become overconfident by acquiring an experiential understanding of Truth, and Joshu should have seen through it. Joshu’s answer is “Throw it away.”

What did Joshu ask the monk to throw away? The answer is in the monk’s question to the master. The monk asks Joshu what he should throw away when there is nothing to be thrown away. On the back side of this utterance, there is still a “remainder” that the monk still holds onto: “there is nothing to be thrown away.” The monk is still subtly attached to this quasi-state of not having anything, which paradoxically means that he has something that should be thrown away.

Then, Joshu, in a most artful way, try to make the monk notice that remainder of his own. Joshu says, “Take that with you, if that is such a precious thing for you.”

What is precious to you? Money? Family? Work? Joshu will say, throw it away, throw it away, throw it away. Does that mean you go to a mountain and become a hermit? Not really. Throwing away here suggests to quit attaching to them. Just like you quit smoking, it is difficult to just think about quitting and completely quit it.

Here’s a good way: know that nothing can be attached to! To get attached to something, that “"something” should always be regarded as something concrete, lasting, which means it’s graspable. Plus, you need to think that “"you” are, in the same way, concrete, lasting, so able to attach to it. Now, what if all these were something like a paper tiger, a hollow shell, bubble, dream, and the like? There’s no point in even trying to attach to something.

This requires that you see reality as it is, which enables the dropping of attachment without any sort of effort. Make effort to drop effort. Attend to the things you are attached to, and observe the sensations that comes along with them. What do you see? Worth trying.