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A `KATSU' SHOUT.
BOKUSHU SAID, "THIS OLD MONK IS SHOUTED DOWN BY YOU."
THE MONK SHOUTED AGAIN.
BOKUSHU SAID, "WHAT ABOUT THE THIRD AND FOURTH SHOUTS?"
THE MONK STAYED SILENT.
BOKUSHU HIT THE MONK AND SAID, "YOU EMPTY-HEADED FOOL!"
SETCHO PUT IT LIKE THIS:
TWO SHOUTS, THREE SHOUTS;
THE KNOWING ONE KNOWS WELL;
IF GOING HELL-BENT,
BOTH ARE BLIND.
WHO IS BLIND? FETCH HIM!
EXPOSE HIM TO THE WORLD!
OSHO,
I ALSO AM AN EMPTY-HEADED FOOL -- I DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS SUTRA AT ALL! COULD YOU GIVE THE FIFTH SHOUT?
Maneesha, it is a beautiful koan. Bokushu is one of the great Zen masters.
He asked a monk, WHERE ARE YOU FROM?
This is always asked by the Zen masters when a new disciple comes. And just by the answer of the disciple it is decided whether he is going to be accepted as a disciple or thrown out. It is immensely important, it is not just a sociability, not a kind of introduction.
When Bokushu asked the monk, "WHERE ARE YOU FROM?" THE MONK GAVE A `KATSU' SHOUT. Just as you say Yaa-Hoo! -- it is a shout, without saying anything but making it clear that "I am here and it does not matter from where I come. What kind of nonsense question are you asking? I can come from anywhere -- that does not matter. What matters is: I have come."
The shout is to declare that "I am here and you are asking stupid questions... Ask something about me! Don't waste time."
But Bokushu was not to be satisfied so easily, because it has now become traditional. So when the master asks -- although you don't understand what you are doing -- you can give a shout. It is known; it is written in the scriptures... thousands of incidents. But you cannot cheat a man of the quality of Bokushu .
BOKUSHU SAID, "THIS OLD MONK IS SHOUTED DOWN BY YOU."
THE MONK SHOUTED AGAIN.
BOKUSHU SAID, "WHAT ABOUT THE THIRD AND FOURTH SHOUTS?"
Now he has created trouble. He has never heard about the third and fourth. The first and second shouts have become traditional by the time of Bokushu , and a master's function is to cut through the tradition. So he said,
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