Looking for this Buddhist/chinese proverb

[newarkhiphop]

Been looking for this for year it was posted on SOHH, dont remember exactly how it went but basically it was a master and a student talkin and the student asked the master how he can be like him , and the master said something like "first you must finish your porridge"

+rep for whoever can find it

 

[Berniewood Hogan]

http://www.nozen.com/washbowl.htm

 

[newarkhiphop]

http://www.nozen.com/washbowl.htm

props + rep

 

[WhiteDawg3000]

I can't stand koan's sometimes. Some of them really irk me

 

[newarkhiphop]

I can't stand koan's sometimes. Some of them really irk me

Ive been reading this one for two days and still dont get it

 

[Berniewood Hogan]

Ive been reading this one for two days and still dont get it

YOU MEAN THE ONE ABOUT CLEANING THE BOWL, BROTHER?

Spoiler

*sits cross-legged*

*adjusts kimono*

*sips tea*

Well, let me tell you what it probably means, brother. The general consensus on this particular story is that the teacher is telling the student that he needs to forget everything he learned before so that he won't have biases about the new lessons the teacher will eventually give him. The food in his bowl was his prior learning, cleaning the bowl is the act of forgetting that shyt, or at least being willing to put aside preconceived notions.

My dissenting opinion is that the conviction of true monks is that this is all there is to life. You eat, you do the dishes, tomorrow you do it again, and someday you die. There is no great "enlightenment" to be found beyond this recognition of your own mortality. But I'm not a zen master, brother. I'm just a professional wrestler.

 

[newarkhiphop]

YOU MEAN THE ONE ABOUT CLEANING THE BOWL, BROTHER?

Spoiler

*sits cross-legged*

*adjusts kimono*

*sips tea*

Well, let me tell you what it probably means, brother. The general consensus on this particular story is that the teacher is telling the student that he needs to forget everything he learned before so that he won't have biases about the new lessons the teacher will eventually give him. The food in his bowl was his prior learning, cleaning the bowl is the act of forgetting that shyt, or at least being willing to put aside preconceived notions.

My dissenting opinion is that the conviction of true monks is that this is all there is to life. You eat, you do the dishes, tomorrow you do it again, and someday you die. There is no great "enlightenment" to be found beyond this recognition of your own mortality. But I'm not a zen master, brother. I'm just a professional wrestler.

funny enough thats the exact same thing me and my girl thought it was but i decided to look it up just now, the answer is actual simpler

*dont click spoiler if you dont wish find enlightenment on your own brother*

Spoiler

This kōan is an idiom and the student is assumed to be aware of its cultural context. If one does not know this context, the kōan cannot be understood from the traditional reference point.
The meal of consideration is a traditional meal of rice. It was customary for monks to maintain samadhi (the practice which produces complete meditation) while eating this meal, and so Zhaozhou is not asking whether the monk has eaten: he asks instead whether the monk was able to remain in samadhi throughout the meal. The monk affirms, and then realizes he has already received the teaching. This kōan is one of the 12 Gates taught in the Kwan Um School of Zen.
The first principle of Zen is that there is no Zen. The monk was enlightened before he asked.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gateless_Gate#Case_7:_Joshu_Washes_the_Bowl

 

[Berniewood Hogan]

WITH ALL DUE RESPECT, I THINK THAT'S SOME SLANT-EYE BULLshyt, MEAN GENE!

 

[Quarterback]

Not only did Hulk wrestle better in Asia, he also picked up ancient wisdom there