a koan answered?

[Vaska]

A nice post, Will; very nice indeed.
Vaska

At 05:33 PM 7/9/97 W. Karlin wrote:

>  to wit:  on p. 22 L.E.D. relates the koan in which a student asks
>"whether a Dog hath the nature of the divine Buddha."  The master answers
>with a single word: "mu."  
>
>  Later on p. 61 the phrase "assigning to every Looking-Glass a
>Coefficient of Mercy,-- term it u,--..."  Actually, that "u" is the greek
>character "mu" (can't do the real symbol).  
>  The answer to the koan is mercy.  The question whether the dog hath the
>nature of the divine buddha (and hence deserving the respect we *should*
>afford our fellow man) is not the right question. I think the real
>question,-- how do we treat the dog without knowing whether it hath the
>NDB?,-- is answered...we show it mercy.  (Which may mean that the Dog
>hath the NDB.)
>
>  Goes along with the "soul in every stone", I think.