Teaching the Unteachable

The Buddha is said to have told people, right before his death, that he hadn’t taught a single thing throughout his forty-nine year career. This contradicts with what a lot of people today know about him: as we know, the Buddha went on his journey to save human beings from suffering, teaching them theories and feasible methods he drew from his experience of enlightenment, with which his suffering ended.

It is often said that Zen teachings are the finger pointing at the moon, but not the moon itself. If the Buddha, as mentioned above, referred to the finger, it’s quite understandable that his words before death sound quite awkward. But say he was referring to the moon … now, lo and behold, this makes perfect sense; it’s not that he didn’t teach, but he COULDN’T teach it. And this also means that no one can teach it.

This leads us to the following Koan that almost sounds funny: “Teach Mu to a baby boy.” Mu is one of the most popular Koans that are given to beginning practitioners, to which they have to find an answer. It is an equivalent to asking what the ultimate truth is. After successfully realizing what it is, practitioners are tested whether their understanding is crystal clear of they are still intellectually grasping the idea of what truth is. The one I’ve just mentioned is one of the variations of the Mu additional test.

Teaching Mu to a baby boy is like teaching something unteachable to someone to whom it is unteachable. So, how would you do it? Give it a try, but one thing to remember … you have to first grasp Mu very firmly, which means you have to conquer the moon, not the finger! How we do it? Say “Muuuuuuuuuu!!!” with your whole might, again and again. Then, Mu will tell you how to teach the unteachable.