How Do You Get Out?

              The Fireplace Records, Chapter 38

How Do You Get Out?

Porcupine Roshi was a jovial fellow. He enjoyed jokes.  He laughed often. He was fond of riddles.  

Porcupine Roshi died last winter of pneumonia. One of his friends was reading one of Porcuspine's many old notebooks. He found some curious riddles:

Imagine you are in a room with no windows or doors. How do you get out?

I dreamt I was in jail and to be executed for a crime I did not commit.  How do I escape?

I thought about all the bad situations I could get myself into. This was driving me crazy. What can I do?

Answers: Stop imagining; stop dreaming; stop thinking for awhile.

How many sides does a Zen Circle have?
Two! The inside and the outside.

Porcupine drew a small circle on the ground with his stick. He sat outside the circle. Then, he said, "We must choose to sit outside of the Zen Circle, or sit inside of the Zen Circle, or standing strong and passing between the two sides of the Zen Circle while laughing at ourselves."

Comments, Sources, Observations, Koans, Poems, Quips:

Know the difference between fiction and non-fiction.
Reasoning can be more useful than dreams or imagination.
It is easy to distinguish between being awake or dreaming.
Deal with real events, not how you imagine them beforehand.
Think about or imagine something positive happening.
Don't let your imagination cripple you.
Nobody ever gets away from the grasp of Death.
Imagining something does not make it real.
Watch out for Porcupine Roshi's sharp quills.

Draw the Zen Circle wide enough so that many can sit within.
A few Zen Koans are riddles, and a few Riddles are zen koans.
Surprise laughter after a riddle's answer is a minor insight of sorts.
Some puzzles have no solution, no resolution, no conclusion.
Drawing a circle is a common metaphorical act in Zen.
What side of the Zen Circle are you on?

Riddles (200+ Riddles, with No Ads.)

Refer to my Cloud Hands Blog Posts on the topic of Koans/Stories. 

Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans

Zen Buddhist Koans: Indexes, Bibliography, Commentary, Information

The Daodejing by Laozi

Pulling Onions  Over 1,043 One-line Sayings, Quips, Maxims, Humor

Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans

The Fireplace Records (Blog Version) By Michael P. Garofalo

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