Once a monk asked Billy-Bob Gautama, “Does a dog have a Buddha nature or not?” Billy-Bob said, “Mu.” The monk smiled and said, “That is the right answer. By saying ‘yes’ you would be thoughtlessly parroting traditional teachings; but by saying ‘no’ you would be denying the dog’s Buddha nature. By saying, ‘Mu’ you tell me that neither answer is correct; rather, the question is a paradox, and like all paradoxes, is used to gain insight into our own Buddha nature.” “Actually,” said Billy-Bob, scratching the ears of his coon-hound, “I was just telling you his name.” Thus was the monk enlightened.
Mu.
Once a monk asked Billy-Bob Gautama, “Does a dog have a Buddha nature or not?” Billy-Bob immediately struck the monk with a stick. “Why did you do that?” asked the monk. “Better you than me,” said Billy-Bob, and the monk was enlightened.
“The thing to remember about Zen is that hitting your teacher is always a valid answer.” — Michael Butler
Once Billy-Bob was running a hot dog stand at a local high school football game. A monk came up and said “Make me one with everything”.
The Monk handed Billy-Bob a ten. Billy-Bob handed the monk his a loaded hot dog. “My change?” said the Monk.
“Change must come from within,” said Billy-Bob, and the monk was enlightened.
The monk asked, “What is zen?”
Billy-Bob replied, “Amazon has 15,772 books that mention zen.”
The monk said, “No one could read and understand so many books.”
Billy-Bob smiled and the monk was enlightened.