Bodhidharma said, “I don't know.” [Repeated from yesterday's post]
Bodhidharma in his answer appeared to be someone who is just sitting without thinking, without doing anything, being with everything—without form, without color. He revealed himself in that way for the emperor. But the emperor wanted to know someone who was wise, who was powerful, who was learned, who was very helpful. So this question and answer was not so successful.
Sumi painting by Michael Hofmann
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-11-11 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.