A monk asked Jōshū, “Does a dog have Buddha-nature or not?” Jōshū answered, “無” (‘Mu’, a negation). Some earlier Buddhist thinkers proposed that animals *did* have Buddha-nature, others believed that they did not. Therefore, to answer “no” is to deny their wisdom, but to say “yes” is to blindly follow their teachings. Jōshū’s answer means […]