Shoji is the Japanese word for “life and death.” Where will we go when we die? In this teisho, Valerie takes up the matter of life and death and its prime importance. The koan for this teisho is from Dogen’s collection of 300 koans, case 3. Joshu asks his teacher, Nansen, “Where will the one who knows go?” Nansen answers, “To the donor’s house near the mountain and become a water buffalo.” This koan is considered alongside several death poems by noted Zen masters. Listen as the autumn waters touch the sky and the masters plunge into the yellow springs.
