I took the stick on my usual walk. I do it at least twice a week – often more. It usually takes me an hour and a half – plenty of time for thinking, if that’s what you’re into. Sometimes my random or trivial thoughts are shelved and I think about Zen koans. This doesn’t mean I’ve cracked them yet, or should I say they haven’t cracked me… yet.

Walking with Pete’s stick triggered off a memory of some stick-related koans. They (and lots more) come from “Zen Flesh, Zen Bones”, published by Penguin, and compiled by Paul Reps. The photos come from Sylvia who, as it happens used to take pictures of people’s bones, when she worked as a radiographer. Don’t ask me where my own thoughts come from!

Mumon said: If you call this a stick,
you oppose its reality.If you do not
call it a stick, you ignore the fact.
Now quickly say what it is.

Stick and stones,
don’t break my bones.

What is brown and sticky?
(A stick, in the mud)

Is this not a stick?

Is this not-a-stick?

Mumon said: When there
is no bridge over the
creek, this stick will help me.
When I return home
on a moonless night, this
stick will accompany me.
But if you call it a stick,
you will enter hell like an
arrow.

Basho said; When you have a stick I will give it to you.
If you have no stick, I will take it away from you.
I said: Bye-bye, stick.