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Title: Mud and Water by Bassui Tokusho, Arthur Braverman, Tokusho Bassu, Bassui Tokusho Zenji, Braverman Arthur ISBN: 0-86547-401-X Publisher: Weatherhill Pub. Date: 25 October, 1989 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $8.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)

Rating: 4
Summary: Boil It Down
Comment: Mud and Water
A Collection of Talks by the Zen Master Bassui
Translated by Arthur Braverman

Bassui Tokusho lived from 1327 to 1387, and is a prime example of the eccentric Zen Master of ancient times. He had little use for the more formal aspects of Zen and through most of his life did not wear robes, recite sutras and the like; his Zen practice was simply sitting in zazen oblivious to all hardships and conditions.

Little wonder then, that his central message in Mud and Water, a collection of talks made towards the end of his life, is just this: Buddhahood is seeing into one's original nature. In fact the entire book can be reduced to this maxim, and it forms the kernel of meaning in each answer he gives to the variety of questions posed to him.

The form is the book is quite simple: it is a collection of questions asked by students with various backgrounds and concerns, and his (often extended) answers. Whether expounding the meaning of a selection from the sutras or commenting on religious practices of the day (both of Zen and other Buddhist sects), Bassui boils Buddhist practice down to this: Seeing into your own nature is Buddhahood. Bassui in fact demonstrates a broad familiarity with Buddhist literature and is able to use his knowledge to great effect with his more literal-minded questioners, but always he returns to his central message, the question that was for him the burning koan of his own life: Who is it?

Students of Zen in the West are most likely to be familiar with Bassui from the translation of his Dharma Talk on One-Mind and the collection of letters to his disciples published in Philip Kapleau's The Three Pillars of Zen. Mud and Water is a more extended group of variations on Bassui's favorite theme.

Arthur Braverman's scholarly translation is fluent and readable, if somewhat overburdened with footnotes. Of interest to the student of the history of Zen will be the concerns of Bassui's students as evidenced by their questions; these show the diversity of beliefs and practices current within the various Buddhist sects of Bassui's time.

The careful reader will be impressed with the deftness with which Bassui turns every question into an opportunity to expound his own message. But if you really want to understand Bassui's Zen, just ask yourself this: Who is it, right now, that is reading this review?