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mu koan paintings 2002 


These paintings feature the Mu koan which goes something like this:


A monk asks the master, "Does a dog have Buddha-nature?"


The master answers "Mu."


The master's answer of Mu, which is Japanese for No is paradoxical since according to Buddhist doctrine, all beings including dogs are supposed to have Buddha-nature. However, the master's answer of Mu challenges the questioner not to rely on an intellectual understanding of Buddhist doctrine but to come to an existential understanding instead.