joshu's page Joshu Washes the Bowl A monk told Joshu: 'I have just entered the monestary. Please teach me.' Joshu asked: 'Have you eaten your rice porridge?' The monk replied: 'I have eaten.' Joshu said: 'Then you had better wash your bowl' At that moment the monk was enlightened          It is too clear and so it is hard to see. A dunce once searched for a fire with a lighted lantern. Had he known what fire was, He could have cooked his rice much sooner.          Joshu's Zen Joshu began his early study of Zen when he was sixty years old and continued until he was eighty, when he realized Zen. He taught from the age of eighty until he was one hundred and twenty. A student once asked him: 'If I haven't anything in my mind, what shall I do? Joshu replied: 'Throw it out.' 'But if I haven't anything, how can I throw it out?' 'Well,' said Joshu, 'then carry it out.'