Dried Shit Stick

A monk asked Yunmen, " What is Buddha?" Yunmen replied, "Dried shit stick."

Reflection

Yunmen's 'Dried shit stick' (another version) repeats the shocking response to 'What is Buddha?' The deliberate crudeness demolishes any idea that Buddha is a special, holy object. If Buddha can be a dried shit stick, then Buddha is everything and nothing – no category can contain ultimate reality. The koan returns the seeker to the raw present moment.