A buffalo passes through a window

Some thoughts on a Zen koan.

The Gateless Barrier #38: A Buffalo Passes Through the Window

Wu-tsu said, “It’s like a buffalo that passes through a latticed window. It’s head, horns, and four legs all pass through. Why can’t the tail pass through as well?”

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In Zen, the buffalo represents our essential nature. As we walk our path, many things become clarified, old karmic knots loosen, and life seems more joyous and interesting. We realize with our head, horns, and four legs, who we are in our true nature. But–there is a tail that can’t pass through. An old insecurity still gnaws at us. Or there’s an addiction that we stay with. We’re still angry and greedy and scared. And this goes against our fantasy of becoming perfected, through meditation, or psychoanalysis, or yogic living. We wanted to get rid of all those human flaws. Why won’t this tail go through?

As we’re busy trying to yank that tail through, we forget that we’re in a field of play, with all our buffalo parts and a window to jump back and forth through. If we can find our play, we can get curious about this tail, instead of just hating it. We can even see that the tail has a tale–what’s yours? We all have a tale of our tail, some kind of story about how unlovable we are, or damaged, or lost. But we prefer not to really think about this, we’d rather just yank it through (or off). Some people go around perpetrating their tail/tale on others, as we’re seeing in the latest round of Zen scandals. And many people try to segregate their tail into their body or sexuality, divorced from the prajna activity of the heart/mind. But the good news is, we don’t have to get rid of our tail/tale. The point is not to wipe them away like raindrops with a windshield wiper. They keep reappearing. We can just watch them. Give them room. Look at them square on, honestly. Let the tale spin out, and listen to every word with love. The tail/tale is where we can learn the most, if we dare to fearlessly look.

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