Obakus Not Mind Not Buddha Zen Story
- Solien
- Dec 11, 2025
- 2 min read
Today we enter… Obaku’s “Not Mind, Not Buddha.” A koan that looks like refusal but is actually a doorway. A teaching that slices through every place your mind tries to land.
This one is bare. This one is merciless. This one is medicine.
Let’s step inside — slowly, bravely.
Let the Story Unfold
A monk once asked the great master Obaku:
What is the mind?
Obaku said:
Not mind.
The monk asked:
What is Buddha?
Obaku said:
Not Buddha.
The monk asked:
What is the Way?
Obaku said:
No Way.
The monk was stunned.
Obaku continued:
If I said yes, you would cling. If I said no, you would cling. Stop grasping for something to hold.
That is the Way.
Sit With the Meaning
Your mind wants an object. A definition. A thing to point at and call truth.
Zen destroys that impulse.
Obaku isn’t denying mind. He isn’t denying Buddha. He isn’t denying the Way.
He is denying your attempt to turn them into concepts you can possess.
When the monk reaches for mind, Obaku says no.
When the monk reaches for Buddha, Obaku says no.
When the monk reaches for the Way, Obaku says no.
Everything the monk wants to grasp is taken away.
This is not negation. This is liberation.
Obaku is cutting through every place the monk tries to stand. Every hook. Every attachment. Every conceptual foothold.
Because the moment you think you’ve found “it,” you’ve already moved away from reality.
Truth in Zen is not an object. Not a concept. Not a definition.
It is the space that remains when there is nothing left to cling to.
Turn Inward With Your Parts
Is there a part of you that becomes anxious when there is no clear answer to hold?
What happens inside when someone removes the certainty you were reaching for?
Can you sense a protector that wants spiritual truths to be “objects” it can manage or control?
What younger part fears that not-knowing means danger, failure, or loss of identity?
Where in your system does grasping tighten you the most?
Let Expression Rise
Choose what feels open:
IFS Journaling
Write from the part that needs understanding. Ask it: What am I afraid will happen if the answer isn’t solid? What does not-knowing threaten?
IFS Parts Art
Draw “not mind, not Buddha.”Not as symbols, draw the space where answers fall away. What does absence look like in your system?
Somatic IFS
Sit still.
Let your breath soften.
Notice one thought you reach for.
Then let it drop.
Feel the moment after, before the next grasping begins.
Stay there.
And if none of these feel right… simply rest with the koan. Let the emptiness teach what words cannot.
Stay here with your parts as long as you like, and we’ll meet again in the next story.
Continue Exploring the Zen Stories
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