The Legend of The Barking Cow

The ancient Zen book, The Gateless Gate tells this story known as “Joshu's Dog”:

A monk asked Joshu, a Zen master, “Has a dog Buddha-nature or not?”
Joshu replied, “Mu.”

There is some contention among modern translators as to the meaning of the word ‘Mu.’ It is generally understood to be the negative symbol in Chinese, meaning ‘No-thing’ or ‘Nay' or ‘cease to be,’ but it is certain that ‘Mu’ does not mean ‘No’ in the Western sense of the word. A later commentator had this to say about the event:

Has a dog Buddha-nature?
This is the most serious question of all.
If you say yes or no,
You lose your own Buddha-nature*

*Translation: Joshu was spot-on with his answer. It is related anecdotally (and perhaps apocryphally as well) that the answer which Joshu gave was so remarkable that the scribe recording the incident achieved instant enlightenment and thus failed to capture what happened next:

The monk then asked Joshu, “Has a cow Buddha-nature?”
The Zen master looked the monk in the eye and replied, “Woof.”

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