It was Zhaozhou's response to the question posed in the first koan of The Gateless Gate.
It was Zhaozhou's response to the question posed in the first koan of The Gateless Gate. It is used to respond to other koans to indicate that the question itself is wrong, and part of the brilliance of the answer to the first one is lost in translation, as this Chinese word is also the onomatopoeia for the noise that the animal makes. The answer to "Has the dog Buddha-nature or not?", FTP, identify this word, which when coupled with wei indicates the central tenet of no action in Taoism.
It was Zhaozhou's response to the question posed in the first koan of The Gateless Gate.
{Wu} (prompt on “Not” or equivalents or {“Mu”} before “Chinese word” is read)