Koan Summer 8: When the Four Elements Scatter

A small child squats to look at an insect, her hair a nimbus backlit by the morning sun. Old friends reminisce, “Do you remember when. . .?” We share an awareness of aging, of time passing, of the body and brain shifting.  Tou-shuai’s Three Barriers (Case 47 of the Mumonkan) asks: “When the light of your eyes falls, how are you free?”