Dave Cuomo - The Beautiful Boring of Blockhead (History of Zen - Shitou vs Mazu!)

“Get to know your own heart. It isn’t permanent or impermanent. It isn’t good or bad. It is clear and perfect.” - Shitou

Dave returns to pickup our storyline to find that almost as soon as Zen had coalesced itself into one cohesive school of Buddhism, Shitou & Mazu come along and split into two separate streams that will run next to each other for the next 1300 years all the way down to today. It's a story of the beautifully boring side of Zen vs the wacky and weird that will become Soto vs Rinzai in later generations. Along the way we see the birth of three stooges Zen in the koans, and get treated to a loving rendition of Shitou's classic poem "Grass Hut Song" about the quiet nothingness warmly embracing everything.