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Koan developed during the Tang Dynasty{{sfn|Schlütter|2008|p=111}} from the recorded sayings collections of Chán-masters, which quoted many stories of "a famous past Chán figure's encounter with disciples or other interlocutors and then offering his own comment on it".{{sfn|Schlütter|2008|p=109}} Those stories came to be known as gongan, "public cases".{{sfn|Schlütter|2008|p=109}} Such a story was only considered a gongan when it was commented upon by another Chán-master.{{sfn|Schlütter|2008|p=109}} This practice of commenting on the words and deeds of past masters confirmed the master's position as awakened master in a lineage of awakened masters of the past.{{sfn|Schlütter|2008|p=1109}}
Koan developed during the Tang Dynasty{{sfn|Schlütter|2008|p=111}} from the recorded sayings collections of Chán-masters, which quoted many stories of "a famous past Chán figure's encounter with disciples or other interlocutors and then offering his own comment on it".{{sfn|Schlütter|2008|p=109}} Those stories came to be known as gongan, "public cases".{{sfn|Schlütter|2008|p=109}} Such a story was only considered a gongan when it was commented upon by another Chán-master.{{sfn|Schlütter|2008|p=109}} This practice of commenting on the words and deeds of past masters confirmed the master's position as awakened master in a lineage of awakened masters of the past.{{sfn|Schlütter|2008|p=1109}}


From this practice of commenting on cases developed the assignment of individual cases to students to contemplate on, and eventually attain an initial insight. In the eleventh century this practice had become common.{{sfn|Schlütter|2008|p=111}}
The assignment of individual cases to students to contemplate on (and eventually attain an initial insight) developed from the practice of commenting on cases. In the eleventh century this practice had become common.{{sfn|Schlütter|2008|p=111}} A new literary genre developed from this tradition as well. Collections of such commented cases were compiled which consisted of the case itself, accompanied by verse or prose commentary.{{sfn|Schlütter|2008|p=110}}

From this tradition of commenting on past cases developed, at the beginning of the Song Dynasty, a new literary genre. Collections of such commented cases were compiled. They consisted of the case itself, accompanied by verse or prose commentary.{{sfn|Schlütter|2008|p=110}}


===Interaction===
===Interaction===

Revision as of 11:51, 1 October 2012

A kōan (公案)/[invalid input: 'icon']ˈk.ɑːn/; Chinese: 公案; pinyin: gōng'àn; Korean: 공안 (kong'an); Vietnamese: công án) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement, which is used in Zen-practice to provoke the "great doubt", and test a student's progress in Zen practice.

Etymology

Kōan is a Japanese rendering of the Chinese term (公案), transliterated kung-an (Wade-Giles) or gōng'àn (Pinyin).

Chung Feng Ming Pen (中峰明本 1263–1323) wrote that kung-an is an abbreviation for kung-fu an-tu (公府之案牘, Pinyin gōngfǔ zhī àndú, pronounced in Japanese as kōfu no antoku), which referred to a "public record" or the "case records of a public law court" in Tang-dynasty China.[1][2][a] Kōan/kung-an thus serves as a metaphor for principles of reality beyond the private opinion of one person, and a teacher may test the student's ability to recognize and understand that principle.

Commentaries in kōan collections bear some similarity to judicial decisions that cite and sometimes modify precedents. An article by T. Griffith Foulk claims

...Its literal meaning is the 'table' or 'bench' an of a 'magistrate' or 'judge' kung.[2]

Kung-an was itself originally a metaphor — an article of furniture that came to denote legal precedents. A well-known example of this legal usage is The Cases of Judge Dee (狄公案 Di Gongan in Chinese), a Ming dynasty novel based on a historical Tang dynasty judge. In the same way, Zen kōan collections are public records of the notable sayings and actions of Zen disciples and masters attempting to pass on their teachings.

Origins and development

Encounter dialogue

Koan developed during the Tang Dynasty[4] from the recorded sayings collections of Chán-masters, which quoted many stories of "a famous past Chán figure's encounter with disciples or other interlocutors and then offering his own comment on it".[5] Those stories came to be known as gongan, "public cases".[5] Such a story was only considered a gongan when it was commented upon by another Chán-master.[5] This practice of commenting on the words and deeds of past masters confirmed the master's position as awakened master in a lineage of awakened masters of the past.[6]

The assignment of individual cases to students to contemplate on (and eventually attain an initial insight) developed from the practice of commenting on cases. In the eleventh century this practice had become common.[4] A new literary genre developed from this tradition as well. Collections of such commented cases were compiled which consisted of the case itself, accompanied by verse or prose commentary.[7]

Interaction

The recorded encounter dialogues, and the koan collections which derived from this genre, mark a shift from solitary practice to interaction between master and student:

The essence of enlightenment came to be identified with the interaction between masters and students. Whatever insight dhyana might bring, its verification was always interpersonal. In effect, enlightenment came to be understood not so much as an insight, but as a way of acting in the world with other people[8]

This mutual enquiry of the meaning of the encounters of masters and students of the past gave students a role model:

One looked at the enlightened activities of one's lineal forebears in order to understand one's own identity [...] taking the role of the participants and engaging in their dialogues instead[9][b]

Literary practice

Koan practice developed from a literary practice, styling snippets of encounter-dialogue into well-edited stories. It arose in interaction with "educated literati".[10] There were dangers involved in such a literary approach, such as fixing specific meanings to the cases.[10] Dahui Zonggao is even said to have burned the woodblocks of the Blue Cliff Record, for the hindrance it had become to study of Chán by his students[11] Kōan literature was also influenced by the pre-Zen Chinese tradition of the "literary game" — a competition involving improvised poetry.[12]

The style of writing of Zen texts has been influenced by "a variety of east Asian literary games"[13]:

  1. The extensive use of allusions, which create a feeling of disconnection with the main theme;
  2. Indirect references, such as titling a poem with one topic and composing a verse that seems on the surface to be totally unrelated;
  3. Inventive wordplay based on the fact that kanji (Chinese characters) are homophonic and convey multiple, often complementary or contradictory meanings;
  4. Linking the verses in a sustained string based on hidden points of connection or continuity, such as seasonal imagery or references to myths and legends.[13]

Doctrinal background

The popular western understanding sees kōan as referring to an unanswerable question or a meaningless statement. However, in Zen practice, a kōan is not meaningless, and not a riddle or a puzzle. Teachers do expect students to present an appropriate response when asked about a kōan.[14][15][16][17]

Koans are also understood as pointers to an unmediated "Pure Consciousness", devoid of cognitive activity.[18] Victor Hori criticizes this understanding:

[A] pure consciousness without concepts, if there could be such a thing, would be a booming, buzzing confusion, a sensory field of flashes of light, unidentifiable sounds, ambiguous shapes, color patches without significance. This is not the consiousness of the enlightened Zen master.[19]

According to Hori, a central theme of many koans is the 'identity of opposites':[20][21]

[K]oan after koan explores the theme of nonduality. Hakuin's well-known koan, "Two hands clap and there is a sound, what is the sound of one hand?" is clearly about two and one. The koan asks, you know what duality is, now what is nonduality? In "What is your original face before your mother and father were born?" the phrase "father and mother" alludes to duality. This is obvious to someone versed in the Chinese tradition, where so much philosophical thought is presented in the imagery of paired opposites. The phrase "your original face" alludes to the original nonduality.[20]

Comparable statements are: "Look at the flower and the flower also looks"; "Guest and host interchange".[22]

Koan-practice

Study of kōan literature is common to all schools of Zen, though with varying empahsises and curriculae.[23] A kōan or part of a kōan may serve as a point of concentration during meditation and other activities, often called "kōan practice" (as distinct from "kōan study", the study of kōan literature). Kōan may consist of a perplexing element or a concise but critical word or phrase (話頭 huàtóu) extracted from the story. It may also refer to poetry and commentary added to the story by later Zen teachers.

A kōan may be used as a test of a Zen student's ability. For monks in formal training, and for some laypersons, a teacher invokes a kōan and demands some definite response from a student during private interviews. Kōans are often presented with the teacher's unique commentary. A kōan may seem to be the subject of a talk or private interview with a student. The dialog, lecture, or sermon involving the kōan may resemble a performance, ritual duty, or poetry reading.

Instructions for kōan-practice

A qualified teacher provides instruction in kōan practice in private.

In the Wumenguan (Mumonkan), public case #1 ("Zhaozhou's Dog"), Wumen (Mumon) wrote:

...concentrate yourself into this 'Wú'... making your whole body one great inquiry. Day and night work intently at it. Do not attempt nihilistic or dualistic interpretations."[24]

Becoming one with the koan

Arousing this great inquiry or "Great Doubt" is an essential element of kōan practice. To illustrate the enormous concentration required in kōan meditation, Zen Master Wumen commented,

It is like swallowing a red-hot iron ball. You try to vomit it out, but you can't.

The aim of koans is to see the "nonduality of subject and object":[20][21]

The monk himself in his seeking is the koan. Realization of this is the insight; the response to the koan [...] Subject and object - this is two hands clapping. When the monk realizes that the koan is not merely an object of consciousness but is also he himself as the activity of seeking an answer to the koan, then subject and object are no longer separate and distinct [...] This is one hand clapping.[25]

Testing insight

Teachers may probe students about their kōan practice using "checking questions" to validate an experience of insight (kensho) or awakening. Responses by students have included actions or gestures, "capping phrases" (jakugo), and verses inspired by the kōan.

The meaning of a kōan can only be demonstrated in a live experience. Texts, including kōan collections and encyclopedia articles, cannot convey that meaning, though understanding the context from which koans emerged can remove some of the mystery surrounding a kōan. For example, when a monk asked Zhaozhou (Joshu) "does a dog have Buddha-nature or not?", the monk was referring to the understanding of the teachings on Buddha-nature, which were understood in the Chinese context of absolute and relative reality.[26][27][c]

Appropriate responses to a kōan vary, since different teachers may demand different responses to a given kōan, and the answers may vary by circumstance. One of the most common recorded comments by a teacher on a disciple's answer is: "Even though that is true, if you do not know it yourself, it does you no good."[who?] The master is not looking for a specific answer but for evidence that the disciple has grasped the state of mind expressed by the kōan itself.

Therefore, although there may be "traditional answers" (kenjo 見処 or kenge 見解) to many kōans, these are only preserved as exemplary answers given in the past by various masters during their own training. In practice, many answers could be correct, provided that they convey proof of personal realization. Kōan training requires a qualified teacher who has the ability to judge a disciple's depth of attainment. In the Rinzai Zen school, which uses kōans extensively, the teacher certification process includes an appraisal of proficiency in using that school's extensive kōan curriculum. In Japanese Zen, Chinese Ch'an, Korean Seon, Vietnamese Thien, and Western Zen, kōans play similar roles, although significant cultural differences exist.

Varieties in koan-practice

Chinese Chán and Korean Seon

In Chinese Chán and Korean Seon, the primary form of Koan-study is Hua Tou, "word head".[28] In this practice, a fragment of the koan, such as "mu", or a "what is"-question is used by focusing on this fragment and repeating it over and over again:[29][30]

Who is it who now repeats the Buddha's name?

Who is dragging this corpse about?
What is this?
What is it?
What was the original face before my father and mother were born?

Who am I?[web 1]

The student is assigned only one hua-tou for a lifetime.[28] In contrast to the similar sounding "who am I?" question of Ramana Maharshi, hua-tou involves raising "great doubt":[web 2]

This koan becomes a touchstone of our practice: it is a place to put our doubt, to cultivate great doubt, to allow the revelation of great faith, and to focus our great energy.[28]

Japanese Rinzai

Kōan practice is particularly important among Japanese practitioners of the Rinzai sect. In Rinzai a gradual succession of koans is being studied.[31] There are two curricula being used within Rinzai, derived from the principal heirs of Rinzai: the Takuju curriculum, and the Inzan curriculum.

Koan practice starts with the shokan, or "first barrier", usually the mu-koan or the koan "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"[32] After having attained kensho, students continue their practice investigating subsequent koans.[33] In the Takuju-school, after breakthrough students work through the Gateless Gate (Mumonkan), the Blue Cliff Record (Hekigan-roku), the Entangling Vines (Shumon Kattoshu), and the Collection of Wings of the Blackbird (Chin'u shu).[34] The Inzan-school uses its own internally generated list of koans.[34]

Hakuin's descendants developed a fivefold classification system:[31]

  1. Hosshin, dharma-body koans, are used to awaken the first insight into sunyata.[31] They reveal the dharmakaya, or Fundamental.[35] They introduce "the undifferentitated and the unconditional".[36]
  2. Kikan, dynamic action koans, help to understand the phenomenal world as seen from the awakened point of view;[37] Where hosshin koans represent tai, substance, kikan koans represent yu, function.[38]
  3. Gonsen, explication of word koans, aid to the understanding of the recorded sayings of the old masters.[39] They show how the Fundamental, though not depending on words, is nevertheless expressd in words, without getting stuck to words.[40]
  4. Hachi Nanto, eight "difficult to pass" koans.[41] There are various explanations for this category, one being that these koans cut off clinging to the previous attainment. They create another Great Doubt, which shatters the self attained through satori. [42] It is uncertain which are exactly those eight koans.[43] Hori gives various sources, which altogether give ten hachi nanto koans:[44]
    • Miura and Sasaki:
      • Nansen’s Flower (Hekigan-roku Case 40)
      • A Buffalo Passes the Window (Mumonkan Case 38)
      • Sōzan’s Memorial Tower (Kattō-shō Case 140)
      • Suigan’s Eyebrows (Hekigan-roku Case 8)
      • Enkan’s Rhinoceros Fan (Hekigan-roku Case 91)
    • Shimano:
      • The Old Woman Burns the Hut (Kattō-shō Case 162)
    • Asahina Sōgen:
      • Goso Hōen’s “Hakuun Said ‘Not Yet’” (Kattō-shō Case 269)
      • Shuzan’s Main Cable (Kattō-shō Case 280).
    • Akizuki:
      • Nansen Has Died (Kattō-shō Case 282)
      • Kenpō’s Three Illnesses (Kattō-shō Case 17).
  5. Goi jujukin koans, the Five Ranks of Tozan and the Ten Grave Precepts.[45][41]

According to Akizuki there was an older classification-system, in which the fifth category was Kojo, "Directed upwards". This category too was meant to rid the monk of any "stink of Zen".[46] The very advanced practitioner may also receive the Matsugo no rokan, "The last barrier, and Saigo no ikketsu, "The final confirmation".[46] "The last barrier" when one leaved the training hall, for example "Sum up all of the records of Rinzai in one word!"[46] It is not meant to be solved immediately, but to be carried around in order to keep practising.[46] "the final confirmation" may be another word for the same kind of koan.[46]

After completing the koan-training, Gogo no shugyo, post-satori training is necessary:[47]

[I]t would take 10 years to solve all the kōans [...] in the sōdō. After the student has solved all koans, he can leave the sōdō and live on his own, but he is still not considered a roshi. For this he has to complete another ten years of training, called "go-go-no-shugyō" in Japanese. Literally, this means "practice after satori/enlightenment", but Fukushima preferred the translation "special practice". Fukushima would explain that the student builds up a "religious personality" during this decade. I would say it is a kind of period that functions to test if the student is actually able to live in regular society and apply his koan understanding to daily life, after he has lived in an environment that can be quite surreal and detached from the lives of the rest of humanity. Usually, the student lives in small parish temple during this decade, not in a formal training monastery.[web 3]

Hakuin Ekaku recommended preparing for kōan practice by concentrating on qi breathing and its effect on the body's center of gravity, called the dantian or "hara" in Japanese — thereby associating kōan practice with pre-existing Taoist and Yogic chakra meditative practices.[citation needed]

Japanese Soto

Though few Soto practitioners concentrate on kōans during meditation, the Soto sect has a strong historical connection with kōans, since many kōan collections were compiled by Soto priests.

During the 13th century, Dōgen, founder of the Soto sect in Japan, quoted 580 kōans in his teachings.[48] He compiled some 300 kōans in the volumes known as the Greater Shōbōgenzō. Dōgen wrote of Genjokōan, which points out that everyday life experience is the fundamental kōan.

However, according to Michel Mohr,

...kōan practice was largely expunged from the Soto school through the efforts of Gentō Sokuchū (1729–1807), the eleventh abbot of Entsuji, who in 1795 was nominated abbot of Eiheiji".[49]

Sanbo Kyodan

The Sanbo Kyodan school, which originated with the Soto-priest Hakuun Yasutani, incorporates koan-study. The Sanbo kyodan places great emphasis on kensho, initial insight into one's true nature[50], as a start of real practice. It follows the so-called Harada-Yasutani koan-curriculum, which is derived from Hakuin's student Takuju. It is a shortened koan-curriculum, in which the socalled "capping phrases" are removed. The curriculum takes considerably less time to study than the Takuju-curriculum of Rinzai.[51]

To attain kensho, most students are assigned the mu-koan. After breaking through, the student first studies twenty-two "in-house"[34] koans, which are "unpublished and not for the general public",[34] but are nevertheless published and commented upon.[52][web 4] There-after, the students goes through the Gateless Gate (Mumonkan), the Blue Cliff Record, the Book of Equanimity, and the Record of Transmitting the Light.[34] The koan-curriculum is completed by the Five ranks of Tozan and the precepts.[53]

Classical kōan collections

Kōans collectively form a substantial body of literature studied by Zen practitioners and scholars worldwide. Kōan collections commonly referenced in English include the Blue Cliff Record (Chinese: Bìyán Lù; Japanese: Hekiganroku), the Book of Equanimity (also known as the Book of Serenity; Chinese: Cōngróng Lù; Japanese: Shoyoroku), both collected in their present forms during the 12th century, and The Gateless Gate (also known as The Gateless Barrier; Chinese: Wúménguān; Japanese: Mumonkan) collected during the 13th century). In these and subsequent collections, a terse "main case" of a kōan often accompanies prefatory remarks, poems, proverbs and other phrases, and further commentary about prior emendations.

The Blue Cliff Record

The Blue Cliff Record (Chinese: 碧巖錄 Bìyán Lù; Japanese: Hekiganroku) is a collection of 100 kōans compiled in 1125 by Yuanwu Keqin (圜悟克勤 1063–1135).

The Book of Equanimity

The Book of Equanimity or Book of Serenity (Chinese: 從容録; Japanese: 従容録 Shōyōroku) is a collection of 100 Kōans compiled in the 12th century by Hongzhi Zhengjue (Chinese: 宏智正覺; Japanese: Wanshi Shōgaku) (1091–1157).

The Gateless Gate

The Gateless Gate (Chinese: 無門關 Wumenguan; Japanese: Mumonkan) is a collection of 48 kōans and commentaries published in 1228 by Chinese monk Wumen (無門) (1183–1260). The title may be more accurately rendered as Gateless Barrier or Gateless Checkpoint).

Five kōans in the collection derive from the sayings and doings of Zhaozhou Congshen, (transliterated as Chao-chou in Wade-Giles and pronounced Jōshū in Japanese).

The True Dharma Eye

The True Dharma Eye 300 (Shōbōgenzō Sanbyakusoku) is a collection of 300 kōans compiled by Eihei Dōgen.

Other kōan collections compiled and annotated by Soto priests include:

  • The Iron Flute (Japanese: Tetteki Tosui, compiled by Genro in 1783)
  • Verses and Commentaries on One Hundred Old Cases of Tenchian (Japanese: Tenchian hyakusoku hyoju, compiled by Tetsumon in 1771.)

Examples of traditional kōans

  • A student asked Master Yun-Men (A.D. 949) "Not even a thought has arisen; is there still a sin or not?" Master replied, "Mount Sumeru!"
  • Huìnéng asked Hui Ming, "Without thinking of good or evil, show me your original face before your mother and father were born." (This is a fragment of case #23 of the Wumenguan.)
  • A monk asked Dongshan Shouchu, "What is Buddha?" Dongshan said, "Three pounds of flax." (This is a fragment of case #18 of the Wumenguan as well as case #12 of the Blue Cliff Record.)
  • A monk asked Zhaozhou, "What is the meaning of the ancestral teacher's (i.e., Bodhidharma's) coming from the west?" Zhaozhou said, "The cypress tree in front of the hall." (This is a fragment of case #37 of the Wumenguan as well as case #47 of the Book of Serenity.)

Does a dog have Buddha-nature

A monk asked Zhàozhōu, "Does a dog have Buddha nature or not?" Zhaozhou said, "".

("Zhaozhou" is rendered as "Chao-chou" in Wade-Giles, and pronounced "Joshu" in Japanese. "Wu" appears as "mu" in Japanese, meaning "no", "not", "nonbeing", or "without" in English. This is a fragment of Case #1 of the Wúménguān. However, another koan presents a longer version, in which Zhaozhou answered "yes" in response to the same question asked by a different monk: see Case #18 of the Book of Serenity.)

The sound of one hand clapping

Two hands clap and there is a sound. What is the sound of one hand? (隻手声あり、その声を聞け)

Victor Hori comments:

...in the beginning a monk first thinks a kōan is an inert object upon which to focus attention; after a long period of consecutive repetition, one realizes that the kōan is also a dynamic activity, the very activity of seeking an answer to the kōan. The kōan is both the object being sought and the relentless seeking itself. In a kōan, the self sees the self not directly but under the guise of the kōan... When one realizes ("makes real") this identity, then two hands have become one. The practitioner becomes the kōan that he or she is trying to understand. That is the sound of one hand.[54]

Killing the Buddha

If you meet the Buddha, kill him. (逢佛殺佛,逢祖殺祖)

— Linji

Thinking about Buddha is delusion, not awakening. One must destroy preconceptions of the Buddha. Zen master Shunryu Suzuki wrote in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind during an introduction to Zazen,

Kill the Buddha if the Buddha exists somewhere else. Kill the Buddha, because you should resume your own Buddha nature.

One is only able to see a Buddha as he exists in separation from Buddha, the mind of the practitioner is thus still holding onto apparent duality.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Assertions that the literal meaning of kung-an is the table, desk, or bench of a magistrate appear on page 18 of Foulk 2000. See also [3]
  2. ^ This role-taking is described by the Swedish psychologist of religion Hjalmar Sundén, though McRae does not seem to be aware of this
  3. ^ The controversy over whether all beings have the potential for enlightenment is even older. Vigorous controversy still surrounds the matter of Buddha nature.See "Tao-sheng's Theory of Sudden Enlightenment", Whalen Lai, in Sudden and Gradual (subtitle) Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought, p173 and 191. The latter page documents how in 429 or thereabouts (more than 400 years before Zhaozhou), Tao-sheng was expelled from the Buddhist monastic community for defending the idea that incorrigible persons (icchantika) do indeed have Buddha-nature (fo-hsing).

References

Book references

  1. ^ The Zen Kōan p4-6
  2. ^ a b Foulk 2000, p. 21-22.
  3. ^ MacRae 2003, p. 172-173, note 16.
  4. ^ a b Schlütter 2008, p. 111.
  5. ^ a b c Schlütter 2008, p. 109.
  6. ^ Schlütter 2008, p. 1109.
  7. ^ Schlütter 2008, p. 110.
  8. ^ Kasulis 2003, p. 30.
  9. ^ McRae 2003, p. 130.
  10. ^ a b McRae 2003, p. 131.
  11. ^ Yampolski & 2003-A, p. 20.
  12. ^ Hori 2003, p. Chapter 4.
  13. ^ a b Heine 2008, p. 52.
  14. ^ Sasaki 1965, p. xi.
  15. ^ Hagen 2000.
  16. ^ pp xiii, 26, and 212 of The Gateless Barrier: The Wu-Men Kuan (Mumonkan), Robert Aitken, North Point Press/Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, New York, 1991, incorporates Wu-Men Kuan (J. Mumonkan), Wu-Men, 1228)
  17. ^ p64 of Two Arrows Meeting in Mid Air (subtitle) The Zen Kōan, John Daido Loori, Charles E. Tuttle, Vermont/Tokyo, 1994.
  18. ^ Hori 2000, p. 282.
  19. ^ Hori 2000, p. 284.
  20. ^ a b c Hori 2000, p. 289-290.
  21. ^ a b Hori 2000, p. 310 note 14.
  22. ^ Hori 2000, p. 289.
  23. ^ Ford 2006, p. 35-43.
  24. ^ Shibayama 1974.
  25. ^ Hori 2000, p. 288-289.
  26. ^ Shibayama 1974, p. Commentary on case #1.
  27. ^ Pruning the Bodhi Tree (subtitle) The Storm over Critical Buddhism Jamie Hubbard and Paul L. Swanson, eds, 1997, University of Hawaii Press; for example see Chapter 1, "Why They Say Zen Is Not Buddhism" (subtitle) "Recent Japanese Critiques of Buddha-Nature", Paul L. Swanson.
  28. ^ a b c Ford 2006, p. 38.
  29. ^ Dharmanet, Huatou
  30. ^ Lachs 2012.
  31. ^ a b c Besserman 2011, p. 148.
  32. ^ Hori & 2005-B, p. 132.
  33. ^ Yampolski 2005, p. 186.
  34. ^ a b c d e Ford 2006, p. 42.
  35. ^ Hori & 2005-B, p. 136.
  36. ^ Hori & 2005-B, p. 136-137.
  37. ^ Besserman 2011, p. 148-149.
  38. ^ Hori & 2005-B, p. 137.
  39. ^ Besserman 2011, p. 149.
  40. ^ Hori & 2005-B, p. 138.
  41. ^ a b Hori & 2005-B, p. 135.
  42. ^ Hori & 2005-B, p. 139.
  43. ^ Hori 2003, p. 23.
  44. ^ Hori 2003, p. 23-24.
  45. ^ Besserman 2011, p. 151.
  46. ^ a b c d e Hori & 2005-B, p. 143.
  47. ^ Hori & 2005-B, p. 145.
  48. ^ Bodiford, William M. (2008) [1993]. Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan. University of Hawaii Press. p. 144. ISBN 0-8248-3303-1.
  49. ^ "Emerging from Nonduality" (subtitle) "Kōan Practice in the Rinzai tradition since Hakuin", Michel Mohr, in The Kōan (subtitle) Texts and contexts in Zen Buddhism, Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright, eds., 2000, Oxford University Press, p. 245.
  50. ^ Sharf & 1995-C.
  51. ^ Ford 2006, p. 42-43.
  52. ^ MacInnes 2007.
  53. ^ Sharf & 1995-C, p. 432.
  54. ^ Translating the Zen Phrase Book, G. Victor Sogen Hori, Nanzan Bulletin 23, 1999, p44-58. [1]

Web references

Sources

  • Besserman, Perle; Steger (2011), Zen Radicals, Rebels, and Reformers, Wisdom Publications {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |first 2= ignored (|first2= suggested) (help)
  • Ford, James Ishmael (2006), Zen Master Who?: A Guide to the People And Stories of Zen, Wisdom Publications
  • Foulk, T. Griffith (2000), The form and function of kōan literature. A historical overview. In: Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright (eds.)(2000), The Kōan. Texts and contexts in Zen Buddhism, Oxford University Press
  • Hagen, Steven (2000), Introduction. In: The Iron Flute. 100 Zen Kōans, translated by Nyogen Senzaki and Ruth Stout McCandless
  • Heine, Steven (2008), Zen Skin, Zen Marrow, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  • Hori, Victor Sogen (2003), Zen Sand: The Book of Capping Phrases for Kōan Practice (PDF), University of Hawaii Press
  • Hori, Victor Sogen (2005-B), The Steps of Koan Practice. In: John Daido Loori,Thomas Yuho Kirchner (eds), Sitting With Koans: Essential Writings on Zen Koan Introspection, Wisdom Publications {{citation}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  • Kasulis, Thomas P. (2003), Ch'an Spirituality. In: Buddhist Spirituality. Later China, Korea, Japan and the Modern World; edited by Takeuchi Yoshinori, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass
  • Sasaki, Ruth Fuller (1965), Introduction. In: Isshu Miura and Ruth Fuller Sasaki (1965), "The Zen Kōan", Harvest/HBJ
  • Sharf, Robert H. (1995-C), "Sanbokyodan. Zen and the Way of the New Religions" (PDF), Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1995 22/3-4 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  • Lachs, Stuart (2012), Hua-t’ou : A Method of Zen Meditation (PDF)
  • MacInnes, Elaine (2007), The Flowing Bridge: Guidance on Beginning Zen Koans, Wisdom Publications
  • McRae, John (2003), Seeing Through Zen, The University Press Group Ltd
  • Schlütter, Morten (2008), How Zen became Zen. The Dispute over Enlightenment and the Formation of Chan Buddhism in Song-Dynasty China, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, ISBN 978-0-8248-3508-8
  • Shibayama (1974), The Gateless Barrier. Zen comments on the Mumonkan. Translated from Chinese and Japanese into English by Sumiko Kudo., Shambhala Publications
  • Yampolski, Philip (2003-A), Chan. A Historical Sketch. In: Buddhist Spirituality. Later China, Korea, Japan and the Modern World; edited by Takeuchi Yoshinori, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass {{citation}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  • Yampolski, Philip (2005), Hakuin Ekaku and the Modern Koan System. In: John Daido Loori,Thomas Yuho Kirchner (eds), Sitting With Koans: Essential Writings on Zen Koan Introspection, Wisdom Publications

Further reading

  • Loori, John Daido. Sitting with Koans: Essential Writings on the Zen Practice of Koan Study. Wisdom Publications, 2005. ISBN 978-0-86171-369-1
  • Hoffmann, Yoel.tr. The Sound of the One Hand. Basic Books, 1975. ISBN 978-0-465-08079-3 This book contains examples of how some Zen practitioners answer the koans "correctly". Originally published in Japan almost a century ago as a critique of fossilization of Zen, that is formalization of koan practice.
  • Kirchner, Thomas Yūhō. Entangling Vines : Zen Koans of the Shūmon Kattōshū 宗門葛藤集. Saga Tenryuji (Japan): Tenryu-ji Institute for Philosophy and Religion, 2004.
  • Seung Sahn, Ten Gates: The Kong-an Teaching of Zen Master Seung Sahn. Primary Point Press,1987. Letters on koans from a Korean Zen Master.
  • Steven Heine, and Dale S. Wright, eds. The Kōan: Texts and Contexts in Zen Buddhism. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-19-511749-2

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