![]() ![]() As a fruit ripening in season, your internality and externality Then, all the useless knowledge you have diligently learned till now is Like gulping a hot iron ball that you can neither swallow nor spit out. Is neither nothingness, nor its relative "not" of "is" and "is not." It must be Question of what "Mu" is day and night, without ceasing, hold it before you. Would you like to pass through this barrier? Then concentrate your wholeīody, with its 360 bones and joints, and 84,000 hair follicles, into this The one who passes through this barrier shall meet with Joshu face to faceĪnd also see with the same eyes, hear with the same ears and walk together in This is why it is called the Gateless Gate of Through the barriers, nor uproot the normal workings of your mind, whatever youĭo and whatever you think is a tangle of ghost. To attain his mysterious awareness one mustĬompletely uproot all the normal workings of one's mind. ![]() Fourth, read all one-hundred koans and their commentaries in the Blue Cliff Record and all forty-eight koans and their commentaries in the Mumonkan over and over until you are blue in the face.but ALWAYS read them by never taking your mind's eye off what you find by going to and reading MuĪ monk asked Joshu, "Has the dog the Buddha nature?"įor the pursuit of Zen, you must pass through the barriers.In Zen Enlightenment In A Nutshell I list four suggestions leading to the easing of that same Dharma Gate for all those who may be so interested, of which, although not really intended to be taken out of context, the Number Four suggestion follows: ![]() Matter of fact, although I personally may not consider the use of Koans the ONLY method or window into Zen Enlightenment and the Attainment experience, I do consider Koans a viable option - if not providing direct results, at least providing a fertile ripening of one's mind and thoughts into the right mode or context for easing the opening of the Dharma Gate. It is a book for anyone interested in untangling the web of words used in Zen exchanges and exploring their important place in the vast creative wellspring of East Asian religion and culture.Considering the historical significance of the Koan in Zen and the Enlightening experience, especially so in some of the recorded results early on, even if you don't agree with them or their use, it is hard to dismiss Koans altogether. At the same time, he takes the reader beyond the veil of vagueness and inscrutability to an understanding of how koan writings have been used in pre-modern East Asia and are coming to be evoked and implemented in modern American practice of Zen.īy focusing on two main facets of the religious themes expressed in koan records-individual religious attainment and the role dialogues play in maintaining order in the monastic system-Zen Koans reveals the distinct yet interlocking levels of meaning reflected in different koan case records and helps make sense of the seemingly nonsensical. He delves deeply into the inner structure of koan literature to uncover and interpret profound levels of metaphorical significance. In this compact volume, Steven Heine, who has written extensively on Zen Buddhism and koans, introduces and analyses the classic background of texts and rites and explores the contemporary significance of koans to illuminate the full implications of this ongoing tradition. Koan compilations, which include elegant poetic and eloquent prose commentaries on cryptic dialogues, are part of a great literary tradition in China, Japan, and Korea that appealed to intellectuals who sought spiritual fulfilment through interpreting elaborate rhetoric related to mysterious metaphysical exchanges. Viewed as an ideal method for attaining and transmitting an unimpeded experience of enlightenment, they became the main object of study in Zen meditation, where their contemplation was meant to exhaust the capacity of the rational mind and the expressiveness of speech. "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" "Does a dog have Buddha-nature?" These cryptic expressions are among the best-known examples of koans, the confusing, often contradictory sayings that form the centrepiece of Zen Buddhist learning and training. ![]()
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