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Zen Koans

Tsuyoiko

DON'T PANIC!
11 Mar 2005
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See the wiki article: Koan - Wikipedia

A koan is a statement or question that is used in the pursuit of enlightenment, often as an aid to meditation. Perhaps the most famous is

"What is the sound of one hand clapping?"

Supposedly, koans cannot be understood intellectually or rationally. To study a koan requires something else, perhaps the intuition.

Is there any point to studying koans? Have you achieved any insight from them? Do you have any examples of interesting koans?

I haven't used koans as such, but I like the stories attached to some of them, and the answers students have given. I enjoyed the books Zen Flesh, Zen Bones by Paul Reps and Zen and the Ways by Trevor Leggett.
 
Tsuyoiko said:
See the wiki article: Koan - Wikipedia
A koan is a statement or question that is used in the pursuit of enlightenment, often as an aid to meditation. Perhaps the most famous is
"What is the sound of one hand clapping?"
Supposedly, koans cannot be understood intellectually or rationally. To study a koan requires something else, perhaps the intuition.
Is there any point to studying koans? Have you achieved any insight from them? Do you have any examples of interesting koans?
I haven't used koans as such, but I like the stories attached to some of them, and the answers students have given. I enjoyed the books Zen Flesh, Zen Bones by Paul Reps and Zen and the Ways by Trevor Leggett.


Hi. I just started koan study a couple of months ago. As to whether or not a person benefits from them, it depends on the person. And, like anything else, you get out of them what you put into them. I think you have to have an inherent urge to seek Truth within yourself, or the koan system isn't going to work. Many teachers assign either koans or shikantaza to an individual, depending on the student's personality.

I have acheived insight from various koans, some more so than others. In the end, koans aren't a "magic bullet" that will awaken you just by working with them. However, by the time you get done with the hundreds of koans that usually go into a particular koan curriculum, you have YEARS of meditation and concentration under your belt, which, in itself, prepares the mind for awakening.

As for interesting koans, there are two major collections that are readily available. Many bookstores have them in stock, in fact. Those are the Mumonkan and The Blue Cliff Record.

There are others that are FAR more qualified to answer your question than I am, but I hope this helps a little.


Regards,
Mike
 
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