The two major collections are the Pi-yen lu (Chinese: “Blue Cliff Records” Japanese: Hekigan-roku), consisting of 100 koans selected and commented on by a Chinese priest, Yüan-wu, in 1125 on the basis of an earlier compilation and the Wu-men kuan (Japanese: Mumon-kan), a collection of 48 koans compiled in 1228 by the Chinese priest Hui-k’ai (known also as Wu-men). Often, only when we are able to admit in frustration that we don’t know anything, can true koan practice begin. Koans are a devilish instrument because they deliberately tempt us to make an interpretation, explanation, imitation or analysis and yet, it is only when we exhaust or give up these lines of investigation that a deeper level of inquiry becomes possible. Any analysis is a waste of time, and at best will produce an intellectual or a pseudo-Zen response. We have to let it in and make no effort to solve it. We do not need to waste any time trying to figure the koan out. To work on a koan is to let a koan work on you. This is why it is said that koans are not answered, but resolved. Usually no words are necessary, some poetic or creative gesture will suffice. When the deep meaning of the koan is understood directly, then a token of that understanding is easy to present. Any descriptive response, yes/no response, or this/that response will be rejected. By resolving a koan, that is to say encompassing the example/dictate/question with one’s understanding, small mind is slowly or suddenly stretched and awakened into Big Mind. If the mind is practiced at a given level of Samadhi, then a koan can be used to stretch one’s Samadhi-mind to a bigger dimension. Koans deliberately stir up the waters of the mind, and if the mind is already disturbed, koan practice will only make things worse. If the mind has not yet achieved Samadhi, don’t bother with koans. Samadhi is the condition of one’s mind when all the silt and ripples (ideas, thoughts, feelings, judgments) have quieted and the mind has become clear, calm, clean, naturally reflective and free-flowing in this moment. Koans should only be used after one’s meditation has entered Samadhi. The koan is a reference to examples that are meant to guide life or in the case of Zen, these dictates are meant to be catalysts for awakening one’s true/deep/pure nature. Koans are an advanced tool, and have no inherent power in and of themselves, but can be very enlightening when used properly. Koan practice is a form of practice that requires the supervision of a recognized teacher who has himself or herself gone through this rigorous training. The koan system enables the Zen teacher to test the individual student’s understanding of Zen, not intellectually, but as it applies to the student’s own life. Questions or problems, often paradoxical, highlighted by each story were presented to encourage and test them in their training. Successive generations of teachers have related these encounters to their students to illustrate particular principles of Zen. They often recount an encounter between master and disciple, where the master’s response or question is said to reveal the deep nature of things as they are. Koans are based on anecdotes of Zen (Chinese: Ch’an) masters. Each such exercise constitutes both a communication of some aspect of Zen experience and a test of the novice’s competence. The effort to “solve” a koan is intended to exhaust the analytic intellect and the egoistic will, readying the mind to entertain an appropriate response on the intuitive level. Japanese Koan, in Zen Buddhism of Japan, is a succinct paradoxical statement or question used as a meditation discipline for novices, particularly in the Rinzai sect, but is also used in the Soto school. Koan is a Japanese word that comes from the Chinese, kung-an, literally “public notice,” or “public announcement”. The koan system is a unique and traditional teaching method of Zen Buddhism.
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