EASTERNRELIGION/BUDDHISM sitting with koans from the editor of The Art of Just Sitting “Koans are the greatest of the ancient technologies for transforming the mind. This collection of classic writings on koans will get you started and open up the treasure in your own heart.” John Tarrant, author of Bring Me the Rhinoceros (And Other Zen Koans to Bring You Joy) “Whether you are interested in the history of Zen, intrigued by the seeming paradoxes and puzzling stories in koan literature, or Sitting with Koans already engaged in koan practice with a qualified teacher, Sitting with Koans is a valuable resource. By combining scholarly essays with historical and modern Dharma talks by great koan masters, this collection shines light from many angles, illuminating a rich practice that is too often misunderstood.” Melissa Myozen Blacker, Zen teacher and Co-director of Professional Training, Center for Mindfulness, UMass Medical School “Sitting with Koans is the essential collection of koan writings that Zen practitioners have been yearning for.” Roshi Wendy Egyoku Nakao, Zen Center of Los Angeles John Daido Loori “A remarkable collection brilliantly put together by a premier modern interpreter of koans.” Steven Heine, author of The Zen Canon: Understanding Classic Texts INCLUDES WRITINGS BY Robert Aitken • William Bodiford • Robert Buswell • Roko Sherry Chayat Francis Dojun Cook • Eihei Dogen • Heinrich Dumoulin • Hakuin Ekaku essential writings Victor Sogen Hori • Keizan Jokin • Philip Kapleau • Chung-fen Ming-pen Taizan Maezumi • Dennis Genpo Merzel • Soen Nakagawa on the practice of zen koan introspection Sokei-an Sasaki • Nyogen Senzaki • Zenkei Shibayama Eido Shimano • Philip Yampolsky • Hakuun Yasutani ISBN 0-86171-369-9 $16.95 EDITEDBYJOHNDAIDOLOORI Wisdom Publications • Boston www.wisdompubs.org WISDOM WITHANINTRODUCTIONBYTHOMASYUHOKIRCHNER sitting with koans Sitting with Koans essential writings on zen koan introspection Edited by John Daido Loori foreword by Thomas Yuho Kirchner Wisdom Publications • Boston Wisdom Publications 199 Elm Street Somerville, MA 02144 USA www.wisdompubs.org © 2006 Dharma Communications Press All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means,electronic or mechanical,including photography, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system or technologies now known or later developed, without permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sitting with koans : essential writings on Zen koan introspection / edited by John Daido Loori ; foreword by Thomas Yuho Kirchner. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-86171-369-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Koan. 2. Meditation—Zen Buddhism. I. Loori, John Daido. II. Title: Essential writings on Zen koan introspection. BQ9289.5.S59 2005 294.3’443—dc22 2005025144 First edition 09 08 07 06 06 54321 Cover design by Gopa & Ted2, Inc., and Josh Bartok. Interior by Gopa & Ted2, Inc. Cover photo © John Daido Loori Wisdom Publications’ books are printed on acid-free paper andmeettheguidelinesforpermanence and durabilityofthe Production Guidelines for Book Longevity set by the Coun- cil on Library Resources. Printed in Canada. Contents Acknowledgments ix Foreword Thomas Yuho Kirchner xi Introduction: The Anatomy of the Zen Koan 1 Editor’s Note 9 Historical Perspective 1. The Definition of a Koan 13 Chung-fen Ming-pen 2. The Song Period: A Time of Maturation 17 Heinrich Dumoulin 3. Five Houses of Zen 41 Heinrich Dumoulin 4. The “Short-cut” Approach of K’an-hua 75 Meditation Robert E. Buswell, Jr. 5. Koan Practice 91 William M. Bodiford 6. The Nature of the Rinzai (Linji) Koan Practice 117 Victor Sogen Hori 7. The Steps of Koan Practice 131 Victor Sogen Hori v Japanese Koan Study 8. Dogen and Koans 151 John Daido Loori 9. Keizan, Koans, and Succession in the Soto School 163 Francis Dojun Cook 10. Ancestor Dajian Huineng 175 Keizan Jokin 11. Hakuin Ekaku and the Modern Koan System 185 Philip Yampolsky 12. Orategama Zokushu 191 Hakuin Ekaku 13. The Voice of the Sound of One Hand 211 Hakuin Ekaku Modern Koan Commentaries 14. Ninth Koan 231 Sokei-an Sasaki 15. Prajnatara Recites His Sutra 237 Nyogen Senzaki 16. Passover Teisho 241 Soen Nakagawa 17. Nansen (Nanquan) Kills a Cat 253 Zenkei Shibayama 18. Commentary on the Koan “Mu” 261 Hakuun Yasutani 19. Roso (Luzu) Faces the Wall 273 Taizan Maezumi 20. The Record of Master Rinzai (Linji) 287 Eido Shimano 21. Bodhidharma’s Emptiness 295 Robert Aitken 22. Think Neither Good nor Evil 303 Philip Kapleau 23. A Buffalo Passes Through a Window 313 Dennis Genpo Merzel 24. Moshan’s Nature of the Summit Mountain 321 John Daido Loori 25. Everybody’s Light 331 Roko Sherry Chayat Who’s Who 341 Permission Credits 345 Index 349 Acknowledgments I am very grateful to all the masters, ancient and modern, whose teach- ings have been included in this volume. It was their wisdom, insight and skillful means that made this project possible. Special thanks to Vanessa Zuisei Goddard for her research and work in collecting the pieces included in this book. Her skillful editing and proofreading were indis- pensable, as was the editorial input of Konrad Ryushin Marchaj.Thanks to Josh Bartok of Wisdom Publications for recognizing the importance and need of a volume such as this for Western students, and for vigor- ously working toward its completion. Finally, a deep bow to the many students who provided assistance in the form of copy editing, graphic designing,indexingandthelike.Maythecollectiveeffortofthefineprac- titioners who contributed to the creation of this book nourish future gen- erations on their spiritual journeys. ix Foreword Thomas Yuho Kirchner Few aspects of Buddhist practice have so captured the popular imag- ination as the Zen koan. On first encounter koans seem the ultimate rid- dles, challenging us to transcend ordinary logic and offering the promise of spiritual insight. They are undoubtedly one of the main reasons for Zen’s association with intuitive creativity,and for the mystique that has inspired any number of book titles beginning with Zen and theArt of .… For most people the mystery of the koans begins with the enigmatic wording of the koans themselves. Why would the Chinese master Zhaozhou Congshen reply,“The juniper tree in the garden,”when asked the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the west? When Baizhang Huaihai put a jug on the floor and said, “If you can’t call this a jug, what do you call it?” why did his student Guishan Lingyou kick over the jug and walk away? And what does it signify that such enigmatic responses, properly understood, are equally meaningful for modern American Zen students as for Song-dynasty Chinese monks? Questions of this type generally resolve themselves with serious zazen practice and deepening insight.Students find that koans have their own inner logic, a logic that reveals itself as practitioners come to know the mind out of which the koans emerged—a mind beyond thought and time,in which,as John Daido Loori Roshi says in his Introduction,“there are no paradoxes.” Here Chinese monk and American Zen student stand on equal footing. And yet with continued practice other, sometimes more perplexing, enigmas emerge.The effectiveness of the koans in Zen training has been demonstrated through the centuries, and many of the greatest masters, such as Dahui and Hakuin (both represented in the present volume),pro- claim them incomparable as a way to precipitate awakening and clarify xi xii Sitting With Koans insight. Nevertheless, every long-time Zen practitioner knows certain intuitive individuals who are far advanced in koan work yet show little corresponding spiritual growth; this is as true among traditional Asian monastics as among Western lay practitioners. Conversely, other stu- dents, obviously mature in their practice, fail to ever connect with the koans, sometimes even after completing the entire system. Even Rinzai Zen masters often have misgivings about koan practice, warning against “collecting” koans at the risk of missing the true goal of Zen practice, which Dogen describes as,“to be enlightened by the ten thousand things, to eliminate the separation between self and other.” Why do some individuals seem to do so well with koans, and others seem to miss the mark? There may be as many answers to this question as there are people practicing Zen. In the end, there are no guarantees in the spiritual life; no method or technique, no matter how powerful, can by itself entirely overcome the subtle self-deceptions used by the ego to perpetuate its own existence. The koan is simply a tool, an aid to self- inquiry and realization that, as Daido Roshi points out, must be sup- ported by the personal foundation one brings to the practice:great doubt, great faith, and great determination. Without, in particular, great doubt (the drive to resolve the question of life and death), the student can eas- ily mistake koans as the goal of Zen practice, rather than as a means to that goal. In his excellent contribution to this collection, Victor Sogen Hori stresses that koan work, like all Buddhist practices, is ultimately con- cerned with attaining the religious ideals of awakened wisdom and self- less compassion. If the essentially religious nature of the training is not understood, then the central reason for these training methods has been missed. In practical terms, the various aspects of a comprehensive spiri- tual practice have their respective strengths and weaknesses; zazen and koan work tend to be oriented chiefly towards deepening and clarifying the aspect of wisdom, and achieve their ultimate goals best when bal- anced by more explicitly compassion-oriented work in ethics and char- acter development. Nevertheless,to acknowledge that the koan is a tool,with a tool’s lim- its, is not in any way to belittle it.Tools are as essential in cultivating the spiritual life as they are in cultivating the soil of a garden.