DEFINE ZEN KOAN SERIES

I suppose you could say that it was like the sudden solution to a koan, which is not an intellectual affair, but more of a breakthrough into the ground of being. Mother of the Unconventional William Meyers 2011 John Farr: Getting Religion: The Ten Best Films on Faith John Farr 2011Ī koan is a Zen riddle, the answer to which-if, in fact, there is an answer-is largely immaterial. Whether you think of it as a Buddhist riddle termed a ' koan', a mystical allegory, or an inner-world travelogue if you're in the right frame of mind, you will surely be fascinated by Bae's highly intelligent, visually arresting film. Notes on 'Kafka and the Coincidence of Opposites' 2007 Americas pre-eminent Zen teachers, this book is a rich resource for wisdom seekers and scholars alike. The Buddha was born in 563 BC in what is now Nepal. In books about Zen we read that the koan grips the student’s heart and mind and creates a true mental impasse, a state of sustained tension in which the whole world becomes an enormous mass of doubt and questioning.The Zen scholar and teacher, Daisetz Suzuki (1870 - 1966), once explained that the origin of the term koan was a kind of certifying document that, in ancient times, was used to test one's understanding of Zen.Ĥ The koan is the principal form of meditation practiced by the Rinzai sect. Zen koans are statements or stories developed in China and Japan by Zen masters. The solving of a koan demands a supreme effort of concentration and involvement from the student. The teacher here was, of course, nature, who, like the Zen masters, does not provide any statements. As in Zen, the truth was hidden in paradoxes that could not be solved by logical reasoning, but had to be understood in the terms of a new awareness the awareness of the atomic reality. Here we find a striking parallel to the paradoxical situations which confronted physicists at the beginning of atomic physics. It does not use any positive statements, but leaves it entirely to the student to grasp the truth through the koans. This is the only way this school transmits its teachings.

DEFINE ZEN KOAN SERIES

In the Rinzai school, the student has to solve a long series of koans, each of them dealing with a particular aspect of Zen. Once the solution is found, the koan ceases to be paradoxical and becomes a profoundly meaningful statement made from the state of consciousness which it has helped to awaken. Now what is the sound of one hand?Īll these koans have more or less unique solutions which a competent master recognizes immediately. ‘You can make the sound of two hands clapping. ‘What was your original face-the one you had before your parents gave birth to you? To a beginner, the Zen master will normally present either this Mu-koan or one of the following two: Remember, you can’t understand Mu through ordinary cognition, you must grasp it directly with your whole being. Then you must demonstrate before me, concretely and vividly, that you understand M u as living truth, without recourse to conceptions, theories, or abstract explanations. What you must do is discover the spirit or essence of this Mu, not through intellectual analysis but by search into your innermost being. Mu is the expression of the living, functioning, dynamic Buddha-nature.

This is its background: A monk came to Joshu, a renowned Zen master in China hundreds of years ago, and asked: ‘Has a dog Buddha-nature or not? Joshu retorted, ‘ Mu!’ Literally, the expression means ‘no’ or ‘not’, but the significance of Joshu’s answer does not lie in this.

One of the best koans, because the simplest, is Mu. A puzzling, often paradoxical statement, anecdote, question, or verbal exchange, used in Zen Buddhism as an aid to meditation and a means of gaining spiritual. The contemporary Zen master Yasutani introduced a Western student to one of the most famous koans with the following words: They are designed precisely to stop the thought process and thus to make the student ready for the non-verbal experience of reality. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring. The irrational wording and paradoxical content of these riddles makes it impossible to solve them by thinking. 101 Zen Koans by Secret of Zen Koans 0 comments A Cup of Tea Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen. Koans are carefully devised nonsensical riddles which are meant to make the student of Zen realize the limitations of logic and reasoning in the most dramatic way. Zen Buddhists have a particular knack for making a virtue out of the inconsistencies arising from verbal communication, and with the koan system they have developed a unique way of transmitting their teachings completely non-verbally. Key Takeaways Koans are one of the most meaningful practices in Zen Buddhism.

Define zen koan