Dear All,
We will soon begin reflections here on the Koans of the Blue Cliff Record, cherished in the Soto tradition and in much of Zen ...
... or, I should say, we will begin reflections on the heart of the Blue Cliff, the core Koans and Master Yuanwu's original commentary ... because centuries of scribblings in the margins of the Blue Cliff, comments and comments by folks wishing to show off their wisdom, writing skills and wit, have left the core teachings obscured and the whole book rightly criticized (for centuries) as quite a mess!
Nor are the Koans just monkey wrenches to the brain, not meant to be understood. There are basic Mahayana Buddhist teachings there which the authors sought to convey. More about that later!
We will be using the Cleary & Cleary version (the translation by both Cleary brothers, not to be confused with the version by one Cleary alone), which I encourage folks to acquire through a legal source.
While you are waiting for the book, or if purchase in your location is truly a logistic, financial or other hardship, there is a PDF version available ...
We will start soon.
Gassho, Jundo
stlah
We will soon begin reflections here on the Koans of the Blue Cliff Record, cherished in the Soto tradition and in much of Zen ...
... or, I should say, we will begin reflections on the heart of the Blue Cliff, the core Koans and Master Yuanwu's original commentary ... because centuries of scribblings in the margins of the Blue Cliff, comments and comments by folks wishing to show off their wisdom, writing skills and wit, have left the core teachings obscured and the whole book rightly criticized (for centuries) as quite a mess!
Nor are the Koans just monkey wrenches to the brain, not meant to be understood. There are basic Mahayana Buddhist teachings there which the authors sought to convey. More about that later!We will be using the Cleary & Cleary version (the translation by both Cleary brothers, not to be confused with the version by one Cleary alone), which I encourage folks to acquire through a legal source.
While you are waiting for the book, or if purchase in your location is truly a logistic, financial or other hardship, there is a PDF version available ...
We will start soon.
Gassho, Jundo
stlah
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