maybe not even 2 cents
gassho, Shokai
stlah
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Hey Coos, That's about 5 cents Canadian; we don't haave pennies anymore
gassho, Shokai
stlah合掌,生開
gassho, Shokai
仁道 生開 / Jindo Shokai
"Open to life in a benevolent way"
https://sarushinzendo.wordpress.com/ -
Boom! That's what I get for trying to be smart
Gassho,
Rish
-sat/lahEmail: risho.treeleaf@gmail.comComment
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I agree with this. They are like poems or songs on the radio, and can have different meanings or aspects that come alive for us at different times, not even necessarily what the poet or song writer himself "meant." In fact, most of the Koans are now known not to be historical events, but literary tropes written centuries after the people supposedly in them were gone, and most of the Koans (like the famous "Does a Dog Have Buddha Nature" MU Koan) have evolved through time. Wonderful book on the history of that Koan alone ...
Anyone who says that one Koan has one approach is trying to force life into a mold. In my belief, the Koans are often misused in that way, and should be seen as living things.Like Cats and Dogs: Contesting the Mu Koan in Zen Buddhism
In a careful analysis of the historical and rhetorical basis of the literature, Steven Heine demonstrates that the Mu version of the case, preferred by advocates of the key-phrase approach, does not by any means constitute the final word concerning the meaning and significance of the Mu Koan. He shows that another canonical version, which gives both "Yes" and "No" responses, must be taken into account. Like Cats and Dogs offers critical insight and a new theoretical perspective on "the koan of koans."
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[Heine] is able to raise a number of valuable questions about the history of this text, but there are two primary questions. First, why is this particular response to the question about a dog’s Buddha-nature so predominant (what Heine calls the “Ur Version”), when there are a number of alternative responses to this question in the textual history of Chan Buddhism? In other examples there are affirmative answers to the question, or both affirmative and negative answers, or additional questions and statements concerning the initial question. [End Page 671]
Second, why has Dahui’s insistence on the authority of Zhaozhou’s Mu come to displace the rich literary heritage of other renowned patriarchs devoted to alternative versions? Dahui’s most notable contribution to kōan practice is his use of the key-phrase or “head-word” method, epitomized in Zhaozhou’s Mu, where the student is told to forget all concerns about the particulars of question-and-answer in the case, and instead simply focus on Mu alone. In this approach, what Heine calls “Emphatic Mu,” the primary power of Zhaozhou’s Mu is in its capacity to block any linguistic entry to realization, so that the student must demonstrate their insight in a direct, nonverbal fashion. Heine contrasts the Emphatic Mu approach to an “Expansive Mu” method where “words perpetuate words” (p. 29). The latter is exemplified in “Dual Version” cases where one finds both affirmative and negative answers to the initial question, thus encouraging original literary responses to reveal and expand the practitioner’s insights. Heine traces the Expansive Mu approach to Hongzhi in the twelfth-century Southern Song, and finds this approach most prominently displayed in the works of the thirteenth-century Japanese Zen master, Eihei Dōgen.
While Heine’s critical historical study uncovers important omissions and inconsistencies in contemporary scholarship on the Mu kōan, its most significant contribution...
https://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/Heine-Cats.pdf
Gassho, J
SatTodayLAHALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLEComment
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you are absolutely right. There is not one answer to a koan. In fact every student has a different answer. In fact, sometimes you get the same koan back later and than you will have an other approach and another answer. That's why you cannot give an answer by the book, like Yoel Hoffmann, the sound of the one hand; 281 koans and there answers.
coos
std
hobo kore dojo / 歩歩是道場 / step, step, there is my place of practice
Aprāpti (अप्राप्ति) non-attainmentComment
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Hello there,
Bit of a trip down memory lane this week - it's pretty saluatory going back through my old posts (blush!) -but this discussion on the koan
Mu might be worth mentioning - regarding the input of others not my own faltering steps.
Willow
STComment
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Hi Willow,Hello there,
Bit of a trip down memory lane this week - it's pretty saluatory going back through my old posts (blush!) -but this discussion on the koan
Mu might be worth mentioning - regarding the input of others not my own faltering steps.
Willow
ST
Regarding ‘Essential Writings on Zen's most important Koan'. book about Mu that you mention on the other thread - I read this book many times. It’s always nice to carry Mu in your pocket and pull it out when you need to.
Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_Comment
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Just read through the old thread, and the Nishijima explanation of mu was fantastic. It struck me as akin to when one of my children starts to ask a question that I know is trouble, and I give them a "no"...not that the answer to the question is no, but the whole question is a big NO!Hello there,
Bit of a trip down memory lane this week - it's pretty saluatory going back through my old posts (blush!) -but this discussion on the koan
Mu might be worth mentioning - regarding the input of others not my own faltering steps.
Willow
ST
Dan
Sat todayLast edited by Shinshou; 01-11-2018, 06:27 PM.Comment
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