Koans
-
- Posts: 3771
- Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2006 11:35 am
Re: Koans
Excellent source Steven; thank you.
Re: Koans
Is koan any different than sitting quietly with ones self, slowing down all thoughts until a vaccum where no conditions can exist is formed so Spirit can enter where the matter of thought is not?
Movement in meditation is thought, and a vaccum cannot occur where movement of thought matter is. Speaking of believing one can clap with one hand here - thought movement.
Never give power to anything a person believes is their source of strength - jufa
Movement in meditation is thought, and a vaccum cannot occur where movement of thought matter is. Speaking of believing one can clap with one hand here - thought movement.
Never give power to anything a person believes is their source of strength - jufa
-
- Posts: 3771
- Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2006 11:35 am
Re: Koans
Obviously a koan involves active thinking, and was originally used as a test to see if a student was a good fit with a Master.jufa wrote:Is koan any different than sitting quietly with ones self, slowing down all thoughts until a vaccum where no conditions can exist is formed so Spirit can enter where the matter of thought is not?
That is quite different from creating a vacuous mind and waiting for spirit to enter without being impeded by thought.
There are plenty of people out there already who have a vacuous mind. Here, we encourage thinking.Gurucharan S. Khalsa wrote:It is good to keep an open mind, but not so open that one's brains fall out.
- Diebert van Rhijn
- Posts: 6469
- Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2005 4:43 pm
Re: Koans
A senior traveling monk called "Coiled Steve" walked into the Buddhist temple of Tiān Cái Lùn Tán. He noticed the renowned Patriarch Solway and Ch'an master Quinn standing at the entrance looking at the Ta-pao Mi-Lei-Fwo. He approached them and remarked:"Sirs, why is it that you never employ the known Koans?". There was no reply though and the two masters just kept gazing at the Ta-pao. After Steve left the Patriarch said to the Ch'an master the following words: "How to stimulate people's brains and wake them up from the sleep of concentrating on things like their breath or their mantra? How to force people to think instead of just sitting?"*
Ch'an master Quinn replied:"One can ever only simply offer an expression of emptiness, couched in words.*. It is the novelty and unexpectedness of the skilfully-introduced Koan which unsettles the mind and does its magic. *".
A nearby junior monk cleaning the floor hearing the words while casually eavesdropping suddenly attained great enlightenment.
Ch'an master Quinn replied:"One can ever only simply offer an expression of emptiness, couched in words.*. It is the novelty and unexpectedness of the skilfully-introduced Koan which unsettles the mind and does its magic. *".
A nearby junior monk cleaning the floor hearing the words while casually eavesdropping suddenly attained great enlightenment.
Re: Koans
it will leap from underpants
Re: Koans
Buddha is a Koanhead /\
(. .)
(. .)
- Pincho Paxton
- Posts: 1305
- Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2007 10:05 am
Re: Koans
be bop alula she's my baby, calling her name is driving me crazy!
- Pincho Paxton
- Posts: 1305
- Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2007 10:05 am
Re: Koans
Butterfly venture powderwing explosion, parallels chaos through flapping causality.
Re: Koans
Like the word "emptiness" in the context used by the QRS, most Koans should be redundant.
To me, they were more for a time when people did not have the massive informational resources now available, so certain prompters were needed to get people thinking more laterally and broadly than they otherwise would.
The idea of some buddha cretin judging monks answers to koans to determine the level of enlightenment troubles me a bit. I'd betcha the judgers were quite inconsistent, otherwise the trainee monks would just learn what answers had already been accepted and say them.
To me, they were more for a time when people did not have the massive informational resources now available, so certain prompters were needed to get people thinking more laterally and broadly than they otherwise would.
The idea of some buddha cretin judging monks answers to koans to determine the level of enlightenment troubles me a bit. I'd betcha the judgers were quite inconsistent, otherwise the trainee monks would just learn what answers had already been accepted and say them.