Sitting with Koans : Essential Writings on the Practice of Zen Koan Introspection

by Loori, John Daido; Kirchner, Tom

• ISBN13: 9780861713691
• ISBN10: 0861713699
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-12-30
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications

Summary

The Zen tradition has just two main meditative practices: shikantaza, or "just sitting"; and introspection guided by the powerful Zen teaching stories called koans. Following in the tradition of The Art of Just Sitting (endorsed as a "A book we have needed for a long, long time"), this new anthology from John Daido Loori illuminates the subtle practice of koan study from many different points of view.

Includes writings by:

• Robert Aitken
• William Bodiford
• Robert Buswell
• Roko Sherry Chayat
• Francis Dojun Cook
• Eihei Dogen
• Heinrich Dumoulin
• Hakuin Ekaku
• Victor Sogen Hori
• Keizan Jokin
• Philip Kapleau
• Chung-fen Ming-Pen
• Taizan Maezumi
• Dennis Genpo Merzel
• Soen Nakagawa
• Ruth Fuller Sasaki
• Sokei-an Sasaki
• Nyogen Senzaki
• Zenkei Shibayama
• Eido Shimano
• Philip Yampolsky
• Hakuun Yasutani
• Wayne Yokoyama
• Katsushiro Yoshizawa

Author Biography

John Daido Loori was, until his death in 2009, the spiritual leader and abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery in Mt. Tremper, New York. Trained in koan Zen as well as in the subtle school of Master Dogen's Zen, he was the Dharma heir of Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi Roshi. Devoted to maintaining authentic Zen training, he developed a distinctive style, called the Eight Gates of Zen, based on the noble eightfold path. Drawing on his background as scientist, artist, naturalist, and Zen priest, Abbot Loori was an American master who spoke directly to students from the perspective of a common background. His books include Mountain Record of Zen Talks and The Heart of Being.

Thomas Yuho Kirchner was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1949. He went to Japan in 1969 to attend Waseda University in Tokyo for a year, after which he remained in Japan to study Buddhism. He spent three years training under Yamada Mumon as a lay monk at Shofuku-ji before receiving ordination in 1974. Following ordination he practiced under Minato Sodo Roshi at Kencho-ji in Kamakura and Kennin-ji in Kyoto. Following graduate studies in Buddhism at Otani University he worked at the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture in Nagoya and subsequently at the Hanazono University International Research Institute for Zen Buddhism. He presently lives at Tenryu-ji in Arashiyama, Kyoto. Among his publications are the Record of Linji, Dialogues in a Dream, and Entangling Vines.
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Foreword	xi
Thomas Yuho Kirchner
Introduction: The Anatomy of the Zen Koan	1	(8)
Editor's Note	9	(4)
Historical Perspective
The Definition of a Koan	13	(4)
Chung-fen Ming-pen
The Song Period: A Time of Maturation	17	(24)
Heinrich Dumoulin
Five Houses of Zen	41	(34)
Heinrich Dumoulin
The ``Short-cut'' Approach of K'an-hua Meditation	75	(16)
Robert E. Buswell, Jr.
Koan Practice	91	(26)
William M. Bodiford
The Nature of the Rinzai (Linji) Koan Practice	117	(14)
Victor Sogen Hori
The Steps of Koan Practice	131	(20)
Victor Sogen Hori
Japanese Koan Study
Dogen and Koans	151	(12)
John Daido Loori
Keizan, Koans, and Succession in the Soto School	163	(12)
Francis Dojun Cook
Ancestor Dajian Huineng	175	(10)
Keizan Jokin
Hakuin Ekaku and the Modern Koan System	185	(6)
Philip Yampolsky
Orategama Zokushu	191	(20)
Hakuin Ekaku
The Voice of the Sound of One Hand	211	(20)
Hakuin Ekaku
Modern Koan Commentaries
Ninth Koan	231	(6)
Sokei-an Sasaki
Prajnatara Recites His Sutra	237	(4)
Nyogen Senzaki
Passover Teisho	241	(12)
Soen Nakagawa
Nansen (Nanquan) Kills a Cat	253	(8)
Zenkei Shibayama
Commentary on the Koan ``Mu''	261	(12)
Hakuun Yasutani
Roso (Luzu) Faces the Wall	273	(14)
Taizan Maezumi
The Record of Master Rinzai (Linji)	287	(8)
Eido Shimano
Bodhidharma's Emptiness	295	(8)
Robert Aitken
Think Neither Good nor Evil	303	(10)
Philip Kapleau
A Buffalo Passes Through a Window	313	(8)
Dennis Genpo Merzel
Moshan's Nature of the Summit Mountain	321	(10)
John Daido Loori
Everybody's Light	331	(10)
Roko Sherry Chayat
Who's Who	341	(4)
Permission Credits	345	(4)
Index	349