Maybe koans are losing their charm these days. Speaking for myself, I remember in the early 1960s when koans had me glued to that marvelous little book, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones which was put together by Paul Reps. Back in those days, what I enjoyed about the koans, as strange as it sounds, is that while I tried to make sense out of them, I just couldn’t. Still, despite this setback, they served to whet my appetite for Zen.
It was only much later after I had a profound awakening to Buddha Mind (I hope to share this with the reader someday) that I fully understood the source from which these little gems were coming from. Yes, it is Mind—Mind with a capital M as in Buddha Mind or One Mind (there are many other names for this Mind). There is not a koan that doesn’t rest on Mind which, nevertheless, tries to hide this Mind in the ordinary.
The great Zen masters of the past could see the Buddha Mind in the ordinary. When Zen master Joshu (C., Chao-chou ) stood up after a monk asked him, “What does the expression, ‘Our founder came from the West’ mean?” the nature of Mind was being directly shown to the monk, only he probably didn’t get it. Most modern students of Zen can almost empathize with this monk, I am sure.
To be sure, everything Joshu did came from his awakening to Buddha Mind. Likewise every great koan is born from this Mind which centralizes around the mysterious method of the hua-t’ou/hua tou which can mean ‘word origination’ or ‘thought’s origin’, or pre-voice. Its main purpose is to get the Zen adept to turn their attention to the absolute source of their thoughts, including their internal dialogue. This source, of course, is Buddha Mind. The Blue Cliff Records (trans. Shaw) sums up the hua-t’ou this way:
“The real substance of the Universe, the ‘First Principle,’ that which is behind or beyond the Voice [hua] or expression of ultimate Truth, this ‘Pre-Voice’ [hua-t’ou] is transmitted only from heart [mind] to heart [mind], and no matter how great or holy or advanced in Enlightenment a man may be he cannot transmit it by means of words and phrases” (brackets are mine).
When the Zen adept finally connects with the origin of their thoughts or the hua-t’ou they will fully understand just how sublime Mind is which enabled Joshu to stand up trying to show the monk Buddha Mind.
As long as modern Western Zen is not serious about looking into Buddha Mind (which seems evident to me), wrongly believing it is something subjective like one’s awareness, the koan will continue to be under valued and spiritually misused. Therefore, I am glad to see that modern Zennists are getting interested in the hua-t’ou like Stuart Lachs with his paper, Hua-t’ou: A Method of Zen Meditation, and Zen master Ama Samy with his recent paper, Koan, Hua-t’ou, and Kensho .
That the interest in the hua t'ou method is increasing in the West is also attested by the fact that recently, a Wikipedia article was created : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hua_Tou (Lachs is the main source)
Posted by: Jure | August 22, 2012 at 01:52 AM
My master told me;
"It takes a true spiritual genius to realize and use the infinite abilities found in the pure essence of Mind Only.
To the greater part of sentient beings and those of the lower vehicle this absolute dharma of the Buddhas, one that even gods covet like no other, is beyond their minds horizon and hence a dark principle of unknown wisdom and power.
I am telling you this, because on your first awakening a Super consciousness is revealed, transcending the boundaries of this illusion before you, and on your second and following awakenings, the great spell of samsara looses its power in the deathless light of Mahaparinirvana."
Posted by: minx | August 21, 2012 at 03:07 PM
Most essential...thanks!
Posted by: MStrinado | August 21, 2012 at 11:37 AM