Koans of the Way of Reality: Changsha’s Illusory Thinking

Inconceivably Wondrous

Dharma Discourse by John Daido Loori, Roshi

Featured in Mountain Record 26.1, Fall 2007

The Main Case

Changsha was once asked by Government’s Secretary Du, “When you chop an earthworm into two pieces, both pieces keep moving. I wonder, in which piece is the buddha nature?”
Changsha said, “Don’t have illusory thoughts.”
Du said, “How are we to understand [...]

Ch’an Master Ta-hui Tsung-kao and Kung-an Zen

Ta-hui Tsung-kao and Kung-an Ch’an
By Chun-Fang Yu
Journal of Chinese Philosophy
V. 6 (1979)
pp. 211-235
Copyright 1979 by D. Reidel Publishing Co.

A biography of Chan master Ta-hui and a discussion of the use of koans to achieve enlightenment.
Ta-hui Tsung-kao[a] (1089-1163) was a monk belonging to the Lin-chi school of Ch’an Buddhism. He was the 12th generation heir of [...]

Zen Art as Practice: Painting Spring

From a chapter in The Eight Gates of Zen by John Daido Loori, Roshi
Master Dogen, addressing the assembly, said:
My late master, old Buddha (T’ien-t’ung Ju-ching), said, “The original face has no birth and no death. Spring is in the plum blossoms and enters into a painting.” When you paint Spring, do not paint willows, [...]

Zen and the Spiritual Power in Carrying Water, Chopping Firewood

Dharma Discourse by John Daido Loori, Roshi
True Dharma Eye, Case 61
Guishan Exploring Spiritual Powers

Featured in Mountain Record 23.1, Fall 2004
The Main Case
One day Guishan was lying down1 when his student Yangshan Huiji came in.2 Guishan turned over and lay facing the wall.3
Yangshan said, “I am your student. You don’t need to be formal.”4
Guishan sat up5 [...]

Zen Stories - A Selection

Flower Shower
Subhuti was Buddha’s disciple. He was able to understand the potency of emptiness, the viewpoint that nothing exists except in its relationship of subjectivity and objectivity.
One day Subhuti, in a mood of sublime emptiness, was sitting under a tree. Flowers began to fall about him.
“We are praising you for your discourse on emptiness,” the [...]

Koans and The Non-Logical Character of Zen

Hakuin’s Daruma

Hajime Nakamura,
Journal of Chinese Philosophy V. 12 (1985) pp. 105-115
©1985 by Dialogue Publishing Company.
Zen Dialogues
Zen took the exactly opposite standpoint against formal logic of Buddhist logicians. In Rinzai practice of Zen, meditation on paradoxes (koan) is used to awaken intuitive insight into what transcends logical distinctions. In daily conversation among Japanese, “Zen dialogue [...]