Koans

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone.

"Show me a piece of paper with only one side!" Matsuoka-roshi would sometimes ask my Teacher, Hogaku-roshi. He in turn, put it to me. Forget a mobius strip...you can see both sides of the strip. Forget "sides" Sides will just get in the way. This is similar to the one-hand clapping koan.

Koan work, though not a primary teaching method in Soto Zen, is still actually used by Soto Masters. Master Dogen has an entire collection he used in a lessor known work called "Mana Shobogenzo" and the Shobogenzo itself, is a collection of koan seeds.

What is a koan?

It is NOT a riddle. It is not a puzzle. A koan is a nut, or better yet, a fruit, to peel and bite into. The only way to "solve" a koan is to actually eat it.
We cannot realize a koan through the intellect. It is non-conceptual. We can answer koans only through intuitive slight of hand.

In Soto Zen we sit with no purpose whatever. Yet we deliberately take our seat. A koan arises. Deliberation requires an intent. Shikantaza (to just sit) denies intent.

We vow not to kill, but kill to live. Life itself is a koan.

Answer, please.


Be well.