In honor of TennisGuy's idea of lightening the mood around here...
Tell me - what's your favorite Zen Koan and why?
2007-10-06 17:29:36 · 8 answers · asked by D.Chen 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing to steal.
Kyokan returned and caught him. "You may have come a long way to visit me, " he told the prowler, "and you should not return empty-handed. Please take my clothes as a gift."
The thief was bewildered. He tool the clothes and slunk away.
Ryokan sat naked, watching the moon. "Poor fellow," he mused, "I wish I could give him this beautiful moon."
2007-10-06 18:52:00 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
If you meet the Buddha on the road - kill him!
I think the source was Lin Chi who lived ~ 810 to 866 CE. Let nothing stop us from achieving Enlightment, let us mistake nothing for Nothing, not even all the precepts or disciplines or studies we do, or respect or earnest longing.
2007-10-07 13:39:01 · answer #2 · answered by SC 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I don't think this is "technically" a koan, but it's good nonetheless:
Our mind is like a glass of clear water. If we put salt into the water, it becomes salt water; sugar, it becomes sugar water; $hit, it becomes $hit water. But originally the water is clear. No thinking, no mind. No mind, no problem.
2007-10-06 17:40:17 · answer #3 · answered by Orpheus Rising 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
approximately recommendations what's this recommendations? who's listening to those sounds? do not mistake any state for Self-know-how, yet proceed to ask your self much extra intensely, what's it that hears? regards JohnH
2016-10-06 05:54:42 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The silence can be very deafening!
It's the condition of human consciousness even as we speak!
2007-10-06 17:38:21 · answer #5 · answered by WillRogerswannabe 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you have some ice cream, I will give it to you.
If you have no ice cream, I will take it from you.
This is an ice cream koan.
2007-10-06 17:33:26 · answer #6 · answered by Dreamstuff Entity 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
What is the sound of one hand clapping?
2007-10-06 17:33:50 · answer #7 · answered by Runa 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A monk named Hui-ch'ao asked his teacher, Fa-yen, "What is Buddha?"
Fa-yen answered, "You are Hui-ch'ao."
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2007-10-06 18:10:40 · answer #8 · answered by bodhidave 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋