Religion – These koans, or parables, were translated into English from a book called the Shaseki-shu (Collection of Stone and Sand), written late in the thirteenth century by the Japanese Zen teacher Muju (the "non-dweller"), and from anecdotes of Zen monks taken from various books published in Japan around the turn of the 20th century.
wonderful stories...the Zen equivalent of Aesop. This collection is not actually of ko-ans. These are stories or parables. The Zen stories here are actually instructive. Where the stories have a clear 'moral' so to speak, a koan often has none. Frequently, the clarity of the mind as one intuits the impasse is the entire point of the Gong-an.
The collection of stories presented here is just lovely.
More classical sets of what are considered gong-an or ko-an are presented in The Blue Cliff Record, The Book of Equanimity and The Gateless Gate. Ko or gong is frequently translated as "equanimity".
None-the-less, this is a beautiful collection. It and The Gateless Gate are published in an small collection by Doubleday called: "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones."
Nice post g-p. never mind the mistake! The Japanese love to have some small detail imperfect as reminder that only the Creator can make perfection.
Read on..
Bravo to you Bravo!
Right - they are not koans, which are very inscrutable riddles which take a lot of puzzling over for the uninitiated. These stories are instantly comprehensible but thay definitely contain zen wisdom. I skimmed a few, all of which were familiar, and bookmarked the site. I especially like "Muddy Road" - there's another version which is identical but is about crossing a river.
And "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones" indeed!
I had the pleasure of meeting Paul Reps, the compiler, at a Zendo in upstate NY, Dai Bosatsu Zendo, where I was studying Shiatsu with a Japanese teacher, Ohashi.
"Frequently, the clarity of the mind as one intuits the impasse is the entire point of the Gong-an. "
One doesn't intuit a Koan. One sits with it. If you're approaching it in an intellectual way, trying to 'figure it out,' you're missing the point.
oh, that's very subtle. most people won't get the difference between mu or wu and intuiting the answer...but, none-the-less, I stand corrected...lol...mu is not the answer...but perhaps you can be corrected as well...one doesn't sit with it...one goes to the bathroom and pees...or scratches his itchy ear...
"Nowhere in these ancient stories is there any hint for how we can prevent death by infection with anti-biotics. No where does it describe accurately that the universe is expanding, and the expansion is accelerating due to dark matter. No where in these stories is the false belief of imaginary gods debunked. "
Perhaps, perhaps not. I can find plenty of examples of each of your "missing science" in most of the sacred scriptures from the Bible to Tibetan cosmology to the Vedas.
Trying to replace religion with science only makes science a religion. Trying to replace science with religion only removes all that is from religion.
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Doh - should be "Famous", of course, sorry for the typo: no Zen riddle intended LOL.
Remember the book that came out in the 70s, "If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him!" (Sheldon Kopp)
That was supposed to be the advice of a Zen Master.
Yes, it was very widely read at the time and had a considerable influence.
"That was supposed to be the advice of a Zen Master."
It was and remains the advice of many Zen teachers. But (just like Bible passages) it is not meant literally. Japan is a high-context society.