Personally, I absolutely love koans, and always have. I first encountered them in the book edited by Paul Reps called Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. Reps published his book in 1957 and it consists of four texts on non-dual teachings, three of which are collections of Zen teaching stories and koans, including a translation of The Gateless Gate by the Japanese Zen teacher Nyogen Senzaki.
I must have been a teen-ager when I found the book in the 1970's, and read it again and again. I didn't understand the stories, but I deeply wanted to, and started looking around for someone who could help me explore them. It wasn't until 1981 that I met my first Zen teacher, Richard Clarke, a student of Philip Kapleau, Rōshi, who prepared me for the work of koan introspection by helping me to ground in zazen, the practice of meditation that focuses on upright sitting in stillness and silence, being with the breath and body. After many years of this practice, Richard introduced me to the koan "mu" which begins the Gateless Gate. I worked with him for 20 years, "completing" the koan curriculum that he used, which included four collections of classical Chinese koans.
After I left him and found my second teacher, James Ford, Rōshi, I started again at the beginning, with "mu" and went on to explore the first four collections with fresh eyes, and four more following that. Somewhere in the middle of all this, James gave me permission to teach koans, and the learning continued to deepen.
I did some training with John Tarrant, Rōshi, who was James' teacher, and who had created a format for studying koans in groups that he called "Koan Salons". The style of koan introspection in modern American Zen practice was private and confidential, solely between teacher and student. Sometimes a teacher would give a talk about a koan and this was followed by either "dharma combat" in which a student would come up to the teacher and ask some challenging question to express their knowledge, or, as we developed the practice in Boundless Way, a "dharma dialogue" which was a friendlier version, with room for students to wonder out loud about the talk and the koan.
In koan salons, the teacher would present the koan during a guided contemplation, within the practice of zazen, repeating the koan many times, and then opening up the koan for a group discussion. As I adapted this practice for my sangha, eventually renaming it "koan café, " I was amazed at the level of insight that the group developed together, in an atmosphere of wondering and encouraging free association while hearing the koan. We continue to ask what people notice as reactions in the mind, body and heart as they repeatedly hear the words of the koan.
In traditional koan study, there are "correct" answers, although some improvisation and personalization is honored and affirmed. But in the koan café, everyone is correct, so long as they are honest about their responses, and avoid getting lost in intellectual interpretations.
Whenever I work with a student on one of the more than 2000 koans we use in Boundless Way, my own understanding deepens. And, as it turns out, every time I offer a koan café something similar happens. Koans are deep and bottomless offerings from our Zen ancestors that help us to understand the meaning of a life of awakening.
David Rynick, Rōshi, my life and teaching partner and I will be offering koan cafés this fall on Zoom at Boundless Way Zen Temple (Boundless Way.) And of course, the Sangha Live program is coming up soon. I hope to see you there!
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