A Few Words About Koans

On July 20 I'll be offering a 3 hour koan café for Sangha Live's Day of Practice series (Sangha Live registration link) and it's gotten me thinking about koans in general, and in particular how to introduce these teaching stories to people who are not familiar with them.  So -- a few words about them.

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!

Squall on the Pacific June 2025 Sesshin

photo by Rev. Corwyn Miyagishima

 Pictured here are the happy attendees at our recent Boundless Way Zen Temple June Zoom sesshin.  Twenty-eight of us gathered for what we thought was a short sesshin, starting on Friday night and ending midday on Sunday.  But time disappeared and long and short seemed beside the point.  Based on our final sharing, everyone went deep and wide into their practice.  As we have discovered, since our first Zoom sesshin in 2020, the power of the Way manifests in this form as well as when in residence at Boundless Way Zen Temple.

Sangha members from as far east as Iran and as far west as Hawaii attended the retreat, plus people from Europe and the US.  Geography, as well as time, melted away.  

We focused on a koan from the Gateless Gate, number 41, in which the legendary Indian teacher Bodhidharma meets and connects with his eventual dharma heir Hui-ke.  Looking into this koan together, we were able to find in these two ancient characters some reflections of our own innermost longings.

Our next Zoom sesshin will be Sept. 6 -- 9 and is open for registration now (Boundless Way Zen Temple).  Three weeks of residential practice are also open for registration for July and August -- you can attend for one, two or all three weeks.  I hope to practice with you in the future!

Serious Play with registration link

In a few weeks, I’ll be teaching a three hour kōan café for an organization called “Sangha Live.” 

Sangha Live provides dharma teachings and practice opportunities online to an international sangha.   The folks at Sangha Live have invited me to join them on Saturday, July 20, from 10 am – 1 pm eastern US time to offer a kōan café for them which I have called Serious Play: A Zen Kōan Café. To register for this event go to: register

As many of you know, our Boundless Way Zen Temple kōan cafés are opportunities to explore kōan practice in the non-traditional way pioneered by my teacher’s teacher John Tarrant, Rōshi.  We use meditation, guided contemplations, dharma talks, free association and group dialogue to explore one or more kōans in company with others.  In the free-wheeling, compassionate atmosphere of a kōan café, everyone’s contribution is important, and no-one is ever wrong.  

I hope that you will join me and curious dharma students from many traditions around the world on July 20.

A Little Poem by Hanshan

 

The Truman Show

Last night at Boundless Way Zen Temple,  Dharma Holder Michael Herzog gave a talk about the excerpt from Taego Bou in our sutra book ("Days Like Lightning.")  

In our dharma dialogue/discussion that followed, we focussed on the line "At the end of the road, it's like an iron wall."  A number of us shared our fantasies about what that wall looks and feels like:  a rough and wild stone wall, a slippery aluminum wall, and more.  

A couple of us recalled the last scene in the Truman Show, a movie from 1998 starring Jim Carrey, where the hero tries to escape from his unreal world, and rams into what appears to be the edge of an ocean, but which is simply a stage set.   

Many of the participants hadn't seen the Truman Show, so I thought I'd share the trailer here and hope to entice you into finding it streaming online.  It's a truly Zen movie, in my openion, about waking up to the reality that we're all living in a dream.  Check it out!

Boundless Way Zen Temple May Sesshin: As Real As a Dream

photo by Corwyn Miyagishima

Yesterday we completed our May sesshin at Boundless Way Zen Temple.  Some of us were on Zoom, and some of us were in residence at the Temple.  Many of the participants are pictured above.  

Our residential tanto (retreat leader), Lara Nordenson, named the sesshin "As Real As a Dream" inspired by the koan we explored together, copied below:  Ziyong's Last Teaching.  Ziyong was a woman teacher who lived in China in the 17th century.

The last line of the koan reads, "When you are in a dream, you still speak the language of dreams."  This line in itself is so rich for me -- emphasizing the teaching that we are all living in a dream that we sometimes call samsara, ordinary life, and we long for a perfect life, which we can call nirvana or "cessation" -- everything perfect, calm and happy.  

Zen emphasizes, as Dharma Holder Alan Richardson reminded us in his evening encouragement talk, that samsara is nirvana.  This life, this dream, is everything we are looking for, arising as it does in its seemingly imperfect form.  So to live fully in the dream, we must open to and live all the parts of our lives, including what we don't want.  We must speak the language of dreams while we are living the dream.  This talk, and our other talks and discussions, will be available on our Boundless Way Zen Temple website:  Boundless Way Zen Temple

Below the koan I have added some additional sayings and poems from this important woman ancestor. 

Ziyong’s Last Teaching

From Ziyong Ru Chanshi Yulu ( The Discourse Records of Chan Master Ziyong Ru, translated by Beata Grant) Ziyong Chengru, Linji, China, known as “Ship of Compassion”and “Universal Compassion” born 1645, successor of Gulu Fan)

Master Ziyong Chengru was dying, and her disciple, the nun Jinxuan, was very anxious. Ziyong said to her, “From the beginning there has been neither birth nor death – so what nirvana will there be?”

But Jingxuan’s grief continued.

Ziyong then gave a shout, and Jinxuan went into a state of deep meditation. Ziyong called her out of it and asked, ”At this moment is there any nirvana, or is there not any nirvana?”

Jingxuan said, “Your disciple from the beginning has experienced neither birth nor death, so what nirvana can there be?”

Ziyong said, “This is what it is like before the dream.”

Jingxuan asked, "What is it like after the dream?”

Ziyong said, “when you are in a dream, you still speak the language of dreams.”

Additional sayings and poems of Ziyong:

The Dharma does not rise up alone – it can’t emerge without reliance on the world. If I take up the challenge of speaking I must surely borrow the light and the dark, the form and the emptiness of the mountains and hills and the great earth, the call of the magpies and the cries of the crows.  The water flows and the flowers blossom, brilliantly preaching without ceasing.  In this way there is no restraint.

Ten Verses Presented on the Occasion of a Gathering in the Capital of My Disciples to See Me Off

Yesterday my disciples spoke to me of the grief of separation

As they poured out the endless sorrow that was in their hearts.

I’ve ordered the flowers in the courtyard not to be too anxious,

Lest they startle the pearly dewdrops on the autumn blooms.

I bought myself a light boat in anticipation of going south.

A bright moon fills my breast; my empty heart feels foolish!

In front of the cliffs, hidden birds sing out time and again,

Saying, “When you reach the south, consult the fifty-three!”

Last night the numinous blossom in my dream split in two;

But when I awoke, it was as before—vast and without a trace.

A heavenful of luminous moon, as clear as if just bathed;

The jade waters of the Yan hills all lift the traveler’s spirits.

Do not slight the lazy and foolish: both come from no mind.

Clouds emerge without thinking, birds just sing their songs.

The wind pierces the flowers’ shimmer, their fragrance so fine.

What need to seek for anything more than surprises like these!

It is just that I love the Yan Mountains and their jade waters,

Where clear breezes and bright moon complement each other.

The birds in the trees know how things will turn out in the end;

Flying close to my carriage, from afar they seal a vow with me.

A skiff of a boat floats in the vastness under the bright moon;

In northern lands or southern skies the landscape is the same.

Stop nattering on, my disciples, about how fond of me you are;

When fall comes, you can expect the geese to return as before.

Two sleevefuls of springtime light as I leave the Forbidden City;

One breastful of anxious thoughts poured out toward the south.

The mountains of Yan on my mind as grieving clouds thicken,

But if you wait until high autumn, then its colors will become clear.

The lightweight sail hangs high among the five-colored clouds;

Ten thousand miles of road to travel, as far as the eye can see.

Its two banks of reed flowers reach beyond the edge of the sky;

The sun’s glow rises above me at the gateway to the eastern sea.

A willow-colored overcoat reminds me it is a cold time of year;

And peach reds still recall the sorrowful feelings of separation.

Filling all the world’s jade waters, one bright moon in the sky;

If you stay and wait on Golden Terrace, you can see it very well.

The Chan mind is not solitary, as clouds in the wilds know;

Reed moon and plum blossom, to whom can I send them?

The sorrow of parting is meaningful and so hard to dismiss;

But if the way is in tune with no-mind, it will go as it should.

Taking the Precepts on May 11, 2024

Matt Hass, Anne Fine, me, Alan Richardson, Rich Stretifeld and Ty Burr
photo by Corwyn Miyagishima

I'm still enjoying the glow of our recent precepts ceremony (jukai) last Saturday. We were able to celebrate at the Temple in person, and also on Zoom. Dharma Holder Michael Herzog was away in Florida celebrating Mother's Day with his mom, and David Roshi was recovering from a cold, so they both joined us in the zoom zendo. Along with the 40 folks in person, we had another 40 online, including a number of surprise guests, invited by some of the initiates: my own teacher James Ford Roshi, his wife and longtime practitioner Jan Seymour Ford, my dharma heir Bob Waldinger Roshi, and my old dharma friend Mu Soeng. They all shared some inspiring words, and then Dharma Holder Alan Richardson and I conducted the ceremony in person.

One of the features of our precepts ceremonies in Boundless Way Zen Temple is that we ask all the initiates to share their own reflections on each of the sixteen bodhisattva precepts. All four of the initiates, pictured here with Alan and me, demonstrated their insight into these guidelines for ethical behavior with depth and wit. We literally laughed and cried. And were inspired.

We also had the help of three of our Boundless Way Priests: Rev. Corwyn Miyagishima, who prepared the Temple for the ceremony, assisted by Rev. Paul Galvin and Rev. Ray Demers. And on Zoom, Assistant Teacher Jenny Smith provided technical support. I'm so grateful to all of them for fulfilling their own bodhisattva vows in this tangible way.

Below are the names of the initiates, along with their names in Japanese romanization, kanji and the English translation. Congratulations to all!

Ty Burr (Kanmu): 寛夢 Generous Vision

Rich Streitfeld (Kо̄ji): 荒慈 Wild Compassion

Anne Fine (Jingyо̄): 仁行 Benevolent Action

Matt Haas (Seikon): 誠魂 Sincere Spirit