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This month we\u2019re working the theme of being on the outside. Bob Dylan expressed it like this:<\/p>\n This month we\u2019re working the theme of being on the outside. Bob Dylan expressed it like this:<\/p>\n
Always on the outside of whatever side there was, Turns out that many people who come to Zen practice resonate with old Bob\u2019s sentiment. Given that I was raised from a young, feral pup in just-sitting Zen and then was adopted as an adult into\u00a0k\u014dan-introspection Zen, I feel Bob too.\u00a0 Even in the Zen community, where I\u2019ve spent most of my adult life and might seem like an insider to many, the feeling lingers.<\/p>\n Some of that is due to the misunderstandings between groups, and particularly, in my view, from those\u00a0in just-sitting Zen and how they regard\u00a0k\u014dan introspection. I\u2019ll be coming back to this in a near-future post.<\/p>\n Enter James My\u014dun Ford R\u014dshi\u2019s new book, Introduction to Koans: Learning the Language of Dragons.\u00a0<\/em>James, deeply grounded in\u00a0k\u014dan introspection, has long straddled the two ways of Zen. And his broadening Unitarian Universalist background has gentled his presentation of\u00a0k\u014dan as an aspect of a reformed\u00a0S\u014dt\u014d Zen.<\/p>\n Ford R\u014dshi\u2019s new book is an excellent resource especially for students interested in exploring the k\u014dan way AND for teachers and students of\u00a0just-sitting Zen. My bet is that a careful read will dispel many myths about\u00a0k\u014dan work. Not that this book is the one and only way to see it \u2013\u00a0k\u014dan work, like just-sitting Zen, has many flavors and focus points. And as always with us large-brained primates, to paraphrase Max Weber, there is more difference within the\u00a0k\u014dan group than between the\u00a0k\u014dan group and just-sitting Zen.<\/p>\n For Ford R\u014dshi, Zen is about awakening, and he focusses on awakening throughout this latest offering. The root word \u201cawake,\u201d for example, is found on 53 of 222 pages. And both Hakuin (representing the\u00a0k\u014dan-introspection tradition) and D\u014dgen\u00a0(representing the\u00a0just-sitting tradition) appear on 18 of 222 pages. Now that\u2019s impressive balance!<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026The poetry of Zen,\u201d he writes, \u201cpoints to the heart\u2019s awakening, that true entrusting into the mysterious reality that is this world. The disciplines, the practices all have this one point\u2014the healing of a broken world, and with that the healing of our own broken hearts (p. 40).\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHealing\u201d is Ford R\u014dshi\u2019s language for the abrupt, nondual verification referred to as kensh\u014d:<\/p>\n \u201cIn k\u014dan introspection, doubt and faith travel together. Each informs the other. It is our relentless presence to doubt and faith that takes us to the gate of nondual insight. Indeed, both the path to the gate and the gate itself are discovered within that relentlessness, that willingness to not turn away. This relentlessness is Great Determination.\u201d<\/p>\n You\u2019ll find that\u00a0Ford R\u014dshi generously provides the context for\u00a0k\u014dan introspection, \u201cPart One: The Heart of Zen,\u201d grounds his argument in the historical Buddha, ancient China, and then brings us home to today, when \u201c\u2026the koan curriculum is revitalized and flourishes in Hakuin\u2019s school (33).\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPart Two: The Practices of Zen,\u201d begins with the basics of how to do zazen with chapters on the body, breath, concentration states, and then touching on the unity of just-sitting and\u00a0k\u014dan introspection.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re being invited to is something else. It is taking the whole, being present to it all, without judgment. It is being fully present to this ordinary body that you were given by your parents. And here\u2019s the secret teaching: your body has within it a full and complete capacity to know the Buddha\u2019s wisdom and virtue. Not someone else\u2019s body, but yours. And it isn\u2019t found some other place. Rather, it is found here. Just here. Always, just here.\u201d<\/p>\n Next Ford R\u014dshi introduces\u00a0k\u014dan introspection as well as doubt, the key-word method, the mu k\u014dan, and the scope of\u00a0k\u014dan introspection as practiced today in what\u00a0Ford R\u014dshi calls the \u201cHarada-Yasutani S\u014dt\u014d-reformed k\u014dan curriculum.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPart Three: Living Zen\u201d looks at the various styles in the history of Zen, Zen and Western Culture, and the teacher-student relationship. The book is sprinkled with\u00a0Ford R\u014dshi\u2019s inclusive and loving style of k\u014dan commentary.<\/p>\n \u201cJust open your heart to what is going on,\u201d he writes. \u201cThe autumn dew is always with us, the full moon is never very far away. Notice the clear clean moments as they present, but our invitation for this summer is to be present, to wander out following the scented grasses. We\u2019ll find it all in the scented grasses.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, Ford R\u014dshi points to the endless journey of the Zen way in all it\u2019s forms by pointing to Hakuin\u2019s \u201cnot yet\u201d\u00a0k\u014dan. That, by the way, is the whole\u00a0k\u014dan \u2013 \u201cNot yet!\u201d So you\u2019ve completed the\u00a0k\u014dan curriculum. Well,\u00a0\u201cNot yet!\u201d buddy.<\/p>\n \u201cI suggest it is also a reminder,\u201d writes\u00a0Ford R\u014dshi, \u201cthat we never cease training. However skillfully we have delved into the Great Matter, as the old Zen saying goes, \u2018Shakyamuni is still practicing.'\u201d<\/p>\n My heartfelt wish and expectation is that\u00a0Introduction to Koans: Learning the Language of Dragons <\/em>will\u00a0contribute to mutual understanding and appreciation within the Zen community and will clarify the Zen path, encouraging new students to throw themselves into the great journey of the Zen way.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n This month we\u2019re working the theme of being on the outside. Bob Dylan expressed it like this: Always on the outside of whatever side there was, When they asked him why it had to be that way, \u201cWell,\u201d he answered, \u201cjust because.\u201d\u00a0 Turns out that many people who come to Zen practice resonate with old […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[29,6,18],"class_list":["post-4625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-james-ford","tag-koan","tag-zen"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nWhen they asked him why it had to be that way,
\n\u201cWell,\u201d he answered, \u201cjust because.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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