What is Koan (Mun Da)?

[SPJ]

How to read or tell a Chan story?

There are no strict rules.

But I find some of things listed below helpful.

1) The purpose: is to know what, why, how, when, where, who about a subject, usually something in your life.

In short, you want to know.

2) Positivity: you have to think in a positive way to approach your answer. eg. love, kindness, compassion.

3) Singleness: you try to find the source from myriads of questions or examples at hand.

4) Commoness: you try to find similarity among all the examples listed.

5) Universal: the answer derived should be applied to all similar quests.

You basically integrate all your information into a relevant answer that applies to all. That answer then has the characteristic of the truth.

The main thing is motivation. That is from your heart.

If your heart is unjust or not positive, it will be difficult to understand Koan.

With time and practice, and with a right mind and a just heart, we can gradually appreciate the Chan story.

How do you study Chan story?

[SPJ]

There is a fisherman. He learned how to fish from his father and other fishermen.

One day, he wrote down all his knowledge in a book (sutra).

A city dude likes the ocean but never actually fishes himself.

He is intrigued and read the fishing book well.

But the dude actually has to fish to understand the book fully.



The fisherman learned how to fish in real life over time. He put his thoughts into words in the book. But to know the thoughts fully, the dude has to have a real life experience.

The purpose of the story is to tell the truth, one has to experience the truth (about fishing).

If your heart/motivation is in different places, you may take the story in the different ways.

:)

[One Finger Zen]

Man, that sh!t is deep dude......nice

OFZ, peace out

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..


The purpose of the story is to tell the truth, one has to experience the truth
The intriguing aspect of this is the quality of the experience.. if the experience is intellectualized it will acquire the prejudices of the observer.. if the experience is acquired with a "still" mind it will likely have some elements of "truth".. yet, in recounting that experience, we cannot escape the meddling of the mind.. the art of crafting words is subject to the mind's prejudices..

The best lessons have been simple observations, for me.. or the rare teacher that leads us to our own experience rather than impose their interpretation of it.. then, after both have had similar personal experiences, we work toward a consensus of interpretation.. finally, the lesson emerges from within, a concept or technique makes sense and is internallized rather than being the product of rote memorization or dictated dogma.. I learned Chen Style Taiji from a person that spoke so little engish that frequently the only words used by the teacher was an affirming "yes" or a gently corrective "no".. the lessons were of substantial quality..

Be well...

[Cody]

I read a short koan in what can only be termed as a "coffee table" book on Bushido. long time ago. I had no idea what a koan was. No preparation. and no beliefs. No seeking for clarity, truth, or anything. Just reading and seeing what it said and wondering why some people would find something like this relevant.

Well, I never really understood it. And I don't remember it. But, I felt my "insides" and my consciousness, shift then. There was a deepening of my own identity, and I'm glad of it.

Cody

[SPJ]

Yes.

There are several types of Chan/Zen stories or poems.

1) Appreciation: or an observation.

It can be the weather, a plant. an amimal, scenery or an object.

Your try to appreciate its features directly without any artificiality. This is a practice to perceive things as things are. At higher level, it will be a question in life.

For example,

In the spring, birds are chirping, snow is melting, the land starts to turn green.

It means a transformation of everything, a beginning of a New year. Everything is fresh, young, warm, etc.

Love; Love is to give something and never expect anything in return. Love is to give. Love is not asking for something. Love is-----

2) A story to answer or pointing to answers for a question asked.

A story may have a subjective and an objective. The keys lie in the interactions or interdependency of the subjetive and the objective.

For example,

A rich merchant just made a lot of money from a very good deal. He worried where to put the money safely. How to invest? What to do?

The Chan monk then answered with a story.

A farmer just has a good harvest of the crops. He worried that the crops may go bad. He does not want to flood the market. It wound make the price drop and all the farmers lose money. He started to make some of crops into pickled jars. Some are sauteed and dried. Some are shipped to other towns for sale.

The subjective is the farmer. The objective is the crop. The same dilema is overabundance of goods or money. What to do?

Diversify. Some in saving. Some in CD. Some reinvested in a different deal.

You see.

Actually this is a simple example.

It may go deeper.

There are also other categories of Chan stories.

To get people into thinking, into actions, ----etc.

Peace.

:)