Zen Koan Books II

 

Zen Koans, Testing Verses, Mondos, Dialogues, Stories
Bibliography, Quotations, Notes, Resources
Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo

Here is a list of the books I own and have used to "study" the collections of recorded Taoist/Chan/Zen teaching examples.  These collections of brief spiritual stories and questions have been available in English language translations and commentaries since the 1960's. 

These popular "Koan Collections" include "Cases" of brief spiritual conversations, anecdotes, curious questions and answers, brief stories, dialogues, reports of puzzling encounters, tall tales, aphorisms, tests of basic understanding, pop quizzes, jokes, Dharma talks, poetry, summaries, etc.  

I am interested in research in "Koan Collections" primarily from a literary, scholarly, philosophical, educational, and historical viewpoint.  Taoist/Chan/Zen religious practices, attitudes, and training methods regarding koans cannot be ignored. Finally, I will share some of my own phenomenological experiences while dealing with the ideas, or no-mind non-ideas, of this enchanting Zen koan nexus. 

You can purchase all of these books for under $500.  My membership in the Dharma Rain Temple in Portland, Oregon, a Soto Zen Buddhist Sangha, costs me $30.00 per month.  Learning requires monthly financial commitments, both in support of my own intellectual and spiritual progress, and in support of the work of others spreading the Good Dharma as authors or as local priests and lay teachers.    

Here are the books I have used for trying to integrate and enrich my life with a study of these spiritual practices: Koans, Stories, Dialogues, Mondos, Testing Verses, Riddles, Taoist/Chan/Zen Directness, Non-Sequiturs, immediacy, Checking Verses, spontaneity, quiet sitting, martial arts, monks living together, lay Sanga members, etc:

1. Book of Equanimity/Serenity, 100 Koans
2. Blue Cliff Record, Hekiganroku, 100 Koans
3. Gateless Barrier, Mumonkan, 48 Koans
4. Dogen's Koans, 300 Koans
5. How to Study Koans, Mondos, and Checking Verses
6. Other Koan Collections
7. Related Links, Resources, References

1. Book of Equanimity/Serenity, 100 Koans

The Book of Equanimity: Illuminating Classic Zen Koans.  Commentary and Introduction by Gerry Shishin Wick, Roshi, Ph.D.  Roshi Wick was a Dharma Heir of Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi (1931-1995). The text was translated from the Japanese to English by Dana Fraser and Maezumi Roshi.  Foreword by Bernie Glassman.  Wisdom Publications, 2005, 360 pages.  100 Koans. VSCL, paperback.  

Book of Serenity: One Hundred Zen Dialogues.  Translation and commentary by Thomas Cleary.  Shambhala, 2005, 512 pages.  100 Koans. VSCL, paperback.

Book of Serenity  By Joan Sutherland, Roshi

2. The Blue Cliff Records (Pi Yen Lu, Hekiganroku)
    100 Koans 

In the Sung Dynasty (960-1279) Zen flourished in China.  Zen Master Xuedou Zhongxian (Jap. Setcho) (980-1052) sorted through hundreds of Yulu collections of encounter dialogues, and came up with 100 good examples, or Cases, for Zen training purposes.  His compilation was called The One Hundred Odes.   

Odes to a Classic Hundred Standards by Xuedou Zhongxian

The Chinese Zen Master Yuanwu Kegin (Jap. Engo) (1063-1135) revised The One Hundred Odes.  He added introductions/prefaces for each Case, added some all the recapitulation verses, added notes and added comments.  After his efforts, his written document came to be titled The Blue Cliff Record, Pi Yen Lu, Hekiganroku by later users.   

Blue Cliff Record - Wikipedia 

Directory of Commentaries for Each Case of the Blue Cliff Record.
By Matthew Juksan Sullivan.  

Two Zen Classics: Mumonkan and Hekiganroku. Translated with commentaries by Katsuki Sekida. Edited and introduced by A. V. Grimstone. New York, Weatherhill, 1977. Index, 413 pages. ISBN: 0834801302. 100 + 250 Koans. Extensive, detailed, and useful notes for each Case in both books.  VSCL, Paperback. 

The Garden of Flowers and Weeds: A New Translation and Commentary on the Blue Cliff Record.  By Matthew Juksan Sullivan, Roshi.  Monkfish Pubs., 2021, 580 pages.  Index, glossary, bibliography, name lists, appendices.  VSCL, Hardbound.  

The Blue Cliff Record.  Translated with commentary and notes by Thomas Cleary and J. C. Cleary. Foreword by Taizan Maezumi Roshi. Boston, Shambhala, 2005. Glossary, biographies, bibliography, 648 pages. ISBN: 9781590302323. VSCL, Paperback.  Online Bootleg

3. Gateless Barrier, Mumonkan, 48 Koans

The Gateless Barrier: Zen Comments on the Mumonkan.
By Zenkai Shibayama. Shibayama Roshi (1894-1974). Translated by Sumiko Kudo. Introduction by Shibayama Roshi. Preface by Kenneth W. Morgan, Colgate University. Boston, Shambhala, 2000. Glossary, index, 361 pages. First compiled with commentary, published in 1228, by Zen Master Mumon Ekai (1183-1260) [Wumen Huikai]. Outstanding teishos (comments, explanations, reflections) by Shibayama Roshi on each of Mumon Ekai's tripartite approach: koan case, commentary, and poem (capping verse).  The Gateless Barrier, a path of no-gate, is expressed in 48 Cases. VSCL, Paperback.

  

Two Zen Classics: Mumonkan and Hekiganroku. Translated with commentaries by Katsuki Sekida. Edited and introduced by A. V. Grimstone. New York, Weatherhill, 1977. Index, 413 pages. ISBN: 0834801302. 100 Koans. VSCL, Paperback.

Passing Through the Gateless Barrier: Koan Practice for Real Life. By Guo Gu. Shambhala, 2016, 440 pages. VSCL, Paperback.  

The Gateless Gate: The Classic Book of Zen Koans. Commentary and translation by Koun Yamada. Foreword by Ruben L. F. Habito. Wisdom Publications, 2004. 336 pages. 

4. Dogen's Koans, 301 Koans

The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dōgen's Three Hundred Koans. Translated by Kazuaki Tanahashi and John Daido Loori. Commentary and verse by John Daido Loori. Boston, Shambhala, 2009. Index of koans, glossary, biographical, lineage charts, notes, 540 pages. VSCL, Paperback.

Master Dogen's Shinji Shobogenzo: 301 Koan Stories.  Translation and commentary by Gudo Nishijima.  Edited by Michael Luetchford and Jeremy Pearson.  2020, 397 pages.  VSCL, Amazon Kindle EBook is hard to use.

5. How to Study Koans, Mondos, and Checking Verses

Sitting with Koans: Essential Writings on Zen Koan Introspection.  Edited by John Daido Loori.  Introduction by Tom Kirchner.  Wisdom Publications, 2005, 368 pages.  VSCL - Used paperback.   

The Zen Koan: Its History and Use in Rinzai Zen.  By Isshu Miura and Ruth Fuller Sasaki.  Harper Perennial, 1966, 176 pages.  VSCL, Paperback.  

Through Forests of Every Color: Awakening with Koans.  By Joan Sutherland.  Shambhala, 2022, 208 pages.  VSCL, Paperbound.  

Koan Studies at the ZenSite

Daily Zen Sutras for Recitation/Chanting

The Record of Linji.  Edited by Thomas Yuho Kirchner.  Translations by Ruth Fuller Sasaki.  Nazan Library of Asian Religion and Culrture #20.  Linji Yixuan (died 866 CE). University of Hawaii Press, 2008, 520 pages. VSCL, Paperback.

Introduction to Zen Koans: Learning the Language of Dragons.  By James Ishmael Ford. Foreword by Joan Halifax.  Wisdom Publications, 2018, 264 pages.  VSCL, Paperback.

The Sound of One Hand: 281 Zen Koans with Answers.  Translation and commentary by Yoel Hoffmann.  Introduction by Dror Burstein.  NRYB, 2016, 304 pages.  VSCL, Paperback.

Bring Me the Rhinoceros: And Other Zen Koans That Will Save Your Life. By John Tarrant. Boston, Shambhala, 2008. Notes, 192 pages. VSCL, Paperback. 

6. Other Koan Collections

Transmission of Light: Zen in the Art of Enlightenment.  By Zen Master Keizan.  Translated with commentary and notes by Thomas Cleary. Shambhala, 2002, 240 pages.  53 Biographical Stories/Cases.  VSCL, Paperback.

Entangling Vines: A Classic Collection of Zen Koans.  Translated with commentary by Thomas Yuho Kirchner.  Introduction of Ueda Shizuteru.  Wisdom, 2013, 232 pages.  VSCL, Amazon Kindle EBook. 

Opening a Mountain: Koans of the Zen Masters. By Steven Heine. Oxford University Press, 2004, 200 pages. VSCL, Paperback. 

The Fireplace Records By Michael P. Garofalo

Cracking the Code of the Zen Koan: A Five Volume Zen Koan Anthology.  Compiled by Stephen Wolinsky.  E-Kindle Book, 2021, 676 pages.  VSCL, Kindle E-Book.

Collection of Stone and Sand (Shaseki-shu).  A Koans/Parables collection by Zen Teacher Muju (the "non-dweller") from circa 1275 CE.  And, cases from more recent anecdotes of Zen monks.

The Record of Empty Hall: One Hundred Classic Koans. Translated with commentary by Dosho Port. Shambhala, 2021, 320 pages. VSCL, Paperback. 

The Iron Flute: 100 Zen Koans.  Genro Oryu.  Translated by Ruth Stout McCandlesss.  Wisdom, 2004, 153 pages. VSCL, Paperback. 

Zen Flesh and Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings. Translated and compiled by By Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki. Tuttle Publishing, Flaps edition, 1998. First published in 1957.  211 pages. The Gateless Gate (Mumonkan) was transcribed by Nyogen Senzaki (1876–1958) and Paul Reps (1895–1990) in 1934, and appeared in in "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, 1958" pp. 109-161. VSCL, hardbound and paperback. 101 Stories/Koans.

Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings.  By Andy Ferguson.  Wisdom Publications, 2000, 518 pages. Index, charts, notes, tables.  VSCL, Paperback.

7. Related Links, Resources, References

Refer to my Cloud Hands Blog Posts on the topic of Koans/Dialogues.

The Daodejing by Laozi    Best? 

Pulling Onions  Over 1,043 One-line Sayings by Mike Garofalo

Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans

Taoism

Buddhism

Fireplaces, Stoves, Campfires, Kitchens, Pots, Firewood

Chinese Art

Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong

Meditation Methods

Zen Koan Books I Use

Zen Koans, Testing Verses, Mondos, Dialogues, Stories
Bibliography, Quotations, Notes, Resources
Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo

The Fireplace Records By Michael P. Garofalo

Who Gathers and Chops Firewood for the Cook's Kitchen?

 The Fireplace Records, Chapter 8

Huineng Chopping Bamboo
Ink on paper by Liang Kai
Circa 1200 CE

Who Gathers and Chops Firewood for the Cook's Kitchen?
When he leaves, somebody new will take his place. 

Huineng (638-713 CE) was an hardworking monk who quietly followed all the Temple lifestyle rules.  His job was to gather firewood to use in the kitchen or elsewhere at the Temple.  He pulled a little cart and gathered sticks, driftwood, wood donations, and downed limbs.  He sawed, split up, and cut up dried wood to give to the cooks in the Temple kitchen or others tending fires.  He did this humble task well for many years.  

Huineng is remembered for emphasizing the power of simple useful work activities as a valid path to enlightenment (e.g., gardening, Temple maintenance, cooking, chores, firewood working, samu = work, transcribing, etc.)  Huineng became enlightened while chopping up bamboo.  He later became a leading Zen Master featured in many stories.  

Also, we all have roles, duties, work, and responsibilities to others and to ourselves. This is an underlying reality.  

"The kitchen was a hell of heat.  Woks large enough to bathe a child in sat on roaring, wood-burning brick stoves.  Young monks fed the insatiable fires, while others stirred the boiling rice.  Some chopped vegetables or prepared them for pickling. They were all under the direction of a senior priest, who was known only as "the Old Cook.""
- By Deng Ming Dao;, Chronicles of Tao, p. 166
The Kitchen of a Daoist Temple Monastery in the Huashan Mountains of China, circa 1930's.  

Somebody is still chopping wood for a fireplace stove, or providing you with the electricity or gas or coal for you kitchen ovens and stoves and cooking appliances.  

Without the fire in the kitchen for cooking we could not survive. 

So, who chops the firewood for your kitchen stove?

Comments, Sources

Refer to Cases ??? in Koan Classics.  OK. find any?  

Refer to my Cloud Hands Blog Posts on the topic of Koans/Mondos/Tests

The Daodejing by Laozi  

Pulling Onions  Over 1,043 One-line Sayings by Mike Garofalo

Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans 

Fireplaces, Campfires, Stoves

The Fireplace Records By Michael P. Garofalo

Can You Grasp Emptiness?

The Fireplace Records, Chapter 1

Can You Grasp Emptiness?

One drizzling cold afternoon, Shih-kung and Hsi-tang stopped along the steep trail up to the Temple on Mount Wudang.  They rested while quietly sitting.  Shih-kung picked up a small rock and tossed in down the hill. A short while later, Shih-kung asked Hsi-tang: "Can you grasp emptiness?" Hsing-tang replied: "Yes, I think I can."  Shih-kung continued: "How would you grasp emptiness?"  Using his hand, Hsi-tang then grasped at empty space.  Shih-kung replied: "You are 70% correct, and 30% uncertain." "Then how do you do it?" asked Hsi-tang.  Shih-kung then grasped Hsi-tang's ear and pulled it. Hsi-tang exclaimed "Ouch, your hurting my ear!"  Shih-tang said "You can grasp and hear emptiness only in this way."  Hsi-tang gently rubbed is ear, laughed, and told Shih-kung, "You are a clever devil, Shih-kung, and your diligent practice on your zither has improved your music." 

Hsi-tang then picked up a small rock and tossed it down the canyon.  

Both listened.  Both smiled.

Capping Verse

Opening bell
echoes from the canyon walls —
raindrops on the river.

The sounds of rocks bouncing off rocks;
the shadows of trees traced on trees.

We sit quietly, still.
The canyon river chants,
moving mountains.

The sermon spun on the still point:
dropping off eternity, picking up time;
letting go of self, awakened to Mind.

Can You Grasp Emptiness?  A Dialogue.
By Michael P. Garofalo

- For a insightful discussion of Eihei Dogen's (1250-1253 CE) views on Buddha-Mind, expressions and actions, existence, emptiness, the total exertion of a single thing, thusness, and time read Chapter 4 of "Eihei Dogen: Mystical Realist," by Hee-Jin Kim, 2004.

Another version of the Shih-kung and Hsi-tang dialogue is found on p.134 of Hee-Jin Kim's fine book.

Spiritual Stories and Dialogues

Zen Poetry

Refer to Fireplaces, Stoves, Hearths, Campfires

"There is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time. There is always something to see, something to hear. In fact, try as we may to make a silence, we cannot." - John Cage

The Fireplace Records Compiled with Commentary by Michael P. Garofalo

A Sidewalk Poem by Esther M. Sternberg, M.D. 

Three Requirements for the Study of Zen

The Fireplace Records, Chapter 10

One afternoon, Master Hakuin said "I once read that Master Gaofeng Yuanmiao preached that there are three requirements for the study of Zen. The first is a great root of faith. The second is a great ball of doubt. The third is a great tenacity of purpose.  A man who lacks any of these is like a three-legged kettle with one broken leg."  

Layman Mujiang, replied to Hakuin saying, "There are always more than three."

Hakuin asked "More?"

Mujiang said, "How about being able to sit still quietly for many hours?" 

Hakuin said, "I doubt it."

Mujiang said, "How about reciting the sacred scripture or Names more?"

Hakuin said, "I doubt it."

Mujian said, "You will never give up the quest for Buddhahood, will you Master Hakuin."

Hakuin said, "I doubt it."

Layman Mujiang's Verse:

Grab hold of the Koan by one of its Three Limbs:
Have faith in the Buddha's Hands;
Heal the bruises of Doubts;
Hold on tightly, keep your grip, Persist.

The Three gives birth to the Ten Thousand Things.
Somehow/someway changing by profound and decent ways.
Doubts hinder many and spur a few to act.
Plant the great Root of Faith deep in good soil.  Water it daily.
Big Doubts, little doubts, Great Doubts, minor doubts.
I don't know, doubting it, maybe so, hypothetical, provisional. 

I can't see the Big Harbor because of the dense fogs.  
I doubt the fog will lift this morning.  

Japanese Zen Master Hakuin Ekaku (1868-1769) was extremely influential in reviving the practice of using koans/mondos/verbal encounters/stories in his Rinzai Zen Buddhist training program and with his priestly work with rural workers.  He stresses the direct interaction between a master koan teacher and a koan student, face to face dialogues, regular one on one testing, interaction, and evaluation. 

Hakuin Ekaku was an accomplished artist and calligrapher.  He also emphasized good fitness and health practices to prepare the body for the rigors of Zen training.  

Hakuin believed that quiet sitting or simple daily activities combined with the contemplation of koans was a very effective practice for imparting Buddhist wisdom teachings (Dharma) and inducing enlightenment. 

Hakuin thought about and he experienced personal realization, or kensho, or satori, or enlightenment, or interpenetration of suchness at the intersection of the Fundamental Point, or fully understood his authentic changing selfhood by using koan practice while sitting or gently moving.  

You can Contemplate your Assigned Koan: absorb it, mull over it, get frustrated by it, doubt it, think about it, meditate on it, discard it, cuss it, sink into it, respect it, analyze it, confound it, introspect it, leap over it, word tail it, kick it around, not-think it, hear its messages, swallow it and spit it out, submerge with it, cherish it and hate it, study it diligently, become one with it, keep it first in mind, squeeze all the insight from it, be surprised and amazed by it, catch it with a capping phrase, reflect on it, huatou keypoint at it, laugh at it, reflect on it, cry over it, stop analyzing it, grab it by the throat, don't let it go.  

Persist in Contemplating your Assigned Koan until your deeper intuitive understanding occurs, or you are somehow/someway changed in profound and decent ways, or you have chosen to work/study another koan, or you just try and try again like a dog begging for extra treats, or you somehow/someway graduate to a new awareness of our precious lives, or you quit doing koan practice, or ...   

You might find that "something should take place not unlike the cat springing upon the mouse or the mother hen hatching her eggs, then in a flash great livingness surges up. This is the moment when the phoenix escapes from the golden net, when the crane breaks the bars of its cage."
- Ruth Fuller Sasaki, The Zen Koan, 1965, p. 42

Cloud Dragon: The Joan Sutherland Dharma Works

Joan Sutherland Koan Collections  

Gates: Miscellaneous Koans  Joan Sutherland

Gateless Gateway  Joan Sutherland

The Blue Cliff Record  Joan Sutherland and John Tarrant  

Rinzai Zen Buddhist School  

Pacific Zen Institute  

  

"Sometimes our practice is something like this. We don’t know how much our understanding is limited. That is why you have to study koans. Koans will open up your mind. If you understand your way of life more objectively, you will understand what you are doing."
- Suzuki Roshi

  

Hakuin, Self-Portrait, 1767 

He gently touches his ceremonial whisk;
he frowns, he seems displeased
about something or someone.  
Maybe his stomach is upset.
Maybe that great ball of doubt
is stuck in his soul.

Related Links, Resources, References

The Zen Koan by Ruth Fuller Sasaki, 1965, p. 42.

Blue Cliff Record, Case 52, The Bridge at Zhaozhou, Joshu's Stone Bridge

Refer to my Cloud Hands Blog Posts on the topic of Koans/Dialogues.

The Daodejing by Laozi    Best? 

Pulling Onions  Over 1,043 One-line Sayings by Mike Garofalo

Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans

Taoism

Buddhism

Fireplaces, Stoves, Campfires, Kitchens, Pots, Firewood

Chinese Art

Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong

Meditation Methods

Zen Koan Books I Use

Song Dynasty, China, 960-1279  

Zen Koans, Testing Verses, Mondos, Dialogues, Stories
Bibliography, Quotations, Notes, Resources
Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo

The Fireplace Records By Michael P. Garofalo

Bodhidharma by Hakuin