The Fireplace Records Case #58
Mt. Adams Emerges in the West
"Master Yellow-Bitterroot Mountain asked me,
'What is the meaning of Old Pahto emerging in the West?'
I lifted my cane and placed it in my mouth, saying nothing.
Later, zany Zen liar that I am, I wrote:
"No minds, no dharmas. No-mind, much Dharma."
Zen Koans: The Fireplace Records
Koans by Mike Garofalo
Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans
Meetings with Master Chang San-Feng
Mount Adams, Old Pahto, Washington
The Fireplace Records Case #57
Shifu Miao Zhang Takes a Walk
Toju Zenchu brandished his staff before Daoist
Shifu Miao Zhang and challenged him "Miao
Zhang, speak and you get whacked with Nanten's
staff. Do not speak and you still get whacked with
Nanten's staff." Shifu Zhang stood up quickly,
lifted his cane strongly in defense, and quietly
said, "Yunmen's shit stick stinks and Nanten's
staff is cracked! I am leaving now to take my
evening walk. Goodbye."
Zen Koans: The Fireplace Records
Koans by Mike Garofalo
Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans
The Fireplace Records Case #56
Cutting Through the Wind
Mayoku walked around his old Daoist friend,
Shifu Miao Zhang, three times and then thumped
his staff on the ground. Miao Zhang stood up,
walked around Mayoku once, tapped his cane three
times on the wall, and said "The power of the wind
can topple trees and is gone by morning. My cane
can cut through the wind."
Zen Koans: The Fireplace Records
Koans by Mike Garofalo
Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans
Zen Master Raven: The Teachings of a Wise Old Bird. Compiled and annotated by Robert Aitken. Illustrated by Jennifer Rain Crosby. Foreword by Nelson Foster. Wisdom, 2002, 2017, 229 pages. VSCL, Hardbound. 183 Brief Koans.
Most koans feature Master Raven giving anwers or comments, and asking follow up questions; therefore, I chose to use the character Master Raven is talking to for the Student/Learner under the index heading of "Master, Teacher." Otherwise, nearly all 183 koans would be listed under Master Raven. Just automatically assume the central teacher in nearly all these koans is Zen Master Raven.
Subject Index to Zen Master Raven's 183 Koans Collection. PDF, November 21, 2023, 28 pages.
Case Titles Index to Zen Master Raven's 183 Koans Collection. PDF, November 21, 2023, 7 pages.
Case Number Index to Zen Master Raven's 183 Koans Collection. PDF, November 21, 2023, 7 pages.
Animals and Responders Index to Zen Master Raven's 183 Koans Collection. PDF, November 21, 2023, 7 pages.
Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans
Keys to Zen Buddhist Koans Database Collection
Taking the Path of Zen. By Robert Aitken. North Point Press, 1982, 149 pages.
The Gateless Barrier: The Wu-Men Kuan (Mumonkan). Translated with commentary by Robert Aitken. North Point Press, 1991, 325 pages.
Zen Master Raven. Meredith Gammon Hotetsu's Zen Blog. 183 Cases "Each post is a chapter of Robert Aitken's Zen Master Raven, with an introduction and verse by Meredith Hotetsu Garmon."
"A uniquely playful and incisive collection of Zen teaching stories from a beloved American master. A modern classic, now in a new expanded edition. In the tradition of the great koan collections and the records of ancient masters, Robert Aitken distills a lifetime of teaching down to its essence. Intriguing and deceptively simple, Zen Master Raven is a brilliant encapsulation of Zen in over a hundred koan-like encounters alongside many charming illustrations. Featuring curious beginners like Mallard and Mole and profound teachers like Brown Bear, Moose Roshi, and Zen Master Raven himself, this classic of contemporary Zen and will inspire seekers for generations to come." - Amazon
Zen Master Raven by Robert Aitken. PDF, 2010 Pages. Terebess Bootlegged Copy? Likely an unauthorized bootleg!
"In the tradition of the great koan collections and the records of ancient masters, Robert Aitken distills a lifetime of teaching down to its essence. Intriguing and deceptively simple, Zen Master Raven is a brilliant encapsulation of Zen in over a hundred koan-like encounters alongside many charming illustrations. Featuring curious beginners like Mallard and Mole and profound teachers like Brown Bear, Moose Roshi, and Zen Master Raven himself, this classic of contemporary Zen and will inspire seekers for generations to come." - Review
The Journey: Big Panda and Tiny Dragon. By James Norbury. Illustrated by James Norbury.
Big Panda and Tiny Dragon. By James Norbury. Illustrated by James Norbury.
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse. By Charlie Mckesy. Illustrated.
The Complete Tales of Willie-the-Pooh. By A. A. Milne. Illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard.
The Tao of Pooh and Te of Piglet. By Benjamin Hoff.
Vegetable Roots Discourse: Wisdom from Ming China on Life and Living. By Hong Zicheng. Translated with notes by Robert Aitken. Counterpoint, 2007, 240 pages. "Written 400 years ago by a scholar in the Ming Dynasty, one hundred years after Columbus and around the time Shakespeare completed Henry VI, accomplished scholar and philosopher Hong Zicheng retired from public life and settled down to write an informal compilation of his thoughts on the essence of life, human nature, and heaven and earth. Though he wrote other books as well, only this one has survived—thanks largely to its continuous popularity, first in China and later in Japan and Korea. Entitled Caigentan (Vegetable Roots Discourse), this book has been studied and cherished for four hundred years. Terse, humorous, witty, and. above all, timely, this book offers a provocative and personal mix of Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian understanding. It contains 360 observations that lead us through paths as complex, absurd, and grotesque as life itself. While it has been translated into many languages, this comprehensive version will immediately become the standard edition for generations of English readers to come.es."
Buddhism: Bibliography, Links, Information, Resources. Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo.
Subject and Title Indexes
Koan Database Project
Indexing by Michael P. Garofalo
Sparks: Brief Spiritual Stories, Dialogues, and Encounters
Matches to Start the Kindling of Insight
Gateless Gate or Gateless Barrier Koan Collection (GB)
48 Cases of Brief Koans, Stories, Spiritual Encounters, Wisdom Tales, Sermons, Dialogues
Compiled around 1250 CE
Indexed by Michael P. Garofalo. First Draft on March 25, 2023.
Source for Case Titles: The Gateless Gate, Translated by Koun Yamada Roshi, 2004.
Alphabetical List of the Gateless Barrier (GB) Koan Collection Cases. PDF, 2 pages.
List of Cases by Case Numbers in the Gateless Barrier Koan Collection. PDF, 2 pages.
Subject Index to Cases in the Gateless Barrier (GB) Koan Collection. PDF, 9 pages.
PDF files are searchable. Use the keyboard strokes: Ctrl + F This will open the Search or Find box.
[I just started using Microsoft Access again on 3/23/2023. Just learning this database software by reading books and by creating this Koan Database Project in 2023. I am focused on improving my indexing skills, adding content, and improving my database Report creation skills.]
Reminder: When you find a hypertext document or file (PDF, JPG, .doc, GIF) on the Internet that seems valuable to you, then download the hypertext document or file to your computer's hard disk drive or on your external hard disk drive. Why? That hypertext document or file might be gone tomorrow!
The Blue Cliff Record Koan Collection (BCR)
100 Cases of Brief Koans, Stories, Spiritual Encounters, Wisdom Tales, Sermons, Dialogues
Compiled around 1125 CE
Indexed by Michael P. Garofalo. First Draft on March 25, 2023.
Source for Case Titles: The Blue Cliff Record, Translated by Thomas Cleary and J. C. Cleary, 1977.
Alphabetical List of the Blue Cliff Record (BCR) Koan Collection Cases. PDF, 4 pages.
List of Cases by Case Numbers in the Blue Cliff Record (BCR) Koan Collection. PDF, 4 pages.
Subject Index to Cases in the Blue Cliff Record (BCR) Koan Collection. PDF, 21 pages.
Daodejing by Laozi, Te Ching by Lao Tzu (DDJ)
Daodejing by Laozi.
81 Verses, Cases, Chapters. Our popular version compiled around 220 CE.
Indexed by Michael P. Garofalo. Third Draft in June 2014.
A typical webpage created by Michael P. Garofalo for each one of the 81 brief Chapters (Verses, Cases, Sections) of the Daodejing includes 25 different English language translations or interpolations for that Chapter, 5 Spanish language translations for that Chapter, the Chinese characters for that Chapter, the Wade-Giles and Hanyu Pinyin transliterations (Romanization) of the Mandarin Chinese words for that Chapter, and 2 German and 1 French translation of that Chapter. Each webpage for each one of the 81 Chapters of the Daodejing includes extensive indexing by key words, phrases, and terms for that Chapter in English, Spanish, and the Wade-Giles Romanization. Each webpage on a Chapter of the Daodejing includes recommended reading in books and websites, a detailed bibliography, some commentary, research leads, translation sources, a Google Translate drop down menu, and other resources for that Daodejing Chapter.
Chapter and Thematic Index (Concordance) to the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
English Language Daodejing Translators' Source Index
Spanish Language Daodejing Translators' Source Index
Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices
Taoism: A Selected Reading List
Daodejing by Laozi (DDJ)
81 Verses, Cases, Chapters, Sections. Our popular version compiled around 220 CE.
Indexed by Michael P. Garofalo. First Draft in June of 2023.
Source for Case/Verse/Chapter Titles: Tao Te Ching translation by Lin Yutang in 1955.
For the Koan Database, I limited search terms/Tags to 3 entries.
My more extensive online searchable Concordance for the Tao Te Ching is described above.
List of Cases by Case Numbers in the Daodejing (DDJ). PDF, 3 pages.
Alphabetical List of the Cases in the Tao Te Ching (DDJ). PDF, 3 pages.
Subject Index to Cases in the Tao Te Ching (DDJ) PDF, 15 pages.
The Book of Serenity (BOS) Book of Equanimity
100 Cases of Brief Koans, Stories, Spiritual Encounters, Wisdom Tales, Sermons, Dialogues
Compiled and published around 1224 CE.
Indexed by Michael P. Garofalo. First Draft on June 1, 2023.
Source for Case Titles: The Book of Serenity: One Hundred Zen Dialogues. Translated with commentary by Thomas Cleary, 2005.
Alphabetical List of the Book of Serenity (BOS) Koan Collection Cases. PDF, 4 pages.
List of Cases by Case Numbers in the Book of Serenity (BOS) Koan Collection. PDF, 4 pages.
Subject Index to Cases in the Book of Serenity (BOS) Koan Collection. PDF, 21 pages.
Master Subject Index
Koan Database Project
Indexing by Michael P. Garofalo
First Draft, April 1, 2023
This subject index includes Cases from the:
Blue Cliff Record (BCR), 100 Cases
Gateless Barrier (GB), 48 Cases
Book of Serenity (BOS), 25 Cases
Daodejing (DDJ), 20 Cases
Fireplace Records (TFR), 12 Cases
PDF files are searchable. Use the keyboard strokes: Ctrl + F This will open the Search or Find box.
Master Subject Index of the Koan Database Project. PDF, 42 pages.
PDF files are searchable. Use the keyboard strokes: Ctrl + F This will open the Search or Find box.
What's Coming in 2023 and 2024:
Michael Garofalo's Brief Spiritual Lessons Indexing Project
Indexing Brief Spiritual Lessons, Stories, Koans, Encounters, Wisdom Tales, Lectures,
Sermons, Lore, Dialogues, Inspirational Verse, History, Scriptures, Advice, Poetry,
Buddhist and Taoist Literature, Collected Lessons, and Lore
Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu. Daodejing by Laozi. 81 Cases, Verses, Chapters. Our version compiled around 220 CE.
Book of Serenity (BOS) 100 Koan Collection; Compiled around 1224 CE.
Master Subject Index of the Koan Database Project
Dogen Koan Collection (Shinji Mana Shobogenzo) (SMS) 301 Koan Collection; Compiled around 1220 CE.
Transmission of Light. 53 Biographies, compiled by Keizan around 1310 CE.
Open a Mountain. 60 Koan Collection, compiled by Steven Heine, 2001.
Entangling Vines. 272 Koans; compiled and printed in Japan in 1658.
Modern (MOD) Modern (1800-1999) Contemporary Brief Spiritual Verses, Key Leaders, Information
The Record of Linji. 50 Koan Collection; translation and commentary by Ruth Fuller Sasaki, 2009. Compiled around 850 CE.
Books I Use in My Research and Study of Koan Collections
Sparks: Brief Spiritual Stories, Dialogues, and Encounters
Matches to Start the Kindling of Insight
May the Light from Your Inner Fireplace Help All Beings
Zen Buddhist Koan Collections
Catching Phrases, Inspiring Verses, Hard Questions
Bibliography, Indexing, Quotations, Notes, Resources
Research by Michael P. Garofalo
The Fireplace Records
By Michael P. Garofalo
