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Rinzai Zen Koans?

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Esanx

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PostPosted: Sat May 29, 2010 8:34 pm


does anyone have some? XD
PostPosted: Sat May 29, 2010 9:45 pm


Here's one from a site I found, this is just one I like.

85. Time to Die
"Ikkyu, the Zen master, was very clever even as a boy. His teacher had a precious teacup, a rare antique. Ikkyu happened to break this cup and was greatly perplexed. Hearing the footsteps of his teacher, he held the pieces of the cup behind him. When the master appeared, Ikkyu asked: "Why do people have to die?"

"This is natural," explained the older man. "Everything has to die and has just so long to live."

Ikkyu, producing the shattered cup, added: "It was time for your cup to die.""

And here is the source so you can find other Zen Koans.

http://www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/zenindex.html

Lord Alucard Ere Casanova

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Esanx

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PostPosted: Sat May 29, 2010 9:54 pm


awesome, thanks XD
PostPosted: Sun May 30, 2010 5:06 pm


Here's a collection of koans - the Gateless Gate. http://www.ibiblio.org/zen/cgi-bin/koan-index.pl

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Lord Alucard Ere Casanova

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PostPosted: Mon May 31, 2010 6:40 am


Your welcome, Bleach Esan, and thank you. This thread inspired me to look up a zen koan site to give you, which in turn inspired me to read them, which of course led to a return of motivation to study zen more. I love koans. Thank you.

And thank you, Byaggha, for sharing that link. I haven't gone to every site in the list of links yet, but I now have that one bookmarked.
PostPosted: Mon May 31, 2010 8:43 am


No problem. I can probably dredge up a decent Blue Cliff Record too, if you decide you need that. Between them, I think they contain most of the koans the Western universe is used to dealing with, plus a whole lot more. 3nodding

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Lord Alucard Ere Casanova

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PostPosted: Mon May 31, 2010 9:02 am


I would appreciate that, Byaggha. I just looked it up in Google and found mostly sites telling about the Blue Cliff Record, but not providing it's contents.
PostPosted: Mon May 31, 2010 9:37 am


Here you go - I haven't looked through the whole thing yet, but a lot of it seems to be there. I'm not much for koans myself, but they do make for interesting reading. 3nodding

http://perso.ens-lyon.fr/eric.boix/Koan/Hekiganroku/index.html

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Lord Alucard Ere Casanova

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PostPosted: Mon May 31, 2010 9:47 am


Thank you, thank you, thank you. I love koans, especially the ones that really make me think. Some, I admit, make no sense at all to me and others I don't even know what I'm supposed to understand about them, but with practice someday I'm sure they will make sense and that is a part of why I enjoy them so much. I've bookmarked that link too and will open a few to think about before I go for a walk today.
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Loving Kindness: A Buddhism Guild

 
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