Green Koans Case 60: Dōgen’s To-Do List
CASE #60: Dōgen’s To-Do List Dōgen Zenji wrote himself a reminder: To study the Buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to…
Koans
Green Koans Case 58: Tōhta’s Haunted Sea
CASE #58: Tōhta’s Haunted Sea A poem by the modern avant-guarde haiku poet Kaneko Tōhta reads: In the blue sea wherecormorants and hungry ghostshave already swum BACKGROUND:Kaneko Tōhta Tōhta (b. 1919) is one of the most…
Green Koans Case 57: Shakyamuni’s Ignorant Man
CASE #57: Shakyamuni’s Ignorant Man In the Dhammapada, Shakyamuni Buddha says: The ignorant man is an ox. He grows in size, not in wisdom. BACKGROUND: Dhammapada One of the best known texts in the Theravada canon,…
Green Koans Case 56: No Fence to the West
CASE #56: No Fence to the West Kyoshin, who settled in Kako, built no fence to the west: toward the Land of Bliss the gate lay open. Nor, befittingly, did he enshrine an image of worship;…
Green Koans Case 55: Kashyapa’s Preaching Sign
CASE #55: Kashyapa’s Preaching Sign Ananda asked Kashyapa: “Buddha gave you the robe of succession. What else did he give you?Kashyapa said: “Ananda.”Ananda answered: “Yes, brother.”Said Kashyapa: “Now you can take down my preaching sign and…
Green Koan Case 54: Nichiren’s One-Eyed Turtle
CASE #54: Nichiren’s One-Eyed Turtle Nichiren Daishonin wrote: “This is as rare as the one-eyed turtle finding a suitable hollow in a floating sandalwood log, or a thread lowered from the heavens passing through the eye…
Green Koan Case 53: Shakyamuni’s World on Fire
CASE #53: Shakyamuni’s World on Fire Shayamuni Buddha taught: “The world is always burning, burning with the fires of greed, anger and foolishness; one should flee from such dangers as soon as possible.” BACKGROUND:The world…
Green Koan Case 52: Yen-shou’s Sand Stupa
CASE #52: Yen-shou’s Sand Stupa Master Yen-shou of Yung-ming once summarized for his students the Expedient Means chapter of the Lotus Sutra: Even if you recite the buddha-name with a scattered mind or praise Buddha in…
Green Koan Case 51: Soen’s One World
CASE #51: Soen’s One World Soen Roshi wrote the following haiku: With Fuji in sightI pick young herbsthat world and this world BACKGROUND: Soen Roshi Soen Nakagawa (1907-1984) was the tenth abbot of…
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