Customer Reviews

Sitting with Koans: Essential Writings on the Zen Practice of Koan Study

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Sitting with koans presents the history of koan practice and how koans have been used by Zen Masters for over a thousand years. I was impressed by the amount of research invested to help the reader to understand the roll of koans in Zen training. I now have a stronger connection to the ancestors in a way that inspires me to deeper practice. Sitting with koan is a must read for serious Zen students of all lineages.

I have been reading books on Zen for years, but never got very far. It always seemed there was a substantial "something" missing from the texts. Still, I keep trying...

I picked up Sitting with Koans: Essential Writings on the Zen Practice of Koan Study as yet another attempt to gain some small understanding.

Yabba dabba doo... anyone interested koan (ko (public) an (records)) should read this book. I have long possessed copies of two of the major koan collections: The Gateless Gate: The Classic Book of Zen Koans (Jp. Mumonkan), and The Blue Cliff Record (Jp. Hekiganroku). Without additional background, koan are amusing in an abstract way, but ultimately unapproachable. Frustration is described as key to the path to enlightenment, but the collections alone don't provide the deep communication afforded by a teacher.

In "Sitting With Koans," the threads of Zen and koan tradition are explained with enough background in history, Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese to provide a starting point for serious study. As an example, "Zhaozhou's Puppy" (Jp. Joshu's Dog) the first koan of "Gateless Gate," cannot be penetrated without some understanding of the Chinese word "mu" (or "wu"). I need some actual training to attain a clearer understanding of the subject, but "Sitting With Koans" has certainly clarified many things.

"Sitting With Koans" is an enormously well-constructed book. Each chapter is written by an acknowledged Eastern or Western master of Zen. The writing is clear English prose, closer to colloquial than scholarly,and phrased to allow readers to understand the thesis of each chapter (the why and the how). Specific koan lessons and commentaries are the final sections of the book.

There are surprises. I thought one goal of any religion or philosophy was to "get the word out." In Zen study, master-student lineages of teaching have evolved the approaches taken by students to achieve enlightenment. In the past, these key methods of a school or a master were essentially trade secrets taught only to students showing promise of attaining the deepest understanding. While it is important to ensure initiates are truly ready to teach, keeping secrets conflicts with my notions of teaching and learning. Good to know.

I absolutely recommend this book. The book editor, the late John Daido Loori, has done a masterful job in assembling a readable and (forgive me) enlightening book on an esoteric subject.

Nota bene: Readers new to Zen should begin with zazen (sitting Zen or "sitting concentration") instruction by an accredited teacher and augment the experience with The Art of Just Sitting, Second Edition: Essential Writings on the Zen Practice of Shikantaza. I finally got off the dime and went to a few training sessions, and found how easy it is to get a wrong start - Zen is something you DO, not something you read about, but such was my unguided interest.