Introduction to Zen Koans by James Ishmael Ford

Author:James Ishmael Ford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wisdom Publications

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Three Koans from the Gateless Gate

MY FAVORITE ANTHOLOGY of Zen’s koans is the Wumenguan, the Gateless Gate. It is the first of the traditional books we encounter in the Harada-Yasutani curriculum. And I’m sure that has something to do with my affection for the book. But it is also quite a bit different than the other traditional collections. It is less refined and literary. A bit more up-front and in-your-face.

I find it a perfect source for providing a taste of the koan literature. I include here three cases. The first is actually from the very end of the collection, “Doushuai’s Three Barriers,” although one encounters it earlier as one of the miscellaneous koans. It touches on life and death. The second case I’ve chosen is Yunmen’s “I Spare You Sixty Blows.” It’s a great example of that direct pointing, of sincerity in practice, and learning to let go. And, finally, we enter the dream worlds of our spiritual lives with “Yangshan’s Sermon from the Third Seat.”

Doushuai’s Three Barriers

GATELESS GATE, CASE 47

The priest Doushuai set up three barriers, three questions for those who walk the Way:

Making your way through the brambles and weeds you give yourself fully to the quest to find your true nature. Right now, dear one, where is your true nature?

Once you realize your true nature, you are free from birth and death. At that last moment as your eyes fall, how are you free from birth and death?

When you are free from birth and death, you will know where to go. So, when the parts that make you all fall apart, where will you go?

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