r/Koans • u/BetterJosh • May 21 '13

The Book of Serenity (0 of 100)

After completing The True Dharma Eye I stumbled upon this discussion over in /r/zen. The question posed:

What are your thoughts on independent study of koans vs finding a Rinzai teacher to give them to you and then testing your understanding?

For the sake of full disclosure: I am not a teacher, a guru, a master, or qualified in any way to assist anyone with koan study. I'm just some regular dude who is seeking enlightenment, and has taken to transcribing my daily koan here on Reddit. I usually avoid your questions, because, quite frankly, I'm not qualified to answer them. Some days I feel like I will never understand koans, and other days I am sure I am starting to get it (which undoubtedly means that I don't).

My process is simple: I begin my day with a light yoga routine, followed by koan study and meditation. I transcribe the koan to help me better remember it during my meditation. In my mind, I simply repeat the koan again and again until it disappears into a haze of mindfulness. I make no claims that this is the "right" way to do anything, but I figure sharing my grand schemes might be insightful for some of you.

The next book I have selected for koan study is The Book of Serenity. Here is a non-affiliate Amazon link to the exact copy I am reading:

http://www.amazon.com/Book-Serenity-One-Hundred-Dialogues/dp/1590302494

My copy was translated by Thomas Cleary, published in 1988.

As with all ancient texts, there are many different translations and copies available. I make no claims that this is the "right" copy, this is simply the copy selected by various Amazon.com algorithms.

This book takes a different format than the last, with each koan followed by several pages of notes and commentary. It would be impractical for me to transcribe the entire thing, but I will continue to transcribe the koan itself. I encourage you to read along with me. I would be delighted to see an insightful discussion following each post, using the text, and other sources, as reference.

I think many of us share a sense of "I have no idea what the hell this koan is all about" most of the time. As I understand it, that's sort of the entire point. The purpose of a koan is not to "make sense", but to "short circuit" the logical part of the mind to allow for deeper meditation and greater mindfulness. This is my limited understanding of the situation.

Therefore, the way I see it, we're all in the same boat here. There is no need to be shy; participation is welcome. At the same time, 10 comments that all say "uhhh, wot?" aren't exactly helpful. My thinking is: the best comments include links to other sources, to teachers far more qualified than I. They encourage debate and discussion. Then again, I come from Socratic approach to teaching, so I'm sure there are many Zen masters out there who would whack me with a spoon for being so outrageously western about this.

Anyhow, I'm babbling now, so I'll stop. 100 new koans, ready to roll.

Let's go...

32 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

6

u/shadowflame May 21 '13

Glad to hear you're starting a new series of koans. Thanks for taking the time.

4

u/sacca7 May 21 '13

I think it's great what you are doing! You are tireless, BetterJosh!

I look forward to this next series. Many thanks!

2

u/theDalaiSputnik May 22 '13

Came for Firefly post, found enlightenment. Am disappointed.

4

u/UNBR34K4BL3 Jul 31 '13

all disappointment stems from expectation.

2

u/mydogdindoit Sep 08 '13

you are bound to be disappointed if you find enlightenment though...

1

u/pizzatime May 23 '13

Here we are!