The Zen Koan

The first scholarly examination in any language of the historical development and traditional method of koan study in Zen Buddhism.

Koan study is the unique method of religious practice developed in the Zen schools of China and Japan to bring the student, without recourse to the mediation of words or concepts, to direct, intuitive realization of Reality. Originating in T’ang China, Koan Zen reached its culmination under the eighteenth-century Japanese Rinzai Zen master Hakuin and continues in Japan today in a form almost unchanged since that time. But most Westerners have as yet only scant knowledge of the nature and significance of this practice and its essential function in Zen Buddhism.

In three major parts, The Zen Koan considers first the nature and origin of the koan itself and the general development of koan study into a consistent and uniform tradition. The organization and progressive stages of koan study as formulated by Hakuin and still carried on today in the Rinzai School of Zen Buddhism are taken up in specific detail in Part Two. Part Three comprises translations from Zenrin kushu, the traditional collection of Chinese poems and phrases that, as jakugo or “capping phrases,” play an important part in koan study.

The text is further enhanced by ten ink drawings by Hakuin Ekaku.

“Isshu Miura explains the secret to inducing kensho (sudden awakening) through development of the ‘great ball of doubt.’” —The Zen Gateway