Two Zen Classics: The Gateless Gate and the Blue Cliff Records

Front Cover
A. V. Grimstone
Shambhala, Sep 13, 2005 - Philosophy - 413 pages
A new translation of The Gateless Gate and The Blue Cliff Records, two classic collections of Zen koans—or guiding ‘riddles’—used in the study of Zen Buddhism

The strange verbal paradoxes called koans have been used traditionally in Zen training to help students attain a direct realization of truths inexpressible in words. The two works translated in this book, Mumonkan (The Gateless Gate) and Hekiganroku (The Blue Cliff Records), both compiled during the Song dynasty in China, are the best known and most frequently studied koan collections, and are classics of Zen literature. They are still used today in a variety of practice lineages, from traditional zendos to modern Zen centers.
 
In a completely new translation, together with original commentaries, the well-known Zen teacher Katsuki Sekida brings to these works the same fresh and pragmatic approach that made his Zen Training so successful. The insights of a lifetime of Zen practice and his familiarity with both Eastern and Western ways of thinking make him an ideal interpreter of these texts.

Contents

Preface
11
Introduction
13
Memorial to the Throne
25
Mumons Preface
26
Jōshus Mu
27
Hyakujos Fox
31
Gutei Raises a Finger
34
The Western Barbarian with No Beard
37
The Master of Rengehōs Staff
212
Hyakujo Sits on the Great Sublime Peak
216
Ummons Golden Breeze
218
What the Holy Ones Have Not Preached
220
Daizuis It Will Be Gone with the Other
223
Joshus A Big Radish
225
Mayoku Comes to Shōkei
227
Jo Jōza Stands Still
231

Kyōgens Man up in a Tree
38
The Buddha Holds Out a Flower
41
Jōshas Wash Your Bowl
44
Keichu the Wheelmaker
46
Daitsu Chisho Buddha
47
Seizei Is Utterly Destitute
49
Joshu Sees the Hermits
51
Zuigan Calls His Master
53
Tokusan Holds His Bowls
55
Nansen Cuts the Cat in Two
58
Is Tōzans Sixty Blows
61
When the Bell Sounds
65
Cha the National Teacher Gives Three Calls
68
Tōzans Masagin
71
Nansens Ordinary Mind Is the Way
73
The Man of Great Strength
75
Ummons Kanshiketsu
77
Kashyapas Knock Down the Flagpole
79
Think Neither Good Nor Evil
81
Fuketsus Speech and Silence
84
Kyōzans Dream
87
Two Monks Roll Up the Blinds
89
Nansens Not Mind Not Buddha Not Things
91
Ryutan Blows Out the Candle
93
The Sixth Patriarchs Your Mind Moves
96
Basos This Very Mind Is the Buddha
98
Jōshū Investigates an Old Woman 98
100
A NonBuddhist Philosopher Questions the Buddha
102
Basos No Mind No Buddha
104
Nansens Reason Is Not the Way
105
Seijos Soul Separated
106
When You Meet a Man of the Way
108
Jōshus Oak Tree
110
A Buffalo Passes the Window
112
A Mistake in Speaking
113
Tipping Over a Water Bottle
116
Bodhidharmas MindPacifying
118
The Girl Comes out of Samadhi
121
Shuzans Shippei
124
Bashōs Staff
125
Hōens Who Is He?
127
Tosotsus Three Barriers
131
Kempos One Road
134
Mumons Postscript
136
Mumons Zen Warnings
138
Sōjus Verses on ōryūs Three Barriers
139
Mōkyos Epilogue
141
Ambans Fortyninth Case
142
Emperor Wu Asks Bodhidharma
147
Jōshus The Real Way Is Not Difficult
149
Basos Sunfaced Buddha Moonfaced Buddha
152
Tokusan Visits Isan
154
s Seppos A Grain of Rice
159
Ummons Every Day Is a Good Day
161
Hōgens You Are Echo
166
Suigans Eyebrows
168
Jōshus Four Gates
171
Bokushus Emptyheaded Fool
173
Obakus Partakers of Brewers Grain
176
Tōzans Masagin
179
Haryos Snow in the Silver Bowl
182
Ummons Preaching Facing Oneness
184
Is Ummons No Preaching on Oneness
186
Kyōseis Instruction on Pecking and Tapping
188
Kyōrins Sitting Long and Getting Tired
191
Emperor Shukusō Asks About the Style of the Pagoda
194
Guteis OneFinger Zen
197
Ryüge Asks Suibi and Rinzai
198
Chimons Lotus Flower and Lotus Leaves
202
Seppos Turtlenosed Snake
205
Hofuku Points to Myöhōchō
207
Ryūtetsuma the Old Female Buffalo
210
Chinsō Shōsho Comes to Visit Shifuku
234
Kyōzans You Have Not Visited Rozan
237
Manjusris Threes and Threes
240
Chōsha Went for a Walk
244
Banzans Three Worlds No Dharma
246
Fuketsu and the Dharma Seal of the Patriarch
249
Ummons Kayakuran
252
Nansens This Flower
255
Jōshū and the Great Death
258
Hō Kojis Beautiful Snowflakes
262
Tōzans No Cold or Heat
265
Kasans Beating the Drum
268
Jōshus SevenPound Hempen Shirt
271
Kyōseis Voice of the Raindrops
273
Ummons Beyond the Six
277
Ō Taifu and the Tea Ceremony
279
Sanshos The Golden Carp out of the Net
282
so Ummons Particle After Particles Samadhi
284
Seppos What Is This?
287
Jōshus Stone Bridge
291
Hyakujō and a Wild Duck
293
Ummon Stretches Out His Hands
296
Dōgos I Would Not Tell You
298
Kinzan and One Arrow Piercing the Three Barriers
302
Jōshus I Alone Am Holy Throughout Heaven and Earth
306
Jōshūs No Justification
308
Jōshus Why Not Quote to the End?
309
Ummons Staff Becoming a Dragon
311
Fuketsus One Particle of Dust
314
Ummons One Treasure
317
Nansen Cuts the Cat in Two
319
Jōshū Puts His Sandals on His Head
320
A NonBuddhist Philosopher Questions the Buddha
321
Ganto Laughed Loudly
324
Fu Daishi Concludes His Lecture on the Sutra
326
Kyōzan Asks Sanshōs Name
328
Nansen Draws a Circle
330
Isans I Would Ask You to Say It
332
Gohōs Shut Up
334
Ungans Do You Have Them or Not?
335
Baso and the Hundred Negations
336
Kingya Osho and the Rice Pail
339
Ukyus Unfair Blows
342
Tankas Have You Had Your Dinner?
344
Ummons A Sesame Bun
349
Bodhisattvas in the Bath
351
Tōsu and Every Voice Is the Buddhas Voice
352
Jōshus A Newborn Baby
354
Yakusans King of the King Deer
356
Tairyus Indestructible Dharma Body
358
Ummons The Old Buddha Communes with the Pillar
361
Yuimas The Gate to the One and Only
363
The Master of Tōhō Hermitage Roars Like a Tiger
366
Ummons Everybody Has His Own Light
368
Ummons Medicine and Sickness Cure Each Other
370
Genshas Man of Three Disabilities
372
Ungans The Whole Body Is Hand and Eye
375
Chimon and the Essence of Prajna
377
Enkan and the Rhinoceros Fan
379
The Worldhonored One Takes His Seat
383
Taikos You FoxDevil
385
The Surangama Sutra and Unseeing
387
Chōkei and Hofuku Discuss the Buddhas Words
388
Jōshus Three Turning Words
391
The Diamond Sutras The Transgression Is Wiped Out
394
Tempyos Two Wrongs
395
Chu Kokushi and the Tenbodied Herdsman
398
Haryos Sword Against Which a Hair Is Blown
400
Genealogical Table
403
Index
407
237
410
Copyright

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About the author (2005)

Katsuki Sekida (1893–1987) was by profession a high school teacher of English until his retirement in 1945. Zen, nevertheless, was his lifelong preoccupation. He began his Zen practice in 1915 and trained at Empuku-ji in Kyoto and Ryutaki-ji in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture. He taught at the Honolulu Zendo and Maui Zendo from 1963 to 1970 and at the London Zen Society from 1970 to 1972.

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