Bill!, This reads as an encouragement to apply oneself to the first koan, and only the first koan.
Interesting that the Korean is so close to the Chinese, in the Korean "hwadu", and the Chinese "hua-tou". This, too, is a giveaway: usually the first koan is worked as a hua- tou: e.g., "Mu" (J.), or "Wu" (Ch.), ...and whatever it is in Korean. --Joe --- In [email protected], "Bill!" <BillSmart@...> wrote: > > "You will fall into a state of complete unknowing, perplexity, and > questioning. Those who have done much study will even come to forget what > they had previously learned. But this is not a final or lasting state. When > you have reached this point you must still proceed further to the state where > although you have ears, you do not know how to hear; although you have eyes, > you do not know how to see; and although you have a tongue, you do not know > how to speak. To reach the place where mountains are not mountains and rivers > are not rivers may entail several years of hard practice. Therefore, it is > necessary to cast aside all other concerns and train yourself to focus the > entirety of your attention on the tasteless hwadu* alone." > > ~ Kusan Sunim (1909-1983) > > *'hwadu" is roughly the Korean Zen equivelent of the Japanese Zen 'koan'. ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
