‘Bodhidharma faced the wall.
You’re not shown where the door is.
How to go through the wall, either.
How does one go through this practice?’
Koan Practice
Koan practice
Morning Meditation — If the hua tou (koan) is properly looked after.
‘If the hua tou (koan) is properly looked after, training will become easier and former habits will be brought automatically to an end.’
Master Hsu Yun
Shaku Soyen gives Suzuki hidden help with the koan
A good teacher is able to give a tiny hint…
At what place can you establish mastery over your destiny within birth and death? Master Kusan
The weedy bones (wandering thoughts) are already rotten. Why was it necessary to cry out ‘Oh Heaven’?
Ordinary Mind is Tao
Mumon’s Poem: Hundreds of flowers in spring, the moon in autumn, The cool breeze in summer and snow in winter; If there is no vain cloud in your mind, for you it is a good season.
Snatching the Whiskers of a Dragon, by Master Kusan
We keep on working. If we can continue in this manner for one to three weeks, suddenly our mind and truth will mesh; we will understand the cause and conditions of the big matter…
Hearing Sounds Through the Eyes, by Jisu Sunim
Sometimes people feel afraid because they don’t know what the teacher is talking about! `How we can face our own reality?’ But the teacher also has difficulty in getting the student’s discursive mind to understand what he is talking about. The best policy for the teacher, then, is to let practitioners continue with their practice, giving them time for some perspective to slowly come into focus. The most chronic disease for people who find it difficult to face reality is, indeed, this discursive mind…
The Illusion of Attainment, by Kusan Sunim
In the course of one’s practice it is as though one has to take hold of the hua-t’ou [Koan] two or three times anew.
Buddhism now 