Opening a Mountain: Kōans of the Zen Masters

Abstract

With the growing popularity of Zen Buddhism in the West, virtually everyone knows, or thinks they know, what a koan is: a brief and baffling question or statement that cannot be solved by the logical mind and which, after sustained concentration, can lead sudden enlightenment. But the truth about koans is both simpler-and more complicated-than this. In Opening a Mountain, Steven Heine shows that koans, and the questions we associate with them-such as What is the sound of one hand clapping?-are embedded in larger narratives and belong an ancient Buddhist tradition of encounter dialogues. These dialogues feature dramatic and often inscrutable contests between masters and disciples, or between masters and an array of natural and supernatural forces: rouge priests, foxes, hermits, wizards, shapeshifters, magical animals, and dangerous women. To establish a new monastery, to open a mountain, the Zen master had tame these wild forces in regions most remote from civilization. In these extraordinary encounters, fingers and arms are cut off, pitchers are kicked over, masters appear in and interpret each other's dreams, and seemingly absurd statements are shown reveal the deepest insights. Heine restores these koans their original traditions, allowing readers see both the complex elements of Chinese culture and religion that they reflect and the role they played in Zen's transformation of local superstitions into its own teachings. Offering a fresh approach one of the most crucial elements of Zen Buddhism, Opening a Mountain is essential reading for anyone seeking understand the full story behind koans and the mysterious worlds they come from.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 13 citations exist upstream.