How to Perform Zen Koan Practice

Zen koans are verbal puzzles that are created to awaken the seeker to truth as opposed to the linear mind's notions of reality. One receives a koan from one's Zen master. One also practices zazen, or seated meditation. The Buddha is the "Awakened One." The Buddhist seeker practices in order to become awakened as well.

Things You'll Need

• You need to be a student of Zen with a teacher
• Zazen sitting supplies

Instructions

Zen Koan Practice

1. 

   Find a teacher to guide you through a process of instruction that can be extremely confusing and misguided on your own. Your Zen teacher will find a koan that will give you the best opportunity to gain wisdom, true perception and, ultimately, awakening.

2. 

   Participate in a dokusan interview. As a student, you will present yourself to your teacher and you will be challenged to give your teacher the truth of the koan. It is the teacher's duty to help you see any falsehood or error you may have. This is not a mental exercise. Koans penetrate beyond the rational mind.

3. 

   Answer primary or breakthrough koans in the dokusan. A primary koan is Joshu's Dog: "A monk asked Joshu, 'Has the dog the Buddha nature?' Joshu replied, 'Mu.'" Breakthrough koans require great effort and are designed to pierce the linear mind.

4. 

   Sit with subsequent koans. Subsequent koans are given to refine your spiritual understanding and to further penetrate the veil of delusion that separates you from nirvana, which is enlightenment or Buddhahood.

5. 

   Practice zazen. Just sit. Koans such as "Mu" create questions, which lead to the great question. The great question is that one that opens the doors of perception to other, heretofore unseen, possibilities. Koans lead to deeper practice and day-to-day activities.

6. 

   Simply reading koans and their answers is not awakening. Get a teacher.

Resources

• Koan Practice
• Zen Koan Practice
• Koans
• All 48 Koans with Commentary