Koan Practice

A good review for myself.

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In Zen training the koan can become a means to focus one's questioning and corresponding doubt. It becomes a means to see through the false mind of duality that creates and perpetuates a life of pain, suffering and anxiety. Without the focus of the koan one can often feel torn, scattered, and alone.

There is no need to arouse an artificial sense of doubt, or "doubt mass" when working on a koan. Just look! It's right there. As Dogen Zenji observed, "impermanence and suffering are right before your eyes." And if you look and don't question, doesn't that make you question? Who doesn't feel that wrenching pain in the guts at the sight of the cold and homeless, the abused children, the lives wasted by drugs, and the people killing themselves in senseless wars? Isn't this what brings people to Zen practice- not as an escape or a means to cope- but in order to be able to bring insight and strength to truly help?
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- Zenson Gifford, Sensei