Koans

Nope. Was too busy noting 1-10  sensations per second  

Isn't the Koan just* exhausting that sense of a seeker? Seeing that seeker being Dukkha in the first place?

* word "just" is not to be taken lightly here.

Chris Marti wrote: So... no one has ever done koans?

A zen teacher once suggested that I work on a koan something like how to stop the sound of the bell in a distanct bell tower but I declined. It sounded too clunky to me having to do hold in mind an imaginary scenario and struggle with it. So she suggested inquiring "what knows this?" instead and I liked what I thought would be the simplicity and directness of that. It seemed like an actual problem rather than a made up one.

When I imagine working on that bell tower problem now it seems to just tap into an undercurrent of non-(or not-overtly-)conceptual doubt. Seems like that might actually work as a practice, but I'm not sure a Zen teacher would agree with how I'm relating to it.

Pointing towards not-thinking as in Mahamudra? 

“Listening to the ships in a distant harbour … “ 

Former head monk at Joshu Sasaki's Rinzai Zen Monastery talks about his experience with what I think you might be talking about, Chris. 


 

He speaks of Non-dual Awareness "the flag was in him, he was in the flag" all was one field. But does it last, is it permanent? I dont think so As Kenneth Folk say "why should I value this experience over any other experience?" I doubt anyone goes on and on, 24/7 in non-dual awareness mode Anicca rips a whole in that aspect of experience too, as it does with cessation not-experience. 

Im done with seeking experiences and wanting them to be THE end of anything. Now I just need a way to see how this Karma is unfolding and seeing it with the lens of realms and elements till the moment body-mind is extinguished and thy shall rest his bones, amen.  

Good luck with Koans folks  

Muuuuuuu!  

Chris Marti wrote: So... no one has ever done koans?

I worked a bit with "The Coin Lost In The River" from John Tarrant's Zenosaurus site. Not formally with a teacher though. I just kept the koan with me and just kept on turning it around. Is this feeling the coin, is it the river? Is awakening the coin, is it the river? How about this? That? Round and round...

I don't think i did koans, or if I did I can't remember them at the moment. But I find the idea interesting. 

Over a decade ago now, the most accessible meditation group for me was the Pacific Zen Institute led by John Tarrant Roshi. I greatly enjoyed my time with them and the insight sparked by their skillful use of a koan curriculum.

One could “explain away” koans and how they work, but that would be a pity, as it would bypass their transformative potential.

John has written some books and essays— some, no doubt, available online— that would reward the curious. He’s an excellent writer of a profoundly humane sensibility. The first one I read was “ Bring Me the Rhinoceros.”