Koan Salon

Yesterday, during our Zoom Koan Salon, we took up a story from about Zen Master Dongshan, the 9^th century Chinese teacher who was one of the co-founders of the Caodong (Soto) school of Zen Buddhism. The story goes like this:

Shenshan was mending clothes when Dongshan asked, “What are you doing?”
“Mending,” said Shenshan.
“How is it going?” asked Dongshan.
“One stitch follows another,” said Shenshan.
“We’ve been traveling together for twenty years and that’s all you have to say?” said       Dongshan. “How can you be so clueless?”
Shenshan asked “How do you mend, then?”
Dongshan replied “With each stitch the whole earth is spewing flames.”

Koan salons are a practice innovation first introduced by John Tarrant, a poetic, wild and creative Zen teacher who lives out in California. John is also one of the honorary founders of Boundless Way Temple. He was James Ford’s teacher who was Melissa’s teacher and then one of my teachers.

A koan salon is a community gathering to look into one of the thousands of Zen teaching stories that are called koans. These koans are often brief encounters between students and teachers like the one above. They are often enigmatic, leaving the student to puzzle out what might be going on. In the Zen tradition, teachers will often give talks using these stories as entry points into some aspect of Zen and our lives. In our Boundless Way Zen school, we also have a set curriculum of hundreds of koans that students study sequentially, one-on-one with a teacher.

The koan salon format, however, relies on the associative power of the mind and the collective wisdom of the community. After some discussion yesterday, we asked everyone to sit in meditation, then we read this koan and encouraged people to notice what arose in their hearts and minds. Then, after some silence, we read it again. And then again for a number of times. Allowing the silence to hold us in between and simply noticing the feelings, images, thoughts and associations that arose.

Usually when we ‘study’ something, we engage our analytic brain and work hard to understand. Study in Zen is different. Zen teaches that we already have what we need. The understanding and wisdom we seek is not embedded in some esoteric teaching outside of us, but rather is already present in each moment. I think it was St. Paul who said that the true ‘law’ (Dharma) is written on our hearts. It’s not something to run around trying to catch and memorize, but something much closer and more subtle than that. The truth of live cannot be gamed. But we can learn to be still and to allow our hearts to open to the deep truth that is already present.

So we sat still and listened to this simple story weaving in and out of collective silence. Then we talked in pairs (through the magic of Zoom) and then with the whole group. In this process of talking and listening, we were touched by the many dimensions of this koan. All of us heard things we hadn’t considered that led us to consider things we hadn’t thought of before. In the space between us (literally from Thailand to Colombia to Europe to the US) a rich tapestry of meaning emerged and seemed to weave itself. We were grateful for the wisdom of each and the wisdom of all.

Personal Practice: Find yourself a place and a time where you can take fifteen or twenty minutes. Settle yourself into a comfortable and upright posture. Sit still for a few minutes and just be present with how it is for you right in this moment. Notice sensation in the body, emotions, thoughts. Whatever arises, let it be as it is.

When you’re ready, read the above story to yourself. Then go back into silence and notice what arises. What words or phrases or images stand out? What makes sense and what is puzzling? Just notice. Repeat this three or four times.

For extra credit, you can write down some of your insights and puzzlements. Or better yet, tell the story to one of your friends and share with them some of the meanings that arose within you.