GONG-ANS
-- BEYOND THOUGHTS, WORDS AND INTELLECT
What
is a Gong-An (or Koan)?
One of
the most commonly met but most puzzling aspects of Zen is gong-an,
or koan in Japanese. Literally, gong-an means "public case".
It is not, as some of us may imagine, a public case in the law courts,
but a record often in the form of a short story of an encounter between
a master and one or more students frequently involving a seemingly
illogical question and answer. It is termed "public" because
while the encounter was initially private (and actually took place),
it has been quoted or cited so often by both Zen as well as non-Zen
practitioners that it has become public.
Why was
a particular gong-an recorded, and why has it been mentioned so often?
This is because it is usually the record of Zen practitioner attaining
an awakening or enlightenment. (An awakening is a glimpse of cosmic
reality; enlightenment is the direct experience of cosmic reality
itself.) Later, Zen masters used gong-ans to trigger such a glimpse
or experience in their students, or to test if the students already
had such an attainment.
Where
is My Treasure?
Some
examples may make this clearer. When the great Zen master Zhao Zhou
first met his teacher Ma Zu, the teacher asked him why did he come.
"To seek the BuddhaÆs way," Zhao Zhou replied. Ma Zu said that
there was nothing in his temple and reprimanded Zhao Zhou for not
looking after his own treasure. Zhao Zhou prostrated and asked, "Where
is my treasure?" Ma Zu answered, "Now that is asking me, is
your own treasure. It has everything it needs; and it lacks nothing;
its use is spontaneous. What for do you seek outside?" At that
instant Zhao Zhou was awakened.
This
recorded story is a gong-an, used by later masters as a catalase to
help their students to attain an awakening or as a tool to test if
they had been awakened. Those who have been awakened will know intuitively
why Zhao Zhou himself was his own treasure; those who are ripe may
instantly be awakened on hearing this or a similar gong-an. Those
who are not ready may see nothing logical in the encounter. (This
and other gong-ans mentioned in this webpage are taken from my book,
"The Complete Book of Zen", to be published by Element Books.)
Those
who know will appreciate how simple, direct and effective Ma Zu was
in helping Zhao Zhou to be awakened. Ma Zu was one of the greatest
Zen teachers in history; more than a hundred of his students became
great Zen masters themselves!
Why
are gong-Ans "Unintelligible"?
Let us
examine how Ma Zu helped another of his famous pupil, Bai Zhang, to
be awakened. When Bai Zhang consulted his master on his development,
Ma Zu stared at a feather duster. Bai Zhang said, "If we want to use
it, we have to take it from its place." The master retorted, "If we
take your skin from its place, what would become of you?" Apparently
ignoring the master's retort, Bai Zhang held up the feather duster.
Ma Zu said, repeating Bai Zhang's words, "If we want to use it, we
have to take it from its place." Bai Zhang then returned the feather
duster to its original place. At this instant, Ma Zu gave a shout
so loud that Bai Zhang was deaf for three days. Later, when classmates
asked him about his temporary deafness, he said, "What deafness? After
awakening, I just took a rest."
Every
verbal exchange or action in the above gong-an was a test, a catalase
or a confirmation. Of course, to the uninitiated the various exchanges
and actions may not make any sense -- just as to those who do not
speak Spanish "que hora es" would be meaningless. It should
be known that there is no play of words, no tricks or riddles in gong-ans;
in the above two gong-ans, for example, both the teacher and the pupil
used words concisely and precisely, and they meant exactly what they
said.
Why,
then, you did not understand what they said? It is because the gong-ans
were not meant for you. Gong-ans were actually given by masters to
their students who had spent many years studying and practising Zen;
they were not given as riddles to test your intelligence. Hence, if
you donÆt understand gong-ans (or for that matter Spanish or astronomy),
it means you havenÆt studied and practised Zen (or Spanish or astronomy),
not that you donÆt have high intelligence quota.
Two
Seemingly Illogical Questions
There
are different types of gong-ans. One type takes the form of a seemingly
illogical question used by a master to teach or test his students.
"What was your face like before you were born?" and "What is the sound
of clapping with one hand?" are two classic examples. Often the teacher
is not interested in what the students answer but how they answer.
If you think about the answer, verbalize it or intellectualize it,
you will never get the answer. In Zen jargons, this is expressed as
Zen is beyond thought, beyond words, beyond intellectualization.
A common
analogy may make this clear. Suppose your swimming instructor asks,
"Can you swim?" If you start to think what swimming is, or describe
in words how you would swim, or intellectualize why you should swim,
whatever answer you give is not what your instructor wants. It does
not matter what you say or do, as soon as you are in water, he will
have an answer. Similarly, when a master asks you about your original
face or the sound of one clapping-hand, if you start thinking what
your original face is, or how to make a sound with one hand, or why
anybody could ask such silly questions, whatever answer you give is
not the "Zen" answer. But as soon as you say or do something, the
master will know your developmental level in Zen.
Towards
Cosmic Realization
If you
are a serious Zen practitioner working towards a Zen awakening through
gong-ans, you should not worry about the deeper, spiritual meaning
hidden in them. You would know the meaning once you attained an awakening.
Why mustnÆt you know the meaning now? Because if you do so, you would
have to think, to verbalize and to intellectualize. In other words,
you would defeat the very purpose of working on the gong-ans, which
is an extra-ordinary tool to help you go beyond thought, words and
intellectualization.
But if
you, like most people, are reading about gong-ans for fun or for some
wisdom, the following explanation may help to clear away doubts and
puzzlement.
First,
let us examine why Zen seeks to go beyond thought, words and intellectualization.
Zen is a training towards cosmic realization. Ultimate reality --
called variously as God, Allah, Tao, Brahman and Buddhahood -- is
undifferentiated. (Please see the previous webpage for an explanation
of this concept.)
But because
we are unenlightened, we see ultimate reality differentiated into
the phenomenal world. In other words, because of the ways our eyes
are set to interpret electromagnetic waves, the manner our collective
human consciousness has been conditioned to organize data, because
of other limitation of our senses, and other factors, we experience
reality as differentiated into countless entities like people, houses,
cars, stars, elephants and myriad other things.
Why and
how ultimate reality is transformed into the phenomenal world is explained
by the Buddha in the doctrine of dependent origination, which explains
the transformation in 12 stages. The use of thought, words and intellectualization
contributes to this transformation. Because thought arises, we think
of reality as different entities; because we use words, we interpret
and describe reality as different entities; because of intellectualization
we conceptualize reality as differentiated.
Ultimate
Reality and Phenomenal World
For example,
once we think of a tree, use words to describe it or intellectualize
it in relation with other things, we separate a part of transcendental
reality into an entity which we interpret as a tree. Scientists are
saying the same things at a micro-cosmic level. An electron, for example,
has no boundary. But when we think of an electron, verbalize an electron
or intellectualize an electron, we carve out a tiny part of the undifferentiated
cosmic energy field and conceptualize it as an electron. In scientific
terms, the electromagnetic waves collapse into a particle.
As soon
as we think, verbalize or intellectualize, we interpret reality as
the phenomenal world. Therefore, to experience reality as undifferentiated
-- which is the ultimate and absolute truth -- we have to go beyond
thoughts, words and intellectualization. Meditation and working on
gong-ans are two principal ways in Zen to attain this highest spiritual
fulfillment.
Spiritual
Meaning of Gong-Ans
When
Ma Zu said that he had nothing, he referred to ultimate reality, which
is transcendental and undifferentiated. When this great master said
that Zhao Zhou himself was the treasure he was seeking after, he meant
that the phenomenal body of Zhao Zhou is an illusion; actually Zhao
Zhou is an integral part of ultimate reality. Zhao Zhou who had practised
Zen for many years before his teacher recommended him to Ma Zu, grasped
the point intuitively and became awakened.
In the
next gong-an, when Ma Zu stared at a feather duster, Bai Zhang knew
his master was testing him. When he said that they had to take the
feather duster from its place if they had to use it, he meant that
while cosmic reality is undifferentiated in its ultimate form, in
its application in the phenomenal world it is differentiated into
countless entities.
When
Ma Zu said that if he took off Bai ZhangÆs skin, what would become
of Bai Zhang, he was asking his disciple in an arcane manner what
would happen if the phenomenal world was separated from ultimate reality.
To indicate his understanding that the phenomenal world and ultimate
reality is actually the same, but interpreted differently, he started
to use the feather duster.
Using
Bai Zhang own words, Ma Zu tested him further. When Bai Zhang returned
the feather duster instead of continuing to use it, the master realized
that Bai ZhangÆs understanding was incomplete and was based on verbalization,
i.e. the verbal description about form and application, or symbolically
about ultimate reality and the phenomenal world.
So he
shouted to deafen Bai Zhang. At that time, instruction, which is a
form of verbalization, was given orally from master to students. When
Bai Zhang was temporarily deaf, he could not listen to instruction,
or verbalization, giving him the opportunity to look directly into
his mind and realize its true nature.
Awakening
in An Instant
When
a master asked his students "What is your original face like before
you were born?", "What is the sound of clapping with one hand?", and
other seemingly illogical questions, he forces his students to abandon
thinking, verbalization and intellectualization.
This
is because no matter how they think, how they use words or how they
intellectualize, they cannot get the answers. Hopefully, this may
trigger off an awakening in an instant. This instant of awakening
may occur immediately, or after many years of meditating on the gong-ans
in a non-thought, non-verbalized and non-intellectual manner.
One must
not be mistaken to think that thoughts, words and intellect are useless
in Zen. In fact there are more thoughts, words and intellect in Zen
literature than in any other Buddhist literature, but Zen Buddhists
as well as other Buddhists always insists that thoughts, words and
intellect are sub-ordinate to direct experience in spiritual cultivation.
In other
words, any spiritual fulfillment, from the most basic to the highest,
has to be experienced, not just talked about or read from books. An
analogy is again helpful. If you want to find out the taste of an
apple, or what internal force in Kung Fu or energy flow in Qigong
is, no amount of thinking, reading or philosophizing can give you
a satisfactory answer. You have to eat an apple, or practise Kung
Fu or Qigong to experience it.
The more
it is so in Zen. The explanation give in this webpage may increase
your understanding of Zen, but to attain any mundane benefits or spiritual
fulfillment, you have to practise and experience it.