Inventive wordplay based on the fact that hanzi (Chinese characters) are homophonic and convey multiple, often complementary or contradictory meanings.Indirect references, such as titling a poem with one topic and composing a verse that seems on the surface to be totally unrelated.The extensive use of allusions, which create a feeling of disconnection with the main theme.The style of writing of Zen texts has been influenced by "a variety of east Asian literary games": Kōan literature was also influenced by the pre-Zen Chinese tradition of the "literary game"-a competition involving improvised poetry. Dahui Zonggao is even said to have burned the woodblocks of the Blue Cliff Record, for the hindrance it had become to study of Chán by his students. There were dangers involved in such a literary approach, such as ascribing specific meanings to the cases. It arose in interaction with "educated literati". Kōan practice developed from a literary practice, styling snippets of encounter-dialogue into well-edited stories. This practice of commenting on the words and deeds of past masters confirmed the master's position as an awakened master in a lineage of awakened masters of the past. Such a story was only considered a gongan when it was commented upon by another Chán master. Those stories came to be known as gong'an, "public cases". Those stories and the accompanying comments were used to educate students, and broaden their insight into the Buddhist teachings. Gong'an developed during the Tang dynasty (618–907) from the recorded sayings collections of Chán masters, which quoted many stories of "a famous past Chán figure's encounter with disciples or other interlocutors and then offering his own comment on it". Origins and development China Commenting on old cases Similarly, Zen kōan collections are public records of the notable sayings and actions of Zen masters and disciples attempting to pass on their teachings. For example, Di Gong'an ( 狄公案) is the original title of Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee, the famous Chinese detective novel based on a historical Tang dynasty judge. Gong'an was itself originally a metonym-an article of furniture involved in setting legal precedents came to stand for such precedents. Its literal meaning is the 'table' or 'bench' an of a 'magistrate' or 'judge' kung. Kōan/ gong'an thus serves as a metaphor for principles of reality beyond the private opinion of one person, and a teacher may test the student's ability to recognize and understand that principle.Ĭommentaries in kōan collections bear some similarity to judicial decisions that cite and sometimes modify precedents. The term is a compound word, consisting of the characters 公 "public official governmental common collective fair equitable" and 案 "table desk (law) case record file plan proposal."Īccording to the Yuan dynasty Zen master Zhongfeng Mingben ( 中峰明本 1263–1323), gōng'àn originated as an abbreviation of gōngfǔ zhī àndú ( 公府之案牘, Japanese kōfu no antoku-literally the àndú "official correspondence documents files" of a gōngfǔ "government post"), which referred to a "public record" or the "case records of a public law court" in Tang dynasty China. The Japanese term kōan is the Sino-Japanese reading of the Chinese word gong'an ( Chinese: 公案 pinyin: gōng'àn Wade–Giles: kung-an lit. A kōan ( / ˈ k oʊ æ n, - ɑː n/ KOH-a(h)n Japanese: 公案 Chinese: 公案 pinyin: gōng'àn Korean: 화두, romanized: hwadu Vietnamese: công án) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement which is used in Zen practice to provoke the "great doubt" and to practice or test a student's progress in Zen.
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