The Purpose of the 'Gong-An' (Koan)

[Shi Da Dao]

Having been brought-up within the cultural milieu of Chinese Ch'an Buddhism - I have always been incredulous when I read Westerners stating that only 'Japan practices real Zen', or 'Zen no longer exists in China and has not done so for hundreds of years.' Neither of these statements is correct - but they are ideas that have a tremendous half-life and appear even within Japanese-language studies, etc. Chinese Ch'an Buddhists, of course, quietly look on. Japan has three types of Zen. The first is a type of Zen that remains true to their Chinese cultural roots. The second type of Zen is a version that departs from the purely Chinese cultural foundation from which it arises, and imports major Japanese cultural traits to make it more familiar and acceptable to those of Japanese ethnicity. Just as Chinese martial arts were imported into Japan and the rounded structure of their technique altered into a more 'linear' fashion (so that the incoming arts took the more 'direct' structure of Japanese swordsmanship), Chinese Ch'an was purged of its more obvious 'Chinese' cultural aspects and replaced with the more familiar 'Shintoism'. Whereas the Chinese cultural preference is one of a circular psychological and physical response (i.e. 'giving way to win'), the Japanese response is that of the exact opposite, namely that of 'taking direct and violent' action to prevail as quickly as possibly through a forceful aggression. The third type of Zen in Japan is that known as 'International' Zen designed to cater for Western practitioners. This type of Zen removes the more obvious Japanese cultural elements and allows for the usual Western attitudes conditioned through the Judeo-Christian tradition and the secularism that has developed from it. Chinese Ch'an does not recognise these categories as it is believed the historical Buddha (of ancient India) taught the direct Ch'an method for the entirety of humanity and that is how it must be transmitted throughout humanity. Bear in mind that Ch'an (Dhyana) is 'Indian' in origin and not 'Chinese'. Even today, 'Buddhism' is viewed as a 'foreign' (i.e. 'non-Chinese') religion imported from another country and culture. The Chinese attitude was to import Indian Buddhism as exactly as possibly with as little change as possible - despite Indian Buddhism inevitably being presented to the Chinese people through the Confucian tradition. As for the 'gong-an' (koan) - these are the product of how the historical Buddha utilised language and the different ways in which he applied human communication to free the human mind from its historical and existential conditioning. As a consequence, it must be recognised that the 'gong-an' is not a Chinese invention. Once this 'Indian' convention had been correctly transmitted to China - then the cultural content of the 'gong-an' begins to take on a distinctly 'Chinese' appearance - even though all the old 'Indian' content still exists. The 'gong-an' serves the purpose of uniting the seeking mind with the empty mind ground. It achieves this objective by removing the obscuring conditionality (klesa) that serves as a barrier between the seeking mind and the empty mind ground. The 'gong-an' is comprised of the 'language of the uncreate'. This means the non-structured and non-dual essence of the empty mind ground is used to form words that have no bearing on the conventional manner in which humans communicate. The words manifest both 'perception' and 'non-perception' simultaneously without any paradox or confusion. The human intellect is 'dissolved' when it comes into contact with the 'gong-an', however, the karmic conditioning of collective humanity is so powerful that it manifests through the mind of each individual in a very powerful manner. The strength of the breakthrough depends very much upon the concentrative effort the individual has placed in the act of seated meditation. This 'inner potential' slowly builds-up like water filling a valley until it is strong enough to break through the barriers that are holding it back! None of this is 'forced' or overly aggressive. The process must be approached with a measured indifference. This is because the wrong type of 'effort' only serves to strengthen the barrier of 'klesa' that separates the seeking mind from the empty mind ground. This is why Chinese Ch'an Buddhism does not advocate the strenuous fanaticism sometimes recommended within a number of Rinzai Japanese Zen Schools. The 'inner potential' is built-up and the 'gong-an' material envelopes and dissolves the dualistic intellection. This does not destroy the intellect - but rather 'transforms' it into a far more powerful tool of human creative evolution. Too much effort in the wrong way will only strengthen delusion and will not overcome it. A 'gong-an' does not work when used with the wrong type of power frequency. When used in the wrong way, all kinds of deluded mind states are mistook for genuine 'enlightenment' which have the potential to mislead millions and spread far more suffering throughout the world!