A monk once asked Zen Master Jo-ju ,
“The ten thousand Dharmas return to one.
Then where does the one return to?”
Master Jo-ju said,
“When I was in Cheong-Joo,
I made a cloth shirt. It weighed seven pounds.”
The Gongan (Jap.= Koan) is a question of the essential significance which should be solved by the student through practicing Zen.
In the Zen-Buddhistic tradition, the Zen master confers questions on his disciples for the sake of their practice, which are known as Gongan, Wha Du, or Patriarchs’ Gongan.
Presently, about 1701 Gongans as stated in Gyongdeok-Jeondeung Rock are officially recognized. There are famous Gongan collections, like the Byuck-Am Rock, the Mu-Mun Gwan, the Jong-Yong Rok, the Im-Je Rock, the Gal-Deung Jip and so on.
In ancient China, the word Gongan has originated from official document, which means an official order of supreme authority.
In case such a document had to be copied, a single seal was applied half to the original, half to the copy. The authenticity of the copy was proven when both halves of the seal were fitting together.
Likewise should a students’ answer in Gongan practice exactly match with the Zen master’s question. I.e., the student’s mind has to actually become one with the mind of the Zen master. Like this the Dharma seal (as the prove of enlightenment) should be transmitted from master to disciple, which is also called the mind to mind transmission.
Practicing with Gongan, therefore, means to awake a mind of doubt, a mind of great question and searching. This very state of questioning is important, and not at all is this about things like literary beauty or interesting philosophical ideas. Hence, the mind of questioning is representing a practitioner, who has not yet attained enlightenment, but, on his way, is searching for a Zen master’s guidance.
Like this a monk once asked the famous Zen Master Jo Ju:
»Does a dog have Buddha nature or not?«
»Nothing (Mu)!« Jo Ju replied.
This answer must have been extremely doubtful to the student, because it’s just the opposite of the Buddha’s statement that all beings have the Buddha nature. The very core of this Gongan is therefore implicated in the question, »Why did Zen Master Jo Ju, who was a great disciple of Buddha, claim that a dog had no Buddha nature?«.
For a student the answer of a Zen master must be of great value, as well as the words of Buddha. Accordingly, the student is finding himself trapped in this contradiction between Zen Master Jo Ju’s answer and Buddha’s original statement. He therefore has no choice but letting go of all his knowledge and attaining the significance of Jo Ju’s answer by raising a question. Why did Jo Ju say that the dog had no Buddha nature? Through asking himself thus, the student enters the world of doubt. Such a question is called Gongan or Wha Du.
Gongans can never be solved by intellectual knowledge, or philosophical common sense. Trying to solve the Gongan question in that way is just like searching for the cow while riding a cow.
Therefore, the practicing of Gongan means to give up all worldly clevernesses, learnings and logical oppinions, etc. and for himself to be completely one with the question of Gongan.
Why did Jo Ju say, that the dog has no Buddha nature? The practitioners should permanently abide this question in their minds. Neither through the advice of someone else, nor by reading books can this question be broken through. Only by seeing one’s own mind can the Gongan be enlightened.
In case a student has found an answer to the Gongan question, he should, without fail, visit a Zen Master, to have the correctness of his answer confirmed.
Our world is full of mysteries. Who am I? Where did I come from before I was born? Where will I go to after I die? How was this universe created, and how does it concern to me? Why do I live? Why do I die? All these questions present continuous doubt.
We sentient beings are caught in all these questions, and, usually, would not even dare to ask them.
But according to the view of Buddhism, the circumstances of our life are something, that is created by no one else then us ourselves. The great mysteries of life can therefore only be experienced and solved within our own minds. If, by practicing intensively, someone finally breaks through the Gongan, all mysteries and questions dissolve like vanishing smoke. Then the thusness of mind will clearly appear.
This way of practice is awakened and maintained through the mind of a great doubt. It is of utmost importance for practicing Zen to actually ask oneself the essential questions of life.
But, neither motivation, nor progress could there be for a practitioner without a question and without a doubt.
The Gongan is the driving force to enlightenment. Working on the Gongan initiates a process, in which all wandering thoughts are totally dissolved into one essential question. Like this can the mind of restlessness, all sufferings and fears be overcome.
So, one who likes to practice with the Gongan, first of all, has to find a Zen Master, from whom he will receive a Gongan fitting to his state of practice. After that he should try, with all his might, to create and to maintain a doubt about the Gongan question. Like this, the Gongan should become practitioner’s whole life fountain. If, on the other hand, a practitioner had lost the grip on his Gongan, it would actually mean, that his mind is not concentrated anymore and had become distracted.
Sitting Zen is the main way to develop this state of a continuous doubt. Further more, the practice of Gongan serves to permanently maintain the mind’s correct abiding, in what ever situation one is – while working or having a pause, while being alone or with others, means, when or where so ever. Through this kind of practice all Zen practitioners can finally liberate themselves from suffering and even from birth and death.
One day a Monk named Nam Ak Huai Yang visited the sixth Patriarch Hui Neng. As Hui Neng saw the Monk approaching, he asked him:
»What thing has thus come here?«
About this, Huai Yang was totally dumbfounded. How could he have answered to such a question? Should he have said, that this thing is human or just something or some kind of a divine being? He became very embarrassed and answered: »I don’t know.« And then he withdrew himself sweating all over. From this day on Huai Yang maintained a continuous doubt concerning the question: »What is this thing?«. As he finally attained the answer, he again went to see the sixth Patriarch Hui Neng. He informed Hui Neng about his answer and than was recognised by him. Later on Hui Yang became the officially recognised Dharma successor of Zen Master Hui Neng.
The Gongan originally issue from Shakyamuni Buddha. The Dae-Beom-Cheon-Wang-Mun-Bul- Gyul-Ui Sutra said: Once, as on the Young Chui mountain the Buddha taught the Sad Dharma Pundarika Sutra, he held up a flower, given to him by a person called Tae Bum Chun Wang, and, without a word, showed it to the assembly. No one understood the meaning of this gesture. But one of Buddha’s disciples, Mahakasyapa, was smiling. As soon as the Buddha saw Maha- kasyapa’s smile, he said:
»I entrust my genuine Dharma to Mahakasyapa.«
The history of Patriarchs began with this Dharma transmission from Buddha to Mahakasyapa. But you should know that an essential secret of this Gongan has been hidden in the question, »Why did Mahakasyapa smile when the Buddha held up a flower?«.
The Zen practitioners should raise a doubt about the meaning of Mahakasyapa’s smile. Because one who is able to realize the meaning of Mahakasyapa’s smile can also enlighten the meaning of Buddha’s holding up a flower. This Gongan is called the Yeom Hwa Mi So Gongan (»When the Buddha held up a flower, Mahakasyapa was smiling«). It is considered to be the source of Zen.
Mahakasyapa became the first Patriarch in India since the Buddha entered Nirvana. So, the transmission of Dharma succeeded from the mind of a master to a disciple‘s up to the 28th Patriarch Bodhidharma. He then came from India to China and sat facing wall and practiced Zen in the cave behind the Sorim Temple (Shao Lin Temple) for nine years. From Bodhidharma up to the present day, all Zen Buddhism has been vividly descending, following the lines of transmission of Dharma.
In summary, a practitioner should only depend on the question of Gongan. Of course, in the way of practice there can be various expedients for the final goal of enlightenment, and yet how could this be actually achieved without the mind of doubt?
The Gongan is the driving force of Zen, the root of enlightenment. The only path for Zen practitioners is to raise and to maintain the Gongan doubt.
