Koans

Welcome to the Koans Index!

Koans are listed alphabetically. Click on a koan to see its text and related KALPA content.

 

Koan
 
Total
10000 Feet Down (MK27)
14
12500 Feet Down Lies the Titanic (MK27)
2
99 Curves (MK7)
3
A Donkey Sees a Well (BS52)
5
A Matter of Special Worth
5
A Stone Drenched with Rain (MK19)
8
A Straight Hook Seeks Fish That Turn Away From Life (MK54)
4
A Thousand Mountains (MK13)
2
A Woman Comes Out of Meditation (GG42)
1
Abiding Nowhere the Heart-Mind Comes Forth (MK65)
15
Alive or Dead? I Won't Say (BCR55)
6
All Things Fall Under the Law of Change
2
Alone and Poor (GG10)
3
Amnesty (BCR24)
1
An Australian Koan (MK41)
4
Ancestor Ma's Duck Flies Away (BCR53)
1
Baizhang Mountain's Wild Fox (GG2)
2
Baizhang's Fox (GG2) (BS8)
13
Baling Haojian’s Three Barriers (MK74)(BCR13)(BCR100)
4
Baling's Falling into a Well (MK74b)
10
Baling's Snow in a Silver Bowl (MK74a)(BCR13)
13
Baling’s Blown-Hair Sword (MK74c)(BCR100)
7
Bankei's Miracle
7
Be a Tiger in the Mountains
2
being imperfect
1
Blue Dragon's Cave (BCR3)
20
Bodhidharma and the Buddha-Heart Emperor and the Magical Duke (BCR1)(BS2)
5
Bodhidharma Comes and Goes (MK43)
6
Bodhidharma Sets the Mind to Rest (GG41)
3
Bodhidharma's Vast Emptiness (BCR1)(BS2)
18
Bodhisattva of Compassion
2
Bodhisattva Vows
18
Bodhisattvas Come Eat Your Rice (BCR74)
1
Buddha Has No Country (BS68)
3
Buddha's Hand (MK16a)
7
Buffalo through the Window (GG38)
7
Caoshan's Dharma Body (BS52)
2
Catching a Catfish with a Gourd
1
Changsha Wandering in the Mountains (BCR36)
13
Counting (MK8)
1
Crossing the Brook (MK23)
1
Dahui's Great Doubt
4
Dalong's Flowers Like Brocade (BCR82)
3
Dalong's Pure Everlasting Body (BCR82)
21
Dalong's What Is the Mysterious (Ta Lung)
6
Dancing Mountains (MK5)
3
Daowu and Jianyuan Offer Condolences (BCR55)
1
Dasui's Fire at the End of the Kalpa (BCR 29)
8
Deshan Meets the Tea Lady (GG28)
4
Deshan's Bowls in Hand (GG1)
1
Deshan's Enlightenment (GG28)
6
Do You Practice?
2
Dogen's Study the Self
3
Dogen's Turn Your Light Inward
1
Dogen’s Storehouse of Treasures (MK66)
19
Dogs at Midnight (MK4)
1
Dolphins (MK10)
1
Don't Believe It
6
Donghan's Five Ranks (2nd)
6
Dongshan Mending
2
Dongshan Sick (BS94)
4
Dongshan's Cold Kills You Heat Kills You (BCR43)
9
Dongshan's Each Stitch
4
Dongshan's Five Ranks
10
Dongshan's Five Ranks (1st)
19
Dongshan's Five Ranks (3rd)
2
Dongshan's Five Ranks (4th)
3
Dongshan's Five Ranks (5th)
5
Dongshan's Five Ranks (The Record of Dongshan)
1
Dongshan's Just This Is It
6
Dongshan's No Grass (BS89)
1
Dongshan's Three Paths
2
Dongshan's Voice of the Cuckoo (MK52)
10
Dongshan’s Jewel Mirror Samadhi
7
Dongshan’s Three Paths
9
Doushuai’s Third Barrier (MK73c)
4
Doushuai’s Three Barriers (MK73) (GG47)
2
Doushuai’s Wild Places (MK73a)
4
Dragon Murmurings (BCR2)
2
Dragon Singing in a Withered Tree
6
Each Branch of Coral Holds Up the Moon (MK74c)
7
Emperor Wu Questions Bodhidharma (BCR1)(BS2)
19
Empty Hands (MK24)
2
Entangle
1
Enter There
2
Fayan's Students Roll Up the Blinds (GG26)
2
Fayan's Where Is the Boat? (BS51)
1
Find Something That Is Not Medicine
3
Fire at the End of the Universe (BCR29)
7
Following the Scent of Flowers (BCR36)
4
For Another (MK50)
1
For Your Benefit (MK48)
14
Forget the Self
2
Four Boundless Vows
1
Free and Easy Wandering
2
Freely I Watch the Tracks of the Flying Birds (MK23b)
13
Ghost (MK17)
7
Ghosts Howl and Spirits Wail (BCR 59)
1
Give Me the Reaching
2
Going to Wild Places (MK73)
6
Great Silence at the Beginning
11
Great Yangshan's Dream
2
Guanyin the Bodhisattva of Compassion
2
Guanyin's Hands and Eyes (BCR89)
26
Guishan's No Foundation to Rely On (BS37)
5
Guishan’s Zen (MK67)
4
Hakuin's Great Light
1
Hakuin's Praise Song for Meditation
19
Hakuin's Sound of One Hand
3
Hanging by Your Teeth (GG5)
7
Hanshan’s Tree (MK39)
3
Happiness
2
Heart Sutra
21
Hell in an SUV (MK26)
4
Hermit of Lotus Peak (BCR25)
5
Hongzhi's Called Back from the Dream (MK34)
9
Hoshan Beats the Drum (BCR44)
2
How Are You?
2
How Do I Become Free?
1
How Do You Cross a Stream?
3
How Do You Unify Hawai'i?
2
Huangbo's Gobblers of Dregs (BCR11)
1
Huineng's No North & South (GG23)
2
Huineng's Original Face (GG23)
20
Huizhong's Seamless Monument (BCR18)
7
I Know for Myself if It Is Warm or Cold (GG23)
1
I Vow To Do Good
1
I Vow To Do No Harm
3
I Vow To Live the Great Buddha Way
3
I Vow to Set Endless Heartache to Rest
3
I Vow to Walk through Every Wisdom Gate
1
If You Are Scorned (BCR97)
1
If You Get It the First Time (BS76)
3
Ikkyu's Attention
1
Ikkyu's Well (MK22)
7
In Front of the Dead Tree Cliff (BS)
4
In the Dark (MK51)
2
Indra's Net
4
Jade Elephant
1
Jiashan Gardening (BS68)
3
Jiashan Meets the Boat Monk
7
Jiashan's State of Mind (EV99)
11
Jiashan's Surroundings (EV99)
2
Jingqing's Sound of Rain (BCR46)
16
Jinniu Dances Before the Meal (BCR74)
2
Jinqing's Pecking Out of the Shell (BCR16)
6
Judi's One Finger Zen (BCR19) (BS84)(GG3)
3
Juifeng Does Not Acknowledge (BS96)
1
Juiyan Calls to Himself (GG12)
1
Just This Is It
10
Knock on Any Door (BCR)
15
Laozi's True Traveler
4
Learning Speech & Silence (GG24)
3
Legend of Yellow Crane Pavilion
4
Lingzhao's Blades of Grass
3
Linji's Blockhead
3
Linji's Nothing I Dislike (MK38a)
8
Linji's Nothing To Do
4
Linji's Solitary Brightness (MK38c)
18
Linji's Take the Role of Host (MK38d)
17
Linji's True Person (MK38b)(BS38)
11
Linji's True Place (MK38d)
6
Little Jade (MK47)
10
Loch Ness Monster (MK11)
3
Longya's Why Bodhidharma Came from the West (BCR20)
2
Luopu About To Die (BS41)
3
Ma's Sun Face Moon Face Buddha (BCR3)
3
Mahasattva Fu Explains Things to Emperor Wu (BCR67)
2
Maralung
3
Maralung, An Australian Koan (MK41)
1
Master Ma Is Unwell (BCR3)
1
Mayu Fanning (GK)
1
Mazu's Make Yourself a Raft
27
Mazu's Purpose of Your Life
14
Mazu's Salt and Sauce (EV61)
3
Mazu's Samadhi of Buddha Nature
1
Mazu's Your Own Heart Mind
6
Morning Star
1
Muzhou Shuts the Door
1
Non-Attained Buddha (GG9)
1
Not for Anything Else (BCR11)
2
Not Knowing Is Most Intimate (MK62)(BS20)
20
Not Picking & Choosing (BCR2)
15
Not Picking and Choosing (BCR 58)
1
Not the Flag (GG29)
1
Nothing to Complain About
2
One Strip of White Silk (BS96)
5
Ordinary Mind Is the Way (GG19)
13
Ox Herding
3
Pang Family's Helping (MK40)
3
Peach Blossoms (MK37) (EV8)
28
Peach Trees Make a Path (BS79)
3
Pillar (MK18)
1
Poverty (MK71)
2
Pure Vows
2
Ready (MK57)
2
Refuges
1
Rhinoceros Fan BCR91)(BS25)
7
Salt and Sauce (EV61)
2
Say a Word of Zen (GG3)(BCR19)(BS84)
4
Say Something in Response (BCR14)
6
Say Something without Moving Your Lips (MK30b)
2
Searching for the Ox
2
See with Your Ears (GG16)
2
Shelter (MK14)
8
Shishuang's 100-Foot Pole (GG46)(BS79)
13
Shitou's Grass Hut
2
Shitou's Rightful Heir
1
Shitou's Turn Your Light Inwards
1
Shoushan's Three Phrase BS76
1
Shoushan’s Three Shots at Getting It (BS76)
1
Sickness and Medicine (BCR87)
10
Silver Mountain and Iron Cliff (BCR 57)
4
Sixteen Bodhisattvas Take a Bath (BCR78)
23
Solitary Boat
14
Someone with No Shadow or Form Is Drawing the Water
1
Southern Barbarians
1
Spoken by Demons
1
Standing at the Edge of a Cliff
1
Standing on the Point of a Needle (MK36c)
1
Step by Step in the Dark (MK72)
9
Stone Crypt (MK20)
14
Stone Hitting Bamboo (GG5)
1
Stone Woman Gives Birth (MK33)
3
Stop Chasing About
1
Suddenly It's Midnight
6
Sun Face Moon Face Buddha (BCR3)
3
Sutra of Complete Enlightenment (BS45)
2
Sweet Olive Blossoms
2
Taking Part in the Gathering
40
Talking about the Deepest Matters
1
Talking to a Rock
3
Teaching That Lasts a Lifetime (BCR14)
6
Temple Bell (MK1)
9
The Buddha Responds to an Outsider (GG32)
1
The Coin Lost in the River (MK64)
16
The Dao Is in the Ant
3
The Dao That Can Be Named
1
The Diamond Sutra (MK65)
1
The Diamond Sutra (MK65b)
4
The Diamond Sutra's Scorn (BCR97)
1
The Egg (MK53)
1
The Fire Across the River (MK2)
8
The Four Boundless Vows
28
The Fresh Breeze
3
The Gate of Nonduality (BS48)
1
The Golden Bird
1
The Goose in the Bottle (MK63)
8
The Great Koan NO (GG1) (BS18)
5
The Great Way Is Not Difficult (BCR2)
9
The Green Mountain Walks About (BS41)
3
The Hazy Moon of Spring
2
The Heart Sutra Is Everywhere
2
The Heart-Mind at Peace
2
The Journey Itself Is Home
2
The Land of Demons (EV42)
8
The Mind Is a Great Artist (Flower Ornament Sutra)
2
The Moon Sets at Midnight (BS76)
8
The Oak Tree in the Garden (GG37)(BS47)
2
The Pangs & Their Practice
2
the precepts
1
The Sieve (MK58)
5
The Sound of One Hand
1
The Story of Dragon Mind
2
The Story of the Buddha
5
The Strawberry
3
The Teaching Is Upside Down (BCR15)
1
The Universe Is in a Tea Bowl
2
The Valley Spirit Never Dies (DDJ6)
6
The Valley Streams Run Deepest Indigo
6
The War (MK25)
6
The Whole Purpose of Your life
1
The Whole World Is Medicine (BCR87)
3
The Woman at the Inn (MK32)
11
The World Honored One Points to the Ground (BS4)
2
Things Are Not As They Appear
3
This Very Heart-Mind Is Buddha
8
Tile Polishing
2
Times of Great Difficulty
3
Torei Zenji's Bodhisattva Vow (Sutra)
1
Torei Zenji's Bodhisattva's Vow (Sutra)
1
Tortoise Mountain Wakes Up
11
Touzi Plunges Into Daylight (BCR41)
2
Treasures of the Lost Cities
1
Trust the Light Within
4
Turning Around (MK68)
2
Unofficially (MK21)
1
Vimalakirti at the Gate (BCR84)
2
We Are What We Think
1
What Am I?
3
What Does Essential Nature Look Like? (MK28)
3
What if it's a disaster?
1
What Is Buddha?
16
What Is It Like To Be You?
8
What Is It Like to Have a Self?
1
What Is It You Lack (MK38e)
4
What Is Meditation?
1
What Is Most Urgent for Me?
5
What Is the Light in Things?
2
What Is the Problem?
1
What Is the Source?
2
What Is the Ultimate Nature of Reality?
1
What Is the Way?
7
What Is This? (BCR51)
45
What Is Your Light? (BCR86)
16
What Is Your Way?
2
What Is Zen?
1
What Will Sansheng Eat? (BCR49)
1
Whatever Confronts You
8
When the Rain Beats Down (MK28d)
2
When Will You Meet Today?
2
Where Are You Coming From?
2
Where Do Songs Come From? (MK41)
1
Where Do You Go When You Die?
24
Where Have You Come From?
1
Who Am I?
17
Who Are You?
2
Who Is Hearing?
21
Who Is Meditating
3
Who Is Speaking?
1
Who Is Teaching?
1
Why Can't a Clear-eyed Person Cut the Red Thread? (MK30c)
8
Wuzi's True Qian (GG35)
1
Wuzu's Buffalo Passes Through the Window (GG38)
2
Wuzu's Remember Me When You Are Sick (MK47)
5
Xianglin's Why Bodhidharma Came from the West (BCR17)
2
Xizhong Builds Carts (GG8)
1
Xuefeng's What's This? (BCR51)
14
Yangshan's Mind and Environment (BS32)
1
Yangshan's Officially
1
Yangshan's Sermon from the Third Seat (GG25)
1
Yangshan’s Enlightenment (BS62)
1
Yanguan's Rhinoceros (BCR91)
3
Your Mother Is Ugly!
1
Your Original Face before Your Parents Were Born (GG23)
5
Your Own Heart and Mind
9
Yu the Doughnut Maker (MK75)
9
Yunmen Reveals the Golden Wind (BCR27)
10
Yunmen Says It Upside Down (BCR15)
6
Yunmen Says Something in Response (BCR14)
5
Yunmen's Barrier (BCR8)
1
Yunmen's Day of the Full Moon (BCR6)
4
Yunmen's East Mountain Walks on the Water (EV49)
9
Yunmen's Give Me the Reaching
8
Yunmen's Good Day (BCR6)
12
Yunmen's Light (BCR86)
23
Yunmen's Lion with Golden Hair (BCR39)
6
Yunmen's Midnight
9
Yunmen's One Treasure (BCR62)
10
Yunmen's Particle-by-Particle Samadhi (BCR50)
1
Yunmen's Sound of the Bell (GG16)
5
Yunmen's Two Sicknesses (BS11)
2
Yunmen’s Medicine and Sickness Cure Each Other (BCR87)
23
Yunyan Sweeps the Ground (BS21)
2
Yunyan's Talking to a Rock
3
Zhaozhou and the Hermits (GG11)
1
Zhaozhou Can't Explain (BCR 58)
3
Zhaozhou's Beating Heart
1
Zhaozhou's Dharmakaya
1
Zhaozhou's Gates (BCR9)
2
Zhaozhou's Idiot (BCR 57)
3
Zhaozhou's No (GG1)(BS18)
26
Zhaozhou's True Buddha (MK56)(BCR96)
1
Zhaozhou's Wash Your Bowls (GG7)
3
Zhaozhou's Welcome
3
Zhaozhou's Why Don't You Finish It? (BCR 59)
2
Zhaozhou’s Dog (GG1)(BS18)
5
Zhaozhou’s Greatest Way Isn't Difficult (BCR2)
7
Zhaozhou’s Three Turning Words (BCR96)
3
Zhuangzi Dreamed He Was a Butterfly
5
Zhuangzi's Great Fear Is Vast and Calm
1

Page

1 2 … 4