Dwelling nowhere, let your mind come forth
Zen tradition combines sitting meditation with koan work, which is questioning and seeking with the heart and mind. Questing and questioning open the heart-mind, allowing the world to enter. The heart-mind's quest is to find the ultimate answers. What is the meaning of life? Where do I go after I die? What is real? Who am I? How can I find peace? Why is there evil?
Life asks the questions, not you. Listening and speaking are the basis of spirituality. Your questions can help you focus on your zazen and the spiritual path. This can only be done in conversation with other people and the world. Answers from books, authorities, and scriptures can't really fulfill your heart and mind. Exploring your questions with another person in a loving way can help you to change. The Zen master is important on the koan Zen journey.
A monk asked a Zen master, "What is the original face before I was born?"
The Zen master replied, "Look at it!"
The monk looked around, but saw nothing.
The Zen master said, "That's it."
This koan points to the idea that the original face before birth is not something external or tangible. It's the essence of our being, our true nature, which is always present and unchanging. It's not something we can find outside ourselves; it's within us, waiting to be recognized.
The master is there to help you ask the right questions. They must look beyond the surface and help us find truth and love. It can lead to contradictions and mysteries. The heart mind's seeking and desiring can be fulfilled only in the unknown, where the questions come to silence. It is the silence of fullness. The self has disappeared in the mystery of grace. This has to be realised in human relationships and in the world.
History of the Koans
Zen koans were originally questions about life. Every authentic spiritual way involves questioning and seeking. Zen made this into a great art. Everything became a language.Using language in strange ways became a hallmark. People realised that words cannot describe reality. The most important thing was to understand reality, achieve liberation and change oneself. But soon, the questions and responses were made into models for later students. Charisma and creativity were made part of the tradition. Koan collections and commentaries on them were published.
In China between 1127 and 1279, masters gave students old, well-known koans to meditate on. Many of these Koans had answers, but students were not expected to have fixed answers.The Japanese genius systematised the Koans. Naito (1282–1337) started to systematise this. But it was Hakuin and his disciples who organised the Koans with set answers. Hakuin and his disciples made up most of the answers, which are wonderful and fitting. Subsequent masters have been trying to improve upon the answers, or invent new Koans.