Z E N K O A N
#1
Who is asking?
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A student once asked, Where is the Buddha?” The master replied, “Not far from the source of your question.” The deepest answer that Zen gives to any question is, “Who wants to know?” How can we find a solution to our questions if we don’t know who we are? Most people identify themselves with their body and personality, but Zen says, “look again.” Your body has changed beyond all recognition - from a small baby to a grown adult. Your personality is adapting all the time to new situations. Are these really you? The only consistent thing in your life has been your experience of being a witness of all the changes. For Zen, our sense of personal identity is a self-created illusion. Any idea we have of who we are is just that - an idea. We are not the idea, but the consciousness that is experiencing the idea. We can, therefore, never know ourselves through thought. We can only be where we are - indescribable Buddha-Nature.

Thoughts to contemplate:

• Do you assume that you know who you are? Before solving the problems in your life, spend some time with the fundamental question, “Who am I?”

• Are you trapped in ideas about who you are? One by one, consider all your ideas about yourself and then discard them. Sense your subjective experience of simply being. Allow your choices to arise from the depths of your true nature, not your ideas about yourself.
  
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  (Discover Who You Are)
  The Zen Koan Card Pack
  by Timothy Freke

 Z E N K O A N
#6
When walking - walk.
When sitting - sit.
But don’t wobble!
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When asked how he disciplined himself in Zen, a master once replied, “When hungry, I eat. When tired, I sleep.” His astonished questioner responded, “But that is what everyone does.” “Not at all,” replied the master, “Most people are constantly distracted from what they are doing.” Zen is knowing that we are a part of Nature, and allowing our own nature to express itself naturally - when hungry, we eat. But it is about doing whatever we do with complete awareness. In this koan, master Yun-men advises us not to “wobble.” We wobble when we are not fully present with what we are doing. Zen is not doing something special, it is consciously performing everyday activities. Master Nan-ch’uan was once asked, “What is Zen?” to which he replied, “Ordinary mind is very Zen.” “Should we try to get it?” the questioner continued. “As soon as you try, you miss it.” cautioned Nan-ch’uan. Zen is not “trying” to be a certain way, it is just being what you are and doing what you do."

Thoughts to contemplate:

• Are you completely engaged with whatever process is unfolding in your life? Insight does not come from living unconsciously or standing aloof, but by fully entering in.

• Are you valuing the extraordinary and overlooking the ordinary? Zen is nothing special. It is simply being conscious as you live your everyday life.
  
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  (Be Natural and Aware)
  The Zen Koan Card Pack
  by Timothy Freke

 Z E N K O A N
#8
Do what you will ~
but not because you must
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 Z E N K O A N
#10
Water beats gradually
and boils suddenly
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Some schools of Zen emphasize a sudden and spontaneous awakening. Others stress that we awaken gradually through practice and perseverance. There is no contradiction here, however, as is brought out by the Zen saying on this page. Through patiently persevering in practicing the principles of Zen, we prepare the conditions that are conducive to the completely natural experience of enlightenment. You cannot force a seed to sprout, but only provide it with the best conditions that allow sprouting to occur naturally. Likewise, awakening can not be forced, but may be encouraged.

Thoughts to contemplate:

• Are you frustrated with your life? See yourself as water that is slowly heating and will suddenly surprise you by boiling. Let go of your frustration and concentrate on creating the conditions in your life that will gradually allow fulfillment to arise naturally over time.

• Do you need to develop patient perseverance? If you developed this attitude, how would it change your life? Consider one specific area and decide to be like a gardener cultivating seeds. You cannot make the seeds grow, but you can lovingly tend them until harvest time.
  
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  (Be Patient)
  The Zen Koan Card Pack
  by Timothy Freke

 Z E N K O A N
#11
A MIND IS ONLY ABSOLUTELY PURE WHEN IT IS ABOVE PURITY AND IMPURITY
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Although Zen teaches us to act well and think good thoughts, its highest revelation is that the true nature of mind is above all such limited concepts. It encourages us to abandon negative self-judgment and accept ourselves as we are. If we acknowledge that we are in the process of spiritually awakening, then life becomes a sort of school for consciousness. We are students because we have something to learn, so it is pointless to criticize ourselves for our ignorance. Master Seng-t’san teaches, “Live with a Zen awareness and no more worries about not being perfect.” A naughty little girl was once told to pray that God would make her behave well. Her behavior didn’t improve, so she concluded that God obviously liked her just the way she was. Zen is being yourself - as you are.

Thoughts to contemplate:

• Do you accept yourself as you are? See yourself as in a process of learning and do not criticize your inadequacies, but learn from them whenever you can.

• Let go of all your ideas about how you think you should be. Let yourself be exactly as you are - including your desire to be better and your failure to be so. Sit for a while with the feeling that life likes you just the way you are, otherwise it would have made you differently.
  
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  (Accept Yourself)
  The Zen Koan Card Pack
  by Timothy Freke

 Z E N K O A N
#12
THE INNER SIGHT IS BEYOND PRAISE AND BLAME. LIKE SPACE, IT KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES
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Master Yung-Chia Ta-shih teaches that our Buddha-Nature is the light of pure Consciousness - the limitless space within which thoughts arise. It is the essential “I” within us that experiences everything. Like the light of the sun, it illuminates that which we call good and that which we call bad, but it is itself beyond both good and bad. If we know our Buddha-Nature therefore, we can be like the sun that shines on all alike. We will not be caught up in praising one person or blaming another - or in seeking praise or trying to avoid blame ourselves. Such judgments are alien to our Buddha-Nature and only serve to trap us in our separateness.

Thoughts to contemplate:

• Are you caught up in blaming someone? Distance yourself from your judging mind. Imagine your consciousness like a living light that shines indiscriminately on all alike. Remember that you can never know what it is like to be someone else in his or her unique predicament. Reach out with understanding, not judgment.

• Are you seeking praise or trying to avoid blame? Let go of your idea of yourself as something that could be worthy of either. Imagine yourself as a natural part of the universe - like the flowers in the field or the birds in the sky. They express their own nature without needing praise or fearing blame. How others see you will not change what you are.
  
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  (Be Nonjudgmental)
  The Zen Koan Card Pack
  by Timothy Freke

 Z E N K O A N
#13
Don’t SEARCH FOR TRUTH, SIMPLY STOP HAVING OPINIONS
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Master Seng - T’san teaches that enlightenment is not an opinion, but is found through the absence of all opinions. It is not an idea, but an awareness of the consciousness that experiences all ideas. This consciousness is vast and limitless, like a clear blue sky, and ideas are clouds passing across the sky. When we focus on the clouds, we miss the empty vastness. Zen teaches us to let go of our preoccupation with opinions and embrace an attitude of “don’t know.” Through the process of not knowing we can come to know the knower - our Buddha Nature.

Thoughts to contemplate:

• Are your opinions obscuring your intuitive insight into your situation? Stop frantically trying to have an opinion about what is going on and simply say, “Don’t know.” Live with this and the clouds of confusion will dissipate, and your intuitions will become obvious.

• Consider your most cherished opinions. Do you really know them to be true? Actually, life and death are incomprehensible mysteries. Instead of filling the void with some opinion, be courageous enough to live with your profound ignorance. In Zen, wisdom is not found by having ideas about life, but by experiencing life directly through not knowing.
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  (Embrace “Don’t Know”)
  The Zen Koan Card Pack
  by Timothy Freke

 Z E N K O A N
#14
THE WAY IS NOT DIFFICULT FOR SOMEONE WITHOUT PREFERENCES
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Master Seng - T’San continues these teachings: “When attraction and aversion are both absent, everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set indefinitely apart. When we completely accept what is, we perceive the Oneness of Life beyond the dualities of good and bad, desired and undesired, pleasant and unpleasant. It is by dividing life up in these ways that we obscure our natural state of enlightenment. Only when we let things be as they are do we see things as they are.

Thoughts to contemplate:

• Are you confronting a situation in which your value judgments are coloring your direct perception of your predicament? Let things be as they are and accept all that you like and dislike with equanimity. This is not passive resignation. Don’t “put up with life,” but don’t, “fight against life” either. Simply embrace it as it is. Through acceptance you may begin to see what this situation has arisen and allow the appropriate solution to arise intuitively, unencumbered by your expectations, fears, and other value judgments.

• Are your preferences making life difficult for you? Be at peace, neither pulling anything to you nor pushing anything away. When you don’t want things to be a certain way, what difficulties are there?
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  (Accept Life As It Is)
  The Zen Koan Card Pack
  by Timothy Freke

 Z E N K O A N
#15
GAZE AT THE STARS BUT WALK ON THE EARTH
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The Zen teacher D.T. Suzuki writes, “With all our philosophy, with all our grand and enhancing ideas, we cannot escape life as we live it. Star-gazers are still walking on the solid earth.” Buddhist philosophy may sometimes lead us to the final frontiers of abstract thought with concepts such as “the void” and “enlightenment,” but the Truth of its teachings are only to be found in our everyday lives. Zen teaches us to be practical and ordinary, yet to see the miracle of life all around us.

Thoughts to contemplate:

• Are you in danger of drifting off into the abstract world of ideas and losing your foundations in ordinary life? Decide today that attend to some practical details of your life, yet see them as a Zen koan which, if studied consciously enough, could lead to sublime enlightenment.

• Are you so wrapped up with everyday things that your life is devoid of magic? Decide that tonight you will step outside for a little while and just stare at the stars. The night sky is a perfect “koan.” Consider that it goes on forever, and wrestle with the impossibility of your mind conceiving of something that has no end. Then just accept its awe and beauty without understanding it at all.
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  (See the Miraculous in the Ordinary)
  The Zen Koan Card Pack
  by Timothy Freke

 Z E N K O A N
#16
THE WISE DON’T STRIVE TO ARRIVE
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Master Seng-T’san advises us to give up goal orientation and simply be. Zen teaches that life is not about getting somewhere but enjoying traveling for even when we do reach our goals we experience only temporary satisfaction, because there is always a new horizon. Master Shunryu Suzuki says, “What is more important, to make a million dollars, or enjoy your life in your effort, little by little, even though it is impossible to make that million; to be successful, or to find some meaning in your effort to be successful? If you do not know the answer, you will not be able to practice Zen; if you do know, you will have found the treasure of life.”

Thoughts to contemplate:

• Are you trying to get somewhere? Instead of thinking that it is important that you arrive, focus on traveling well. Live life like playing a game. There are goals to give it purpose, but the true aim is to enjoy playing.

• Are you seeking enlightenment? Completely accept your unenlightened state and let life unfold as it will. Although the aim of Buddhism is to gain enlightenment, ironically this is only achieved when all desire to arrive anywhere is completely abandoned. As long as you are a someone going somewhere, you will never see that there is nowhere to go and no one to go there. As long as you desire enlightenment you will not realize that your Buddha-Nature is always enlightened.
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  (Give Up Goal Orientation)
  The Zen Koan Card Pack
  by Timothy Freke

 Z E N K O A N
#17
With Zen, every day is a good day. Without zen, even good days are bad days.
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Zen teaches that if we live without attachments, every day becomes a good day. If we do not, even good days are ruined by the knowledge that they will pass. By adopting a positive and appreciative attitude, we can let every day be good in its own way. It may be good because it is easy and enjoyable, or because it is a challenge, or because it shows us our present limitations and inadequacies. If we are unattached to life being the way we want it, we can transform ourselves to harmonize with the way life wants it - then we are always surrounded by goodness.

Thoughts to contemplate:

• Are you experiencing a bad day? Find something good in it. This is what today is offering you. Are you taking this unique opportunity or missing what is good by focusing on what is bad? Let go of how you want things to be, then live today as it wants to be lived.

• Are you experiencing a good day? Can you appreciate it now, in full knowledge of its transient nature, and welcome its inevitable passing? Consider the changing seasons and how there could never be new growth without death and decay. See your life as a natural continuum of change, in which each day plays a vital and integral part. Don’t judge the seasons as good and bad, but rejoice that without them there would not be the goodness of the whole year.
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  (Be Positive)
  The Zen Koan Card Pack
  by Timothy Freke

 Z E N K O A N
#18
water is one essence: drunk by a cow it becomes milk, drunk by a snake it becomes poison
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Master Thich Tien-An writes, “Whether life is blissful or sorrowful depends on our state of mind, not on the world.” The same experience may happen to two people, but they will make something completely different out of it. Not only will their reactions be dissimilar, but even how they conceive of what has happened to them. Our attitudes to life create our experience of life. Master Hakuin once demonstrated this to a Samurai warrior who asked to be taught about heaven and hell. Hakuin took one look at the warrior and began insulting him. The warrior was enraged and drew his sword in anger. “There,” said Hakuin, “That’s hell.” Realizing that the master had risked his life to give a practical demonstration of his teachings, the Samurai fell to his knees in gratitude. “There,” said Hakuin, “That’s heaven.”

Thoughts to contemplate:

• In what ways are your attitudes turning your life into heaven or hell? Are you happy with these attitudes? If not, how would you like to change them?

• Are you angry or distressed? Remember Master Hakuin and the Samurai, and see the situation as a Zen master in disguise, teaching you that you create heaven and hell with your own attitudes.
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  (Be Positive)
  The Zen Koan Card Pack
  by Timothy Freke

 Z E N K O A N
#19
THE SEEDS OF THE PAST ARE THE FRUITS OF THE FUTURE
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Buddhism teaches the law of “karma” - that our present fate was created by our previous choices. Karma is more than a sort of cosmic justice that punishes us for our bad thoughts and deeds and rewards us for our goodness. It is a natural mechanism that helps us to become more conscious. If we acted badly in the past, it was because of ignorance of our essential natural goodness. When our present situation forces us to acknowledge this, it helps us to become more aware in the future. Likewise, when our present happiness is the result of goodness expressed in the past, it shows the value of continuing to live in harmony with life. Karma is not just something that takes time to effect us, however. It is also immediate. When we think and act selfishly, we are instantly trapped in our separateness. If we think and act selflessly, we are instantly set free.

Thoughts to contemplate:

• Consider the good and bad choices you have made in the past that have resulted in your present predicament. What can you learn from seeing this relationship?

• Your present situation is a karmic result of all that you have been, in this life and perhaps in past lives as well. You have in some way created this situation as an opportunity for you to awaken. What is it teaching you about who you have been and what you could be now?
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  (Choice Creates Fate)
  The Zen Koan Card Pack
  by Timothy Freke

 Z E N K O A N
#20
WE STAND IN OUR OWN SHADOW AND WONDER WHY IT IS DARK
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Zen teaches us that when we think there is a problem with life, the problem actually lies in ourselves. When we look at things from the point of view of our separate ego-self, we cast a shadow that obscures the light of our essential Buddha-Nature, and everything seems dark. If we turn and face the light, we rise above our limited self-interest and can see the whole picture. When we are trapped in our personal agendas for life, we cannot see life’s wider purpose. When we become a servant of life, not of ourselves, everything becomes clear. We may not be able to transform the situation, but we can transform ourselves and how we perceive our lives.

Thoughts to contemplate:

• Is there a situation in your life that seems dark and confusing? Step out from your obsession with yourself and look again. Is the situation dark or are you obscuring the light with your own ego? If you cease to worry about your own self interest in the situation, you can simply let life unfold as it will.

• Are you facing a problem? Actually, the problem is that you perceive it as a problem! Accept it as a challenge that life wants you to face.
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  (You Are the Problem)
  The Zen Koan Card Pack
  by Timothy Freke