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CITATIONS from Wuxue Zuyuan and Dogen Zenji's
GENJO KOAN 現成公案 with COMMENTARY, cited from
The Oxherder: A Zen Parable Illustrated, by Stephanie Wada
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The Buddha is just an old monk in the Western Heaven —
Is that something to look so hard for day and night?
It's you who are the Buddha, but you just won't see —
Why go riding on a ox to search for an ox?!
~ Wuxue Zuyuan (1226-1286)
When a person starts to search out the dharma,
he separates himself from the dharma.
~ Dogen (1200-1253) from the "Genjokoan"
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As Zen could not be taught through the methodical study of scriptures, and enlightenment was meant to be achieved as an intuitive rather than a logical process, Zen "instruction" often took the form of seemingly nonsensical riddles posed by a master to his pupil, or question-and-answer dialogues known as koan. These enigmatic exchanges were intended to liberate the mind from the binding and therefore self-defeating processes of intellectual and mundane thought, rendering it open and receptive to the sudden revelation of truth and realization of one's own Buddha nature: only then could transmission of a master's own meditation experiences take place. Another popular teaching method was the use of metaphors and allegories, which allowed the student of Zen to draw parallels between the progression of events in a tale and the various stages on the path to enlightenment.
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