(960–1279). The Japanese pronunciation of the term,
koan,has become standard in English usage. The term
mainly refers to the usually enigmatic, frequently
startling, and sometimes shocking stories about leg-
endary Chan masters’ encounters with disciples and
other interlocutors. The koan may be the most dis-
tinctive feature of Chan Buddhism, where it is
understood as an unmediated articulation of enlight-
enment (Chinese, wu; Japanese, satori; awakening).
Since the tenth century, Chan students throughout
East Asia have studied and pondered koans in order
to gain a sudden breakthrough of insight into the
minds of the ancient Chan masters and into their own
primordial buddha-minds.
The best-known koan is probably the one about the
Tang-dynasty (618–907) Chan master Zhaozhou
Congshen (778–897), who reportedly was asked:
“Does a dog have the buddha-nature or not?,” to
which he replied “It doesn’t” (Chinese, wu; Japanese,
mu; Korean, mu), or simply “no.” Zhaozhou’s answer
poses an impossible and confusing contradiction of
the MAHAYANABuddhist notion, central to all of
Chan, that every sentient being is endowed with the
buddha-nature or TATHAGATAGARBHA. Another fa-
mous koan is the one about the master Nanquan
Puyuan (748–835), who is said to have challenged two
monks who were fighting over the ownership of a cat
to demonstrate their enlightened minds to him on the
spot. When neither could do so, Nanquan Puyuan
hacked the cat in two, in gross violation of the Bud-
dhist precept against killing. Other koan stories about
Tang Chan masters describe shouting, hitting, and
other erratic behavior, although some koan stories
seem utterly mundane, such as when Zhaozhou is said
to have told a student who asked for instruction to go
wash his breakfast bowls.
Koans are understood to embody the enlightened
minds of the ancient Chan masters and to communi-
cate a truth that cannot be expressed in ordinary dis-
course. Many koans, like “Zhouzhou’s dog” and
“Nanquan’s cat,” can be interpreted as being about
transcending habitual dichotomies like subject and ob-
ject, and recognizing the oneness of everything in the
universe, but such rational analysis is considered fool-
ish and futile. Truly comprehending a koan is thought
to entail a sudden and direct nondualistic experience
of an ultimate reality, which fundamentally differs
from any intellectual understanding.
Since the tenth century, koan commentary has been
a favorite means of instruction in all the East Asian
Chan schools, and later koans also came to be used as
objects for meditation. Although initially only stories
that were held up for special comment by a later Chan
master were considered koans, eventually virtually any
story about a Chan master could be called a koan. The
term also came to refer to any phrase or saying that
was used to challenge students of Chan, such as “Why
did Bodhidharma come to the West?” or “What is the
sound of one hand clapping?”Koan literature
It is uncertain when exactly koans first began to be pro-
duced. Early Chan materials from the sixth and sev-
enth centuries show that koans were not a feature of
early Chan, although the later tradition created many
koan stories about the early masters.
It is the Chinese Chan masters of the eighth to mid-
tenth centuries who most often are the protagonists of
koan stories, but few facts about this so-called golden
age of Chan exist and no sources that contain koans
can be reliably dated to that period. The earliest data-
ble source for koans is the groundbreaking genealog-
ical Chan history, the Zutang ji(Korean, Chodang chip;
Collection from the Hall of the Patriarchs) from 952.
Later genealogical Chan histories are also important
sources for koans, but the most influential was the
Jingde chuandeng lu(Records of the Transmission of the
Lamplight[of enlightenment compiled during the] Jingde
Era) from 1004, and many of the most commonly used
koans come from this work. Koans can also be found
in collections focusing on individual Chan masters.
Such collections, which are known as “recorded say-
ings” or “discourse records” (Chinese, yulu), were first
published during the Song dynasty.
Early in the Song it became common for Chan mas-
ters to sermonize on select koans and offer their own
comments (usually just as enigmatic as the original sto-
ries), often with verses expressing their understanding.
This gave rise to a number of published collections of
koans with appended commentary by a specific mas-
ter. These collections themselves sometimes became
the object of several levels of commentary by still other
Chan masters, creating complex and multilayered
works of literature. The most famous of these com-
pilations is Yuanwu Keqin’s (1063–1135) Biyan lu
(Japanese, Hekigan roku; Blue Cliff Record), which it-
self has become a common subject of commentary by
modern Japanese and Western Zen masters.
Koan commentary and other types of koan litera-
ture are best understood as literary genres created byKOAN