Digital Dictionary of Buddhism

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公案

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: public case

Senses:

  • Originally, a public notice, issued by, or dealt with by a Chinese government office. The term was appropriated by Chinese Chan 禪宗 Buddhism beginning in the late Tang period 唐代, where it was used to refer to a specific Buddhist meditation device, distinguished from the traditional Indian Buddhist forms of meditation such as śamatha/vipaśyanā 止觀. Gong'an meditation (in the West, more commonly known by its Japanese rendering, kōan) usually consists of the presentation of a problem drawn from classical texts, or from teaching records and hagiographies of Tang and Song period Chinese Chan masters. After the case is presented, a question is asked regarding a key phrase 話頭 in the story, which usually presents a position that is at odds with accepted Buddhist doctrinal positions or everyday logic. Its purpose is not to elicit a rational answer, but to serve as a focal point for a dynamic form of contemplation, which results in a nondualistic experience. This is also known as 'phrase-observing meditation'  看話禪. After being developed in China, this practice spread to Korea as gong-an, where it has remained a prominent form of meditation in Korean Seon schools (mainly Jogye 曹溪宗) down to the present. In Japan, kōan meditation has been practiced mainly by the Rinzai school 臨濟宗, although certain Sōtō 曹洞宗 teachers like Dōgen 道元 did acknowledge the practice. Gong'ans are contained in edited collections, two of the most popular of which are the Wumen guan 無門關 (Gateless Barrier) and the Biyan lu 碧巖錄 (Blue Cliff Record).

    References:

    Aitken, Robert. 1990. The Gateless Barrier: The Wu-men kuan (Mumonkan). San Francisco:  North Point Press.

    Cleary, Thomas,  J. Christopher Cleary, eds. 1978. The Blue Cliff Record. Boulder:  Shambhala.

    Heine, Steven; Wright, Dale S. 2013. The Kōan: Texts and Contexts in Zen Buddhism. New York, USA:  Oxford University Press, Incorporated.

    Hori, Victor Sogen. 2003. Zen Sand: The Book of Capping Phrases for Kōan Practice. Honolulu:  University of Hawai'i.

    Miura, Isshu, and Ruth Fuller Sasaki. 1965. The Zen Koan: Its History and Use in Rinzai Zen. New York:  Harcourt, Brace & World.

    Sekida, Katsuki. 1977. Two Zen Classics: Mumonkan and Hekiganroku. New York:  Weatherhill.

    [Charles Muller; source(s): Nakamura, Ui, Yokoi, Iwanami]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 293

    Bulgyo sajeon 54a

    Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.) 303c

    Iwanami bukkyō jiten 247

    A Glossary of Zen Terms (Inagaki) 195

    Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha) 175b/195

    Kattō gosen (Mujaku Dōchū) 957/223

    Koga 125

    Zenrin shōkisen (Mujaku Dōchū) 606/599

    Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi) 399

    Zengo jiten (Iriya and Koga) 18-P10, 19-P29

    Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 386c

    Fo Guang Dictionary 1314

    Ding Fubao

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)1025a

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 453-2

    (Soothill's) Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms 132

    Copyright provisions

    The rights to textual segments (nodes) of the DDB are owned by the author indicated in the brackets next to each segment. For rights regarding the compilation as a whole, please contact Charles Muller. Please do not reproduce without permission. And please do not copy into Wikipedia without proper citation!

    Entry created: 2001-09-08

    Updated: 2019-12-08