Like Cats and Dogs : Contesting the Mu Koan in Zen Buddhism / Steven Heine.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Heine, Steven, 1950- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Koan.

Zhaozhou, Shi, 778-897.

Zhaozhou.

Physical Description:

x, 266 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2014]

Summary:

Koans are dialogues that stand at the center of Zen Buddhist literature and are often used to provoke the "great doubt" in testing a trainee's progress. The Mu Koan consists of a brief conversation in which a monk asks Master Zhaozhou whether or not a dog has Buddha-nature. According to the main version, the reply is "Mu": literally, "No," but implying the philosophical notion of nothingness. This case is widely considered to be the single best-known and most widely circulated koan record of the Zen school that offers existential release from anxiety to attain spiritual illumination. In a careful analysis of the historical and rhetorical basis of the literature, Steven Heine demonstrates that the Mu version of the case, preferred by advocates of the key-phrase approach, does not by any means constitute the final word concerning the meaning and significance of the Mu Koan. He shows that another canonical version, which gives both "Yes" and "No" responses, must be taken into account. Like Cats and Dogs offers critical insight and a new theoretical perspective on ''the koan of koans." Book jacket.

Contents:

1 More Cats Than Dogs? A Tale of Two Versions 1

2 Would a Dog Lick a Pot of Hot Oil? Reconstructing the Ur Version 37

3 Fightin' Like Cats and Dogs: Methodological Reflections on Deconstructing the Emphatic Mu 74

4 Cats and Cows Know That It Is: Textual and Historical Deconstruction of the Ur Version 110

5 Dogs May Chase, But Lions Tear Apart: Reconstructing the Dual Version of the "Moo" Koan 148

6 When Is a Dog Not Really a Dog? Or, Yes! We Have No Buddha-Nature 188.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780199837281

0199837287

9780199837304

0199837309

OCLC:

829239569