Keisō Dokuzui (Poison-Stamens of a Thicket of Thorns)

Text

Hakuin's most demanding kōan-commentary collection: dense, allusive verses and prose responses to traditional cases. The title — "poison-stamens" — flags Hakuin's view that genuine kōan study demands the ingestion of something dangerous to the conventional self. Selectively translated; remains a touchstone for Rinzai kōan curriculum.

Hakuin Zenji's Complete Works (Hakuin Oshō Zenshū), 1934 ed.

license: fair_use

Original language

Attribution

• Attributed To
  Hakuin Ekaku

Lineage: Rinzai

By Hakuin Ekaku

• Not Knowing How Near the Truth Isproverb
• Meditation in Activityproverb
• Song of Zazen (Zazen Wasan)verse
• The Soft Butter Meditation (Orategama)sermon
• Letter to a Sick Monk on Introspective Practicesermon

Sources

• contentZen Buddhism: A History, Volume 2 — Japan

  Heinrich Dumoulin (trans. James W. Heisig & Paul Knitter)

  Volume 2, Hakuin's writings

  Keisō Dokuzui contains Hakuin's most extensive kōan commentaries and is a primary source for the kōan curriculum that he and his successors established.