Elusive and enigmatic, zen koans have long puzzled people with their surprise meanings hidden in simple tales. Now one of American's finest translators of Asian philosophy provides a brilliant new translation of the 12th century Wumenguan, the most popular of Chinese Zen koans.

In Unlocking The Zen Koan (originallly publised as No Boundary) Thomas Cleary translates directly from the Chinese and interprets Zen Master Wumen's text and commentaries in verse and prose on the inner meaning of the koans. Cleary then gives us other great Chinese Zen masters' comments in prose of verse on the same koan. Cleary's probing, analytic commentaries wrestle with meaning and shading, explaining principles and practices. Five different steps to folllow in reading the koan begin with its use as a single abrupt perception, and lead progressively to more intellectual readings, illustrating the fixations which stand in the way of a true Zen understanding.

Contents

Foreword
Introduction
Zhaozhou's dog
The wild fox
One finger
The foreigner has no whiskers
Up in a tree
Buddha picks up a flower
Wash your bowl
The wheelmaker
The Buddha capable of great penetrating knowledge
Alone and poor
Testing hermits
Calling the master
Deshan carrying his bowl
Killing a cat
Threescore blows
Putting on a formal vestment at the sound of a bell
The national teacher's three calls
Three pounds
The normal is the way
People of great power
Yunmen's turd
Kashyapa's flagpole
Not thinking of good or evil
Detachment from words
Sermon from the third seat
Two monks roll up a screen
It is not mind or Buddha
Long have I heard
Not the wind, not the banner
The very mind itself is Buddha
Zhaozhou checks a woman
An outsider questions Buddha
Not mind, not Buddha
Knowledge is not the way
A woman's split soul
Meeting adepts on the road
The cypress tree in the yard
The ox passing through the window screen
Trapped in words
Kicking over a water pitcher
Pacifying the mind
A woman comes out of absorption
The bamboo stick
The staff
Who is that?
Stepping forward atop a pole
Three barriers
One road