John Daido Loori

“Yüan-wu was apparently the first to teach that kung-an were not simply the dead records of an exchange between ancient Ch’an masters, and thus suitably the focus of literary endeavors. Rather, they should be used as if they were directly pointing to the mind of each and every individual—that is, as a statement of immediate, contemporary relevance guiding one toward enlightenment. As Yüan-wu warns in his Hsin-yao (Essentials of Mind): “Do not look for the living roads in the words and phrases, bury yourself in the kung-an of the ancients, or make a stratagem for living in the ghost cave or beneath the dark mountain. It is important only to access awakening and have profound realization.””(Sitting with Koans).