Like Cats and Dogs Contesting the Mu Koan in Zen Buddhism [Paperback]

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 Dogsoffers critical insight and a new theoretical perspective on the koan of koans.

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1 More Cats Than Dogs? A Tale of Two Versions
Chapter 2 Would a Dog Lick a Pot of Hot Oil? Reconstructing the Ur Version
Chapter 3 Fightin' Like Cats and Dogs: Methodological Reflections on Deconstructing the Emphatic Mu
Chapter 4 Cats and Cows Know That It Is: Textual and Historical Deconstruction of the Ur Version
Chapter 5 Dogs May Chase, But Lions Tear Apart: Reconstructing the Dual Version of the''Moo Koan''
Chapter 6 When Is a Dog Not Really a Dog? Or, Yes! We Have No Buddha-Nature

Notes
Sino-Japanese Glossary
Bibliography
Index

This is another book dealing with koan literature in the rapid succession of monograph publications by Steven Heine. It is a study on probably the most famous koan in the history of Chan/Zen Buddhism, the so-called Mu Koan. ... Heine traces many versions and comml³-