A Minute Of Meditation

"Toyo was a young child who stayed at Kennin temple. He saw the master Mokurai ask koans of the disciples and wanted one also. Mokurai said he was too young. Toyo insisted, so finally Mokurai said to him 'I know the sound of two hands clapping. What is the sound of one hand clapping?' Toyo listened to his hand for the rest of the day..." --Shaseki-shu (Collection of Stone and Sand), written late in the thirteenth century by the Japanese Zen teacher Muju (the "non-dweller") By the 12th century, the Japanese had revived the Chinese Ch'an Buddhism under the name Zen. It teaches its lessons through the Koan, basically an extension of the master-disciple dialog. You know them commonly as puzzling stories often with no clear meaning or possible solution. But koans were originally told as simple riddles and more emphasis was on the discussion the student had with his master as he tried to solve it Zen Buddhism has expanded and grown greatly in the Western world over the past century, possibly because its principle