One of the enjoyable aspects of hosting this kōan podcast has been meeting Zen teachers I’d only heard about previously and finding them to be inspiringly good people. That was certainly my experience with interviewing Karin Ryuku Kempe Rōshi, the co-spiritual director of the Denver Zen Center.
Reviewing the transcript of my interview with Karin Rōshi, I was also impressed with the many quotable passages that, among other things, express her contagious enthusiasm for kōan practice. For example:
“I find [kōan work] a fascinating and beautiful practice. It’s beautiful, really! And also, so inspiring, really! I can’t believe, you know, you read these koans and you go, ‘Wow!’”
And this about what kind of person does best in kōan practice:
“There can be in some people a really distinct quality of being willing to undertake inquiry or questioning [...]. There's something that they sense. They have an underlying deep determination and sometimes they'll go to different [Zen] Centers, different lineage lines, [try] all kinds of things in an effort to be clear. That quality is a really precious quality, but it's not an easy quality, it's not a comfortable quality.”
And this about the starting the kōan process:
“Fairly quickly with a koan, especially an initial koan, you go through a period that’s dry, you go through a period that is uncomfortable, you’re bored, you face self-doubt, every kind of resistance that you have in practice will be there. [You need] a real kind of grit to keep going. And of course, most of us aren’t that confident. And so to keep going despite that lack of confidence, I think that’s what faith is.”
Karin Rōshi has a refreshingly clear dharma eye. About “Nánquán Beheads a Cat” she says:
“The underlying aspect of [this kōan] that is so important is that Zen practice really is about life and death. Our life and death in this moment right now. It’s always in this moment right now. And do we come forward? Do we refrain? [...] How do we enter? How do we live really? And that’s really what this kōan is about.”
Finally, Karin Rōshi has an admirally long and broad background in Zen training - from Rochester Zen Center, to Diamond Sangha teachers, to White Plum teachers. I’ll leave the details for your viewing and listening pleasure where Karin Rōshi lays it out for you.
Comments welcome!
A brief overview of the koan can be found here:
Nánquán Beheads a Cat: Everyone Hangs in Nánquán’s Hand
“Nánquán Beheads a Cat” is one of the most provocative and disruptive kōans in all of Zen literature—and that’s saying something. So welcome to our focus kōan at Shake Out Your Sleeves And Go for the next several posts, starting with this overview.
Thanks
go to Martin Kaku’on, our new audio-video editor, for his work with this podcast!
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