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Zen Masters at Play and on Play: A Take on Koans and Koan Practice

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2009, MA, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy.
The most celebrated dialogues of Zen teachers are collected in koans. When encountering these teachings, one may be compelled to ask, “Why do these masters play these games?” If these gentlemen are bearers of truth, then why do they behave so, when dealing with those who come to them in earnest to be taught and thereby saved? To answer this question is the ultimate goal of this paper. The question is based on the supposition that they are in fact playing. But, what is play? Rather than construct a concept of play, I limit myself to looking into the construction that we already have, such that the analysis does not contradict our shared experience of the word and of the phenomena to which we apply it. “Play” is a term that has a very diverse range of phenomena to which it is applied. In the attempt to extend its application to the subject matter, no claim regarding its essence (if it has one), nor the necessary and sufficient conditions for the application, is made. Nevertheless, implications from various established senses of “play” are unpacked in an attempt to find commonalities and semantic centers of gravity. Next, I clarify the meaning of “koan” and ways in which koans are used, focusing on those of the Blue Cliff Record. Then I answer the question, “Is koan practice a species of play?” I attempt to construe these events in terms of the characteristics of play, rendering the application of the term to the Zen practice, and the guiding question, reasonable. After introducing some of the relevant Zen Doctrine, I explain why Zen allows for, or perhaps even encourages, such playful behavior. Throughout, rather than being taken up as issues in themselves, Zen beliefs are granted as valid within Zen. The attempt is limited to the demonstration of consistency between beliefs and practices.
Jeffrey Wattles (Advisor)
Michael Byron (Committee Chair)
Kwang-Sae Lee (Committee Member)
Polycarp Ikuenobe (Committee Member)
David Fresco (Committee Member)
Frank Ryan (Other)
95 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Peshek, B. (2009). Zen Masters at Play and on Play: A Take on Koans and Koan Practice [Master's thesis, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1245605316

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Peshek, Brian. Zen Masters at Play and on Play: A Take on Koans and Koan Practice. 2009. Kent State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1245605316.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Peshek, Brian. "Zen Masters at Play and on Play: A Take on Koans and Koan Practice." Master's thesis, Kent State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1245605316

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)