Editing Koan (section)

=={{transliteration|ja|Kōan}} in Japan==
{{Main|Japanese Zen}}

=== The introduction of {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} ===
When the Chán tradition was established in Japan in the 12th century, both Rinzai and [[Sōtō]], took over the use of {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} study and commenting. In Sōtō-Zen, {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} commentary was not linked to seated meditation.{{sfn|Foulk|2000|p=25}} Japanese monks had to master the Chinese language and specific expressions used in the {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} training. The desired "spontaneity" expressed by enlightened masters required a thorough study of Chinese language and poetry.{{sfn|Bodiford|2006|pp=92–93}} Japanese Zen imitated the Chinese "syntax and stereotyped norms".{{sfn|Bodiford|2006|p=93}}

During the Kamakura period, the officially recognized Rinzai monasteries belonging to the {{transliteration|zh|[[Five Mountain System|Gozan]]}} (Five Mountain System) where key centers for the study of {{transliteration|ja|kōan}}. Senior monks in these monasteries were supposed to compose Chinese verse in a complex style of matched counterpoints known as {{transliteration|zh|bienli wen}}. It took a lot of literary and intellectual skills for a monk to succeed in this system.{{sfn|Bodiford|2006|p=94}}

The [[Five Mountain System#The Rinka|Rinka monasteries]], the provincial temples which were under less direct state control, laid less stress on the correct command of Chinese verse. These monasteries developed "more accessible methods of {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} instruction".{{sfn|Bodiford|2006|p=94}} It had three features:{{sfn|Bodiford|2006|p=94}}

#A standardized {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} curriculum;
#A standardized set of answers based on stereotypes Chinese sayings;
#A standardized method of secretly guiding students through the curriculum of {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} and answers.

By standardizing the {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} curriculum every generation of students proceeded to the same series of {{transliteration|ja|kōan}}.{{sfn|Bodiford|2006|p=94}} Students had to memorize a set number of stereotyped sayings, {{transliteration|ja|agyō}}, 'appended words'.{{sfn|Bodiford|2006|pp=96–97}} The proper series of responses for each {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} were taught by the master in private instruction sessions to selected individual students who would inherit the dharma lineage.{{sfn|Bodiford|2006|pp=97–98}}

The development of Rinzai {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} curriculums occurred in various stages. According to Eshin Nishimura, Japanese Rinzai-masters like {{nihongo|[[Enni|Enni-bennen]]|圓爾辨圓}} (1202–1280) and {{nihongo|Nampo-jyōmain|南浦紹明}} (1235–1308) had already divided the Chinese {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} into three groups namely {{transliteration|ja|richi}} ('ultimate truth'), {{transliteration|ja|kikan}} ('skillful method') and {{transliteration|ja|kōjyon}} ('non-attachment').<ref group="web">Eshin Nishimura, [http://www.buddhism.org/practical-principle-of-hakuin-zen/ ''Practical Principles of Hakuin Zen'']</ref> [[Musō Soseki]] (1275–1351) further developed the use of {{transliteration|ja|kōan}}.{{sfn|Dumoulin|2005|pp=164–165}} Despite belonging to the Rinzai-school, Musō Soseki also made extensive use of {{transliteration|ja|richi}} (teaching), explaining the sutras, instead of {{transliteration|ja|kikan}} ({{transliteration|ja|kōan}}). According to Musō Soseki, both are {{IAST|upaya}}, 'skillful means' meant to educate students.{{sfn|Dumoulin|2005|pp=164–165}} Musō Soseki called both {{transliteration|ja|shōkogyu}}, 'little jewels', tools to help the student to attain [[satori]].{{sfn|Dumoulin|2005|pp=164–165}}{{refn|group=note|The term {{transliteration|ja|shōkogyu}} comes from a Chinese poem in which a lady calls the attendant using the word {{transliteration|zh|xiaoyu}}, Japanese {{transliteration|ja|shōkogyu}}, to warn her lover.{{sfn|Dumoulin|2005|p=165}} The poem figures in an interaction between [[Wuzi Fayan]] (1024–1104) and his student [[Yuanwu Keqin]], the teacher of [[Dahui Zonggao]]. Yüan-wu was assigned the {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} "The verbal and the nonverbal are like vines clinging to a tree". Yuanwu gained [[satori]] with the phrase "She keeps calling out to [her maid] {{transliteration|zh|Xiaoyu}} although there is nothing the matter.{{sfn|Schlütter|2000|p=186}} It is only because she knows Tanlang [her lover] will hear her voice".{{sfn|Schlütter|2000|p=198 note 96}} The same {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} was assigned to Dahui Zonggao.{{sfn|Schlütter|2000|p=197 note 94}}}}

In the 18th century, the Rinzai school became dominated by the legacy of [[Hakuin]], who laid a strong emphasis on {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} study as a means to gain {{transliteration|ja|[[kensho]]}}, but also not to get stuck in this initial insight, and to develop a compassionate, selfless attitude.{{sfn|Foulk|2000|p=25}} After Hakuin, most Rinzai monasteries followed the teachings of his lineage on {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} practice. {{transliteration|ja|Kōan}} study was also further systematized in a standard sequence of {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} that the student had to pass and work through step by step. There are two curricula used in Rinzai, derived from two dharma-heirs of Gasan: the Takuju curriculum, and the Inzan curriculum.{{sfn|Hori|2000}} Both curricula have standardized answers.{{sfn|Samy|2016|p=105}}{{sfn|Samy|2014|p=178}}<ref name="McMahon" group="web" />

=== Rinzai school ===
{{transliteration|ja|Kōan}} practice is particularly important among Japanese practitioners of the [[Rinzai school]]. Japanese Rinzai uses extensive {{transliteration|ja|kōan}}-curricula, checking questions, and {{transliteration|ja|jakogo}} ('capping phrases', quotations from Chinese poetry) in its use of koans,{{sfn|Hori|2006}}

Koan practice starts with the {{transliteration|ja|shokan}}, or 'first barrier', usually the {{transliteration|ja|mu-kōan}} or the question "What is the sound of one hand?".{{sfn|Hori|2005|p=132}} After having attained {{transliteration|ja|kensho}}, students continue their practice investigating subsequent {{transliteration|ja|kōan}}.{{sfn|Yampolski|2005|p=186}} In the Takuju-school, after breakthrough students work through the ''Gateless Gate'' ({{transliteration|ja|Mumonkan}}), the ''Blue Cliff Record'' ({{transliteration|ja|Hekigan-roku}}), the ''Entangling Vines'' ({{transliteration|ja|Shumon Kattoshu}}), and the ''Collection of Wings of the Blackbird'' ({{lang|ja|鴆羽集}}, {{transliteration|ja|Chin'u shū}}).{{sfn|Ford|2006|p=42}} The Inzan-school uses its own internally generated list of {{transliteration|ja|kōan}}.{{sfn|Ford|2006|p=42}}

==== {{transliteration|ja|Kōan}} curricula ====
In Rinzai a gradual succession of {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} is studied.{{sfn|Besserman|Steger|2011|p=148}} There are two general branches of curricula used within Rinzai, the Takuju curriculum, and the Inzan curriculum. However, there are a number of sub-branches of these, and additional variations of curriculum often exist between individual teaching lines which can reflect the recorded experiences of a particular lineage's members. {{transliteration|ja|Kōan}} curricula are, in fact, subject to continued accretion and evolution over time, and thus are best considered living traditions of practice rather than set programs of study.

While Hakuin only refers to break-through {{transliteration|ja|kōan}}, and "difficult to pass" {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} to sharpen and refine the initial insight and foster compassion, Hakuin's descendants developed a fivefold classification system:{{sfn|Besserman|Steger|2011|p=148}}

#{{transliteration|ja|Hosshin}}, dharma-body {{transliteration|ja|kōan}}, are used to awaken the first insight into {{IAST|[[sunyata]]}}.{{sfn|Besserman|Steger|2011|p=148}} They reveal the {{IAST|[[dharmakaya]]}}, or Fundamental.{{sfn|Hori|2005|p=136}} They introduce "the undifferentitated and the unconditional".{{sfn|Hori|2005|pp=136–137}}
#{{transliteration|ja|Kikan}}, dynamic action {{transliteration|ja|kōan}}, help to understand the phenomenal world as seen from the awakened point of view;{{sfn|Besserman|Steger|2011|pp=148-149}} where {{transliteration|ja|hosshin kōan}} represent {{transliteration|ja|tai}}, substance, {{transliteration|ja|kikan kōan}} represent {{transliteration|ja|yu}}, function.{{sfn|Hori|2005|p=137}}
#{{transliteration|ja|Gonsen}}, explication of word {{transliteration|ja|kōan}}, aid to the understanding of the recorded sayings of the old masters.{{sfn|Besserman|Steger|2011|p=149}} They show how the Fundamental, though not depending on words, is nevertheless expressed in words, without getting stuck to words.{{sfn|Hori|2005|p=138}}
#{{transliteration|ja|Hachi Nanto}}, eight "difficult to pass" {{transliteration|ja|kōan}}.{{sfn|Hori|2005|p=135}} There are various explanations for this category, one being that these {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} cut off clinging to the previous attainment. They create another Great Doubt, which shatters the self attained through {{transliteration|ja|satori}}.{{sfn|Hori|2005|p=139}} It is uncertain which are exactly those eight {{transliteration|ja|kōan}}.{{sfn|Hori|2003|p=23}} Hori gives various sources, which altogether give ten {{transliteration|ja|hachi nanto kōan}}:{{sfn|Hori|2003|pp=23-24}}
#*Miura and Sasaki:
#**Nansen's Flower (Hekigan-roku Case 40){{refn|group=note| See [http://cuke.com/pdf-2013/wind-bell/63-08.pdf here] for the {{transliteration|ja|kōan}}, and [https://www.bluecliffrecord.ca/case-40-nanquan-points-to-a-flower/ here] for commentaries.}}
#**A Buffalo Passes the Window (Mumonkan Case 38){{refn|group=note|Eshin Nishimura, [http://www.buddhism.org/practical-principle-of-hakuin-zen/ PRACTICAL PRINCIPLE OF HAKUIN ZEN]: "A confidence that there is still one more small step ({{nihongo||些子向上の一著子|sasi-koujyouno-ichijyakusu}}) remains even after you finish passing through all those patriarchal gates."}}
#**Sōzan's Memorial Tower (Kattō-shō Case 140)
#**Suigan's Eyebrows (Hekigan-roku Case 8)
#**Enkan's Rhinoceros Fan (Hekigan-roku Case 91)
#*Shimano:
#**The Old Woman Burns the Hut (Kattō-shō Case 162)
#*Asahina Sōgen:
#**Goso Hōen's "Hakuun Said 'Not Yet'" (Kattō-shō Case 269)
#**Shuzan's Main Cable (Kattō-shō Case 280).
#*Akizuki:
#**Nansen Has Died (Kattō-shō Case 282)
#**Kenpō's Three Illnesses (Kattō-shō Case 17).
#{{transliteration|ja|Goi jujukin kōan}}, the [[Five Ranks|Five Ranks of Tozan]] and the [[Bodhisattva Precepts#The Ten Grave Precepts|Ten Grave Precepts]].{{sfn|Besserman|Steger|2011|p=151}}{{sfn|Hori|2005|p=135}}

According to [[Akizuki Ryomin|Akizuki]] there was an older classification system, in which the fifth category was {{transliteration|ja|Kojo}}, 'Directed upwards'. This category too was meant to rid the monk of any "stink of Zen".{{sfn|Hori|2005|p=143}} The very advanced practitioner may also receive the {{transliteration|ja|Matsugo no rokan}}, "The last barrier", and {{transliteration|ja|Saigo no ikketsu}}, "The final confirmation".{{sfn|Hori|2005|p=143}} "The last barrier" is given when one left the training hall, for example "Sum up all of the records of Rinzai in one word!"{{sfn|Hori|2005|p=143}} It is not meant to be solved immediately, but to be carried around in order to keep practising.{{sfn|Hori|2005|p=143}} "The final confirmation" may be another word for the same kind of {{transliteration|ja|kōan}}.{{sfn|Hori|2005|p=143}} [[Shin'ichi Hisamatsu]] gave "If nothing what you do will do, then what will you do?" as 'unanswerable' question, which keeps nagging on premature certainty.

==== The breakthrough-{{transliteration|ja|kōan}} ====
In the Rinzai school, the Sanbo Kyodan, and the White Plum Asanga, {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} practice starts with the assignment of a {{transliteration|ja|hosshi}} or "break-through {{transliteration|ja|kōan}}", usually the {{transliteration|ja|[[Mu (negative)#The Mu-kōan|mu-kōan]]}} or "the sound of one hand".{{sfn|Hori|2000}} Students are instructed to concentrate on the "word-head", like the phrase {{transliteration|ja|mu}}. In the Wumenguan ({{transliteration|ja|Mumonkan}}), public case No. 1 ("Zhaozhou's Dog"), Wumen (Mumon) wrote:

{{Blockquote|[C]oncentrate yourself into this 'Wú'{{nbsp}}[...] making your whole body one great inquiry. Day and night work intently at it. Do not attempt nihilistic or dualistic interpretations.{{sfn|Shibayama|1974}}}}

Arousing this great inquiry or "Great Doubt" is an essential element of {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} practice. It builds up "strong internal pressure ({{transliteration|ja|gidan}}), never stopping knocking from within at the door of [the] mind, demanding to be resolved".{{sfn|Sekida|1985|pp=138–139}} To illustrate the enormous concentration required in {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} meditation, Zen Master Wumen commented:

{{Blockquote|It is like swallowing a red-hot iron ball. You try to vomit it out, but you can't.}}

Analysing the {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} for its literal meaning will not lead to insight, though understanding the context from which {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} emerged can make them more intelligible. For example, when a monk asked Zhaozhou (Joshu) "does a dog have Buddha-nature or not?", the monk was referring to the understanding of the teachings on [[Buddha-nature]], which were understood in the Chinese context of absolute and relative reality.{{sfn|Shibayama|1974|loc=Commentary on case No. 1}}{{sfn|Swanson|1997}}{{refn|group=note|The controversy over whether all beings have the potential for enlightenment is even older. Vigorous controversy still surrounds the matter of Buddha nature. See "Tao-sheng's Theory of Sudden Enlightenment", Whalen Lai, in ''Sudden and Gradual'' (subtitle) ''Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought'', p. 173 and 191. The latter page documents how in 429 or thereabouts (more than 400 years before Zhaozhou), Tao-sheng was expelled from the Buddhist monastic community for defending the idea that incorrigible persons ({{transliteration|ja|[[icchantika]]}}) do indeed have Buddha-nature ({{transliteration|zh|fo-hsing}}).}}

==== {{transliteration|ja|Kensho}} ====
The continuous pondering of the break-through {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} ({{transliteration|ja|shokan}}){{sfn|Hori|2005|p=132}} or {{transliteration|zh|[[Hua Tou]]}}, "word head",{{sfn|Ford|2006|p=38}} leads to {{transliteration|ja|[[kensho]]}}, an initial insight into "seeing the [[Buddha-nature|(Buddha-)nature]].{{sfn|Hori|2000|p=287}}

The aim of the break-through {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} is to see the "nonduality of subject and object":{{sfn|Hori|2000|pp=289-290}}{{sfn|Hori|2000|p=310 note 14}}

{{Blockquote|The monk himself in his seeking is the {{transliteration|ja|kōan}}. Realization of this is the insight; the response to the {{transliteration|ja|kōan}}{{nbsp}}[...] Subject and object – this is two hands clapping. When the monk realizes that the {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} is not merely an object of consciousness but is also he himself as the activity of seeking an answer to the {{transliteration|ja|kōan}}, then subject and object are no longer separate and distinct{{nbsp}}[...] This is one hand clapping (sic).{{sfn|Hori|2000|pp=288-289}}}}

Various accounts can be found which describe "becoming one" with the {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} and the resulting breakthrough:

{{Blockquote|I was dead tired. That evening when I tried to settle down to sleep, the instant I laid my head on the pillow, I saw: "Ah, this outbreath is Mu!" Then: the in-breath too is Mu!" Next breath, too: Mu! Next breath: Mu, Mu! "Mu, a whole sequence of Mu! Croak, croak; meow, meow – these too are Mu! The bedding, the wall, the column, the sliding-door – these too are Mu! This, that and everything is Mu! Ha ha! Ha ha ha ha Ha! that {{transliteration|ja|roshi}} is a rascal! He's always tricking people with his 'Mu, Mu, Mu'!...{{sfn|Satomi|King|1993|p=106}}{{refn|group=note|[[Maura O'Halloran]] also gives an account of herself becoming mu.{{sfn|O'Halloran|2007|p=78}}}}}}

However, the use of the {{transliteration|ja|mu-kōan}} has also been criticised. According to [[Ama Samy]], the main aim is merely to "'become one' with the {{transliteration|ja|kōan}}".{{sfn|Samy|2016|p=105}}{{sfn|Samy|2014|p=178}} Showing to have 'become one' with the first {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} is enough to pass the first {{transliteration|ja|kōan}}.{{sfn|Samy|2016|p=106}}{{sfn|Samy|2014|p=179}} According to Samy, this is not equal to {{IAST|[[Wisdom in Buddhism|prajna]]}}:

{{Blockquote|The one-pointed, non-intellectual concentration on the {{transliteration|zh|hua-t'ou}} (or Mu) is a pressure-cooker tactic, a reduction to a technique which can produce some psychic experiences. These methods and techniques are forced efforts which can even run on auto-pilot. They can produce experiences but not {{IAST|prajna}} wisdom. Some speak of 'investigating' the {{transliteration|zh|hua-t'ou}}, but it is rather a matter of concentration, which sometimes can provide insights, yet no more than that.{{sfn|Samy|2016|p=107}}{{sfn|Samy|2014|p=180}}}}

==== Testing insight – or learning responses ====

===== {{transliteration|ja|Sassho}} – Checking questions =====
Teachers may probe students about their {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} practice using {{transliteration|ja|sassho}}, "checking questions" to validate their {{transliteration|ja|[[satori]]}} (understanding) or {{transliteration|ja|[[kenshō]]}} (seeing the nature).{{sfn|Hori|2006|pp=132–133}} For the {{transliteration|ja|mu-kōan}} and the clapping hand-{{transliteration|ja|kōan}}, there are between 20 and 100 checking questions, depending on the teaching lineage.{{sfn|Hori|2006|p=133}} The checking questions serve to deepen the insight or {{transliteration|ja|[[kyōgai]]}} of the student, but also to test his or her understanding.{{sfn|Hori|2006|p=133}}

===== Standardized answers =====
Those checking questions, and their answers, are part of a standardised set of questions and answers.{{sfn|Hoffmann|1975}}{{sfn|Stephenson|2005}}{{sfn|Samy|2016|p=104}} [[Ama Samy]] states that the "{{transliteration|ja|koan}}s and their standard answers are fixed."{{sfn|Samy|2016|p=105}}{{sfn|Samy|2014|p=178}} Isshu Muira Roshi also states, in ''The Zen Koan'': "In the Inzan and Takuju lines, the answers to the koans were more or less standardized for each line respectively."<ref group=web name=McMahon/> {{transliteration|ja|Missanroku}} and {{transliteration|ja|missanchō}}, "Records of secret instruction" have been preserved for various Rinzai lineages. They contain both the {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} curricula and the standardized answers.{{sfn|Bodiford|2006|p=98}}

In Sōtō-Zen they are called {{transliteration|ja|monsan}}, an abbreviation of {{transliteration|ja|monto hissan}}, "secret instructions of the lineage".{{sfn|Bodiford|2006|p=98}} The {{transliteration|ja|monsan}} follow a standard question-and-answer format. A series of questions is given, to be asked by the master. The answers are also given by the master, to be memorized by the student.{{sfn|Bodiford|2006|pp=102–106}}

According to critics, students are learning a "ritual performance",{{sfn|Stephenson|2005}} learning how to behave and respond in specific ways,{{sfn|Hoffmann|1975}}{{sfn|Stephenson|2005}}{{sfn|Samy|2016|p=104}} learning "clever repartees, ritualized language and gestures and be submissive to the master's diktat and arbitration."{{sfn|Samy|2016|p=104}}

In 1916 Tominaga Shūho, using the pseudonym "Hau Hōō", published a critique of the Rinzai {{transliteration|ja|kōan}} system, {{transliteration|ja|Gendai sōjizen no hyōron}}, which also contained a translation of a {{transliteration|ja|missanroku}}. The {{transliteration|ja|missanroku}} part has been translated by [[Yoel Hoffmann]] as ''"The Sound of the One Hand"'' (see {{harvtxt|Hoffmann|1975}}) and {{harvtxt|Bodiford|1993|p=264 note 29}}.

===== Jakugo – Capping phrases =====
In the Rinzai school, passing a koan and the checking questions has to be supplemented by ''[[jakugo]]'', "capping phrases", citations of Chinese poetry to demonstrate the insight.{{sfn|Hori|1999}}{{sfn|Hori|2003}} Students can use collections of those citations, instead of composing poetry themselves.{{sfn|Hori|1999}}{{sfn|Hori|2003}}

==== Post-satori practice ====
After the initial insight [[Kenshō#Training after kenshō|further practice]] is necessary, to deepen the insight and learn to integrate it in daily life.{{sfn|Sekida|1996}} In Chinese Chán and Korean Seon, this further practice consists of further pondering of the same Hua Tou.<ref group=web name="Lachs" /> In Rinzai-Zen, this further practice is undertaken by further koan-study, for which elaborate curricula exist.{{sfn|Hori|2000}}{{sfn|Hori|2005}} In Sōtō-Zen, [[Shikantaza]] is the main practice for deepening insight.

==== Real-life integration ====
After completing the koan-training, ''Gogo no shugyo'' is necessary:{{sfn|Hori|2005|p=145}}
{{Blockquote|[I]t would take 10&nbsp;years to solve all the kōans [...] in the sōdō. After the student has solved all koans, he can leave the sōdō and live on his own, but he is still not considered a roshi. For this he has to complete another ten years of training, called "go-go-no-shugyō" in Japanese. Literally, this means "practice after satori/enlightenment", but [[Keido Fukushima|Fukushima]] preferred the translation "special practice". Fukushima would explain that the student builds up a "religious personality" during this decade. It is a kind of period that functions to test if the student is actually able to live in regular society and apply his koan understanding to daily life, after he has lived in an environment that can be quite surreal and detached from the lives of the rest of humanity. Usually, the student lives in small parish temple during this decade, not in a formal training monastery.<ref name=antaiji10 group=web>{{cite web |url=http://antaiji.dogen-zen.de/eng/adult50.shtml |author=Muho Noelke |title=Part 10: What does it take to become a full-fledged Sōtō-shu priest and is it really worth the whole deal? |website=Antaiji |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130430022031/http://antaiji.dogen-zen.de/eng/adult50.shtml |archive-date=2013-04-30 |url-status=dead}}{{verify source|date=September 2023|reason=Added template and archive page but title does not match.}}</ref>}}

Completing the koan-curriculum in the Rinzai-schools traditionally also led to a mastery of Chinese poetry and literary skills:
{{Blockquote|[D]isciples today are expected to spend a dozen or more years with a master to complete a full course of training in koan commentary. Only when a master is satisfied that a disciple can comment appropriately on a wide range of old cases will he recognize the latter as a dharma heir and give him formal "proof of transmission" (J. ''[[inka shomei]]''). Thus, in reality, a lot more than ''satori'' is required for one to be recognized as a master (J. ''shike'', ''roshi'') in the Rinzai school of Zen at present. The accepted proof of ''satori'' is a set of literary and rhetorical skills that takes many years to acquire.{{sfn|Foulk|2000|p=42}}}}

==== Breathing practices ====
[[Hakuin Ekaku]], the 17th century revitalizer of the Rinzai school, taught several practices which serve to correct physical and mental imbalances arising from, among other things, incorrect or excessive koan practice.  The "soft-butter" method (''nanso no ho'') and "introspection method" (''naikan no ho'') involve cultivation of [[Qi|ki]] centered on the tanden (Chinese:[[dantian]]). These practices are described in Hakuin's works [[Orategama]] and [[Yasen Kanna]], and are still taught in some Rinzai lineages today.

=== In Japanese Sōtō ===
Few [[Sōtō Zen]] practitioners concentrate on kōans during meditation, but the Sōtō sect has a strong historical connection with kōans, since many kōan collections were compiled by Sōtō priests. During the 13th century, [[Dōgen]], founder of the Sōtō sect in Japan, quoted 580 kōans in his teachings.{{sfn|Bodiford|1993|p=144}} He compiled some 300 kōans in the volumes known as the Greater ''[[Shōbōgenzō]].'' Dōgen wrote of [[Genjōkōan|''Genjokōan'']], which points out that everyday life experience and indeed, the whole universe in this moment, is the "fundamental kōan", which does not refer to any ancient Zen story, but to the "heart of the matter", the question of life and death.<ref name="leighton">{{cite web |author=Taigen Dan Leighton |author-link=Taigen Dan Leighton |title=The Practice of Genjokoan |url=http://www.ancientdragon.org/dharma/dharma_talks/the_practice_of_genjokoan |accessdate=May 13, 2013 |publisher=Ancient Dragon Zen Gate}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Yasutani |first=Hakuun |author-link=Hakuun Yasutani |title=Flowers Fall. A Commentary on Zen Master Dōgen's ''Genjōkōan'' |publisher=Shambala Publications |year=1996 |isbn=978-1-57062-674-6 |location=Boston |pages=6–7}}</ref>

Over time, Sōtō sect adopted various koan meditation methods from other schools like Rinzai, including the method of observing a koan in meditation and koan curriculums. By the 15th century, Sōtō temples were publishing koan texts, and Sōtō monks often studied at Rinzai temples and passed on Rinzai koan practice lineages (and vice versa).<ref>Bodiford, William M. ''Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan'', pp. 149-150. University of Hawaii Press, Jan 1, 1993.</ref> Sōtō teachers continued to write and collect kōan texts throughout the medieval period. Later kōan collections compiled and annotated by Sōtō priests include ''The Iron Flute'' (Tetteki Tōsui) by Genrō Ōryū in 1783 and ''Verses and Commentaries on One Hundred Old Cases of Tenchian'' (''Tenchian hyakusoku hyoju'') compiled by Tetsumon in 1771.

However, during the late 18th and 19th century, the Sōtō tradition of {{Transliteration|ja|kōan}} commentary and practice became criticized and suppressed in the Sōtō school, due to a reform movement that sought to return to the teaching of [[Dōgen]] and standardise the procedures for [[dharma transmission]].{{sfn|Foulk|2000|p=25}}{{sfn|Mohr|2000|p=245}} An important figure in this development was [[Gentō Sokuchū]] (1729-1807), who sought to remove Rinzai and [[Ōbaku|Obaku]] influences on Sōtō and focus strictly on Dōgen's teachings and writings.<ref>Heine, Steven; Wright, Dale S. (2000). ''The Koan: Texts and Contexts in Zen Buddhism'', p. 245. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-511748-4}}</ref>{{sfn|Mohr|2000|p=245}}

Another reason for suppressing the {{Transliteration|ja|kōan}} tradition in the Sōtō school may have been to highlight the differences with the Rinzai school, and create a clear Sōtō identity.{{sfn|Foulk|2000|p=25}} This reform movement had started to venerate Dōgen as the founding teacher of the Sōtō school and they sought to make Dōgen's teachings the main standard for the Sōtō school. While Dōgen himself made extensive use of {{Transliteration|ja|kōan}} commentary in his works, it is clear he emphasized [[shikantaza]] ("just sitting") without an object, instead of the koan introspection method.{{sfn|Foulk|2000|p=25}}<ref>Leighton, Taigen Daniel; Okumura, Shohaku. ''Dogen's Pure Standards for the Zen Community: A Translation of Eihei Shingi'', p. 13-14. SUNY Press, Jan 1, 1996.</ref>

=== In Sanbo Kyodan and White Plum Asanga ===
The [[Sanbō Kyōdan|Sanbo Kyodan]] school of the former Sōtō-priest [[Hakuun Yasutani]], and the [[White Plum Asanga]] of [[Taizan Maezumi]] and the many groups that derive from him, incorporate koan-study.{{sfn|Ford|2006|pp=35-43}} The Sanbo kyodan places great emphasis on [[kensho]], initial insight into one's true nature,{{sfn|Sharf|1995c}} as a start of real practice. It follows the so-called Harada-Yasutani koan-curriculum, which is derived from [[Hakuin]]'s student Takuju. It is a shortened koan-curriculum, in which the so-called "capping phrases" are removed. The curriculum takes considerably less time to study than the Takuju-curriculum of Rinzai.{{sfn|Ford|2006|pp=42–43}}

To attain kensho, most students are assigned the mu-koan. After breaking through, the student first studies twenty-two "in-house"{{sfn|Ford|2006|p=42}} koans, which are "unpublished and not for the general public",{{sfn|Ford|2006|p=42}} but are nevertheless published and commented upon.{{sfn|MacInnes|2007}}<ref group=web>{{cite web |date=Spring 2006 |website=Maria Kannon Zen Center |url=http://www.mkzc.org/foreword-to-flowing-bridge-the-miscellaneous-koans/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=2010-07-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706081015/http://www.mkzc.org/foreword-to-flowing-bridge-the-miscellaneous-koans/ |author=Ruben L. F. Habito |title=Foreword to Flowing Bridge: The Miscellaneous Koans}}</ref> There-after, the students goes through the ''Gateless Gate'' (Mumonkan), the ''Blue Cliff Record'', the ''Book of Equanimity'', and the ''Record of Transmitting the Light''.{{sfn|Ford|2006|p=42}} The koan-curriculum is completed by the [[Dongshan Liangjie#Five Ranks|Five ranks of Tozan]] and the precepts.{{sfn|Sharf|1995c|p=432}}