Editing Koan (section)

===Other criticism===
[[D. T. Suzuki|D.T. Suzuki]] observes that although the koan method represents a convenience for the Zen practitioner, a form of "grandmotherly kindness," it is also liable to tend towards formalization and counterfeit. He writes:

<blockquote>The danger lies in the tendency to formalization. It may happen that a petty thief crowing like a cock at dawn will get past the barrier by deceiving the gatekeeper into opening the gates. As a matter of fact, in the koan system such fellows do get past, or we should say rather that they are passed through. The danger that the goods will be sold cheap is something intrinsic to the system. In any construct devised by man a pattern always evolves. When the pattern becomes fixed, the quick of life cannot move within it. When the realm of true reality which is freed of samsaric suffering is treated in such a way that it comes to resemble the fixed gestures and patterned moves learned in a fencing class, Zen ceases to be Zen. At times patterns work well and are useful. And they do have the virtue of universal currency. But by that alone no living thing is produced. I suppose, though, there are some who even find enjoyment in such a counterfeit, lifeless thing, much as they would divert themselves with games of chess or mahjong.<ref>D.T. Suzuki, ''Dogen, Hakuin, Bankei: Three Types of Thought in Japanese Zen,'' Part 2, pages 16-17, in The Eastern Buddhist, New Series, Vol. 9, No. 2, October, 1976</ref></blockquote>

According to [[Alan Watts]], the koan method suffered from two drawbacks. The first is that it can potentially lead to a kind of romanticism for exotic cultural forms.<ref>Alan Watts, The Way of Zen, page 169, Pantheon Books 1957, Vintage Books 1989</ref> The second was that its method of deliberately rousing great doubt and then breaking through it after an intense period of striving amounted to a kind of psychological trick. Regarding this, Watts says:
<blockquote>The second, and more serious, drawback can arise from the opposition of satori to the intense “feeling of doubt” which some koan exponents so deliberately encourage. For this is to foster a dualistic satori. To say that the depth of the satori is proportional to the intensity of seeking and striving which precede it is to confuse satori with its purely emotional adjuncts. In other words, if one wants to feel exhilaratingly light-footed, it is always possible to go around for some time with lead in one’s shoes–and then take them off. The sense of relief will certainly be proportional to the length of time such shoes have been worn, and to the weight of the lead. This is equivalent to the old trick of religious revivalists who give their followers a tremendous emotional uplift by first implanting an acute sense of sin, and then relieving it through faith in Jesus.<ref>Alan Watts, The Way of Zen, page 170, Pantheon Books 1957, Vintage Books 1989</ref></blockquote>