Reddit reviews The Blue Cliff Record

Oh, no need to apologize anyway. There's just a lot of... backstory.

You'll need to couple source material like the below with the above historical scholarship if you want to come to a full understanding.

As for some primary sources:

Tang dynasty teachers who were students of Mazu (one of the most influential Zen teachers ever)

Dazhu (although, relevant)

Huangbo

Baizhang (this text is prohibitively expensive on Amazon, so look in local libraries.)

Song dynasty teachers

Yuanwu (1, 2)

Hongzhi (1, 2) (note, take Taigen dan Leighton's introduction to Cultivating the Empty Field with a grain of salt, as he's a shitty scholar. He basically just misrepresents Hongzhi and Dahui's relationship. See Schlutter's How Zen Became Zen for more details.)

Song dynasty kanhua Chan teachers (kanhua is the main approach to Zen in both Rinzai and Seon)

Dahui (Yuanwu's student)

Wumen

A Japanese Zen teacher

Bankei (1, 2)

A Korean Zen teacher

Daehaeng (1, 2, 3)

___

Note that this leaves out huge swathes of the literature, including all of the literature associated with the East Mountain teaching, the Northern school, the Oxhead school, Soto, most of Rinzai, Obaku, most of Seon, etc. Of course, some people with more fixed and essentialist ideas of what "Zen" is object to the idea that some of these other schools/lineages are actually "Zen". Use your own head. (I'm not saying they're necessarily wrong; I'm just saying that once you feel comfortable with the basics, start to think critically about Zen and your own study of it, including e.g. how you would decide which teachings to follow, and why.)

There's no roster of "Zen masters^TM " anywhere, so the above is a bit of a random mix of my own choosing.

While reading, note what people say and ask yourself questions -- where do they agree? Where do they disagree? If they disagree, should that be reconciled or not, and why?

Some more pointed questions to ask for each book: What can one do to reach awakening? What ways to reach awakening are preferred over others? What practices and doctrines are criticized? Is there any cultivation necessary at any point along the path? If yes, what is to be cultivated? If the teacher is talking about the teachings of earlier masters, are those teachers being represented accurately, or are extrinsic frameworks being laid onto them to fit the later teacher's presentation of Zen? If you had to sum up the teacher's teaching in a slogan, what would it be?

Really, the main thing is that you can think critically about what you're reading, but the above reading list and approach would give you a really solid foundation for the things people tend to talk about on this forum.

The Blue Cliff Record is a famous collection of koans with commentary. I've never actually owned a copy myself, but always enjoyed dipping into it at other people's libraries.

My advice:

Don’t ask for a definition in this forum, before you’ve got familiar with the literature from some actual scholars.

1. [Blue Cliff Record] (https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Cliff-Record-Thomas-Cleary/dp/159030232X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479373811&sr=8-1&keywords=blue+cliff+record)
by the Cleary brothers.

The preface will provide you a good introduction to the history of zen. Plus, insights into the lineage of the masters.

This book is actually a collection of koans. But my advice is: Don't jump into cold water. Makes yourself familiar with the background first (preface's).

2. [Zen Essence] (https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Essence-Shambhala-Dragon-Editions/dp/1570625883/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479374319&sr=8-1&keywords=zen+essence+thomas+cleary) by Thomas Cleary.

Cleary provides quotes/ sayings from the masters referring to “topics” or “questions”, like “Zen Teaching?”, “Basis of Zen?”, “Summary of Zen Practice?”.

I think this approach is very helpful for people who want to get introduced to Zen, in terms of “What the hell is this shit about?” -- good guy Thomas Cleary!

3. Gateless Gate
by Robert Aiken.

This is rather a workbook for the practitioner than literature regarding zen.

I haven’t read the book I’ve linked to, but in my opinion, starting with the Mumonkan without any notes or comments from contemporary scholars/ students/ teachers/ translators is not the right approach. Use the commentaries from Aitken only as an orientation or a hint. The meaning itself has to be found by you!

Here you can find the book from wich this koan is from . Its called The Blue Cliff Record

Here you can find it on Amazon.

Here are some pictures that I took of the case :















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The Blue Cliff Record, The Gateless Gate, and The Book of Serenity are all very important koan collections.

Here is the answer. Work on it padawan.

I like Cleary's translation of The Blue Cliff Record