Finding Your Question

I suppose this is a postscript to the previous post, something that I find to be central about inquiry. For me and for many Zen students, a question emerges, gushes from the well spring, that must be resolved. 

I’ve written about my experience with such a “found koan” in Keep Me In Your Heart Awhile – “How can I go beyond self consciousness.” 

Discovering my question and digesting it together with Katagiri–roshi was probably the single most important part of my training. So I want to support others who might discover such a question. 

In my teaching practice, I help students discover questions – which sometimes is a classical koan and sometimes not. I do this mostly by supporting them in paying attention to what they find deeply interesting, provocative, and/or disturbing. 

What question is arising from the stillness of zazen?

Framing the question is also important. Any real Zen question presents the play of the fundamental and the particular, the mysterious and the obvious, and invites a response which brings it all home.