Blog:
I came into this book with some trepidation. My previous experiences with koans were frustrating, and not in a way that I felt lent itself to enlightenment. I hoped this introductory guide to koans would hep me to engage with them better. This book certainly met that goal. I now have a desire to work with koans in my own practice. Although, I won’t be jumping right into The Gateless Gate. I plan to pick up another book that moves slowly and with guidance.

Indeed, learning the history of how koans have traditionally been engaged with helped me. You wouldn’t enter koan study alone but rather with a teacher who helps you learn how to engage with them. The author does not feel this can be entirely replicated with books and encourages finding a teacher. I will carry on with books for now as finding a teacher seems an insurmountable task at the moment to me. Sutherland also discusses how traditionally there was a “right” answer to koans but in modern times there’s more consideration for alternative interpretations – as long as they hold meaning to the practitioner. So you might not make a student wrestle with a koan until they come upon “the” answer but rather until they come upon an answer that leads them further down the path toward enlightenment.

Sutherland also discusses the reputation of Zen for being rude. She points out how in the culture rudeness was basically unheard of. So the point wasn’t the rudeness. The point was startling the student out of their cultural expectations. She suggests that other methods might be best depending upon the culture you’re currently working in. This was a real “aha” moment for me. Startling as the goal is something I can understand as being an impetus to break out of your current mindset.

I also appreciated coming to understand that the goal isn’t to solve a koan immediately. Rather, the goal is to live with the koan, day in and day out. In this way your own life helps you understand the koan, and the koan helps you understand your own life. This reminded me of how I was encouraged to engage with Scripture as a child. To memorize a verse and consider it for a full week or a month to see what else may be revealed.

One thing that disappointed me in this book was the discussion of writing your own koans was sparse. It was the aspect I was looking forward to the most. In all honesty, I can’t remember any part of the book directly discussing it. I don’t believe the blurb would mention it if it wasn’t there, though, so I’m assuming it’s very fleeting. I was expecting an entire chapter, perhaps with suggested exercises.

I want to leave you with my favorite koan from the book.

Someone asked Yunmen, “What is reaching the light?
Yunmen replied, “Forget the light, First give me the reaching.”
loc 185

Overall, this is a nice introduction to koans, both how to use them in practice and their history. Recommended to anyone looking to learn more about koan.

Instagram:
I got this beautiful new planter handcrafted by @eloceramicart as a Christmas gift and thought it would go nicely in a photo with this book - Through Forests of Every Color: Awakening with Koans. An approachable introduction from a nearly lifelong Zen practitioner. Thank you to the publisher via NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for my honest review.
(Don’t worry about the plant - it’s a mulberry tree that’s hibernating).
#bookalicious #booksinthewild #avidreader #bookaesthetic #whatimreading #bookrecs #zenkoan

GoodReads:
It both took me too long and not long enough to finish this collection. I came into this book with some trepidation. My previous experiences with koans were frustrating, and not in a way that I felt lent itself to enlightenment. I hoped this introductory guide to koans would hep me to engage with them better. This book certainly met that goal. I now have a desire to work with koans in my own practice.

One thing that disappointed me in this book was the discussion of writing your own koans was sparse. It was the aspect I was looking forward to the most.

Overall, this is a nice introduction to koans, both how to use them in practice and their history. Recommended to anyone looking to learn more about koan.

Check out my full review.

*I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.*

I still don’t quite believe that I received an ARC for Joan Sutherland’s Through Forests of Every Color. Yes, I know more about Buddhism than the reviews I’ve written here would suggest, and I’ve even been studying koans these last few months in a related lineage, but how would anyone know that? I’m grateful and somewhat honored to have the opportunity to read and write a little feedback.
Zen is the paradox: a tradition which insists on the primacy of the ineffable, but talks about it anyway. This book is the same. Its linguistic choices are the more interesting things to talk about, of those things which can be talked about.
Sutherland renders emptiness as vastness, sometimes ‘the vastness.’ It’s an interesting, evocative translation. For me, it aligns well with the discussion of pregnancy as a useful metaphor. The sound of one hand is pregnant with everything.
She also suggests endarkenment for the great unknowables. What is the origin of mu? Like vastness, it is allusive and evocative, and therefore good. It’s problematic in that it invites reification. It’s also problematic in that it can take the reader time to realize that it’s not simply the author’s thinking, but to connect the dots back to the traditional uses and meanings.
The author chooses to give the Chinese ancestors their Chinese names. I think I prefer this approach to using Japanese names. I think I’ll have to write a table for myself translating the names so I can keep track of who is who.
The disappointment for me was in the discussions of method. I would like something a little more direct than allusive. Perhaps because I’ve never been to dokusan with a Japanese master, I don’t understand what’s new and innovative in the approaches. Each time there is a reference to ‘new ways’ to engage with the koan tradition, I wonder precisely what that means.
I enjoyed Through Forests of Every Color. Reading it felt like cups of tea shared together. The writing is personal and allusive. It does a wonderful job of invoking the poetic associations and indirections of numinous space and thoughts.