The Zen way to Go

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    Keywords: Culture & History

Overview

The more I read from the Zen masters, the more connections I see between its legacy and the goban. Ergo, here is a collection of quotations from the Zen tradition which strike me as being directly relevant to Go.

-- Scartol

The quotes are great. I think it would also be fruitful to apply these quotes directly. I have added a section for this purpose.

-- Jared Beck


Quotes

"...a Zen patriarch said, 'The slightest miss is as the distance between sky and earth..'"
-- Chinul, as quoted in Kensho: The Heart of Zen by Thomas Cleary

"When a fish meets the fishhook
If he is too greedy, he will be caught
When his mouth opens
His life is already lost."
-- Ekai, called Mu-mon, in The Gateless Gate

32. As, subjectively, letters flow into words and words into sentences, and as, objectively, circles flow into worlds and worlds into principles, find at last these converging in our being.
33. Gracious one, play the universe is an empty shell wherein your mind frolics infinitely.
--From Centering, an Indian text as shared by Lakshmanjoo (original emphasis)

"In the buddha way, you should always enter enlightenment through practice."
-- Dogen

Not Zen, but these quotes from Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching also seem to apply:

Bob Myers: SL readers might find of interest that Eihei Dogen Zenji, the founder of the Soto school of Zen, referred specifically to go in the "Spring and Autumn" fascicle of his philosophical masterwork Shobogenzo, or "Treasure of the True Dharma Eye", where he wrote:

"Suppose there is a go game; who are the two players? If you say that you and I are playing go, it means you have a handicap of eight stones. If you have a handicap of eight stones, it is no longer a game.

"What is the meaning of this? When you answer, answer this way: You play go by yourself; the opponents become one. Thus steadying your mind and turning your body, you should examine Hongzhi's words, "You do not respond to my move." That means "you" are not yet "you." You should not neglect the words, "I'll swallow you up". Mud within mud. Wash your feet, wash the tassel on your hat. A jewel within a jewel. Illuminate other, illuminate the self."

(Kazuaki Tanahashi translation from "Moon in a Dewdrop".)


Application

Applying the general advice of these Zen masters to the specific activity of Go.

AvatarDJFlux: I will try to connect Zen stories and koan to specific aspects of Go, if my laziness allows me to...
I will list below the pages as long as I create them.


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This is a copy of the living page "The Zen way to Go" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2004 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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