Entangling Vines Zen Koans Of The Shumon Kattoshu Kirchner Th Translator by Kirchner Th. (translator) instant download after payment.

The Shumon Kattoshil is one of the few major koan texts to have been compiled m Japan. The name of the compiler (or compilers) is unknown. So too is the date of compilation, but the fact that the first printed version appeared in 1689 makes it, at the very latest, a work of the early Tokugawa period (1600-1868).
Most of the 282 cases that constitute the work were taken from Chinese Zen works popular in Japan, like the Wuinen guan 無門關，Biyan lu 碧巖録 [Blue cliff record], Linji hi 臨濟録[Record of Linji], and Xutang lu 虚堂録 [Record of Xutang], as well as biographical literature like Jingde cbuandeng lu 景徳傳燈録[Jingde-era “Record of the transmission of the lamp”] and Wudeng huiyuan 五燈會元[Compendium of the five lamps].
An intriguing additional feature, however, is the presence of eight koans of Japanese origin. Case 69 features the Japanese monk Nanpo Jo myo 南浦 紹明(1235-1309), who studied in China and transmitted the lineage of Xutang Zhiyu 虚堂智愚(1185-1269)； cases 115, 152, 177, and 235 feature Shuho Myocho 宗峰妙超(1282-1338), the successor of Nanpo； cases 38, 235, and 263 feature Kanzan Egen 關山慧玄(1277-1360), the chief dharma heir of Shuho； case 223 features Tetto Giko 徹翁義享(1295-1369), Shuho5s successor at Daitoku-ji； and case 235 features Musd Soseki 夢窓疎石(1275-1351), a contemporary of Kanzan Egen and the founding priest of Tenryu-ji< The “ancient worthy55 mentioned in case 178 is also thought to be Musd Soseki. Hakuin Ekaku 白隠慧鶴(1686-1769), the great reviver of the Japanese Rinzai school, appears in case 208, but this is certainly a later accretion since Hakuin was born at roughly the same time that the Kattoshil was first published.
With the exception of Musd, the Japanese masters who appear are all associated with the Otokan 應燈關 lineage, the Japanese Rinzai teaching line staring with Nanpo Jo myo, Shuho Myocho, Kanzan Egen, and continuing through the generations of their successors? The design, too, follows that of a koan collection by Shuho entitled Daito hyakunijissoku 大燈百二十則[Daito's one hundred and twenty cases]. It is nearly certain, therefore, that this text was compiled by priests of the Otokan lineage. The ascendancy of this school (all present-day Rinzai masters belong to it) secured the position of the Kattoshu in the Rinzai koan training system, a position strengthened by each of the text's many successive printings during the Tokugawa and Meiji (1868- 1912) eras.
The Kattoshu^ then, took form in accordance with the special character and needs of the Japanese Rinzai Zen school. The "compiler”一most likely a series of masters who selected and rearranged its contents in response to the practical needs of their students—reated an anthology especially suited for use in koan-oriented Zen meditation practice.
The first distinctive feature of the collection is the large number of koans it contains. Its 282 cases far outnumber the 48 cases of the Wumen guany the 100 cases of the Biyan hi、and the 120 cases of the Daito hyakunijissoku. A text with this number and variety of koans would provide ample material for a master as he worked with a student over the years, examining and refining the Zen experience first from one standpoint, then from another. Kajitani Sonin 梶谷宗忍(1914-1995), former chief abbot of Shokoku-ji and author of the only annotated, modern-Japanese translation of the Kattosbu's commented that “herein are compiled the basic dharma materials of the koan system,, (Kajitani 1982, "Kaidai"解題). And, in fact, most of the central koans in the present Rinzai koan curriculum are contained in this work.