Two Zen Classics

A new translation of The Gateless Gate and The Blue Cliff Records , two classic collections of Zen koans—or guiding ‘riddles’—used in the study of Zen Buddhism The strange verbal paradoxes called koans have been used traditionally in Zen training to help students attain a direct realization of truths inexpressible in words. The two works translated in this book, Mumonkan ( The Gateless Gate ) and Hekiganroku ( The Blue Cliff Records ), both compiled during the Song dynasty in China, are the best