On the Logos: Christian Koans Part I

In the Buddhist Tradition, three collections of Koans stand out, as compilations used by teachers with their students.  In English, they're called "The Gateless Gate," "The Blue Cliff Record" and the "Book of Equanimity."

As a way of assisting Christianity in flexing its more intuitive muscles, I am beginning work on a set of "Christian Koans."  If they succeed at pointing to truths, they arrive the way teenagers do during games of "Ding Dong Dash." That is to say, when we open the door to them, we learn their truths by what's implied, not explicit.

Today I'll offer two of them, without further commentary.  It might be helpful to review some of the "Steps in Solving Koans," of whose usefulness I'm still quite convinced.

In my attempt to create a collection of Christian Koans, I simply asked, as I went through the Zen collections, "what heavy lifting is this story trying to do, and what christian stories do the same work?"

As the three sets of Zen Koans do, each Christian Koan has the case itself, a commentary, and an "appreciatory verse" to unlock it a bit for the listener.

Case 1:  Vincent’s Logos  A monk asked brother Vincent:  Has a Vulture the Divine Nature?  Vincent answered “Logos.”

Br. Adam’s commentary: 

In order to master Catholicism, you must pass through the barrier of the Ancestors.  If you do not pass the barrier, and do not cut off the way of thinking, then you will be like the King of Vanities, forsaking the holy city to chase after the wind.  What is the gate of the ancestors?  Why, it is this single word “Logos.”  That is the front gate of Catholicism.  If you pass through it, you will not only see God face to face, but you will also become like his Son.  You will be crucified with him at the place of the skull, seeing with his same eyes, hearing with his same ears.  Is this not an intimate burden?  Wouldn’t you like to walk through this gate? 

Count all your bones.  Prophesy, first to the flesh and then the breath.  Carry logos continuously day and night.  Do not form a nihilistic conception of vacancy, or a relative conception of “has” or “has not.  Your silence will become a fire, shut up in your bones.  It will be just as if you swallow a red-hot iron ball, which you cannot spit out even if you try.  All the illusory ideas and delusive thoughts accumulated up to the present will be exterminated, and when the time comes, internal and external will be spontaneously united.  You will know this, but for yourself only.  Then all of a sudden, an explosive conversion will occur, and the words will be as true of you as they were of the Son of Man “The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. They will say to you, “Look there!” or “Look here!” Do not go, do not set off in pursuit. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.”

It will be as if you snatch away the great sword of Solomon, and hold it in your hand. When you meet the Messiah, you kill him. When you meet the ancestors, you kill them.

Thus crucified with Christ, thus suspended between heaven and earth, you will neither possess the things of heaven nor understand the things of earth. This restriction is perfect freedom. Though you don’t realize it—and to realize it is to lose it—this suspension is divinization, an emptiness of forms in which you become what you seek, the “wholly other” who pervades everything.

Now I want to ask you again. How will you carry this out? Employ every ounce of your energy to work on this “logos.” If you work on the logos, it will work on you. If you are present to it, behold: The joyous light of glory, the eternal splendor of the Father, the burning seal that makes all things one—it sparks, it flames, it blazes within you.


Br. Adam’s Verse:

Divine Nature, a Vulture. A little has, a little has not. Where the corpse is, they gather.

Case 19: Fr. Chrysogonus’ Logos

Br. Benedict asked Fr. Chrysogonus “What is the Logos?” Fr. Chrysogonus replied “Ordinary Mind.” Br. Benedict said “Should I try to seek the Logos?” Chrysogonus said “If you try for it, you will become separate from it.” Br. Benedict was puzzled “How can I speak the Word unless I try to do so?” Chrysogonus replied “The Logos is not a matter of trying or not trying. Trying is a delusion. Not Trying is confusion. The ancient Rabbis said ‘You do not take the word of God into your mouth.’ When you have reached the Logos beyond all doubt, as the Rebbes said ‘You enter into the Word, because the Word is bigger than you are.’ How can we talk about it on the level of right and wrong?” With these words, Br. Benedict came to a sudden realization.

Br. Adam’s Comment:

Chrysogonus dissolved at Br. Benedict’s question, and could not offer a plausible explanation. Even though Benedict comes to a realization, he must delve into it for another 30 years before he can fully understand it.

Br. Adam’s Verse:


A stand of tall grass, a summer breeze
A winter night, a full December moon.
If useless things do not clutter your mind,
you will have the best days of your life.