OK, a recent little thread caused a famous koan to intrude on my meditation once again. Let's have a brief discussion about the famous koan about Huineng, one of the Patriarchs of Chan. It goes like this, in one version or another:

Two monks were arguing while watching a flag flapping in the wind.

"The flag is moving," argued one monk.

"No, it's the wind that is moving!" insisted the other monk.

Huineng was passing by, and remarked, "It's your minds that are moving."

Now, this koan doesn't actually have a question to end it. We are to assume the question is, what did Huineng mean by it's their minds that were moving? Huineng, by the way, is the famous Patriarch who won the temple poem by writing "The mind is not a mirror" answer to a poetry contest.

Now, in discussing a koan, remember there are several ways to approach koans and none of them are wrong and none are right. For some, every koan is like a mantra, a series of sounds that have no logical meaning and used in meditation to break through logical thought. But koans do have a structure and a language, and I was taught by Rev. Young to look for the mind hook as a beginning point to meditation. So what's the mind hook in this little gem?

The flapping flag, of course. Can any of you read this koan without picturing a flag flapping in the wind? We've all seen them many times in our lives. They're fascinating to watch. So your mind focuses on the flag. Your mind gets trapped in the same question the two monks argued over. Is the flag or is the wind doing the moving?

But that's not the important part of the koan. You have to let go of the flag. Whether or not it's the flag or the invisible wind moving is irrelevant. Take another look at the koan. Two monks are arguing. Over who is right and wrong. About something as foolish as the nature of movement. Zen is all about a quiet, still mind. Still like the smooth surface of a pond without a rock thrown into it. Were these monks practicing a still mind? If you hold onto your beliefs and argue if they're right and wrong compared to other, equally valid beliefs, is your mind quiet and still? Or is your mind moving, flapping like that flag?

So do you see the point of the koan? Huineng was telling the monks their minds were like that flag, cracking and moving in the invisible wind of their thoughts and emotions.

So what's the answer? Is the flag moving, or is the wind moving, or is the mind moving?

The flag is moving in the breeze. That's all.

And that's my comment on the famous koan. Now, what's your comment on the koan?