Hakuin Ekaku Quotes on Knowledge
Hakuin Ekaku (1686–1769), the Japanese monk universally credited with the early-modern revival of the Rinzai Zen tradition, gave the Japanese kōan curriculum its definitive systematic shape and supplied one of its most famous formulations in the question "What is the sound of one hand?" The framework treats genuine knowledge as the breakthrough realization (kenshō) achieved through the sustained "great doubt" that the kōan engenders in the practitioner, against any merely intellectual analysis of the master's question, and the corresponding pedagogical writings, sermons, and paintings carry the method into a comprehensive training programme that the subsequent Rinzai schools would adopt.
Quotes
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“What is the sound of one hand?”
As quoted in Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin trans. Norman Waddell (2010) p. 179 -
Attributed to Hakuin Ekaku:
“Not knowing how near the Truth is, people seek it far away — what a pity!”
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“You know the sound of two hands clapping; tell me, what is the sound of one hand?”
As quoted in Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin trans. Norman Waddell (2010) p. 179 -
“All beings are by nature are Buddhas, as ice by nature is water. Apart from water there is no ice; apart from beings, no Buddhas. How sad that people ignore the near and search the truth afar: like someone in the midst of water crying out in thirst: like a child of a wealthy home wandering among the poor.”
As quoted in Teachings of the Buddha p. 207 -
“Should you desire the great tranquility prepare to sweat white beads.”
As quoted in Zen and the Art of Poker: Timeless Secrets to Transform Your Game by Larry W. Phillips