Like Cats and Dogs

Book

Koans are dialogues that stand at the center of Zen Buddhist literature and are often used to provoke the "great doubt" in testing a trainee's progress. The Mu Koan consists of a brief conversation in which a monk asks Master Zhaozhou whether or not a dog has Buddha-nature. According to the main version, the reply is "Mu": literally, "No," but implying the philosophical notion of nothingness. This case is widely considered to be the single best-known and most widely circulated koan record of the Zen school that offers existential release from anxiety to attain spiritual illumination.

In a careful analysis of the historical and rhetorical basis of the literature, Steven Heine demonstrates that the Mu version of the case, preferred by advocates of the key-phrase approach, does not by any means constitute the final word concerning the meaning and significance of the Mu Koan. He shows that another canonical version, which gives both "Yes" and "No" responses, must be taken into account. Like Cats and Dogs offers critical insight and a new theoretical perspective on "the koan of koans." (Source: Oxford University Press)

Citation	Heine, Steven. Like Cats and Dogs: Contesting the Mu Kōan in Zen Buddhism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. https://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/Heine-Cats.pdf.

- Acknowledgmentsvii
1. More Cats Than Dogs? A Tale of Two Versions1
2. Would a Dog Lick a Pot of Hot Oil? Reconstructing the Ur Version37
3. Fightin’ Like Cats and Dogs: Methodological Reflections on Deconstructing the Emphatic Mu74

*  4. Cats and Cows Know That It Is: Textual and Historical Deconstruction of the Ur Version110
*  5. Dogs May Chase, But Lions Tear Apart: Reconstructing the

Dual Version of the "Moo" Kō an148

*  6. When Is a Dog Not Really a Dog? Or, Yes! We Have No Buddha-Nature188
**  Notes213
 **  Sino-Japanese Glossary239
 **  Bibliography251
**   Index261