Great Doubt, Great Enlightenment : The Tradition and Practice of Ganhwa Seon in Korean Buddhism

Beginners in Ganhwa Seon are taught to practice to investigate such hwadus as "What is your orignial face before your parents gave birth to you?" or "Who is it that dragging around this corpse?" Modern Korean teachers reduce hwadus down to a simple but profoudn question : "What is it?" As a student's inquiry into such topics deepens, the mind's inability to understand what the Seon masters of old meant in making such statements engenders a focused spirit of questioning and a disquieting sense of perplexity. The technical term in the Seon tradition for this state is the "sensation of doubt."
Over time, this sensation of doubt becomes so intense that both body and mind become utterly absorbed in the hwadu. This questioning eventually becomes so second-nature that it flows effortlessly and continuously, like water running downstream, so that the meditatior becomes oblivious to everything else in one's life except this questiong.
- foreward by Robert Buswell

Table of Contents
Part 1. Basics
Chapter 1. The historical development of Patriarchal Seon
Chapter 2. An outline of Ganhwa Seon
Chapter 3. The Teaching of the Buddha and Ganhwa Seon
Chapter 4. The Basic Practice of Ganhwa Seon

Part 2. Seon Practice
Chapter 1. Choosing a Hwadu
Chapter 2. The Role of a Ganhwa Seon Teacher
Chapter 3. Investigating the Hwadu
Chapter 4. Diseases and Cures
Chapter 5. How to Investigate the Hwadu in Everyday Life
Chapter 6. The Stages of Hwadu Investigation and Samadhi

Part 3. Enlightenment
Chapter 1. Testing and Cerficiation
Chapter 2. The Realm of Enlightenment