<p>I checked the table of contents. There seems to be no overlap of cases. The purpose seems to be to build wisdom. I haven’t read those books of koan but they seem cryptic for example it says- before enlightenment mountains are mountains, rivers are rivers, during enlightenment mountains are not mountains , rivers are not rivers, and after enlightenment mountains are mountains, rivers are rivers.</p>
<p>Another one says -</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A monk asked Chao-chou, “Has the dog Buddha nature or not?” Chao-chou
said, “Mu.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Without being cryptic I can say that anyone who looks upon with the eye of Dhamma has Buddha nature. Eye of Dhamma says all conditioned phenomena which has a beginning must have an end.</p>

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2023-11-15T10:12:57.833Z
2023-11-15T10:12:57.833Z
SacrificialEquation
<p>I've been looking around online for an answer to this question, but have come up empty handed. My understanding of <em>The Blue Cliff Record</em> is that it's a collection of famous cases compiled from the history of Zen. But what I'm wondering is how <em>The Mumonkan</em> differs from it? (I haven't read this one yet).</p>
<p>Is there any overlap in the cases? And what was the purpose of having two different collections of Koans? Is it an entirely new collection? If so, what is the difference in the history of their respective collections?</p>

<zen><koans>
History of Mumonkan versus Blue Cliff Record
# History of Mumonkan versus Blue Cliff Record

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-11-15)

I've been looking around online for an answer to this question, but have come up empty handed. My understanding of *The Blue Cliff Record* is that it's a collection of famous cases compiled from the history of Zen. But what I'm wondering is how *The Mumonkan* differs from it? (I haven't read this one yet).

Is there any overlap in the cases? And what was the purpose of having two different collections of Koans? Is it an entirely new collection? If so, what is the difference in the history of their respective collections?

**Tags:** zen, koans


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2023-11-15. Score: 1

I checked the table of contents. There seems to be no overlap of cases. The purpose seems to be to build wisdom. I haven’t read those books of koan but they seem cryptic for example it says- before enlightenment mountains are mountains, rivers are rivers, during enlightenment mountains are not mountains , rivers are not rivers, and after enlightenment mountains are mountains, rivers are rivers.

Another one says -

> A monk asked Chao-chou, “Has the dog Buddha nature or not?” Chao-chou
> said, “Mu.”

Without being cryptic I can say that anyone who looks upon with the eye of Dhamma has Buddha nature. Eye of Dhamma says all conditioned phenomena which has a beginning must have an end.


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