Related: Read the short article on How to Practice Zen Koans by John Tarrant. You can also read my introduction to koan practice.

The coin lost in the river is found in the river.

Prompts

One thing I did to deepen my investigation of this koan was to contemplate different facets of it systematically. For instance, for every meaning or “reading” that comes to mind, you can ask yourself:

• What is lost?
• How is it lost?
• What is the river?
• How is it found?

Readings

My own elaborations and prompts on this koan. Remember, the investigation has to be your own (see introduction).

Very literally… a coin

I drop a coin in the river, it is lost.
Is it though? I know where it is. It is in the river!
Nothing is ever lost, everything is in the river.

I drop a coin in the river.
Do I suffer from its loss or from my unwillingness to dive in?
Instead of suffering for your lost coin, go find it, it’s in the river!

The coin is not lost, it is only lost to me.
The coin itself does not feel lost, it does not belong to me.
Nothing is ever lost, only I am.
Nothing is ever lost, only the object of my clinging, only my clinging is lost.

No thing belongs to me, every thing is found.
If the world was mine, if I found the river, nothing would ever be lost.
It is because I keep thinking in terms of mine / not mine that I keep loosing my coins in the river.

My friend (that passed away)

What is lost? - I lost my friend, my friend is lost.
How is it lost? - By passing away, by death, by dissolution of the body, by impermanence. She is lost for me, hidden, engulfed by the river.
What is the river? - It is the stream of life and death, causes and conditions, appearing and ceasing, it is Samsara.
How is it found? - I know where she is, she is not lost, she is in the river. By joining the stream, she found home, a familiar river in which she was engulfed all along. Anatta, she is no more, she is, she never was, she was.

What is lost? - My relationship with my friend, my attachment to her, my friendship.
How is it lost? - By losing its object in the river, by dissolution of its object, I feel loss.
What is the river? - It is the stream of life and death, causes and conditions, appearing and ceasing, it is Indra’s Net.
How is it found? - I know where she is, she is in the same river I am in. She was no more that I was. She was no more than I am now.

Duality

Reversing the koan:
The coin found in the river, is lost in the river.

Take a coin from the river and it is lost.

Anything separated from the river loses its true nature.

As soon as I look for the coin, it is lost. Everywhere I look, I see loss.