Review Articles 167 Liberating the Koan The Köan: Texts and Contexts in Zen Buddhism Edited by STEVEN HEINE & DALE S. WRIGHT. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. xii, 322 pages. ISBN 0-19-511748-4, US$52.00 hardcover; ISBN 0-19-51174-9, US$21.95 paperback. Opening a Mountain: Köans of the Zen Masters STEVEN HEINE. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. xiv, 200 pages. ISBN 0-19-513586-5. US$25.00 hardcover. Zen Sand: The Book of Capping Phrases for Köan Practice Compiled, translated, and annotated by VICTOR SÖGEN HORI. Honolulu: University of Hawai 'i Press, 2003. xiv, 764 pages. ISBN 0-8248-2284-6. US$37.00 hardcover. Zen Grove Handbook for Zen Practice English translation and editing by ZENRIN CHIDÖ ROBERT E. LEWIS. Jacksonville: Zen Sangha Press (distributed by the Zen Studies Society Press, Livingston Manor, N.Y.), 2001. xiv, 562 pages. ISBN 0-9651499-4-3. US$39.95 hardcover. JOHN C. MARALDO University of North Florida Koans fi-Ιξ have fascinated audiences and perplexed scholars outside Asia for nearly a  century, especially since D. T. Suzuki popularized Zen Buddhism. The numerous explana- tions in popular accounts and historical surveys of Zen, the dozens of philosophical and  psychological interpretations and handful of historical investigations in scholarly journals and  anthologies, and the nearly countless commentaries in publications directed at practitioners,  have neither diminished the intrigue nor settled the matter of their meaning. The books under  review augment a fresh wave of scholarship in English on this rather unique genre of  literature and mode of Buddhist practice.  The Köan compiles eleven previously unpublished articles by experts in the field of Ch'an or Zen studies. As the editors' Introduction makes clear, the articles deliberately avoid a focus on the psychological or mystical aspects, and critique the tradition's own self- narrative, which includes the conceit that koans defy scholarly analysis. The aim is to bring us to a deeper historical understanding that places the koan tradition in political, linguistic, and popular cultural contexts. To be sure, there are significant gaps in the book's purview, some acknowledged by the contributors: little if any account of the Korean koan tradition, research Journal of Chinese Religions 31 (2003)