The way The "goal" Background Chinese texts Classical Post-classical Contemporary Zen in Japan Seon in Korea Thiền in Vietnam Western Zen Katsu (Chinese: 喝; Pinyin: hè, Wade-Giles: ho; Cantonese: hot3ⓘ, rōmaji: katsu) is a shout that is described in Chan and Zen Buddhism encounter-stories, to expose the enlightened state (Japanese: satori) of the Zen-master, and/or to induce initial enlightenment experience in a student.
When the Chan and Zen practice of the katsu first emerged in Jiangxi province in the south of Tang dynasty China in the 8th century CE, the word was pronounced roughly as /xat/ in Middle Chinese,[8][9] which is preserved in modern Mandarin as hè, in Cantonese as hot3, in Southern Min as hat as well as in the Japanese on'yomi ("Sino-Japanese") reading of the character as Japanese pronunciation: [katsɯ].
[10] The katsu shout, insofar as it represents a kind of verbal harshness and even violence, can be considered a part of the Mahāyāna Buddhist doctrine of "skill-in-means" (Sanskrit: upāya-kauśalya), which essentially teaches that even an action or practice which seems to violate Buddhist moral guidelines—in this case, the Noble Eightfold Path's injunction against "abusive speech"[11]—is permissible, and even desirable, so long as it is done with the aim of ultimately putting an end to suffering and introducing others to the dharma, or teachings of Buddhism.
The most celebrated and frequent practitioner of the katsu was the Chinese master Línjì Yìxuán (?–866), and many examples of his use of the shout can be found in the Línjì-lù (臨済錄; Japanese: Rinzai-roku), or Record of Linji, the collection of Linji's actions and lectures: A monk asked, "What is the basic meaning of Buddhism?"
"[13]The use of the katsu stands in a tradition of antinomian methods, such as striking disciples with a stick or a fly whisk,[14] which developed within the Mǎzǔ Dàoyī (709–788) lineage.