Hua Tou

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Hua Tou (simplified Chinese: 话头; traditional Chinese: 話頭, Korean: hwadu, Japanese: watō) is part of a form of Buddhist meditation known as Gongfu 工夫 (not to be confused with the Martial Arts 功夫) common in the teachings of Chan Buddhism, Korean Seon and Rinzai Zen. Hua Tou can be translated as 'word head', 'head of speech' or 'point beyond which speech exhausts itself'.^[1] A Hua Tou can be a short phrase that is used as a subject of meditation to focus the mind.