Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism[a] which originated in China during the 6th century CE as Chán. From China, Zen spread south to Vietnam, to Korea and east to Japan.
The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Middle Chinese word 禪 Dzyen (Modern Mandarin: Chán), which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "absorption" or "meditative state".
Zen emphasizes the personal expression of experiential wisdom in the attainment of enlightenment. As such, it de-emphasizes reliance on standardized theoretical knowledge of sutras, and favors direct understanding through zazen and interaction with an accomplished teacher.
The teachings of Zen include various sources of Mahāyāna thought, especially Yogācāra, the Tathāgatagarbha Sutras and Hua-Yen. Also the Prajñāpāramitā literature and, to a lesser extent, Madhyamaka have been influential.
Main article:
Chinese ChánMain article:
BodhidharmaTraditionally the origin of Chán in China is credited to the Indian monk Bodhidharma. The story of his life, and of the Six Patriarchs, was constructed during the Tang Dynasty to lend credibility to the growing Chán-school.
Bodhidharma is recorded as having come to China during the time of Southern and Northern Dynasties to teach a "special transmission outside scriptures" which "did not stand upon words". Only scarce historical information is available about him, but his hagiography developed when the Chan tradition grew stronger and gained prominence in the early 8th century. By this time a lineage of the six ancestral founders of Chán in China was developed.[11] The short text Two Entrances and Four Acts, written by T'an-lín (曇林; 506–574), contains teachings which are attributed to Bodhidharma. The text is known from the Dunhuang-manuscripts.
The actual origins of Chán may lie in ascetic practitioners of Buddhism, who found refuge in forests and mountains. Huike, "a dhuta (extreme ascetic) who schooled others", figures in the stories about Bodhidharma. Huike is regarded as the second Chán patriarch, appointed by Bodhidharma to succeed him. One of Huike's students, Sengcan, to whom is ascribed the Xinxin Ming, is regarded as the third patriarch.
The link between Huike and Sengcan, and the fourth patriarch Daoxin (道信 580–651), "is far from clear and remains tenuous". With Daoxin and his successor, the fifth patriarch Hongren (弘忍 601–674), there emerged a new style of teaching. A large group of students gathered at a permanent residence, and extreme ascetism became outdated. The period of Daoxin and Hongren came to be called the East Mountain Teaching, due to the location of the residence of Hongren at Huamgmei. Hui-neng, a minor student of Hongren, came to be regarded as the Sixth Patriarch, due to the influence of his student Shenhui.
The term "East Mountain Teaching" was used by Shenxiu (神秀 606?-706), the most important successor to Hongren. In 701 he was invited to the Imperial Court by Empress Wu, who paid him imperial reverence. This gave his school the support and the legitimation of the imperial court.
But the Chán-tradition depicts another student of Hongren, Huineng (惠能; 638–713), as the sixth and last patriarch, due to the influence of Shenhui, a successor to Huineng. The dramatic story of Huineng's life, as narrated in the Platform Sutra, tells that there was a contest for the transmission of the title of patriarch. After being chosen by Hongren, the fifth patriarch, Huineng had to flee by night to Nanhua Temple in the south to avoid the wrath of Hongren's jealous senior disciples.
Historic research reveals that this story was created around the middle of the 8th century, beginning in 731 by Shenhui, a successor to Huineng, to win influence at the Imperial Court. He claimed Huineng to be the successor of Hongren's, instead of the then publicly recognized successor Shenxiu. Shenxiu's Northern School was denigrated as "gradual", in opposition to the self-acclaimed "sudden" approach of Shenhui's Southern School. Shenhui's story was so influential that all surviving schools regard Huineng as their ancestor.
The An Lushan Rebellion (755-763) led to a loss of control by the Tang-dynasty, and changed the Chan scene again. Metropolitan Chan began to lose its status, while "other schools were arising in out-lying areas controlled by warlords. These are the forerunners of the Chan we know today."[15]
The most important of these schools is the Hongzhou school (洪州宗) of Mazu, to which also belong Shitou, Baizhang, Huangbo and Linji. This school became the archetypal expression of Zen, with its emphasis on the personal expression of insight, and it's rejection of positive statements of this insight. Shitou is regarded as the Patriarch of Caodong (Jp. Soto), while Linji is regarded as the founder of Rinzai-Zen.
During the Song Dynasty, when Chán was favoured by the imperial court and became the largest Buddhist scholl in China, the period of the Tang Dynasty came to be regarded as the "golden age" of Chan. This proliferation is described in a famous saying:
Look at the territory of the house of Tang —
The whole of it is the realm of the Chán school.
[16]
During 845-846 Emperor Wu-tsung persecuted the Buddhist schools in China.[17] This persecution was devastating for metropolitan Chan, but the Chan school of Ma-tsu and his likes survived, and took a leading role in the Chan of the later Tang.[17]
This surviving rural Chan developed into the Five Houses (Ch. 五家) of Zen, or five "schools". These were not originally regarded as "schools" or "sects", but historically they have come to be understood that way. Most Zen lineages throughout Asia and the rest of the world originally grew from or were heavily influenced by the original five houses of Zen.
After the fall of the Tang-dynasty China was in turmoil during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was followed by the Song Dynasty, which established a strong central government. During the Song Dynasty, Chán (禪) was used by the government to strengthen its control over the country, and Chán grew to become the largest sect in Chinese Buddhism. An ideal picture of the Chán of the Tang-period was produced, which served the legacy of this newly acquired status.[18] With the establishment of the Wu-shan (Gozan) system during the Southern Sung the Chinese bureaucratic system entered into Zen temples throughout the country, and a highly organized system of temple rank and administration developed.[19]
In the Ming Dynasty teachers such as Hanshan Deqing (憨山德清) taught Chán alongside Pure Land Buddhism in many Chinese Buddhist monasteries. In time much of the distinction between them was lost, and many masters taught both Chán and Pure Land.
Shuixin Chán Temple in
Anhai Town, Fujian
After further centuries of decline during the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912), Chán was revived again in the early 20th century by Hsu Yun (虛雲), a well-known figure of 20th century Chinese Buddhism. Many Chán teachers today trace their lineage back to Hsu Yun, including Sheng-yen (聖嚴) and Hsuan Hua (宣化), who have propagated Chán in the West where it has grown steadily through the 20th and 21st century.
Chán was repressed in China during the recent modern era in the early periods of the People's Republic, but has more recently been re-asserting itself on the mainland, and has a significant following in Taiwan and Hong Kong as well as among Overseas Chinese.
Thiền monks performing a service in
Huế.
Thiền Buddhism (禪宗 Thiền Tông) is the Vietnamese name for the school of Zen Buddhism. Thiền is ultimately derived from the Chinese Chán Zōng (禪宗).
According to traditional accounts of Vietnam, in 580, an Indian monk named Vinitaruci (Vietnamese: Tì-ni-đa-lưu-chi) traveled to Vietnam after completing his studies with Sengcan, the third patriarch of Chinese Chán. This, then, would be the first appearance of Vietnamese Thiền Buddhism. The sect that Vinitaruci and his lone Vietnamese disciple founded would become known as the oldest branch of Thiền. After a period of obscurity, the Vinitaruci School became one of the most influential Buddhist groups in Vietnam by the 10th century, particularly so under the patriarch Vạn-Hạnh (died 1018).
Other early Vietnamese Zen schools included the Vô Ngôn Thông, which was associated with the teaching of Mazu, and the Thảo Đường, which incorporated nianfo chanting techniques; both were founded by Chinese monks. A new school was founded by one of Vietnam's religious kings; this was the Trúc Lâm school, which evinced a deep influence from Confucian and Taoist philosophy. Nevertheless, Trúc Lâm's prestige waned over the following centuries as Confucianism became dominant in the royal court. In the 17th century, a group of Chinese monks led by Nguyên Thiều established a vigorous new school, the Lâm Tế, which is the Vietnamese pronunciation of Linji. A more domesticated offshoot of Lâm Tế, the Liễu Quán school, was founded in the 18th century and has since been the predominant branch of Vietnamese Thiền.
Zen master Thích Thanh Từ is credit for renovating Thien Trúc Lâm in Việt Nam. He is one of the most prominent and influential figures of Viet Nam zen masters currently alive. He was a disciple of Master Thích Thiện Hoa.
The most famous practitioner of syncretized Thiền Buddhism in the West is Thích Nhất Hạnh who has authored dozens of books and founded Dharma center Plum Village in France together with his colleague Chan Khong, Bhikkhuni and Zen Master.
Seon was gradually transmitted into Korea during the late Silla period (7th through 9th centuries) as Korean monks of predominantly Hwaeom (華嚴) and Consciousness-only (唯識) background began to travel to China to learn the newly developing tradition. During his lifetime, Mazu had begun to attract students from Korea; by tradition, the first Korean to study Seon was named Peomnang (法朗). Mazu's successors had numerous Korean students, some of whom returned to Korea and established the nine mountain (九山) schools. This was the beginning of Chán in Korea which is called Seon.
Seon received its most significant impetus and consolidation from the Goryeo monk Jinul (知訥) (1158–1210), who established a reform movement and introduced kōan practice to Korea. Jinul established the Songgwangsa (松廣寺) as a new center of pure practice. It was during the time of Jinul the Jogye Order, a primarily Seon sect, became the predominant form of Korean Buddhism, a status it still holds. which survives down to the present in basically the same status. Toward the end of the Goryeo and during the Joseon period the Jogye Order would first be combined with the scholarly 教 schools, and then be relegated to lesser influence in ruling class circles by Confucian influenced polity, even as it retained strength outside the cities, among the rural populations and ascetic monks in mountain refuges.
Nevertheless, there would be a series of important Seon teachers during the next several centuries, such as Hyegeun (慧勤), Taego (太古), Gihwa (己和) and Hyujeong (休靜), who continued to develop the basic mold of Korean meditational Buddhism established by Jinul. Seon continues to be practiced in Korea today at a number of major monastic centers, as well as being taught at Dongguk University, which has a major of studies in this religion. Taego Bou (1301–1382) studied in China with Linji teacher and returned to unite the Nine Mountain Schools. In modern Korea, by far the largest Buddhist denomination is the Jogye Order, which is essentially a Zen sect; the name Jogye is the Korean equivalent of Caoxi (曹溪), another name for Huineng.
Seon is known for its stress on meditation, monasticism, and asceticism. Many Korean monks have few personal possessions and sometimes cut off all relations with the outside world. Several are near mendicants traveling from temple to temple practicing meditation. The hermit-recluse life is prevalent among monks to whom meditation practice is considered of paramount importance.
Currently, Korean Buddhism is in a state of slow transition. While the reigning theory behind Korean Buddhism was based on Jinul's "sudden enlightenment, gradual cultivation", the modern Korean Seon master, Seongcheol's revival of Hui Neng's "sudden enlightenment, sudden cultivation" has had a strong impact on Korean Buddhism. Although there is resistance to change within the ranks of the Jogye order, with the last three Supreme Patriarchs' stance that is in accordance with Seongcheol, there has been a gradual change in the atmosphere of Korean Buddhism.
Zen was not introduced as a separate school until the 12th century, when Myōan Eisai traveled to China and returned to establish a Linji lineage, which is known in Japan as Rinzai. Decades later, Nanpo Shōmyō (南浦紹明?) (1235–1308) also studied Linji teachings in China before founding the Japanese Otokan lineage, the most influential branch of Rinzai. In 1215, Dōgen, a younger contemporary of Eisai's, journeyed to China himself, where he became a disciple of the Caodong master Tiantong Rujing. After his return, Dōgen established the Sōtō school, the Japanese branch of Caodong. Controversially, Keizan is credited as the founder of the Sōtō school. His Soji-ji temple was a rival to Dogen's Eihei-ji. Others say that Dōgen gave "high religious ideals" while Keizan ensured Sōtō's survival.
During the Muromachi period the Rinzai school was the most successful of the schools, since it was favoured by the Shogun. Rinzai was organized in the Gozan system. This system was extended throughout Japan, effectively giving control to the central government, which administered this system.[21] The Rinka monasteries, primarily found outside the cities in rural areas, had a greater degree of independence.[22] The O-to-kan lineage, that centered on Daitoku-ji, also had a greater degree of freedom.[23] A well-known teacher from Daytoku-ji was Ikkyū. Another Rinka lineage was the Hotto lineage, of which Bassui Tokushō is the best-known teacher.[25]
Soto too spread out over Japan. Gasan adopted the Five Ranks of Tung-shan as a fit vehicle to explain the Mahayana teachings.[26]
After a period of war Japan was re-united in the Azuchi–Momoyama period. This decreased the power of Buddhism, which had become a strong political and military force in Japan and was seen as a threat by the ruling clan. Neo-Confucianism gained influence at the expense of Buddhism, which came under strict state control. Japan closed the gates to the rest of the world. New doctrines and methods were not to be introduced, nor were new temples and schools. The only exception was the Ōbaku lineage, which was introduced in the 17th century during the Edo period by Ingen, a Chinese monk.
Well-known Zen masters from this period are Bankei Yōtaku (盤珪永琢?, 1622–1693), Matsuo Bashō (松尾 芭蕉?, 1644 – November 28, 1694) and Hakuin Ekaku (白隠 慧鶴?, 1686–1768), who revived the Rinzai school.
During the Meiji period (1868–1912) Japan abandoned its feudal system and opened up to Western modernism. Shinto became the state religion, and Buddhism was coerced to adapt to the new regime. Rinzai and Soto Zen chose to adapt, with embarrassing consequences when Japanese nationalism was endorsed by the Zen institutions. War endeavours against Russia, China and finally during the Pacific War were supported by the Zen establishment.[27][28]
Within the Buddhist establishment the Western world was seen as a threat, but also as a challenge to stand up to.[27][29] Parties within the Zen establishment sought to modernize Zen in accord with Western insights, while simultaneously maintaining a Japanese identity.[30]
Interest in Zen grew in the West after World War II. Westerners such as Philip Kapleau and the Dutchman Janwillem van de Wetering went to Japan to study Zen.[31] Japanese teachers came to the West to share Zen practice and philosophy.[32]
The traditional schools of Zen in contemporary Japan are the Sōtō (曹洞), Rinzai (臨済), and Ōbaku (黃檗). Of these, Sōtō is the largest and Ōbaku the smallest. Rinzai is itself divided into several subschools based on temple affiliation, including Myoshin-ji, Nanzen-ji, Tenryū-ji, Daitoku-ji, and Tofuku-ji; this has substantial overlap with the traditional Five Mountain System. Besides these there are modern Zen organisations which have especially attracted Western lay followers, namely the Sanbo Kyodan and the FAS Society.
Although it is difficult to trace when the West first became aware of Zen as a distinct form of Buddhism, the visit of Soyen Shaku, a Japanese Zen monk, to Chicago during the World Parliament of Religions in 1893 is often pointed to as an event that enhanced its profile in the Western world. It was during the late 1950s and the early 1960s that the number of Westerners, other than the descendants of Asian immigrants, pursuing a serious interest in Zen began to reach a significant level. Especially Japanese Zen has gained popularity in the West. The various books on Zen by Reginald Horace Blyth, and Alan Watts published between 1950 and 1975, contributed to this growing interest in Zen in the West, as did the interest from beat poets as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder..
Over the last fifty years mainstream forms of Zen, led by teachers who trained in East Asia and their successors, have begun to take root in the West.
In North America, the Zen lineages derived from the Sanbo Kyodan school are the most numerous. The Sanbo Kyodan is a Japan-based reformist Zen group, founded in 1954 by Yasutani Hakuun, which has had a significant influence on Zen in the West. The most widespread are the lineages founded by Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi and the White Plum Asanga. Maezumi's successors include Susan Myoyu Andersen, John Daido Loori, Tetsugen Bernard Glassman, Nicolee Jikyo McMahon, Joan Hogetsu Hoeberichts, and Charlotte Joko Beck.
The San Francisco Zen Center, for Sōtō practice, was established by Shunryu Suzuki. In 1967 it established the first Zen Monastery in America, called Tassajara, in the mountains near Big Sur.
There are also a number of Rinzai Zen centers in the West. In North America, some of the more prominent include Rinzai-ji founded by Kyozan Joshu Sasaki Roshi in California, Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji established by Eido Shimano Roshi and Soen Nakagawa Roshi in New York, Chozen-ji founded by Omori Sogen Roshi in Hawaii, Daiyuzenji founded by Dogen Hosokawa Roshi (a student of Omori Sogen Roshi) in Chicago, Illinois, and Chobo-Ji founded by Genki Takabayshi Roshi in Seattle, Washington. In Europe there is Egely Monastery established by a Dharma Heir of Eido Shimano, Denko Mortensen.
Hsuan Hua was the first Chinese master to teach Westerners in North America. He taught Chán and other traditions of Chinese Buddhism in San Francisco during the early 1960s. He went on to found the City Of Ten Thousand Buddhas, a monastery and retreat center located on a 237 acre (959,000 m²) property near Ukiah, California.
Another Chinese Chán teacher with a Western following is Sheng-yen, a master trained in both the Caodong and Linji schools. He first visited the United States in 1978 under the sponsorship of the Buddhist Association of the United States, and subsequently founded the CMC Chán Meditation Center in Queens, New York and the Dharma Drum Retreat Center in Pine Bush, New York.[web 1]
The Fo Guang Shan organization, which has branches worldwide, also belongs to the Chán school; its founder, the Venerable Master Hsing Yun is a lineage holder in the Linji (Rinzai) tradition.
The Kwan Um School of Zen, one of the largest Zen schools in the West, teaches a form of Seon Buddhism. Soeng Hyang Soen Sa Nim (b. 1948), birth name Barbara Trexler (later Barbara Rhodes), is Guiding Dharma Teacher of the international Kwan Um School of Zen and a successor of the late Seung Sahn Soen Sa Nim.
Two notable Vietnamese Zen teachers have been influential in Western countries: Thich Thien-An and Thich Nhat Hanh. Thich Thien-An came to America in 1966 as a visiting professor at UCLA and taught traditional Thien meditation. Thich Nhat Hanh was a monk in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, during which he was a peace activist. In response to these activities, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967 by Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1966, he left Vietnam in exile and now resides at Plum Village, a monastery in France. He has written more than one hundred books about Buddhism, which have made him one of the very few most prominent Buddhist authors among the general readership in the West. In his books and talks, Thich Nhat Hanh emphasizes mindfulness (sati) as the most important practice in daily life.
In the United States, two pan-lineage organizations have formed in the last few years. The oldest is the American Zen Teachers Association which sponsors an annual conference. North American Soto teachers in North America, led by several of the heirs of Taizan Maezumi and Shunryu Suzuki, have also formed the Soto Zen Buddhist Association.
Zen teachings can be likened to "the finger pointing at the moon". Zen teachings point to the moon, awakening, "a realization of the unimpended interpenetration of the dharmadhatu". But the Zen-tradition also warns against taking its teachings, the pointing finger, to be this insight itself:
Wujin Chang, a nun, asked the Sixth Zen patriarch, Hui Neng, for help in understanding the
Mahanirvana Sutra. The master answered that he could not read, but if the nun would read it aloud for him, he would do his best to help her.
The nun then asked, "If you can't even read the words, how can you understand the truth behind them?"
"Truth and words are unrelated. Truth can be compared to the moon," answered Hui Neng, pointing to the moon with his finger, "And words can be compared to a finger. I can use my finger to point out the moon, but my finger is not the moon, and you don't need my finger in order to be able to see the moon".
[web 2][b]
This warning against confusing the finger and the moon resembles the Diamond-sutra:
[E]very disciple who is seeking
Anuttara-samyak sambhodi should discard, not only conceptions of one's own selfhood, other selves, living beings and a Universal Selfhood, but should discard, also, all ideas about such conceptions and all ideas about the non-existence of such conceptions.
While the
Tathagata, in his teaching, constantly makes use of conceptions and ideas about them, disciples should keep in mind the unreality of all such conceptions and ideas.
Zen is characterised by a set of polarities[38]: absolute-relative,[39] Buddha-nature - sunyata,[40] sudden and gradual enlightenment.[41]
The Prajnaparamita-sutras and Madhyamaka emphasized the non-duality of form and emptiness: "form is emptiness, emptiness is form", as the heart sutra says.[39] This was understood to mean that ultimate reality is not a transcendental realm, but equal to the daily world of relative reality. This idea fitted into the Chinese culture, which emphasized the mundane world and society. But this does not tell how the absolute is present in the relative world:
To deny the duality of samsara and nirvana, as the Perfection of Wisdom does, or to demonstrate logically the error of dichotomizing conceptualization, as Nagarjuna does, is not to address the question of the relationship between samsara and nirvana -or, in more philosophical terms, between phenomenal and ultimate reality [...] What, then, is the relationship between these two realms?
[39]
This question is answered in such schemata as the Five Ranks of Tozan,[42] the Oxherding Pictures, and Hakuin's Four ways of knowing.
The Madhyamaka-scheme of the Two Truths doctrine, and the Yogacara-schemes of the Three Natures and the Trikaya-doctrine, also give depictions of the interplay between the absolute and the relative.
When Buddhism was introduced in China it was understood in terms of its own culture. Various sects struggled to attain an understanding of the Indian texts. The Tathāgatagarbha Sutras and the idea of the Buddha-nature were endorsed, because of the perceived similarities with the Tao, which was understood as a transcendental reality underlying the world of appearances. Sunyata at first was understood as pointing to the Taoist "wu", nothingness.
The doctrine of the Buddha-nature asserts that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature (Skt. Buddhadhātu, "Buddha Element", "Buddha-Principle"), the element from which awakening springs. The Tathāgatagarbha Sutras (literally: the womb of the thus-gone) state that every living being has the potential to realize awakening. Hence Buddhism offers salvation to every-one, not only to monks or those who have freed themselves almost completely from karma in previous lives.[citation needed] The Yogacara theory of the Eight Consciousnesses explains how sensory input and the mind create the world we experience, and obscure the alaya-vijnana, which is equated to the Buddha-nature.
When this potential is realized, and the defilements have been eliminated, the tathagatagarbha manifests as the Dharmakaya, the absolute reality which pervades everything in the world. In this way, it is also the primordial reality from which phenomenal reality springs. When this understanding is idealized, it becomes a transcendental reality beneath the world of appearances.
Sunyata points to the "emptiness" or no-"thing"-ness of all "things". Though we perceive a world of concrete and discrete objects, designated by names, on close analysis the "thingness" dissolves, leaving them "empty" of inherent existence. The Heart sutra, a text from the prajnaparamita-sutras, articulates this in the following saying in which the five skandhas are said to be "empty":
"Oh, Sariputra, Form Does not Differ From the Void,
And the Void Does Not Differ From Form.
Form is Void and Void is Form;
The Same is True For Feelings,
Perceptions, Volitions and Consciousness".
[web 4]
The teachings on the five skandhas belong to the central teachings in the Tripitaka. They form a subdivision of the Samyutta Nikaya. The five skandhas are also mentioned in the Lankavatara-sutra:
The Yogacara explains this "emptiness" in an analysis of the way we perceive "things". Everything we conceive of is the result of the working of the five skandhas—results of perception, feeling, volition, and discrimination.[d] The five skandhas together compose consciousness. The "things" we are conscious of are "mere concepts", not Ding an sich.
It took Chinese Buddhism several centuries to recognize that sunyata does not refer to "wu", nothingness, nor does Buddhism postulate an undying soul. The influence of those various doctrinal and textual backgrounds is still discernible in Zen. Zen teachers still refer to Buddha-nature, but the Zen tradition also emphasizes that Buddha-nature is sunyata, the absence of an independent and substantial self.
In Zen Buddhism two main views on the way to enlightenment are discernible, namely sudden and gradual enlightenment:
There are two different ways of understanding and actually practicing Zen. These two different ways are termed in Chinese pen chueh and shih-chueh respectively. The term pen chueh refers to the belief that one’s mind is from the beginning of time fully enlightened, while shih-chueh refers to the belief that at some point in time we pass from imprisonment in ignorance and delusion to a true vision of Zen realization: “Our enlightenment is timeless, yet our realization of it occurs in time.” According to this belief experiencing a moment of awakening in this life is of central importance.
Early Chán recognized the "transcendence of the body and mind", followed by "non-defilement [of] knowledge and perception", meaning sudden insight into the true nature followed by gradual purification of intentions.
In the 8th-century the Ch'an-history was effectively re-fashioned by Shenhui, who placed Hui-neng into prominence and emphasized sudden enlightenment, as opposed to the concurrent Northern School's alleged gradual enlightenment. According to the sudden enlightenment propagated by Shenhui insight into true nature is sudden; there-after there can be no misunderstanding anymore about this true nature. This emphasis is also maintained by the contemporary Rinzai school. In opposition to this, the Soto-school emphasizes silent illumination and the practice of shikan-taza, just sitting.
Guifeng Zongmi, fifth-generation successor to Shenhui, softened the edge between sudden and gradual. In his analysis, sudden awakening points to seeing into one's true nature, but is to be followed by a gradual cultivation to attain Buddhahood.
Chinul, a 12th-century Koran Seon master, followed Zongmi, and also emphasized that insight into our true nature is sudden, but is to be followed by practice to ripen the insight and attain full Buddhahood. This is also the standpoint of the contemporary Sanbo Kyodan, according to whom kensho is at the start of the path to full enlightenment.
This gradual cultivation is also recognized by Tozan, who described the Five ranks of enlightenment.[web 5] Other example of depiction of stages on the path are the Ten Ox-Herding Pictures which detail the steps on the Path, The Three mysterious Gates of Linji, and the Four Ways of Knowing of Hakuin. This gradual cultivation is described by Chan Master Sheng Yen as follows:
Ch'an expressions refer to enlightenment as "seeing your self-nature". But even this is not enough. After seeing your self-nature, you need to deepen your experience even further and bring it into maturation. You should have enlightenment experience again and again and support them with continuous practice. Even though Ch'an says that at the time of enlightenment, your outlook is the same as of the Buddha, you are not yet a
full Buddha.
When the so-called Southern School placed emphasis on sudden enlightenment, it also marked a shift in doctrinal basis from the Lankavatara-sutra to the prajnaparamita-tradition, especially the Diamond Sutra. The Lankavatara-sutra, which endorses the Buddha-nature, emphasized purity of mind, which can be attained in gradations. The Diamond-sutra emphasizes sunyata, which "must be realized totally or not at all".
Once this dichotomy was in place, it defined its own logic and rhetorics, which are also recognizable in the distinction between Caodong (Soto) and Lin-ji (Rinzai) chán. But it also lead to a "sometimes bitter and always prolix sectarian controversy between later Chán and Hua-yen exegetes". In the Huayan classification of teachings, the sudden approach was regarded inferior to the Perfect Teaching of Hua-yen. Guifeng Zongmi, fifth patriarch of Hua-yen ànd Chán-master, deviced his own classification to counter this subordination. To establish the superiority of the Chán-teachings, Chinul explained the sudden approach as not pointing to mere emptiness, but to suchness or the dharmadhatu.
As a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, Zen draws many of its basic driving concepts from that tradition, such as the bodhisattva ideal. Buddhas and bodhisattvas such as Amitābha, Avalokiteśvara, Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, and Kṣitigarbha are also venerated alongside Gautama Buddha.[63][e]
The Bodhisattva-ideal is a central theme in the prajnaparamita-sutras. The Diamond Sutra tells
... men and women [how] to follow the Bodhisattva Path and [...] how they should proceed.
[web 6]
Part of this Bodhisattva-ideal are the Paramitas, which are also being mentioned in the Diamond Sutra: Dāna (generosity, giving of oneself), Sīla (virtue, morality, proper conduct), Khanti (patience, tolerance, forbearance, acceptance, endurance), Viriya (energy, diligence, vigour, effort), Dhyana (meditation, tranquility), Paññā (wisdom, insight).[f]
A review of the early historical documents and literature of early Zen masters clearly reveals that they were well versed in numerous Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtras. Yet Zen is often pictured as anti-intellectual. This picture of Zen emerged during the Song Dynasty (960–1297), when Chán became the dominant form of Buddhism in China, and gained great popularity among the educated and literary classes of Chinese society. The use of koans, which are highly stylized literary texts, reflects this popularity among the higher classes. The Chán of the Tang Dynasty, especially that of Mazu and Linji with its emphasis on "shock techniques", in retrospect was seen as a golden age of Chán. This picture has gained great popularity in the west in the 20th century, especially due to the influence of D.T. Suzuki. This picture has been challenged, and changed, since the 1970s by modern scientific research on Zen.
The Zen-tradition, especially Rinzai-Zen, says to give a direct transmission of insight, and stresses the impossibility to give any positive statement of this insight. This is famously worded in a 12th century stanza, attributed to Bodhidharma:[g]
A special transmission outside the scriptures,
Not founded upon words and letters.[h]
By pointing directly to [one's] mind,
It lets one see into [one's own true] nature and [thus] attain Buddhahood.
[i]
An example of this non-dependence on words and scripture in 9th century China is Te-shan (Tokusan 780-865). He became famous for burning his commentaries on the Diamond-sutra, when he realized that his attachment to these commentaries had become a stumbleblock on his way to gaining insight.[j]
Hisamatsu states it more bluntly:
From the Zen perspective, scriptures are nothing but scraps of paper for wiping up filth.
[k]
Masao Abe points out that the role of the intellect in the understanding of Zen should not be misunderstood:
It is clear that Zen is not a philosophy. It is beyond words and intellect and is not, as in the case of philosophy, a study of the processes governing thought and conduct, nor a theory of principles or laws that regulate people and the universe. For the realisation of Zen, practice is absolutely necessary. Nevertheless, Zen is neither a mere anti-intellectualism nor a cheap intuitism nor is it an encouragement to animal-like spontaneity. Rather, it embraces a profound philosophy. Although intellectual understanding cannot be a substitute for Zen's awakening, practice without a proper and legitimate form of intellectual understanding is often misleading.
Arokiasamy warns against this
... misleading notion about Awakening which holds that Zen and Awakening are non-intellectual [...] This arises not only from misconstruing the nature of language as merely literal, descriptive and representational but also misunderstanding the nature of Awakening as a literal seeing into reality as such".
The importance given to Zen's non-reliance on written words is also often misunderstood as an opposition to the study of Buddhist texts. However, Zen is deeply rooted in the teachings and doctrines of Mahāyāna Buddhism[l][m], and gradually developed its own literature. What the Zen tradition emphasizes is that enlightenment of the Buddha came not through conceptualization, but rather through direct insight:
Despite its teaching of “no dependence upon words and letters,” Chan did not reject the scriptures of the Buddhist canon, but simply warned of the futility of relying on them for the attainment of emancipating insight. The sacred texts — and much more so the huge exegetical apparatus that had grown up around them in the older scholastic schools — were regarded as no more than signposts pointing the way to liberation. Valuable though they were as guides, they needed to be transcended in order for one to awaken to the true intent of Śākyamuni’s teachings.
The early Buddhist schools in china were each based on a specific sutra. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, by the time of the Fifth Patriarch Hongren (601–674), the Zen school became established as a separate school of Buddhism.[84] It had to develop a doctrinal tradition of its own to ascertain its position,[11] and to ground it's teachings in a specific sutra. Various sutra's were used for this, even before the time of Hongren: the Śrīmālādevī Sūtra (Huike), Awakening of Faith (Daoxin), the Lankavatara Sutra (East Mountain School), the Diamond Sutra (Shenhui), the Platform Sutra. Subsequently, the Zen tradition produced a rich corpus of written literature which has become a part of its practice and teaching.
Other influential sutras are the Vimalakirti Sutra, Avatamsaka Sutra, the Shurangama Sutra, and the Mahaparinirvana Sutra.
The growing Chán tradition also faced the challenge to put its teachings into words, to bolster its identity and to applicate it in formal teaching settings, without losing the central insight into the "suchness" of reality. One solution to this was the shift of emphasis from the recorded sayings of the historical Buddha, to the sayings of living Buddhas, namely the Chán masters. In time, these sayings, from the so-called "encounter-dialogues" between masters and students, but also from sermons, became codified and formed the basis of typical Zen-genres, namely the "yü-lü" (recorded sayings) and the classic koan-collections. These too became formalised, and as such became a subject of disputes on the right way to teach Zen and the avoidance of dependence on words.
In its beginnings in China, Zen primarily referred to the Mahāyāna sūtras and especially to the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra. As a result, early masters of the Zen tradition were referred to as "Laṅkāvatāra masters". As the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra teaches the doctrine of the "One Vehicle" (Skt. Ekayāna), the early Zen school was sometimes referred to as the "One Vehicle School".[95] In other early texts, the school that would later become known as Zen is sometimes even referred to as simply the "Laṅkāvatāra school" (Ch. 楞伽宗, Léngqié Zōng).[96] Accounts recording the history of this early period are to be found in Records of the Laṅkāvatāra Masters (Ch. 楞伽師資記, Léngqié Shīzī Jì).
During the Tang Dynasty, the Zen school's central text shifted to the Diamond Sūtra (Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra). Thereafter, the essential texts of the Zen school were often considered to be the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra and the Diamond Sūtra.[97]
The reasons for this shift are not clear. Whalen Lai writes:
Up to that point [Shenhui (670–762)], the school did not call itself Chan (meditation), a rather colorless name. It was in fact still looking for a name, and the custom then was to tie a new teaching to a sutra. Huike used the Srimala sutra, but Daoxin later drew inspiration from the
Awakening of Faith. Members of the
East Mountain Teaching, realizing that the Awakening of Faith was a sastra, came up with the next best; they conjured up a lineage of Lankavatara sutra masters, this being the sutra that informed the Awakening of Faith. Shenhui then perpetuated the myth that Huineng favored the Diamond Sutra. Actually, none of these labels really identifies the school’s ideological affiliation, because this tradition apparently never used one sutra to legitimize itself.
Kalupahana does see a struggle to give clues to students about ultimate reality, without going back to scripture (e.g. the Lankavatara-sutra). According to him, the use of kung-an's served this role. The prajnaparamita-sutras are a reaction against the early Buddhist philosophical schools, especially the realistic approach of the Sarvastivadins[n], and a return to the notion of non-substantiality. According to Kalupahana, also in Chán the use of...
...the Vajracchedika represents an attempt to return to the Buddha's teaching, which were gradually becoming infested with absolute and transcendentalist metaphysics.
The Vimalakirti Sutra is an early Mahayana Sutra dating from the second century CE. The sutra centers on the person of the householder Vimalakirti, who's being visited by various bodhisattva's while he's ill.
The Vimalakirti Sutra stresses that...
[A]wakening by itself is not enough [...] [A]fter awakening more work remains to be done to perfect the awakening.
The sutra is grounded on the prajnaparamita-teachings on emptiness. This is the central theme in "the dialogue between the bodhisattvas and Vimalakirti on the subject of nonduality". While discussing this subject, the bodhisattvas give a variety of answers. Manjusri is the last bodhisattva to answer, who says that "by giving an explanation they have already fallen into dualism". Vimalakirti, in his turn, answers with silence. [o]
This silence became paradigmatic for the Chán-tradition:
Thus are all Zen masters reluctant to express enlightenment, the condition of nonduality, in words or signs.
The Avatamsaka Sutra is a compilation of sutras of various length. The earliest of these texts, the Daśabhūmika Sūtra, maybe dates from the first century CE. The Daśabhūmika Sūtra describes the ten stages on the Bodhisattva-path. The various sutras were probably joined together shortly before it's translation into Chinese, at the beginning of the 5th century CE.
The Avatamsaka ("guirland", string of flowers) sutra integrates the teachings on sunyata and vijnaptimatra (mind-only). The Huayan school, that originated in the same period as Chán, and influenced the Chán-school, was based on the Avatamsaka Sutra.
The basic idea of the Avatamsaka Sutra is the unity of the absolute and the relative:
All in One, One in All. The All melts into a single whole. There are no divisions in the totality of reality [...] [I]t views the cosmos as holy, as "one bright pearl," the universal reality of the Buddha. The
universal Buddhahood of all reality is the religious message of the Avatamsaka-sutra.
Each part of the world reflects the totality of the cosmos:
In each dust-mote of these worlds
Are countless worlds and Buddhas...
From the tip of each hair of Buddha's body
Are revealed the indescribable Pure Lands...
The indescribable infinite Lands
All ensemble in a hair's tip [of Buddha].
All levels of reality are related and interpenetrated. This is depicted in the image of Indra's net. This "unity in totality allows every individual entity of the phenomenal world its uniqueness without attributing an inherent nature to anything".
The Hua-yen school persistently influenced Chán. Tsung-mi, the Fifth Patriarch of the Hua-yen school, also occupies a prominent position in the history of Chán. During the Song, the Hua-yen metaphysics were completely assimilated by the Chán-school.
The Avatamsaka Sutra is being referred to, directly or indirectly, in Chán-writings. Xinxin Ming's Faith in mind is "in many passages [...] akin to the Avatamsaka sutra, especially the closing stanzas". Tsung-mi's writings reflect his Hua-yen influences.
Among the earliest of the specifically Zen texts, dating back to at least the 8th century CE, is the Platform Sūtra of the Sixth Patriarch, attributed to Huineng. It was constructed over a longer period of time, and contains different layers of writing. It is...
...a wonderful melange of early Chan teachings, avirtual respitory of the entire tradition up to the second half of the eight century. At the heart of the sermon is the same understanding of the Buddha-nature that we have seen in texts attributed to Bodhidharma and Hingren, including the idea that the fundamental Buddha-nature is only made invisble to ordinary humans by their illusions".
It contains the well-known story of the contest for the succession of Hongren. According to the text, Huineng won this contest, but had to flee the monastery to avoid the rage of the supporters of Henxui. The story is not a factual account, but an 8th-century construction, probably by the so-called Oxhead School.
The contest centers on two verses:
Shenxiu:
The body is the bodhi tree;
The mind is like a bright mirror’s stand.
Be always diligent in rubbing it—
Do not let it attract any dust.
Huineng:
Bodhi is fundamentally without any tree;
The bright mirror is also not a stand.
Fundamentally there is not a single thing—
Where could any dust be attracted?
According to the traditional interpretation, which is based on Guifeng Zongmi, the fifth-generation successor of Shenhui, the two verses represent respectively the gradual and the sudden approach. According to McRae, this is an incorrect understanding:
[T]he verse attributed to Shenxiu does not in fact refer to gradual or progressive endeavor, but to a constant practice of cleaning the mirror [...] [H]is basic message was that of the constant and perfect teaching, the endless personal manifestation of the bodhisattva ideal.
Huineng's verse does not stand alone, but forms a pair with Shenxiu's verse:
Huineng's verse(s) apply the rhetoric of emptiness to undercut the substantiality of the terms of that formulation. However, the basic meaning of the first proposition still remains".
McRae notes a similarity in reasoning with the Oxhead School, which used a threefold structure of "absolute, relative and middle", or "thesis-antithesis-synthesis". According to McRae, the Platform Sutra itself is the synthesis in this threefold structure, giving a balance between the need of constant practice and the insight into the absolute.
The Platform Sūtra cites and explains a wide range of Buddhist scriptures: the Diamond Sūtra, the Lotus Sūtra (Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra), the Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra, the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana-sutra, and the Mahaparinirvana Sutra.
The Chán-tradition developed from the established tradition of "Canonical Buddhism", which "remained normative for all later Chinese Buddhism". It was established by the end of the sixth century, as a result of the Chinese developing understanding of Buddhism in the previous centuries. One of the inventions of this Canonical Buddhism were transmission lists, a literary device to establish a lineage. Both T'ien Tai and Chán took over this literary device, to lend authority to those developing traditions, and guarantee it's authencity:
Chan texts present the school as Buddhism itself, or as the central teaching of Buddhism, which has been transmitted from the seven Buddhas of the past to the twenty-eight patriarchs, and all the generations of Chinese and Japanese Chan and Zen masters that follow.
Another literary device for establishing those traditions was given by the Kao-seng-chuan (Biographies of Eminent Monks), compiles around 530. The Chán-tradition developed its own corpus in this genre, with works as Anthology of the Patriarchal Hall (952) and the Jingde Records of the Transmission of the Lamp (published 1004). McRae considers Dumoulin's A History of Zen to be a modern example of this genre, disguished as scientific history.
From the "question-and-answer format that had been developed as a means of conveying Buddhist teachins" developed the "yü-lü" genre, the recorded sayings of the masters, and the encounter dialogues. The best-known example is the "Lin-ji yü-lü".[web 7] These recorded sayings are not verbatim recordings of the sayings of the masters, but well-edited texts, written down up to 160 years after the supposed sayings and meetings.
This "encounter dialogue"-genre developed into various collections of kōans, which form itself another extensive literary corpus.
The Japanese Zen-tradition also developed a corpus of its own, such as theShōbōgenzō of Dōgen Zenji. But also Hakuin, one of the most famous Rinzai-teachers, produced a corpus of written texts.
Centrally to Chán-practice is dhyana or meditation. In the Lin-ji (Rinzai) school this is supplemented with kōan-study.
The Zen tradition holds that in meditation practice, notions of doctrine and teachings necessitate the creation of various notions and appearances (Skt. saṃjñā; Ch. 相, xiāng) that obscure the transcendent wisdom of each being's Buddha-nature. This process of rediscovery goes under various terms such as "introspection", "a backward step", "turning-about" or "turning the eye inward".
Venerable Hsuan Hua meditating in the Lotus Position.
Hong Kong, 1953.
Sitting meditation is called zazen, and in Chinese it is called zuòchán (坐禅), both simply meaning "sitting dhyāna". During this sitting meditation, practitioners usually assume a position such as the lotus position, half-lotus, Burmese, or seiza postures. To regulate the mind, awareness is directed towards counting or watching the breath or put in the energy center below the navel (see also anapanasati).[web 8] Often, a square or round cushion placed on a padded mat is used to sit on; in some other cases, a chair may be used.
In the Soto school of Zen, meditation with no objects, anchors, or content, is the primary form of practice. The meditator strives to be aware of the stream of thoughts, allowing them to arise and pass away without interference. Considerable textual, philosophical, and phenomenological justification of this practice can be found throughout Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō, as for example in the "Principles of Zazen"[web 9] and the "Universally Recommended Instructions for Zazen".[web 10]
At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, practice with the kōan method became popular, whereas others practiced "silent illumination." This became the source of some differences in practice between the Linji and Caodong traditions.
Zen traditions[which?] include periods of intensive group meditation in a monastery. While the daily routine in the monastery may require monks to meditate for several hours each day, during this intensive period they devote themselves almost exclusively to the practice of sitting meditation. The numerous 30–50 minute long meditation periods are interleaved with short rest breaks, meals, and sometimes, short periods of work should be performed with the same mindfulness; nightly sleep is kept to a minimum: 7 hours or less. In modern Buddhist practice in Japan, Taiwan, and the West, lay students often attend these intensive practice sessions, which are typically 1, 3, 5, or 7 days in length. These are held at many Zen centers, especially in commemoration of the Buddha's attainment of Anuttarā Samyaksaṃbodhi. One distinctive aspect of Zen meditation in groups is the use of a flat wooden slat used to keep meditators focused and awake.
A kōan, literally "public case", is a story or dialogue, describing an interaction between a Zen master and a student. These anecdotes give a demonstration of the master's insight, characterised by uncoventional responses and behaviour. This unconventionality is meant to emphasize the non-conceptional insight that the Buddhist teachings are pointing to. Koans can be used to provoke the "great doubt", and test a student's progress in Zen practice.
To Zen Buddhists the kōan is "the place and the time and the event where truth reveals itself", unobstructed by the oppositions and differentiations of language. Answering a kōan requires a student to let go of conceptual thinking and of the logical way we order the world, so that insight into sunyata arises naturally and spontaneously in the mind. But this does not mean that words are useless, as is demonstrated already by the mere fact that koans are words:
[T]he way to satori is not through dependence upon words, even if they be words of the Buddha or past Masters; however, one should not reject words, for, imperfect as they are, they are the only means we have of attaining enlightenment. They should use the words and ideas contained in the koans to reach satori, but they should never confuse the two. Conceptualizations, words, logic and reason are means whereby one attains enlightenment, but they must not be equated [w]ith enlightenment.
[web 11]
Kōans and their study developed in China within the context of the open questions and answers of teaching sessions conducted by the Chinese Zen masters. The recorded encounter dialogues, and the koan collections which derived from this genre, mark a shift from solitary practice to interaction between master and student:
The essence of enlightenment came to be identified with the interaction between masters and students. Whatever insight dhyana might bring, its verification was always interpersonal. In effect, enlightenment came to be understood not so much as an insight, but as a way of acting in the world with other people
[127]
This mutual enquiry of the meaning of the encounters of masters and students of the past gave students a role model:
One looked at the enlightened activities of one's lineal forebears in order to understand one's own identity [...] taking the role of the participants and engaging in their dialogues instead
[p]
Koan practice developed from a literary practice, styling snippets of encounter-dialogue into well-edited stories. It arose in interaction with "educated literati".[129] There were dangers involved in such a literary approach, such as fixing specific meanings to the cases.[129] Dahui Zonggao is even said to have burned the woodblocks of the Blue Cliff Record, for the hindrance it had become to study of Chán by his students[130]
Today, the Zen student's mastery of a given kōan is presented to the teacher in a private interview (referred to in Japanese as dokusan (独参), daisan (代参), or sanzen (参禅)). Zen teachers advise that the problem posed by a kōan is to be taken quite seriously, and to be approached as literally a matter of life and death. While there is no unique answer to a kōan, practitioners are expected to demonstrate their understanding of the kōan and of Zen through their responses. The teacher may approve or disapprove of the answer and guide the student in the right direction. There are also various commentaries on kōans, written by experienced teachers, that can serve as a guide. These commentaries are also of great value to modern scholarship on the subject. Kōan-inquiry may be practiced during sitting meditation (zazen), walking meditation (kinhin), and throughout all the activities of daily life. Kōan practice is particularly emphasized by the Japanese Rinzai school, but it also occurs in other schools or branches of Zen depending on the teaching line.
Another important, though easily overlooked aspect of the Zen-tradition, is the interaction with a Zen-teacher. This importance is reflected in the private interrogations. Even the literary devices and traditions on which this koan-study is based, are regarded inadequate:
Thus, even the kung-an that had been redacted and commented upon by earlier masters were perceived as inadequate. All props are taken away and no texts or hermeneutical methods are left, except for recourse to religious practice under an enlightened master. In this way, the use of scripture, transmission lineages, yu-lu, and kung-an collections is relegated to a secondary level, as hermeneutical variations on the recurring Ch'an challenge to seek enlightenment oneself through a face-to-face encounter with a Ch'an master.
Yet, it is this same accent on interaction which makes Zen-practice, at least in the west, also vulnerable to misunderstanding and exploitation.
A practice in many Zen monasteries and centers is a daily liturgy service. Practitioners chant major sutras such as the Heart Sutra, chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra (often called the "Avalokiteshvara Sutra"), the Song of the Jewel Mirror Awareness, the Great Compassionate Heart Dharani (Daihishin Dharani), and other minor mantras.
The Butsudan is the altar in a monastery where offerings are made to the images of the Buddha or Bodhisattvas. The same term is also used in Japanese homes for the altar where one prays to and communicates with deceased family members. As such, reciting liturgy in Zen can be seen as a means to connect with the Bodhisattvas of the past. Liturgy is often used during funerals, memorials, and other special events as means to invoke the aid of supernatural powers.[citation needed]
Chanting usually centers on major Bodhisattvas like Avalokiteshvara (see also Guan Yin) and Manjusri. According to Mahayana Buddhism, Bodhisattvas are beings who have taken vows to remain in Samsara to help all beings achieve liberation from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Since the Zen practitioner's aim is to walk the Bodhisattva path, chanting can be used as a means to connect with these beings and realize this ideal within oneself. By repeatedly chanting the Avalokiteshvara sutra (観世音菩薩普門品, Kanzeon Bosatsu Fumonbon?) (chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra[web 12]), for example, one instills the Bodhisattva's ideals into ones mind. The ultimate goal is given in the end of the sutra, which states, "In the morning, be one with Avalokiteshvara; in the evening, be one with Avalokiteshvara". Through the realization of emptiness and the Mahayana notion that all things have Buddha-nature, one understands that there is no difference between the cosmic bodhisattva and oneself. The wisdom and compassion of the Bodhisattva one is chanting to is seen to equal the inner wisdom and compassion of the practitioner. Thus, the duality between subject and object, practitioner and Bodhisattva, chanter and sutra is ended.
Modern scientific research on the history of Zen discerns three main narratives concerning Zen, its history and its teachings: Traditional Zen Narrative (TZN),[134][web 13] Buddhist Modernism (BM),[29] Historical and Cultural Criticism (HCC).[134]
The Traditional Zen Narrative developed in phases in China during the Tang Dynasty and the beginning of the Song Dynasty, from the 7th to 11th century. It became dominant during the Song Dynasty, when Chán was the dominant form of Buddhism in China, due to support from the Emperial Court.
Its main phases were the development of the traditional Chan lineage, culminating in the "Transmission of the Lamp"-genre,[11] the encounter dialogue culminating in the kōan collections,[11] and the "climax-paradigm of the Song period, when Chan became the dominant Buddhist school in China.[11]
The Traditional Zen Narrative bases its self-understanding especially on the encounter stories of the well-known teachers of the later Tang-period, such as Mazu Daoyi and Linji.[135] This period is seen as the "golden age" of Chan, a "romantic coloring"[135] discarded by McRae:
"...what is being referred to is not some collection of activities and events that actually happened in the 8th through 10th centuries, but instead the retrospective re-creation of those activities and events, the imagined identities of the magical figures of the Tang, within the minds of Song dynasty Chan devotees"[135][135][...]"This retrospective quality pervades the Chan tradition. Time and again we find we are dealing, not with what happened at any given point, but with what people thought happened previously"[136]
In the 20th century the Traditional Zen Narrative was transformed into a modern narrative, due to the power of the Western colonial forces and the modernisation of Japan,[27][29] and the popularization in the Western world.[29]
As a consequence of the adaptation of Zen to the modern world a romantic idea of enlightenment as insight into a timeless, transcendent reality has been popularized, especially by D.T. Suzuki,[137][138] who, though known as a Zen Buddhist, was also influenced by Theosophy.[139] Further popularization was due to the writings of Heinrich Dumoulin.[140][141][142] Dumoulin viewed metaphysics as the expression of a transcendent truth, which according to him was expressed by Mahayana Buddhism, but not by the pragmatic analysis of the oldest Buddhism, which emphasizes anatta.[143] This romantic vision fits into Western romantic notions of self-realization and the true self, being regarded as a substantial essence being covered over by social conditioning.
Contemporary research on Buddhism has shed new light on the history of Chan and Zen.
Since the 1960s the scientific research on Zen has created another narrative of Zen.[142] The "grand saga"[144] of Zen appears not to be an accurate historical documentation, but a skillfully created narrative, meant to lend authority to the Zen school.[11] The consequences of this critical narrative seem hardly to be recognized in the Western world.[30][web 14]
The romantic notion of enlightenment as a timeless insight into a transcendental essence has been thoroughly criticized.[137] According to critics it doesn't contribute to a real insight into Buddhism:
"...most of them labour under the old cliché that the goal of Buddhist psychological analysis is to reveal the hidden mysteries in the human mind and thereby facilitate the development of a transcendental state of consciousness beyond the reach of linguistic expression.[145]
The introduction of Zen in the West has been accompanied by problems which seem to be connected to this "grand saga". The teacher scandals which have occurred in Western Zen have been explained as being caused by a misinterpretation of the meaning of dharma transmission and the position of a roshi.
In Western Zen dharma transmission is highly esteemed. In the Japanese monastery system dharma transmission is a formal notification that someone is fully qualified to take a leading role in this system[137][146] In the USA and Europe dharma transmission is linked to the unofficial title roshi, older teacher. In the Western world roshis have been given an archetypal status as wise old man, someone who has realized an infallible insight into the true self, and a perfect personality. In daily life this appears to be an idealized view, give the repeated cases of abuse of power, and financial and sexual misbehaviour.[146][147]
Japanese Zen organisations supported Japanese nationalism and its endeavours during the Pacific War. This support has been made widely known in the Western world by Brian Victoria in his groundbreaking study Zen at War, though in Japan this was already more common knowledge.[27] D.T. Suzuki too supported these endeavours.[28][30][148] This Japanese nationalism, and the Japanese uniqueness was also a reaction to perceived western imperialism during the 19th century.[149]
- ^ Dumoulin writes in his preface to "Zen"A History. Part One: India and China": "Zen (Chin. Ch'an, an abbreviation of ch'an-na, which transliterates the Sanskrit dhyana or its Pali cognate jhana, terms meaning "meditation") is the name of a Mahayana Buddhist school of meditation originating in China and characterized by the practice of meditation in the lotus position (Jpn., zazen; Chin., tso-ch'an and the use of the koan (Chin., kung-an), as well as by the enlightenment experinece of satori
- ^ This anecdote refers to a passage from the Lankavatara-sutra: "As the ignorant grasp the finger-tip and not the moon, (224) so those who cling to the letter, know not my truth." [web 3]
- ^ The influence of these teachings can be seen in the sayings of Mazu:
Master Liang visited Ma-tsu.
Ma-tsu said: I heard that the master is great at explaining the sutras and sastras, is that so?
Liang said: Indeed
Ma-tsu said: With what do you explain?
Liang said: I explain with the mind
Ma-tsu said: The mind is like an artist and consciousness is [like] his helper, how can you explain the teachings with that?
- ^ Translations do differ, which makes a difference. Vijñāna can be translated as "consiousness", but also as "discernemnt".
- ^ Lathouwers 2000:221 mentions: Blofeld, John (1988), Bodhisattva of compassion - the mystical tradition of kuan Yin. Boston: Shanbhala
- ^ Wai-tao and Goddard re-arranged theit translation of the Diamond Sutra topically, using the six paramitas as a framework
- ^ According to Whalen Lai, this stanza "point[s] more directly to the Zen of the Hung-chou school" of Ma-tsu
- ^ Whalen Lai translates this line as "No postulating (li) of (any positive) thesis in words"
- ^ In The Essential Determination, a text by Chih-ta (d. 714), a student of Shen-hui, "contemplative analysis" is applied to a line from the Diamond Sutra:
"Should view the locus of non-being".
The text then proceeds:
Question: "What thing does one see?"
Answer: "The [Nirvana] Sutra says: 'See the [Buddha]-nature and achieve the enlightenment of Buddhahood'."
- ^ Tokusan is being mentioned in case 13 and 28 of the Mumonkan, and case 4 of the Blue Cliff Record
- ^ This is a reference to the Record of Linji: Someone asked, “What about the state where ‘mind and Mind do not differ’?” The master said, “The instant you ask the question they are already separate, and essence differs from its manifestations. “Followers of the Way, make no mistake! All the dharmas of this world and of the worlds beyond are without self-nature. Also, they are without produced nature. They are just empty names, and these names are also empty. All you are doing is taking these worthless names to be real. That’s all wrong! Even if they do exist, they are nothing but states of dependent transformation, such as the dependent transformations of bodhi, nirvana, emancipation, the threefold body, the [objective] surroundings and the [subjective] mind, bodhisattvahood, and buddhahood. What are you looking for in these lands of dependent transformations! All of these, up to and including the Three Vehicles’ twelve divisions of teachings, are just so much waste paper to wipe off privy filth. The buddha is just a phantom body, the patriarchs just old monks.
- ^ Albert Low: "It is evident that the masters were well versed in the sutras. Zen master Tokusan, for example, knew the Diamond Sutra well and, before meeting with bhis own Zen master, lectured upon it extensively; the founder of the Zen sect, Bodhidharma, the very one who preached selfrealization outside the scriptures, nevertheless advocated the Lankavatara Sutra; Zen master Hogen knew the Avatamsaka Sutra well, and koan twenty-six in the Mumonkan, in which Hogen is involved, comes out of the teaching of that sutra. Other koans, too, make reference directly or indirectly to the sutras. The autobiography of yet another Zen master, Hui Neng, subsequently became the Platform Sutra, one of those sutras so condemned by those who reject intellectual and sutra studies"
- ^ Poceski: "Direct references to specific scriptures are relatively rare in the records of Mazu and his disciples, but that does not mean that they rejected the canon or repudiated its authority. To the contrary, one of the striking features of their records is that they are filled with scriptural quotations and allusions, even though the full extend of their usage of canonical sources is not immediately obvious and its discernment requires familiarity with Buddhist literature." See source for a full-length example from "one of Mazu's sermons", in which can be found references to the Vimalakīrti Scripture, the Huayan Scripture, the Mahāsamnipata-sūtra, the Foshuo Foming Scripture 佛說佛名經, the Lankāvatāra scripture and the Faju jing.
- ^ The reaction against this realism of the Sarvastivadins, who held that "things do exist in a real sense [and] [p]ast and future also possess real existence", can be recognized in case 28 of the Mumonkan, on Tokusan and the Diamond Sutra: "The old woman said, "I hear it is said in that sutra, 'The past mind cannot be held, the present mind cannot be held, the future mind cannot be held.' Now, I would like to ask you, what mind are you going to have refreshed?""
- ^ This dialogue is being treated in case 84 of the Hekiganroku
- ^ This role-taking is described by the Swedish psychologist of religion Hjalmar Sundén, though McRae does not seem to be aware of this
- Web references
- ^ Ven. Master Sheng Yen, The Founder of Dharma Drum Mountain
- ^ Pointing at the moon
- ^ a b Lankavatara Sutra, chapter LXXXII, p.192 Suzuki-translation, p.223/224 in brackets
- ^ The Heart Sutra Prajna Paramita Hrydaya Sutra
- ^ The Five Ranks of Tozan
- ^ Diamond Sutra (Vajracchedika Prajna Paramita)
- ^ Translation of the Lin-ji yü-lü by Fuller-Sasaki
- ^ Sheng, Yen. "Fundamentals of Meditation". http://www.chancenter.org/chanctr/ddp/talks/zuochan.html.
- ^ Soto Zen Text Project. "Zazengi translation". Stanford University. http://hcbss.stanford.edu/research/projects/sztp/translations/shobogenzo/translations/zazengi/zazengi.translation.html. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
- ^ Soto Zen Text Project. "Fukan Zazengi". Stanford University. http://www.stanford.edu/group/scbs/sztp3/translations/gongyo_seiten/translations/part_3/fukan_zazengi.html. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
- ^ John F. Fisher (1978), An Analysis Of The Koans In The Mu Mon Kwan. In: Numen, Vol. 25, Fasc. 1. (Apr., 1978), pp. 65-76
- ^ Avalokiteśvara Sutra
- ^ Andre van de Braak, ZEN SPIRITUALITY IN A SECULAR AGE. Charles Taylor and Zen Buddhism in the West
- ^ Weblog of David Chapman
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- McRae, John (2008), THE PLATFORM SUTRA OF THE SIXTH PATRIARCH. Translated from the Chinese of Zongbao (Taishō Volume 48, Number 2008) by John R. McRae, http://www.thezensite.com/ZenTeachings/Translations/PlatformSutra_McRaeTranslation.pdf
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Modern classics
- D.T. Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism, First Series (1927), Second Series (1933), Third Series (1934)
- R. H. Blyth, Zen and Zen Classics, 5 volumes (1960–1970; reprints of works from 1942 into 1960's)
- Paul Reps & Nyogen Senzaki, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones (1957)
- Alan Watts, The Way of Zen (1957)
- Lu K'uan Yu (Charles Luk), Ch'an and Zen Teachings, 3 vols (1960, 1971, 1974), The Transmission of the Mind: Outside the Teaching (1974)
- Philip Kapleau, The Three Pillars of Zen (1966)
- Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (1970)
- Katsuki Sekida, Zen Training: Methods & Philosophy (1975)
Classic history
- Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005), Zen Buddhism: A History. Volume 1: India and China. World Wisdom Books. ISBN 9780941532891
- Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005), Zen Buddhism: A History. Volume 2: Japan. World Wisdom Books. ISBN 9780941532907
Critical Zen studies
- Mcrae, John (2003), Seeing through Zen. Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism. The University Press Group Ltd . ISBN 9780520237988
- McMahan, David L. (2008), The Making of Buddhist Modernism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195183276
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