Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1924

Also compare _Sutta-Nipāta_, verse 886, where dualism is considered to be the outcome of false philosophical reasoning “Takkañ ca diṭṭhisu pakappayitvā, saccaṁ musā ti dvayadhammam āhu.”

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1992

A monk approached Chao-chou with the same question, to which he replied, “It is like writing characters in the dark: while the characters are not properly formed, their outlines are plainly traceable.”

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1177

When Tokusan gained an insight into the truth of Zen, he immediately took up all his commentaries on the _Diamond Sutra_, once so valued and considered indispensable that he had to carry them wherever he went; he now set fire to them, reducing all the manuscripts into nothingness. He exclaimed: “However deep your knowledge of abstruse philosophy, it is like a piece of hair placed in the vastness of space; and however important your experience in things worldly, it is like a drop of water thrown into an unfathomable abyss.”[5.20]

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1635

As long as there is any thought of anybody, whether he be God or Devil, knowing of your doings, Zen would say “You are not yet one of us.” Deeds that are accompanied by such thought are not “meritless deeds,” but full of tracks and shadows. If a Spirit is tracing you, he will in no time get hold of you and make you account for what you have done. The perfect garment shows no seams, inside and outside; it is one complete piece and nobody can tell where the work began and how it was woven.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1338

What others, that is, ideas or images can do, is to indicate the way where lies the truth. This is what Zen masters do. And the indicators given by them are naturally unconventionally free and refreshingly original. As their eyes are always fixed on the ultimate truth itself, anything and everything they can command is utilised to accomplish the end, regardless of its logical conditions and consequences.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 109

All these ideas are energy-releasing ideas for the Japanese, and this release, according to some psychologists, is self-suggestion. Social conventions and imitative instincts may also be regarded as self-suggestions. So is moral discipline. An example is given to the students to follow or imitate it. The idea gradually takes root in them through suggestion, and they finally come to act as if it were their own. Self-suggestion is a barren theory, it does not explain anything.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 91

We long for naturalness and freedom, yet we do not seem to attain them. The Zen masters know this, for they have gone through with the same experiences once. They want to have us get rid of all these wearisome burdens which we really do not have to carry in order to live a life of truth and enlightenment. Thus they utter a few words and demonstrate with action that, when rightly comprehended, will deliver us from the oppression and tyranny of these intellectual accumulations.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 920

This satisfied the disciple who now said, “To-day for the first time I realise that sins are neither within nor without nor in the middle; just as Mind is, so is the Buddha, so is the Dharma; they are not two.”[f96]

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 370

These singularities are enough to make the _Laṅkāvatāra_ occupy a unique position in the whole lore of the Mahayana school.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 512

But this was done during the Sung dynasty when the Confucian philosophers took in Buddhist ideas into their teaching and reconstructed the whole system on a new basis, which, however, was considered by them to be the necessary course of growth for Confucianism. Whatever this was, there is no doubt that the Sung philosophy was enriched and deepened by absorbing Buddhist views. In this, all the historians of Chinese intellectual development agree.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1759

His are in fact a revision and perfection of those of his predecessor. The pictures are ten in number, and each has a short introduction in prose followed by a commentary verse, both of which are translated below. There were some other masters who composed stanzas on the same subjects using the rhymes of the first commentator, and some of them are found in the popular edition of “The Ten Cow-herding Pictures.”

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1489

“No clouds are gathering over the mountain peaks, And how serenely the moon is reflected on the waves!”

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1446

Ryutan Sōshin (Lung-t‘an Sui-hsin)[6.68] was a disciple of Tenno Dōgo (Tao-wu). He served the master as one of his personal attendants. He was with him for some time when one day he said to the master: “Since I came to you, I have not at all been instructed in the study of mind.” Replied the master, “Ever since you came to me, I have always been pointing to you how to study mind.” “In what way, sir?” “When you brought me a cup of tea, did I not accept it? When you served me with food, did I not partake of it? When you made bows to me, did I not return them? When did I ever neglect in giving you instructions?” Ryutan kept his head hanging for some time, when the master told him, “If you want to see, see directly into it; but when you try to think about it, it is altogether missed.”

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 901

Mystery envelops the end of Bodhi-Dharma’s life in China, we do not know how, when, and where he passed away from this earth. Some say that he was poisoned by his rivals, others say that he went back to India crossing the desert, and still others report that he came over to Japan. In one thing they all agree which is this: he was quite old, being, according to Tao-hsüan, over one hundred and fifty years at his death.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1662

Perhaps our too emphatic protest against materialism has done this. Thus not to have anything, even wisdom and virtue, has been made the object of Buddhist life, though this does not mean that it despises them. In despising there is in a large measure something impure, not thoroughly purgated; as true Bodhisattvas are even above purity and virtuousness, how much more so they would be above such petty weaknesses of human being!

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1350

A monk asked Jōshu,[6.26] “I read in the Sutra that all things return to the One, but where does this One return to?” Answered the master, “When I was in the province of Tsing I had a robe made which weighed seven _chin_.” When Kōrin (Hsiang-lin Yüan)[6.27] was asked what was the signification of Bodhi-Dharma’s coming from the West, his reply was, “After a long sitting one feels fatigued.” What is the logical relation between the question and the answer?

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1660

“‘Neither a gimlet’s point nor the room for it,’ some sing; but this is not yet real poverty: As long as one is conscious of having nothing, there still remains the guardian of poverty. I am lately poverty-stricken in all conscience, For from the very beginning I do not see even the one that is poor.”

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 988

This was in all likelihood the reason why the sixth patriarch was unreasonably and sometimes even dramatically made unlettered.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1230

The explosion, as it is nothing else, generally takes place when this finely balanced equilibrium tilts for one reason or another. A stone is thrown into a sheet of water in perfect stillness, and the disturbance at once spreads all over the surface. It is somewhat like this. A sound knocks at the gate of consciousness so tightly closed, and it at once reverberates through the entire being of the individual. He is awakened in the most vivid sense of the word. He comes out baptised in the fire of creation. He has seen the work of God in his very workshop. The occasion may not necessarily be the hearing of a temple bell, it may be reading a stanza, or seeing something moving, or the sense of touch irritated, when a most highly accentuated state of concentration bursts out into a satori.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1386

Hōgen was a great master of repetitions, and there is another interesting instance. After trying to understand the ultimate truth of Zen under fifty-four masters,[6.42] Tokusho (Tê-shao, 907–971) finally came to Hōgen; but tired of making special efforts to master Zen, he simply fell in with the rest of the monks there.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 505

It is true that Buddhism began to make its influence felt among Chinese thinkers even during the Latter Han dynasty as we see, for instance, in Mou-tzŭ’s “Essay on Reason and Error” written between 190–220 A.D. After this there were many writers who discussed the Buddhist doctrines of Karma and Causation and Immortality; for these were some of the ideas introduced from India through Buddhism. It was with the Taoists, however, the Buddhists had much heated controversy from the sixth century on.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1186

Hōyen (Fa-yen) of Gosozan (wu-tso-shan), who died in 1104, succeeded Shutan (Shou-tuan), of Haku-un (Pai-yün), and was the teacher of Yengo (Yüan-wu), composed the following when his mental eye was first opened:

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 487

With the rise of the Sung dynasty (960–1279) Zen reached the height of its development and influence, while the other sects of Buddhism showed signs of rapid decline. When history opens on the pages of the Yüan (1280–1367) and the Ming (1368–1661) dynasty, Buddhism is found identified with Zen.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1844

[f1] As it was not expedient to set up Chinese type in England, special Chinese notes at the end of the book have been prepared in Japan, in which are found all the Chinese characters considered by the author useful for scholars’ reference. The superior figures throughout the present work point to the Chinese notes in the Appendix.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1575

The shrine-keeper later lost his eye-brows for remonstrating against the apparent impiety of Tanka, while the Buddha’s wrath never was visited upon the latter.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 416

The Indians are subtle in analysis and dazzling in poetic flight; the Chinese are children of earthly life, they plod, they never soar away in the air. Their daily life consists in tilling the soil, gathering dry leaves, drawing water, buying and selling, being filial, and observing social duties, and developing the most elaborate system of etiquette. Being practical means in a sense being historical, observing the progress of time and recording its traces as they are left behind.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1398

After eating the cake, the officer asked the master again, who then remarked, “Only we do not know it even when we are using it everyday.”[6.44] This is evidently an object lesson. Another time a monk came to him and wanted to know how to enter upon the path of truth. Gensha asked, “Do you hear the murmuring of the stream?” “Yes, I do,” said the monk.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 550

Here then arises the most significant question in the history of Buddhism. What was it in this experience that made the Buddha conquer Ignorance (_avijjā_, _avidyā_) and freed him from the Defilements (_āsava_, _āśrava_)? What was the insight or vision he had into things, which had never before been presented to his mind? Was it his doctrine of universal suffering due to Thirst (_taṇhā_, _tṛishṇā_) and Grasping (_upādāna_)? Was it his causation theory by which he traced the source of pain and suffering to Ignorance?

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 73

This is perhaps the idea put in the first question of the monk, to which the master replies: Salvation must be sought in the finite itself, there is nothing infinite apart from finite things; if you seek something transcendental, that will cut you off from this world of relativity, which is the same thing as the annihilation of yourself. You do not want salvation at the cost of your own existence. If so, drink and eat, and find your way of freedom in this drinking and eating.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 646

How shall we understand this? As in the case of the Twelve Nidanas, the Fourfold Noble Truth will surely fail to yield up its deepest signification when we approach it intellectually. For it is no more than a restatement of the dogma of dependent origination, however different in form, the same principle is asserted both in the Paṭicca-samuppāda and in the Ariya-sacca.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1507

We can see in this sanctification of work the practical attitude of the Chinese mind well reflected. When I said that Zen was the Chinese interpretation of the doctrine of Enlightenment, the Zen conception of work did not essentially or theoretically enter into my conclusion. But from the practical point of view work is such an integral part of the Zen life now that the one cannot be conceived as independent of the other.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 67

All the treatments, sometimes literary and sometimes physical, which are most liberally and kindheartedly given by the masters to inquiring souls, are intended to get them back to the original state of freedom. And this is never really realised until we once personally experience it through our own efforts, independent of any ideational representation.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 431

Some may think it altogether childish and injuring the dignity of the Buddha as teacher of solemn religious truths. But this is a superficial interpretation of the matter. The Indian idealists knew far better; they had a more penetrating imagination which was always effectively employed by them whenever the intellect was put to a task beyond its power.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1181

Some masters have left in the form of verse known as “Ge” (_gāthā_) what they perceived or felt at the time when their mental eye was opened. The verse has the special name of “Tōki-no-ge”[f112][5.22] and from the following translations the reader may draw his own conclusions as to the nature and content of a satori so highly prized by the Zen followers.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1736

As we have already observed in several instances of satori, the transition from ignorance to enlightenment is so abrupt, the common cur, as it were, suddenly turns into a golden-haired lion. Zen is an ultra-discrete wing of Buddhism. But this holds true only when the truth of Zen itself is considered, apart from its relation to the human mind in which it is disclosed.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 700

The teaching of the Buddha may now be summed up as follows: Seeing things thus or “yathābhūtam” is the same as the attainment of perfect spiritual freedom; or we may say that when we are detached from evil passions based upon the wrong idea of selfhood and when the heart grows conscious of its own emancipation, we are then for the first time fully awakened to the truth as it really is.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 56

If a third eye of ours is opened undimmed, we shall know in a most unmistakable manner where Rinzai is driving us. We have first of all to get into the very spirit of the master and interview the inner man right there. No amount of wordy explanations will ever lead us into the nature of our own selves. The more you explain, the further it runs away from you. It is like trying to get hold of your own shadow. You run after it and it runs with you at the identical rate of speed.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1564

The monks thus develop their faculties all round. They receive no literary, that is, formal education which is gained mostly from books and abstract instruction. But their discipline and knowledge are practical and efficient; for the basic principle of the Zendo life is “learning by doing.” They despise the so-called soft education which is like those predigested foods meant for the convalescent.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 772

The Indian soil was too metaphysical, too rich in romantic imagination for Zen to grow as such in its pure form.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1572

When Tanka[7.19] (Tan-hsia T‘ien-jan, 738–824) of the T‘ang dynasty stopped at Yerinji of the Capital, it was so severely cold that he finally took one of the Buddha-images enshrined there and made a fire with it in order to warm himself. The keeper of the shrine seeing this was greatly exercised.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 789

From the modern critical point of view, it did not matter very much whether Zen originated with Bodhi-Dharma in China or with the Buddha in India, inasmuch as Zen is true and has an enduring value.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 496

When Yakusan (Yüeh-shan, 751–834) saw a monk, he asked,[2.8] “Where do you come from?” “I come from south of the Lake.” “Is the Lake over-flowing with water?” “No, sir, it is not yet overflowing.” “Strange,” said the master, “after so much rain why does it not overflow?” To this last query, the monk failed to give a satisfactory answer, whereupon Ungan (Yün-yen), one of Yakusan’s disciples, said, “Overflowing, indeed!” while Dosan (Tung-shan), another of his disciples, exclaimed, “In what kalpa did it ever fail to overflow?” In these dialogues do we detect any trace of Buddhism?

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1528

These latter, however, are next to nothing: for they are _kesa_ (_kashāya_ in Sanskrit) and _koromo_ (priestly robe), a few books, a razor, and a set of bowls, all of which are put up in a box about three by ten by three and a half inches large. In travelling this box is carried in front supported with a sash about the neck. The entire property thus moves with the owner. “One dress and one bowl, under a tree and on a stone,”[7.8] was the graphical description of the monkish life in India.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 842

The result I have reached is that the author of the _Biographies_ used the one preserved in the _Records_, which is more faithful to the original if there were any such besides this very version. The reason for this conclusion is that Dharma’s writing appears much improved after the editing of Tao-hsüan, the author of the _Biographies_; for he had to edit it for his own purposes.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 361

What was it that made the Buddha pass all his life in religious peregrination? What was it that moved him to sacrifice his own well-being, in fact his whole life, for the sake of his fellow-creatures? If dhyana had no positive object except in pacifying passions and enjoying absorption in the unconscious, why did the Buddha leave his seat under the Bodhi-tree and come out into the world?

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1963

[f110] The lightning simile in the _Kena-Upanished_ (IV. 30), as is supposed by some scholars, is not to depict the feeling of inexpressive awe as regards the nature of Brahman, but it illustrates the bursting out of enlightenment upon consciousness. “A—a—ah” is most significant here.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 2014

[f154] Not an ordinary question asking enlightenment, but one that has a point in it showing some understanding on the part of the inquirer. All those questions already quoted must not be taken in their superficial or literary sense. They are generally metaphors.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1862

It is best for me to remain quiet and enter into Nirvana.” In the _Sutra on the Story of the Discipline_, which is considered an earlier translation of the preceding text and was rendered into Chinese by an Indian Buddhist scholar, Ta-li and a Tibetan, Mang-siang, in A.D.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1335

Hōgen greatly admired this attitude on the part of the disciple of the famous Jōshu, and said, “Truly, you are a lion’s child!”

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 604

If he simply denied the existence of an ego-entity from the psychological point of view after reducing it into its component factors, scientifically he may be called great as his analytical faculties stood far above those of his contemporaries in this respect; but his influence as a spiritual leader would not have reached so far and endured so long. His theory of non-atman was not only established by a modern scientific method, but essentially was the outcome of his inner experience.