Essays in Zen Buddhism
D.T. Suzuki
2,061 passages indexed from Essays in Zen Buddhism (D.T. Suzuki) — Page 10 of 42
License: Public Domain
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 859
Thus we know that not to seek is verily the way to the truth. Therefore I preach to you not ‘to seek after anything.’
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 753
When Nirvana is qualified as birthless, deathless, stainless, sorrowless, and free from growth and decay and disease, it looks negativistic enough. But if there were nothing affirmed even in these negations, the Buddha could not rest in “the incomparable security” (_anuttaraṁ yogakkhemaṁ_) of Nirvana and been assured of final emancipation.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 332
The term “Zen” (_ch‘an_ in Chinese), is an abbreviated form of _Zenna_ or _Ch‘anna_,[2.2] which is the Chinese rendering of “dhyāna,” or “jhāna,” and from this fact alone it is evident that Zen has a great deal to do with this practice which has been carried on from the early days of the Buddha, indeed from the beginning of Indian culture.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 728
The sense of return to something familiar, to the one thoroughly acquainted with, really means the will getting settled once more in its old abode, after many a venturesome wandering, with an immense treasure of experience now and full of wisdom that will light up its unending career.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1213
how wondrous!; There is no birth-and-death from which one has to escape, nor is there any supreme knowledge (_Bodhi_) after which one has to strive. All the complications[f120] past and present, numbering one thousand seven hundred are not worth the trouble of even describing them.’”
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 99
The immortality of the soul is another big question. The history of religion is built upon this one question, one may almost say. Everybody wants to know about life after death. Where do we go when we pass away from this earth? Is there really another life? or is the end of this the end of all?
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 70
This is what is also asserted by Seigen Ishin (Ch‘ing-yüan Wei-hsin), according to whom, “Before a man studies Zen, to him mountains are mountains and waters are waters; after he gets an insight into the truth of Zen through the instruction of a good master, mountains to him are not mountains and waters are not waters; but after this when he really attains to the abode of rest, mountains are once more mountains and waters are waters.”[1.10]
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1133
Did the remark have any hidden meaning, however, which happened to coincide with the mental tone of the monk? How was the monk so mentally prepared for the final stroke of the master whose service was just pressing the button as it were? Nothing of satori is so far gleaned from washing the dishes; we have to look somewhere else for the truth of Zen. At any rate, we could not say that Jōshu had nothing to do with the monk’s realisation.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 685
Whatever supersensual pleasures one may experience in the jhāna exercises, the Buddha considered them to be far short of the ultimate goal of Buddhist life, every one of such pleasures had to be abandoned as it would entangle the mind and interrupt its ascending course to the awakening of paññā. It was through this awakening alone that the consciousness of emancipation or going back to one’s original spiritual abode could be attained.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 388
In the conclusion of this chapter, the Buddha reaffirms his doctrine of inner realisation which is Enlightenment: “It is like seeing one’s own image in a mirror or in water, it is like seeing one’s own shadow in moonlight or lamplight, again it is like hearing one’s voice echoed in the valley: as a man clings to his own false assumptions, he erroneously discriminates between truth and falsehood, and on account of this false discrimination he fails to go beyond the dualism of opposites, indeed he cherishes falsity and cannot attain tranquillity.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 151
For this view fails to take into consideration what our spiritual life is and petrifies religion to its very core. This static conservatism, however, is always opposed by a progressive party which looks at a religious system from a dynamic point of view. And these two forces which are seen conflicting against each other in every field of human activity, weave out the history of religion as in other cases. In fact, history is the record of these struggles everywhere.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1994
[f134] _Tso ch‘an_ is one of those compound Buddhist terms made of Sanskrit and Chinese. _Tso_ is Chinese meaning “to sit,” while _ch‘an_ stands for _dhyāna_ or _jhāna_. The full transliteration of the term is _ch‘anna_, but for brevity’s sake the first character alone has been in use. The combination of _tso-ch‘an_ comes from the fact that dhyana is always practised by sitting cross-legged. This posture has been considered by the Indians the best way of sitting for a long while in meditation. In it, according to some Japanese physicians, the centre of gravitation rests firmly in the lower regions of the body, and when the head is relieved of an unusual congestion of blood, the whole system will work in perfect order and the mind be put in suitable mood to take in the truth of Zen.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 921
He was then ordained by Hui-k‘ê as a Buddhist monk, and after this he fled from the world altogether, and nothing much of his life is known. This was partly due to the persecution of Buddhism carried on by the Emperor of the Chou dynasty. It was in the twelfth year of K‘ai-huan, of the Sui dynasty (A.D. 592), that he found a disciple worthy to be his successor. His name was Tao-hsin.[4.40] He asked the master,
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 158
The process of deification thus constantly went on until, some centuries after the death of the Master, he became a direct manifestation of the Supreme Being himself, in fact, he was the Highest One in the flesh, in him there was a divine humanity in perfect realisation. He was Son of God or the Buddha and the Redeemer of the world. He will then be considered by himself independently of his teaching; he will occupy the centre of interest in the eyes of his followers.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1017
The reason why the Southern school is known as “abrupt” or “instant” (_yugapad_) against the “gradual” (_kramavṛittya_) school of the North is because it upholds that the coming of enlightenment is instantaneous and does not allow any gradation, as there are no stages of progress in it; whereas the Northern school emphasises the process of arriving at enlightenment which is naturally gradual, requiring much time and concentration.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 155
They might not have comprehended it thoroughly, but his authoritative way of presenting it left in their hearts no shadow of doubt as to its truth and eternal value. So long as he lived among them and spoke to them, his teaching and his person appealed to them as an individual unity. Even when they retired into a solitary place and meditated on the truth of his teaching, which they did as a form of spiritual discipline, the image of his person was always before their mental eyes.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1679
“I understand this is said by all the old masters, that when you know [the truth], all the karma-hindrances are empty from the beginning; but if you do not, you have to pay all the debts back. I wonder if the second patriarch knew this or not.” Replied the master, “Most certainly!”
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1128
For when this wider and deeper world opens, everyday life, even the most trivial thing of it, grows loaded with the truths of Zen. On the one hand, therefore, satori is a most prosaic and matter-of-fact thing, but on the other hand when it is not understood it is something of a mystery. But after all is not life itself filled with wonders, mysteries, and unfathomabilities, far beyond our discursive understanding?
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1098
In the psychology of religion this spiritual enhancement of one’s whole life is called “conversion.” But as the term is generally used by Christian converts, it cannot be applied in its strict sense to the Buddhist experience, especially to that of the Zen followers; the term has too affective or emotional a shade to take the place of satori, which is above all noetic.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 181
To some of the Buddha’s immediate disciples the deeper things in his teachings failed to appeal, or they were not conscious of the real spiritual forces which moved them towards their Master. We must look underneath if we want to come in contact with the ever-growing life-impetus of Buddhism. However great the Buddha was, he could not convert a jackal into a lion, nor could a jackal comprehend the Buddha above his beastly nature.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1825
僧問承和尙有言. 盡十方世界. 是一顆明珠. 學人如何得會. 師曰. 盡十方世界. 是一顆明珠. 用會作麽. 師來日却問其僧. 盡十方世界是一顆明珠. 汝作麽生會. 對曰盡十方世界是一顆明珠. 用會作應. 師曰. 汝向山鬼窟裡作活計.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 46
This sums up all that is claimed by Zen as religion. Of course we must not forget that there is a historical background to this bold pronunciamento. At the time of the introduction of Zen into China, most of the Buddhists were addicted to the discussion of highly metaphysical questions, or satisfied with the merely observing of the ethical precepts laid down by the Buddha or with the leading of a lethargic life entirely absorbed in the contemplation of the evanescence of things worldly.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 156
But things went differently when his stately and inspiring personality was no more seen in the flesh. His teaching was still there, his followers could recite it perfectly from memory, but its personal connection with the author was lost, the living chain which solidly united him and his doctrine as one was for ever broken. When they reflected on the truth of the doctrine, they could not help thinking of their teacher as a soul far deeper and nobler than themselves.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1273
My object, on the contrary, will be to make it clear to the fullest extent of my ability, however imperfect and inadequate that may be. And there are several ways to do this. Zen may be treated psychologically, ontologically, or epistemologically, or historically as I did in the first part of this book to a certain extent. These are all extremely interesting each in its way, but they are a great undertaking requiring years of preparation.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 972
This however did not discourage the bold seeker after the truth, for he at once responded: “There may be southerners and northerners, but as far as Buddha-nature goes, how could you make such a distinction in it?”
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 260
But the Mahayanists could not be satisfied with such a realistic common-sense interpretation of the personality of the Buddha, they saw something in it which went deep into their hearts and wanted to come in immediate touch with it.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1380
Therefore, when we understand the language of the Zen masters, it is the understanding of ourselves and not the sense of the language which reflects ideas and not the experienced feelings themselves. Thus it is impossible to make those understand Zen who have not had any Zen experience yet, just as it is impossible for the people to realise the sweetness of honey who have never tasted it before.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 934
In the oneness of the void the two are one, And each of the two contains in itself all the ten thousand things: When no discrimination is made between this and that. How can a one-sided and prejudiced view arise?
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1438
Their aim is to have the pupil’s attention concentrated in the thing itself which he wishes to grasp and not in anything that is in the remotest possible connection liable to disturb him. Therefore when we attempt to find meaning in dharanis or exclamations or a nonsensical string of sounds taken as such, we are far away from the truth of Zen. We must penetrate into the mind itself as the spring of life, from which all these words are produced.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 594
He has in one sense been enabled to see, but at the same time there is something which he as observer cannot see. In the trail of knowledge, Ignorance follows with the inevitability of fate, the one accompanies the other as shadow accompanies object, no separation can be effected between the two companions. But the will as actor is bent on going back to his own original abode where there was yet no dualism, and therefore peace prevailed.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 270
If by “the stirring of one thought” Ignorance came into our life, the awakening of another thought must put a stop to Ignorance and bring about Enlightenment.[f33] And in this there is no thought to be an object of logical consciousness or empirical reasoning; for in Enlightenment thinker and thinking and thought are merged in the one act of seeing into the very being of Self. No further explanation of the Dharma is possible, hence an appeal to _via negativa_.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 445
From our modern point of view it was quite childish for them to imagine that any unusual deeds performed by their master would attract, as we read in the _Kevaddha Sutta_, people’s attention to Buddhism and recognise its superior value on that very account; but in those ancient days in India, the masses, nay even learned scholars, thought a great deal of supernaturalism, and naturally the Buddhists made the best possible use of this belief.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1226
These cases will be sufficient to show what mental process one has to go through with before the opening of satori takes place. Of course these are prominent examples and highly accentuated, and every satori is not preceded by such an extraordinary degree of concentration. But an experience more or less like these must be the necessary antecedent to all satori, especially to that which is to be gone through with at the outset of the study.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 27
Mencius is right when he says that when Heaven wants to perfect a great man it tries him in every possible way until he comes out triumphantly from all his painful experiences. To me Oscar Wilde seems always posing or striving for an effect; he may be a great artist, but there is something in him that turns me away from him.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 686
And by emancipation the Buddha meant to be free from all forms of attachment, both sensual (_rūpaṁ_) and intellectual (_viññānaṁ_). So says he in the Majjhima Nikāya, 138: Let not thy mind be disturbed by external objects, nor let it go astray among thy own ideas. Be free from attachments, and fear not. This is the way to overcome the sufferings of birth and death.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1472
The Emperor gazed with admiration on a marvellous scene: forests, and great mountains, and clouds in immense distances of sky, and men upon the hills, and birds in flight. “Look,” said the painter, “in the cave at the foot of this mountain dwells a spirit.” He clapped his hands; the door at the cave’s entrance flew open.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 30
We are too ego-centred. The ego-shell in which we live is the hardest thing to outgrow. We seem to carry it all the time from childhood up to the time we finally pass away. We are, however, given many chances to break through this shell, and the first and greatest of them is when we reach adolescence. This is the first time the ego really comes to recognise the “other.” I mean the awakening of sexual love. An ego, entire and undivided, now begins to feel a sort of split in itself.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1477
Here is a good illustration of the difference between a “miserable pedant” and one who has “passed the bounds.” There was a monk called Gensoku (Hsüan-tsê)[6.78] who was one of the chief officials of the monastery under the Zen master Hōgen (Fa-yen), of the early tenth century. He never came to the master to make inquiries about Zen; so the master one day asked him why he did not come.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 845
He practised contemplation and tranquillisation, he knew well what was the true significance of worldly affairs. Inside and outside, he was transpicuous; his virtues were more than a model to the world. He was grieved very much over the decline of the orthodox teaching of the Buddha in the remoter parts of the earth. He finally made up his mind to cross over land and sea and come to China and preach his doctrine in the kingdom of Wei.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1618
To be a perfectly qualified master, a mere understanding of the truth of Zen is not sufficient. One must go through a period which is known as “the long maturing of the sacred womb.”[7.31] The term must have originally come from Taoism; and in Zen nowadays it means, broadly speaking, living a life harmonious with the understanding.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 25
The growth of the organism called society is also marked with painful cataclysms, and we are at present witnessing one of its birth-throes. We may calmly reason and say that this is all inevitable, that inasmuch as every reconstruction means the destruction of the old regime, we cannot help going through a painful operation. But this cold intellectual analysis does not alleviate whatever harrowing feelings we have to undergo. The pain heartlessly inflicted on our nerves is ineradicable.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1832
7.16. 一日普請次. 師 (臨濟) 在後行. 黃蘗囘頭見師空手. 問钁頭在什麽處. 師云. 有一人將去了也. 黃蘗云近前來. 共汝商量箇事. 師便近前. 黃蘗豎起钁頭云. 秪這箇天下人拈掇不起. 師就手掣得豎起云爲什麽都在某甲手裏. 黃蘗云. 今日大有人普請. 便歸堂. (臨濟錄.)
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 353
The spiritual exercise ought to steer ahead without being hampered by either tendency, they ought to strike the middle path.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 620
Such questions as are asked by you, O Mahāli, regarding the identity of body and soul, are idle ones; for when you attain to the supreme insight and see things as they really are in themselves, that is, emancipated from the Bonds, Taints, and Deadly Flows, those questions that are bothering you at the moment will completely lose their value and no more be asked in the way you do. Hence no need of my answering your questions.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 998
Being thus demanded, Ming at once perceived the fundamental truth of things, which hitherto he had sought in things without. He now understood everything, as if he had taken a cupful of cold water and tasted it to his own satisfaction. Out of the immensity of his feeling, he was literally bathed in tears and perspirations, and most reverently approaching the patriarch he saluted him and asked; “Besides this hidden sense as is embodied in these significant words, is there anything which is secret?”
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 731
The reason why he does not countenance life as it is lived by most of us is because it is the product of Ignorance and egoism, which never fail to throw us into the abyss of pain and misery. The Buddha pointed the way to escape this by Enlightenment and not by annihilation.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 468
As I said before, the boldness and subtlety of Mahayana philosophy must have fairly stunned the Chinese, who had, before the introduction of Buddhism, practically no system of thought worthy of the name, except moral science.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1704
Another time he said, “Bodhisattva Vasudeva turned without any reason into a staff.” So saying he drew a line on the ground with his own staff, and resumed, “All the Buddhas as numberless as sands are here talking all kinds of nonsense.” He then left the Hall.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 777
If these critics took up the practise of dhyana as constituting the essence of Buddhism along with the above considerations, they may be said to have come nearer to the goal; but even this dhyana is a form of spiritual exercise which will prepare the way to the final realisation of Nirvana. Dhyana in itself does not distinguish Buddhism from the other philosophico-religious systems which existed in India in the day of the Buddha.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1207
I forgot myself, I forgot the world, it was like one mirror reflecting another. I tried several kō-an in my mind and found them so transparently clear!