Essays in Zen Buddhism
D.T. Suzuki
2,061 passages indexed from Essays in Zen Buddhism (D.T. Suzuki) — Page 21 of 42
License: Public Domain
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 816
It may not altogether be out of place here to show by concrete examples how much the Indian method diverges from the typically Chinese one in demonstrating the truth of Zen Buddhism. As I have repeatedly illustrated, Buddhism, whether primitive or developed, is a religion of freedom and emancipation, and the ultimate aim of its discipline is to release the spirit from its possible bondage so that it can act freely in accordance with its own principles.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1674
“Through the transformation of manovijñāna, mind is cleansed of foulness, it is enlightened as it now thoroughly understands all things:—this I preach.”[f153]
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 510
To a greater extent Taoism is the popular and superstitious Chinese rendering of Buddhism, but there will be many critics, the present writer for one, who rather hesitate to consider the essence of Buddhism sufficiently transcribed in terms of the Taoists.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1402
As Suigan gave many sermons during the summer for the edification of his pupils, while no amount of talk can ever explain what the truth is, his eye-brows and beard might perhaps by this time have altogether disappeared. This, as far as its literary meaning is concerned, is the idea of his remark whatever Zen may be concealed underneath.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 398
“Bodhi” is enlightenment and used most generally, in Mahayana as well as in Hinayana literature, to designate the mind in which Ignorance is completely wiped out; Tathatā (thatness) or Bhūtatā (reality) is metaphysical.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1818
6.13. 汝州首山省念禪師. 因指竹箆示衆云. 汝等諸人. 若喚作竹箆即觸. 喚不作竹箆即背. 汝諸人且喚作什麽. 時葉縣省和尚在會下. 乃近前掣得折作兩截. 拋向陛下. 却云是什麽. 師云瞎. 大慧禪師拈云. 速道速道. （葛藤集.）
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 134
Before I proceed to the discussion of the main idea of this essay, which is to consider Zen the Chinese way of applying the doctrine of Enlightenment in our practical life, I wish to make some preliminary remarks concerning the attitude of some Zen critics and thereby to define the position of Zen in the general body of Buddhism.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 11
This body of ours is something like an electric battery in which a mysterious power latently lies. When this power is not properly brought into operation, it either grows mouldy and withers away or is warped and expresses itself abnormally. It is the object of Zen, therefore, to save us from going crazy or being crippled. This is what I mean by freedom, giving free play to all the creative and benevolent impulses inherently lying in our hearts.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1578
Whatever the merit of Tanka from the purely Zen-point of view, there is no doubt that such deeds as his are to be regarded as highly sacrilegious and to be avoided by all pious Buddhists. Those who have not yet gained a thorough understanding of Zen may go all lengths to commit every manner of crime and excess, even in the name of Zen. For this reason, the regulations of the monastery are very rigid that pride of heart may depart and the cup of humility be drunk to the dregs.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 508
On the whole, Taoism owes more to Buddhism as far as its organisation, rituals, literature and philosophy are concerned. Taoism systematised after the Buddhist model all the popular superstitions native to China and built up a religious medley in which the Indian elements are found more or less incongruously blended with Laotzuanism and the popular desire for immortality, worldly welfare, and what they call “purity.”
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 719
He said: “I am like a wanderer who, after going astray in a desolate wilderness, finally discovers an old highway, an old track beaten by his predecessors, and who finds, as he goes along the road, the villages, palaces, gardens, woods, lotus-ponds, walls, and many other things where his predecessors used to have their dwellings.”[f73] Superficially, this feeling of returning to an old familiar abode seems to contradict the statement made concerning “an insight to things never before presented to one’s mind”; but the contradiction is logical and not spiritual.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 974
Shên-hsiu (died 706)[4.49] who was the most learned of all the disciples and thoroughly versed in the lore of his religion, and who was therefore considered by his brethren in the faith to be in possession of an unqualified right to the honour, composed a stanza expressing his view, and posted it on the outside wall of the meditation hall, which read:
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 312
The moral aristocracy and disciplinary formalism of primitive Buddhism could not bind our spirit for a very long period of time. As the doctrine of Enlightenment grew to be more and more inwardly interpreted, the spirit rose above the formalism of Buddhist discipline. It was of no absolute necessity for one to leave his home life and follow the footsteps of the wandering monks in order to reach the supreme fruit of Enlightenment.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 632
Meditation, through which the will endeavours to transcend the condition it has put on itself in the awakening of consciousness, is therefore by no means the simple act of cogitating on the theory of Origination or Causation, which forever moves in a circle starting from Ignorance and ending in Ignorance. This is the one thing that is most needed in Buddhism. All the other metaphysical problems involve us in a tangled skein, in a matted mass of thread.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 659
The trained mind that has gone through the four dhyana exercises as prescribed in the Nikāyas further develops into what is known among the Mahayanists as the Ādarśa-jñānam (mirror-insight), which corresponds to the Bhūta-ñāṇa in the Anguttara Nikāya. The last simile in the Buddha’s discourse on the fruits of the Sāmañña life, which sums up the spiritual attainment of the Buddhists, becomes now quite intelligible. It runs thus:
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 349
The first dhyana is an exercise in which the mind is made to concentrate on one single subject until all the coarse affective elements are vanished from consciousness except the serene feelings of joy and peace. But the intellect is still active, judgment and reflection operate upon the object of contemplation.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 2061
Note that Chinese [5.16] does not have anchor in the printed text. One has been added to an appropriate place in etext.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1533
In this connection it will be of interest to read the admonition left by Daito the National Teacher (1282–1337),[7.9] to his disciples. He was the founder of Daitokuji, Kyoto, in 1326, and is said to have spent about one-third of his life which was not a very long one, among the lowest layers of society under the Gojo bridge, begging his food, doing all kinds of menial work, and despised by the so-called respectable people of the world. He did not care for the magnificence of a prosperous and highly-honoured temple life led by most Buddhist priests of those days, nor did he think much of those pious and sanctimonious deeds that only testify to the superficiality of their religious life. He was for the plainest living and the highest thinking. The admonition reads:
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1920
[f70] I left here “dharmas” untranslated. For this untranslatable term, some have “righteousness,” some “morality,” and some “qualities.” This is as is well known a difficult term to translate. The Chinese translators have rendered it by _fa_,[3.3] everywhere, regardless of the context.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1629
An old woman asked Jōshu,[7.34] “I belong to the sex that is hindered in five ways from attaining Buddhahood; and how can I ever be delivered from them?” Answered the master, “O let all other people be born in heaven and let me, this humble self, alone continue suffering in this ocean of pain!” This is the spirit of the true Zen student. There is another story illustrating the same spirit of longsuffering.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1909
[f60] “Thus knowing, thus seeing,” (_evam jānato evam passato_) is one of the set phrases we encounter throughout Buddhist literature, Hinayana and Mahayana. Whether or not its compilers were aware of the distinction between knowing and seeing in the sense we make now in the theory of knowledge, the coupling is of great signification. They must have been conscious of the inefficiency and insufficiency of the word “to know” in the description of the kind of knowledge one has at the moment of enlightenment. “To see” or “to see face to face” signifies the immediateness and utmost perspicuity and certainty of such knowledge. As was mentioned elsewhere, Buddhism is rich in terminology of this order of cognition.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 959
But the time had at last come for a full proclamation of Zen, and Hung-jên was the first who appeared in the field preparing the way for his successor, Hui-nêng.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 318
The free spirit which wanders out beyond the monastic walls of the Brotherhood now follows its natural consequence and endeavours to transcend the disciplinary rules and the ascetic formalism of the Hinayanists. The moral rules that were given by the Buddha to his followers as they were called for by the contingencies of life, were concerned more or less with externalism.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 667
As long as Enlightenment is the outcome of a most strenuous spiritual effort, it is a positive state of mind in which lies hidden an inexhaustible reservoir of possibilities; it is a unity in which a world of multitudinosity is lodged. “Noisy go the small waters, silent goes the vast ocean.”[f66] In the vast ocean of Enlightenment there is the silence of unity.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 203
In the case of Buddhism we must not neglect to read the inner life of the Buddha himself asserting itself in the history of a religious system designated after his name. The claim of the Zen followers that they are transmitting the essence of Buddhism is based on their belief that Zen takes hold of the enlivening spirit of the Buddha, stripped of all its historical and doctrinal garments.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1413
When Shifuku (Tzŭ-fu)[6.50] was asked as to a word befitting the understanding of the inquirer, he did not utter a word, he simply kept silent. Bunki (Wên-hsi) of Koshu (Hang-chou)[6.51] was a disciple of Kyōzan (Yang-shan); he was asked by a monk, “What is the self?” but he remained silent.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1456
Said Yisan, “You have only got its function, you have not got the substance.” Kyōzan said, “Master, how with you then?” The master was quiet for a while whereupon the disciple said, “O master, you have got only the substance, you have not got the function.” “You will be spared of my twenty blows,” concluded the master. In Buddhist ontology three conceptions are distinguished, as was referred to previously; substance or body, appearance, and function or activity.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1636
In Zen, therefore, there ought not to be left any trace of consciousness after the doing of alms, much less the thought of recompensation even by God. The Zen ideal is to be “the wind that bloweth where it listeth, and the sound of which we hear but cannot tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth.”
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1741
Lieh-tzŭ, the Chinese philosopher of Taoism, describes in the following passage certain marked stages of development in the practice of Tao:
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1602
For such as, reflecting within themselves, Testify to the Truth of Self-nature, To the Truth that Self-nature is no-nature, They have really gone beyond the ken of sophistry. For them opens the gate of the oneness of cause and effect, And straight runs the path of non-duality and non-trinity. Abiding with the Not-particular in particulars, Whether going or returning, they remain for ever unmoved; Taking hold of the Not-thought in thoughts, In every act of theirs they hear the voice of Truth. How boundless the sky of Samadhi unfettered! How transparent the perfect moon-light of the Fourfold Wisdom! At that moment what do they lack? As the Truth eternally calm reveals itself to them, This very earth is the Lotus Land of Purity, And this body is the body of the Buddha.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1429
In fact, the truth of Zen is the truth of life, and life means to live, to move, to act, not merely to reflect. Is it not the most natural thing for Zen, therefore, that its development should be towards acting or rather living its truth instead of demonstrating or illustrating it in words, that is to say, with ideas? In the actual living of life there is no logic, for life is superior to logic.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 994
I am very likely mistaken, and there might have been some historical conditions of which we are now ignorant due to the lack of documents.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 736
And since each successive abandonment is held to be still accompanied by qualities, I maintain that the absolute attainment of our end can only be found in the abandonment of everything.”[f74]
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1084
According to his doctrine, non-doing is reality, emptiness is the truth, and the ultimate meaning of things is vast and immovable. He taught that human nature in its beginning as well as in the end is thoroughly good and does not require any artificial weeding-out, for it has its root in that which is serene. The Emperor Chung-tsung heard of him and sent his courtier twice asking him to appear at Court but failed to get him out.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1493
One night the father took the son to a big house, broke through the fence, entered the house, and opening one of the large chests, told the son to go in and pick out the clothings. As soon as he got into it, the lid was dropped and the lock securely applied. The father now came out to the courtyard, and loudly knocking at the door woke up the whole family, whereas he himself quietly slipped away from the former hole in the fence.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 53
Rinzai was noted for his “rough” and direct treatment of his disciples. He never liked those roundabout dealings which generally characterised the methods of a lukewarm master. He must have got this directness from his own teacher Obaku (Huang-nieh),[1.4] by whom he was struck three times by asking what the fundamental principle of Buddhism was. It goes without saying that Zen has nothing to do with mere striking or roughly shaking the questioner.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1127
The records quoted below do not always give the whole history of the mental development leading up to a satori, that is, from the first moment when the disciple came to the master until the last moment of realisation, with all the intermittent psychological vicissitudes which he had to go through. The examples are just to show that the whole Zen discipline gains meaning when there takes place this turning of the mental hinge to a wider and deeper world.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1565
When a lioness gives birth to her children, it is proverbially believed that after three days she will push them down over a deep precipice and see if they can climb up to her. Those that fail to come out of this trial are not taken care of any more. Whether this is true or not, something like that is aimed at by the Zen master who will treat the monks with every manner of seeming unkindness.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 116
According to Yê-ryo (Hui-lêng), of Chōkei (Chang-ch‘ing),[1.18] “when one knows what that staff is, one’s life study of Zen comes to an end.” This reminds us of Tennyson’s flower in the crannied wall. For when we understand the reason of the staff, we know “what God and man is,” that is to say, we get an insight into the nature of our own being, and this insight finally puts a stop to all the doubts and hankerings that have upset our mental tranquillity. The significance of the staff in Zen can thus readily be comprehended.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1471
Wu Tao-tzŭ or Godoshi was one of the greatest painters of China, and lived in the reign of the Emperor Hsüan-tsung, of the T‘ang dynasty. His last painting, according to legend, was a landscape commissioned by the Emperor for one of the walls of his palace. The artist concealed the complete work with a curtain till the Emperor’s arrival, then drawing it aside exposed his vast picture.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 631
If Enlightenment had really such a tremendous effect on our spiritual outlook as we read in the Sutras, it could not be the outcome of just getting acquainted with the doctrine of Causation. Enlightenment is the work of Paññā which is born of the will which wants to see itself and to be in itself. Hence the Buddha’s emphasis on the importance of personal experience; hence his insistence on meditation in solitude as the means of leading to the experience.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 462
Ummon (Yün-mên)[2.7] once appeared in the pulpit and said, “In this school of Zen no words are needed; what then is the ultimate essence of Zen teaching?” Thus himself proposing the question, he extended both his arms, and without further remarks came down from the pulpit. This was the way the Chinese Buddhists interpreted the doctrine of Enlightenment, this was the way they expounded the _Pratyātmajñanagocara_ of the _Laṅkāvatāra_.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 323
When they were really enlightened and fathomed the depths of spirituality, every deed of theirs was a creative act of God, but in this extreme form of idealism, objectivity had no room, and consequently who could ever distinguish libertinism from spiritualism? In spite of this pitfall the Mahayanists were in the right in consistently following up all the implications of the doctrine of Enlightenment. Their parting company with the Hinayanists was inevitable.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1284
Ordinarily, we do not inquire into the matter, we just accept what is instilled into our minds; for to accept is more convenient and practical, and life is to a certain extent, though not in reality, made thereby easier. We are in nature conservatists, not because we are lazy, but because we like repose and peace, even superficially. But the time comes when traditional logic holds no more true, for we begin to feel contradictions and splits and consequently spiritual anguish.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 611
In him, thus set free, there arises the knowledge of his emancipation, and he knows that rebirth has been destroyed, that the Higher Life has been fulfilled, that what had to be done has been accomplished, and after this present life there will be no beyond.”[f61] In essence the Arhat is the Buddha and even the Tathagata, and in the beginning of the history of Buddhism the distinction between these terms did not seem quite sharply marked.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1961
[f107] W. Lehmann, _Meister Eckhart_. Göttingen, 1917, p. 243. Quoted by Prof. Rudolf Otto in his _The Idea of the Holy_, p. 201.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1561
One day Ōbaku was weeding with a hoe, and seeing Rinzai without one asked, “How is it that you do not carry any hoe?” Answered Rinzai, “Somebody has carried it away, sir.” Thereupon, Ōbaku told him to come forward as he wanted to discuss the matter with him. Rinzai stepped forward. Said Ōbaku, lifting his hoe, “Only this, but all the world’s unable to hold it up.” Rinzai took the hoe away from the master, and lifted it up, saying, “How is it that it is now in my own hands?” Ōbaku remarked, “Here is a man doing a great piece of work to-day!” He then returned to his own room.[7.16]
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1798
形隨運轉. 萬有斯空. 無所願樂. 功德黑暗. 常相隨逐. 三界久居. 猶如火宅. 有身皆苦. 誰得而安. 了達此處. 故捨諸有. 息想無求. 經云. 有求皆苦. 無求乃樂. 判知無求. 眞爲道行. 故言無所求行也. 四. 稱法行. 性淨之理. 目之爲法. 此理衆相斯空. 無染無著. 無此無彼. 經云. 法無衆生. 離衆生垢故. 法無有我. 離我垢故. 智者. 若能信解此理. 應當稱法而行. 法軆無慳. 於身命財. 行檀捨施. 心無恡惜. 達解三空. 不倚不著. 但爲去垢. 稱化衆生. 而不取相. 此爲自行. 復能利他. 亦能莊嚴. 菩提之道. 檀施旣爾. 餘五亦然. 爲除妄想. 修行六度. 而無所行. 是爲稱法行. (傳燈錄.)
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1716
Another time, “Lo, and behold! No life’s left!” So saying, he acted as if he were falling. Then he asked, “Do you understand? If not, ask this staff to enlighten you.”
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1874
[f26] That the Buddha never neglected to impress his disciples with the idea that the ultimate truth was to be realised by and in oneself, is evidenced throughout the Agamas. Everywhere we encounter with such phrases as “without depending upon another, he believed, or thought, or dissolved his doubts, or attained self-confidence in the Law.” From this self-determination followed the consciousness that one had all one’s evil leakages (_āsrava_) stopped or drained off, culminating in the realisation of Arhatship—which is the goal of Buddhist life.