Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1264

Again, you and I sip a cup of tea. The act is apparently alike, but who can tell what a wide gap there is subjectively between you and me? In your drinking there may be no Zen while mine is brimful of it.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1021

The ideas of instantaneity and gradation in the realisation of the truth of Zen originally comes from the _Laṅkāvatāra_ (Nanjo’s edition, p. 55), where this distinction is made in regard to cleansing one’s mind of its stream of ideas and images. According to the Sutra, this cleansing is in one sense gradual but in another abrupt or instantaneous.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 2049

Satori, (awakening), 19, 24, 215ff.; as intuitive understanding, 216; and conversion, 217; as ken-shō (chien-hsing), 219; not discursive, 228; and mental effort, 231; and self-suggestion, 244; absolutely needed in Zen, 244f.; not meditation, 246; and seeing God, 246; intimate experience, 247; not abnormal, 248; and freedom, 249; as enlightenment, 249.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 832

It is quite natural that these two accounts of the life of Bodhi-Dharma should vary at several points. The first was written when Zen was not yet fully established as a school, and the second by one of the Zen masters.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1165

One can pick it up in the hearing of an inarticulate sound, or listening to an unintelligible remark, or in the observation of a flower blooming, or in the encountering of any trivial everyday incident such as stumbling, rolling up a screen, using a fan, etc. These are all sufficient conditions that will awaken one’s inner sense. Evidently a most insignificant happening, and yet its effect on the mind infinitely surpasses all that one could expect of it.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 853

“1. What is meant by ‘How to requite hatred’? Those who discipline themselves in the Path should think thus when they have to struggle with adverse conditions: During the innumerable past ages I have wandered through multiplicity of existences, all the while giving myself to unimportant details of life at the expense of essentials, and thus creating infinite occasions for hate, ill-will, and wrong-doing.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 827

One historian, Tsung-chien,[4.20] who compiled from the T‘ien-tai point of view a Buddhist history entitled _The Rightful Lineage of the Śākya Doctrine_ in 1237, ascribes it to Nansen Fu-gwan[4.21]; probably the formula originated in those days when Baso (Ma-tsu), Hyakjo (Pai-chang), Obaku (Huang-po), Sekito (Shih-tou) and Yakusan (Yüeh-shan)[4.22] were flourishing in the “West of the River” and in the “South of the Lake.” Since then they have been regarded as characteristically Zen, and it was Dharma that breathed this spirit into the minds of the Chinese Buddhists.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1126

In this connection the reader will find the following words of Meister Eckhart quite illuminative: “Upon this matter a heathen sage hath a fine saying in speech with another sage: ‘I become aware of something in me which flashes upon my reason. I perceive of it that it is something, but what it is I cannot perceive. Only meseems that, could I conceive it, I should comprehend all truth.’”[f107]

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1272

It is, in fact, in the very nature of Zen that it evades all definition and explanation, that is to say, Zen cannot be converted into ideas, it can never be described in logical terms. For this reason, the Zen masters declare that it is “independent of letter,” being “a special transmission outside the orthodox teachings.” But the purpose of this Essay is not just to demonstrate that Zen is an unintelligible thing and that there is no use of attempting to discourse about it.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1109

By thinking of the Buddha, your cause [i.e., meritorious deed] may bear fruit; by reciting the Sutras your intelligence may grow brighter; by keeping the precepts you may be born in the heavens; by practising charity you may be rewarded abundantly; but as to seeking the Buddha, you are far away from him. If your Self is not yet clearly comprehended, you ought to see a wise teacher and get a thorough understanding as to the root of birth-and-death.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1725

Taking it all in all, Zen is emphatically a matter of personal experience; if anything can be called radically empirical, it is Zen. No amount of reading, no amount of teaching, and no amount of contemplation will even make one a Zen master. Life itself must be grasped in the midst of its flow, to stop it for examination and analysis is to kill it leaving its cold corpse to be embraced. Therefore, everything in the Meditation Hall and every detail of its disciplinary curriculum is so arranged as to bring this idea into the most efficient prominence. The unique position maintained by the Zen sect among other Mahayana schools in Japan and China throughout the history of Buddhism in the Far East is no doubt due to the institution known as the Meditation Hall or Zendo.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 444

The recorders of these miracles must have thought that they could thus make their master greater and far above ordinary mortals in the estimate of their rivals.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1383

The Yogācārians could not answer this criticism, when Hsüan-chang who was at the time in India interposed and saved his brethren in faith from the quandary.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1907

[f57] Ordinarily, the Chain runs as follows: 1. Ignorance (_avijjā_, _avidyā_), 2. Disposition (_sankhāra_, _saṁskāra_), 3. Consciousness (_viññāna_, _vijñāna_), 4. Name and Form (_nāmarūpa_), 5. Six Sense-organs (_saḷāyatana_, _saḍāyatana_), 6. Touch (_phassa_, _sparśa_), 7. Feeling (_vedana_), 8. Desire (_taṇhā_, _tṛshṇā_), 9. Clinging (_upādāna_), 10. Becoming (_bhāva_), 11. Birth (_jāti_), and 12. Old Age and Death (_jarāmaranaṁ_).

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1121

The master continued: “Wilt thou practice this sitting cross-legged in order to attain dhyana or to attain Buddhahood? If it is dhyana, dhyana does not consist in sitting or lying; if it is Buddhahood, the Buddha has no fixed forms. As he has no abiding place anywhere, no one can take hold of him, nor can he be let go. If thou seekest Buddhahood by thus sitting cross-legged, thou murderest him. So long as thou freest thyself not from sitting so,[f106] thou never comest to the truth.”

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1579

When Shukō (Chu-hung)[7.22] of the Ming dynasty was writing a book on the ten laudable deeds of a monk, one of those high-spirited, self-assertive fellows came to him, saying, “What is the use of writing such a book when in Zen there is not even an atom of thing to be called laudable or not?” The writer answered, “The five aggregates (_skandha_) are entangling, and the four elements (_mahābhūta_) grow rampant, and how can you say there are no evils?” The monk still insisted, “The four elements are ultimately all empty and the five aggregates have no reality whatever.” Shukō, giving him a slap on his face, said, “So many are mere learned ones; you are not the real thing yet; give me another answer.” But the monk made no answer and went off filled with angry feelings.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1952

[f100] There is however a variation from five years to fifteen years according to different authorities.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 717

Buddhism attempts to achieve salvation in one act of the will; for returning effaces all the traces of time.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1622

Isan (Wei-shan) spent several years in the wilderness, living on nuts and befriending monkeys and deer. However, he was found out and big monasteries were built about his anchorage, he became master of 1,500 monks. Kwanzan,[7.33] the founder of Myōshinji, Kyoto, retired in Mino province, and worked as day-labourer for the villagers.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 826

These four lines as describing the principles of Zen teaching as distinguished from other schools of Buddhism already in existence in China were formulated later and not by Dharma himself. We cannot exactly tell who was the real author, as we have no definite information on this subject.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1266

The drinking at the moment to him means the whole fact, the whole world. Zen lives and is therefore free, whereas our “ordinary” life is in bondage; satori is the first step to freedom.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1340

Haikyu (P‘ei Hsiu), a state minister of the T‘ang dynasty, was a devoted follower of Zen under Ōbaku. One day[6.25] he showed him a manuscript in which his understanding of Zen was stated. The master took it, and setting it down beside him, made no movement to read it, but remained silent for some little while. He then said, “Do you understand?” “Not quite,” answered the minister. “If you have an understanding here,” said the master, “there is something of Zen.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 928

When we return to the root, we gain the meaning; When we pursue the external objects, we lose the reason. The moment we are enlightened within, We go beyond the voidness of a world confronting us.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1385

Before we proceed to the next subject, let me cite another case of echoing. Hōgen Mon-yeki (Fa-yen Wen-i), the founder of the Hōgen branch of Zen Buddhism, flourished early in the tenth century. He asked one of his disciples, “What do you understand by this: ‘Let the difference be even a tenth of an inch, and it will grow as wide as heaven and earth’?” The disciple said, “Let the difference be even a tenth of an inch, and it will grow as wide as heaven and earth.” Hōgen however told him that such an answer will never do. Said the disciple, “I cannot do otherwise; how do you understand?” The master at once replied, “Let the difference be even a tenth of an inch, and it will grow as wide as heaven and earth.”[f129][6.41]

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 485

When for political reasons Buddhism was persecuted, which caused the loss of many valuable documents, works of art, and the decline of some schools, Zen was always the first to recover itself and to renew its activities with redoubled energy and enthusiasm.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 268

What does this mean? Arhatship is evidently not a matter of scholarship; it is something realised in the twinkling of an eye after a long arduous application to the matter. The preparatory course may occupy a long stretch of time, but the crisis breaks out at a point instantaneously, and one is an Arhat, or a Bodhisattva, or even a Buddha. The content of Enlightenment must be quite simple in nature and yet tremendous in effect.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1107

There is in Japan a book going under the title of _Six Essays by Shoshitsu_ (that is, by Bodhi-Dharma, the first patriarch of Zen); the book contains no doubt some of the sayings of Dharma, but most of the essays are not his; they were probably composed during the T‘ang dynasty when Zen Buddhism began to make its influence more generally felt among the Chinese Buddhists. The spirit however pervading the book is in perfect accord with the principle of Zen. One of the essays entitled “Kechimyakuron,” or “Treatise on the Lineage of Faith,”[5.7] discusses the question of _Chien-hsing_[f104] 見性 or satori, which, according to the author constitutes the essence of Zen Buddhism. The following passages are extracts.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 836

In this latter respect, Tao-hsüan must be taken as complementing Tao-yüan. It is not quite in accord with the spirit of fair critical judgment to be partial to one authority at the expense of the other without duly weighing all the historically known circumstances that contributed to the making of these histories.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1422

Whether the Zen masters agree with this view, however, remains to be seen; for while the absolute identity of _meum et tuum_ is asserted, facts of individualisation are not ignored either. A monk asked Daizui (Tai-sui),[6.59] “What is my [pupil’s] Self?” “That is my [master’s] Self,” answered the master.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 162

We are not always convinced of the truth of a statement because it is so logically advanced, but mainly because there is an inspiring life-impulse running through it. We are first struck with it and later try to verify its truth. The understanding is needed, but this alone will never move us to risk the fate of our souls.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 864

“Said the Buddha: The two entrances are ‘Entrance by Reason’ and ‘Entrance by Conduct.’ ‘Entrance by Reason’ means to have a deep faith in that all sentient beings are identical in essence with the true nature which is neither unity nor multiplicity; only it is beclouded by external objects. The nature in itself neither departs nor comes.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 655

“What is before thee, lay it aside; Let there be nothing behind thee; If thou wilt not grasp after what is in the middle, Thou wilt wander calm.”[f65]

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 623

Enlightenment vanquishes Ignorance lying at the root of birth-and-death and laying fetters of every description, intellectual as well as affective. And this vanquishing of Ignorance cannot be achieved except by the exercise of one’s will-power; all the other attempts, especially merely intellectual, are utterly futile.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 77

This is the idea, logically interpreted, perhaps contained in Bokuju’s answer given to the monk. The mistake consists in our splitting into two what is really and absolutely one. Is not life one as we live it, which we cut to pieces by recklessly applying the murderous knife of intellectual surgery?

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 950

Under Tao-hsin (580–651), the fourth patriarch, Zen was divided into two branches. The one known as Godzuzen (Niu-t‘ou Chan),[4.42] did not live long after the passing of its founder, Fa-jung,[4.43] who lived at Mount Niu-t‘ou, and is considered not belonging to the orthodox line of Zen. The other branch was headed by Hung-jên[4.44] who is regarded by historians as the fifth patriarch, and it is his school that has survived. He came to the master when he was still a mere boy, and what pleased his master at their interview was the way he answered. When Tao-hsin asked[4.45] what was his family name 姓 (_hsing_), he said,

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 231

This is not the place to enter into the details of organic relationship existing between the Hinayana and the Mahayana; for the object of this essay is to delineate the course of development as traversed by Zen Buddhism before it has reached the present form. Having outlined my position with regard to the definition of Buddhism and the Mahayana in general as a manifestation of Buddhist life and thought, or rather of the inner experience of the Buddha himself, the next step will be to see where lies the source of Zen and how it is one of the legitimate successors and transmitters of the Buddha’s spirit.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 978

The writer of these lines was an insignificant layman in the service of the monastery, who spent most of his time in pounding rice and splitting wood for the Brotherhood. He had such an unassuming air that nobody ever thought much of him, and therefore the entire community was now set astir to see this challenge made upon its recognised authority. But the fifth patriarch saw in this unpretentious monk a future leader of mankind, and decided to transfer to him the robe of his office.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1434

With a _sumiye_-painting, any brush stroke painted over a second time results in a smudge; the life has left it. All corrections show when the ink dries. So is life. We can never retract what we have once committed to deeds, nay, what has once passed through consciousness can never be rubbed out. Zen therefore ought to be caught while the thing is going on, neither before nor after. It is an act of one instant.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1955

Later, he came to Shūyūsan, who asked him the same question, saying, “O you, old wanderer! why don’t you get settled?” “Where is the place for me to get settled?” “Why, this old wanderer doesn’t know even where to get settled for himself.” Said Jōshu, “I have been engaged these thirty years in training horses, and to-day I have been kicked around by a donkey!”

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 815

That is to say, if Mahayana Buddhism as was expounded by Nāgārjuna and Aśvaghosha, and in the _Vimalakīrti_, _Prajñāpāramitā_, and other Sutras, especially in the _Laṅkāvatāra_, were not worked upon by Chinese genius, Zen as such could not at all have come into existence.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1680

“When one commits patricide, or matricide, one goes to the Buddha to confess the sin; when however one murders a Buddha or Patriarch, where should one go for confession?” “Exposed!”

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1093

Satori may be defined as an intuitive looking into the nature of things in contradistinction to the analytical or logical understanding of it. Practically, it means the unfolding of a new world hitherto unperceived in the confusion of a dualistically-trained mind. Or we may say that with satori our entire surroundings are viewed from quite an unexpected angle of perception.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 517

The reason was obvious, seeing that in spite of a certain agreement between the two schools on a very broad basis, the Śūnyatā mode of thinking was altogether too metaphysical, too high-flown, or, from the Chinese point of view, too much _in nubibus_, and the practical tendency of the native minds naturally failed to grow on it; even in the disciples of Lao-tzŭ and Chwang-tzŭ there was the taint or virtue of utilitarianism which is deeply ingrained in all the Chinese modes of feeling.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1912

But from the Prajñā-pāramitā point of view, according to which “because what was preached by the Tathagata as the possession of qualities, that was preached as no-possession of qualities by the Tathagata, and therefore it is called the possession of qualities,” (yaishā bhagavan lakshaṇasampat tathāgatena bhāshitā alakshaṇasampad eshā tathāgatena bhāshita; tenocyate lakshaṇasampad iti), the idea of performing wonders acquires quite a new signification spiritually.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 514

To my view, without Zen the Sung dynasty would not have seen the phenomenal uprising of what the Chinese historians call the “Science of Reason.” As we already said, Zen was the only form in which Buddhism could enter into the Chinese mind. This being the case, whatever they later produced in the realm of thought, could not but be tinged with Zen. See how the psychological school of Yogācāra was received by the native thinkers.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1054

3. When the seeing into Self-Nature is emphasised and intuitive understanding is upheld against learning and philosophising, we know that as one of its logical conclusions the old view of meditation begins to be looked down as merely a discipline in mental tranquillisation. And this was exactly the case with the sixth patriarch.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 420

Look at its gods with many heads and arms—something that has never entered into their heads, in fact into no other nation’s than the Indian’s. Think of the wealth of symbolism with which every being in Buddhist literature seems to be endowed.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1846

[f7] Zen has its own way of practising meditations so called, for the Zen methods are to be distinguished from what is popularly or Hinayanistically understood by the term. Zen has nothing to do with mere quietism or losing oneself in trance. I may have an occasion to speak more about the subject elsewhere.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 637

Since Buddhism asserts Enlightenment to be the ultimate fact of Buddhist life, there is in it nothing negativistic, nothing pessimistic.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 2008

[f149] While thus going around, he came to a house where an old woman refused to give him any rice; he however kept on standing in front of it, looking as if nothing were said to him. His mind was so intensely concentrated on the subject which concerned him most at the time. The woman got angry, because she thought he was altogether ignoring her and trying to have his own way. She struck him with a big broom with which she was sweeping and told him to depart right at once. The heavy broom smashed his large monkish hat and knocked him down on the ground. He was lying there for a while, and when he came to sense again, everything became to him clear and transparent.