Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 887

“Ever since the beginning of my reign I have built so many temples, copied so many sacred books, and supported so many monks; what do you think my merit might be?”

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1522

The fact is that if there is any one thing that is most emphatically insisted upon by the Zen masters as the practical expression of their faith, it is serving others, doing work for others, not ostentatiously indeed but secretly, without making others know of it. Says Eckhart, “What a man takes in by contemplation he must pour out in love.” Zen would say, “pour it out in work,” meaning by work the active and concrete realisation of love.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 2050

Tōki-no-gé, 233; by Chōkei, 223f.; by Hōyen Goso, 234; by Yengo, 234; by Yenju, 234; by Yōdainen, 235; by Iku of Toryō, 235; by Bukkō, 241fn.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1412

One of them is “silence.” Vimalakīrti was silent when Mañjuśrī asked him as to the doctrine of non-duality, and his silence was later commented upon by a master as “deafening like thunder.” A monk asked Basho Yesei (Pa-chiao Hui-ch‘ing)[6.49] to show him the “original face” without the aid of any intermediary conception, and the master keeping his seat remained silent.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1990

Hsüan-chiao Chêng said to a monk, “What is the point the attendant understands?” Replied the monk, “If he did not understand, he would never have responded.” Hsüan-chiao said, “You seem to understand some.”

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1395

We are in the water—this is the fact, and let us remain so, Zen would say, for when we begin to beg for water we put ourselves in an external relation to it and what has hitherto been our own will be taken away from us.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1321

Kyōgen (Hsiang-yen),[6.19] a disciple of Isan (Wei-shan), with whom we got acquainted just now, said in one of his sermons: “It is like a man over a precipice one thousand feet high, he is hanging himself there with a branch of a tree between his teeth, the feet are far off the ground, and his hands are not taking hold of anything.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1563

The story of Isan and Kyōzan while they were out picking tea leaves has already been told in one of the preceding Essays. Zen history indeed abounds with such incidents as here referred to, showing how the masters try to discipline their pupils on every possible occasion. The events of daily life manifestly trivial on the surface, thus handled by the masters, grow full of signification. At any rate all these “mondoes” most eloquently illustrate the whole trend of the monastery life in olden days, where the spirit of work and service was so thoroughly and harmoniously blended with the high thinking on matters deeply spiritual.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1691

Thus has Zen literature come to constitute a unique class of literary work in China, standing all by itself outside the main bulk of classical literature.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1531

Cannot a society be reorganised upon an entirely different basis from what we have been used to see from the beginning of history? Cannot we ever hope to stop the amassing of wealth and the wielding of power merely from the desire for individual or national aggrandisement? Despairing of the utter irrationality of human affairs, the Buddhist monks have gone to the other extreme and cut themselves off even from reasonable and perfectly innocent enjoyments of life.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1859

[f18] This was very well understood by the Buddha himself when he first attained Enlightenment; he knew that what he realised in his enlightened state of mind could not be imparted to others, and that if it were imparted they could not understand it. This was the reason why he in the beginning of his religious career expressed the desire to enter into Nirvana without trying to revolve the Wheel of the Dharma.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 705

Ignorance is departure from home and Enlightenment is returning. While wandering we lead a life full of pain and suffering and the world wherein we find ourselves is not a very desirable habitat. This is however put a stop to by Enlightenment as thus we are enabled once more to get settled at home where reign freedom and peace. The will negates itself in its attempt to get an insight into its own life, and dualism follows. Consciousness cannot transcend its own principle.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 871

But this is evidently a superficial interpretation of the phrase _pi-kuan_; for how could mere wall-gazing start a revolutionary movement in the Buddhist world as is implied in Tao-hsüan’s life of Dharma?[f86] How could such an innocent practise provoke a terrible opposition among scholars of those days?

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1969

This kō-an is popularly known as “Jōshu’s Mu or Muji.” A kō-an is a theme or statement or question given to the Zen student for solution, which will lead him to a spiritual insight. The subject will be fully treated in the Second Series of the Essays in Zen Buddhism.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 793

The twenty-eight patriarchs of Zen regarded by its followers as the orthodox line of transmission are as follows:

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 666

Whatever this be, the charge of passivity against Buddhist _weltanschauung_ is wrong even when it is considered apart from the historical facts of Buddhism. Passivity we notice in Enlightenment is merely apparent. As a general statement, a thing absolutely passive is unthinkable, unless it is a state of absolute nothingness without any kind of content in it.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1774

_Herding the Cow._ When a thought moves, another follows, and then another—there is thus awakened an endless train of thoughts. Through enlightenment all this turns into truth; but falsehood asserts itself when confusion prevails. Things oppress us not because of an objective world, but because of a self-deceiving mind. Do not get the nose-string loose, hold it tight, and allow yourself no indulgence.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1980

Shuzan (Shu-shan) was once asked, “An old master says, ‘There is one word which when understood wipes out the sins of innumerable kalpas:’ what is this one word?” Shuzan answered, “Right under your nose!” “What is the ultimate meaning of it?” “This is all I can say”:—this was the conclusion of the master. (Ch. N., [4].)

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 597

Instead of turning its illuminating rays within itself, that is, towards the will from which it has its principle of existence, consciousness is kept busy with the objective world of realities and ideas; and when it tries to look into itself, there is a world of absolute unity where the object of which it wishes to know is the subject itself. The sword cannot cut itself. The darkness of Ignorance cannot be dispelled because it is its own self.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1751

Professor R. A. Nicholson gives in his _Studies in Islamic Mysticism_ a translation of Ibnu ’I-Fárid’s “The Poem of the Mystic’s Progress” (_Tá’iyya_), parts of which at least are such exact counterparts of Buddhist mysticism as to make us think that the Persian poet is simply echoing the Zen sentiment. Whenever we come across such a piece of mystic literature, we cannot help being struck with the inmost harmony of thought and feeling resonant in the depths of human soul, regardless of its outward accidental differences. The verses 326 and 327 of the _Tá’iyya_ read:

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 957

Hung-jên, 605–675, the fifth patriarch, came from the same province as his predecessor, Ch‘i Chou, now in the district of Fu-pei. His temple was situated in Wang-mei Shan (Yellow Plum Mountain), where he preached and gave lessons in Zen to his five hundred pupils. He is claimed by some to have been the first Zen master who attempted to interpret the message of Zen according to the doctrine of the _Vajracchedikā-sūtra_.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 995

Three days after the flight of Hui-nêng from the Yellow-plum mountains, the news of what had happened in secret became noised abroad throughout the monastery, and a party of indignant monks headed by one named Ming, pursued the fugitive, Hui-nêng, who, in accordance with his master’s instructions, was silently leaving the Brotherhood. When he was overtaken by the pursuers while crossing a mountain-pass far from the monastery, he laid down his robe on a rock near by, and said to the monk, Ming: “This robe symbolises our patriarchal faith and is not to be carried away by force. Take this along with thee, however, if thou so desirest.”

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 580

The expression, “Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi,” was thus used to designate this pre-eminently spiritual knowledge realised by him.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 721

The path was altogether unrecognisable by his intelligent eye which was one of the best of the kind; even the Buddha could not ignore the law governing its usage; the Chain was not to be cut asunder by merely reckoning its links of cause and effect backward and forward.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1250

When the mind is so trained as to be able to realise the state of perfect void in which there is not a trace of consciousness left, even the sense of being unconscious having departed, in other words, when all forms of mental activity are swept clean from the field of consciousness which is now like a sky devoid of every speck of cloud, a mere broad expanse of blue, dhyana is said to have reached its perfection. This may be called ecstasy or trance, but it is not Zen.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1600

All sentient beings are from the very beginning the Buddhas: It is like ice and water; Apart from water no ice can exist, Outside sentient beings, where do we seek the Buddhas? Not knowing how near the Truth is, People seek it far away,—what a pity! They are like him who, in the midst of water, Cries in thirst so imploringly; They are like the son of a rich man Who wandered away among the poor. The reason why we transmigrate through the six worlds, Is because we are lost in the darkness of ignorance; Going astray further and further in the darkness, When are we able to get away from birth-and-death?

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 49

For this reason Zen never explains but indicates, it does not appeal to circumlocution, nor does it generalise. It always deals with facts, concrete and tangible. Logically considered, Zen may be full of contradictions and repetitions. But as it stands above all things, it goes serenely on its own way.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 566

The most important fact that lies behind the experience of Enlightenment therefore is that the Buddha made the most strenuous attempt to solve the problem of Ignorance and his utmost will-power was brought forth to bear upon a successful issue of the struggle.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1025

When process is emphasised, the end is forgotten, and process itself comes to be identified with end. When a disciple of Shên-hsiu came to Hui-nêng to be instructed in Zen, he asked what was the teaching of Shên-hsiu, and the disciple informed him thus: “My master usually teaches us to stop the working of our minds and to sit quietly in meditation for a long time at a stretch, without lying down.” To this Hui-nêng responded: “To stop the working of mind and to sit quietly in meditation is a disease and not Zen, and there is no profit whatever to be gained from a long sitting.” Then he gave him the following gāthā:

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 534

Strange though it may seem, the fact is that Buddhist scholars are engrossed too much in the study of what they regard as the Buddha’s teaching and his disciples’ exposition of the Dharma, so called, while they neglect altogether the study of the Buddha’s spiritual experience itself.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 748

“Myself subject to disease, but perceiving the wretchedness of things subject to disease and seeking after the incomparable security of Nirvana which is free from disease, to that incomparable security I attained, even to Nirvana which is free from disease.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 92

But the comprehension does not come to us so easily. Being so long accustomed to the oppression, the mental inertia becomes hard to remove. In fact it has gone down deep into the roots of our own being, and the whole structure of personality is to be overturned. The process of reconstruction is stained with tears and blood. But the height the great masters have climbed cannot otherwise be reached; the truth of Zen can never be attained unless it is attacked with the full force of personality.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 396

The warning against this Vikalpa which is the analysing tendency of mind, or, we may say, the fundamentally dualistic disposition of consciousness is the constant refrain of the Sutra, while on the other hand it never forgets to emphasise the importance of self-realisation which is attained by overcoming this fundamental tendency.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 441

Who was he that listened? What were those objects that appeared before me? Was it a dream? or a magical phenomenon?” He again reflected: “Things are all like this, they are all creations of one’s own mind. When mind discriminates, there is manifoldness of things; but when it does not, it looks into the true state of things.” When he thus reflected, he heard voices in the air and in his own palace, saying: “Well you have reflected, O King! You should conduct yourself according to this view.”

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1495

The people ran after him. Noticing a well by the road, he picked up a large stone and threw it into the water. The pursuers all gathered around the well trying to find the burglar drowning himself in the dark hole. In the meantime he was safely back in his father’s house. He blamed him very much for his narrow escape. Said the father, “Be not offended, my son.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1667

Non-attainment, therefore, in Zen is positive conception, and not merely privative. The Buddhist modes of thinking are sometimes different from those of the West, and Christian readers are often taken aback at the idea of emptiness and at the too unconditioned assertion of idealism. Singularly, however, all the mystics, Buddhist or no, agree in their idea of poverty being the end of their spiritual development.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1307

The next form in which Zen expresses itself is the denial of opposites, somehow corresponding to the mystic “via negativa.” The point is not to be “caught” as the masters would say in any of the four propositions (_catushkotika_): 1. “It is A”; 2. “It is not A”; 3. “It is both A and not-A”; and 4. “It is neither A nor not-A.” When we make a negation or an assertion, we are sure to get into one of these logical formulas according to the Indian method of reasoning.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1827

6.69. 道吾圓智與雲巖侍立次. 藥山曰. 智不到處. 切忌道著. 道著即頭角生. 智頭陀作麽生. 圓智便出去. 雲巖問藥山曰. 智師兄爲什麽不祗對和尙. 藥山日我今日背痛. 是他却會. 汝去問取. 雲巖即來問圓智曰. 師兄適來爲什麽不祗對和尙. 圓智曰. 汝却去問取和尙. (傳燈錄第十四.)

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1164

In fact Zen is exhausting every possible means to do that, as we can see in all the great masters’ attitudes towards their disciples.[f109] When they are actually knocking them down, their kindheartedness is never to be doubted. They are just waiting for the time when their pupils’ minds get all ripened for the final moment. When this is come, the opportunity of opening an eye to the truth of Zen lies everywhere.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 624

Hence the Buddha’s conclusion: “These questions[f64] are not calculated to profit, they are not concerned with the Dharma, they do not redound to the elements of right conduct, nor to detachment, nor to purification from lusts, nor to quietude, nor to tranquillisation of heart, nor to real knowledge, nor to the insight of the higher stages of the Path, nor to Nirvana.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1529

Compared with this, the modern Zen monk must be said to be abundantly supplied. Still his wants are reduced to a minimum and no one can fail to lead a simple, perhaps the simplest, life if he models his after that of the Zen monk.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1921

In the present case, “dharma” may mean “good conduct, “prescribed rules of morality,” or even “any religious teaching considered productive of good results.” In the _Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra_, Chapter 1, reference is also made to the transcending of both “adharma” and “dharma,” saying: “Dharmā eva prahātavyāḥ prāgevādharmāḥ.” And it is explained that this distinction comes from falsely asserting (_vikalpagrahaṇam_) the dualism of what is and what is not, while the one is the self-reflection of the other.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 277

It is quite evident that Enlightenment is not the consciousness of logical perspicuity or analytical completeness, it is something more than an intellectual sense of conclusiveness, there is something in it which engages the entire field of consciousness not only by throwing light on the whole series of links welded for the purpose of solving the problems of life, but by giving a feeling of finality to all the spiritual anguish that has ever been so disquieting to one’s soul.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1059

In the following dialogues both Hui-nêng and his disciples are still using the older terminology but the import of this parley is illustrative of the point I want to specify.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1344

“By the murmur of a spring, Or the least bough’s rustling; By a daisy, whose leaves spread Shut when Titan goes to bed; Or a shady bush or tree— She could more infuse in me Than all nature’s beauties can In some other wiser man.”

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 783

This fact is however specially mentioned for the first time as far as we know in a Chinese Zen history called _The Records of the Spread of the Lamp_,[4.2] compiled by Li Tsun-hsü, in 1029, and also in _The Accounts of the Orthodox Transmission of the Dharma_ compiled by Ch‘i-sung in 1064,[4.3] where this incident is only referred to as not quite an authentic one historically.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 450

At all events, the above references will suffice I believe to establish my thesis that the reason for the introduction of supernaturalism into the Mahayana literature of Buddhism was to demonstrate the intellectual impossibility of comprehending spiritual facts. While philosophy exhausted its resources logically to explain them, Vimalakīrti like Bāhva, a Vedic mystic, remained silent; not satisfied with this, the Indian Mahayana writers further introduced supernaturalistic symbolism, but it remained with the Chinese Zen Buddhists to invent their own methods to cope, according to their own needs and insight, with the difficulties of communicating one’s highest and deepest spiritual experience known as Enlightenment in Buddhism.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 5

Of course, great mistake it would be if one should ever take the notion even for a moment that Zen could be mastered from its philosophical presentation or its psychological description; but this ought not to mean that Zen is not to be intelligently approached or to be made somewhat accessible by our ordinary means of reasoning. I need not mention that my attempts in the following pages are anything but adequate for the rational treatment of the subject.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1045

This Nature knows no multiplicity, it is absolute oneness, being the same in the ignorant as well as in the wise. The difference comes from confusion and ignorance. People talk so much, think so much, of Prajñā, but fail altogether to realise it in their own minds. It is like talking about food all day, however much we may talk we forever remain hungry.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 42

Here stands the fact, and let us grasp it with the naked hands lest it should slip away—this is what Zen proposes to do. As nature abhors a vacuum, Zen abhors anything coming between the fact and ourselves. According to Zen, there is no struggle in the fact itself such as between the finite and the infinite, between the flesh and the spirit. These are idle distinctions fictitiously designed by the intellect for its own interest.