Essays in Zen Buddhism
D.T. Suzuki
2,061 passages indexed from Essays in Zen Buddhism (D.T. Suzuki) — Page 7 of 42
License: Public Domain
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 438
To quote another instance from the first chapter of the _Laṅkāvatārasūtra_, which does not appear in the oldest Chinese translation. When King Rāvaṇa was requesting the Buddha through the Bodhisattva Mahāmati to disclose the content of his inner experience, the king unexpectedly noticed his mountain-residence turned into numberless mountains of precious stones and most ornately decorated with celestial grandeur, and on each of these mountains he saw the Buddha manifested.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 910
Like Bodhi-Dharma, Hui-k‘ê did not leave any literary writing though we know from their biographies that both had their sermons collected and in the case of Hui-k‘ê “classified,”[f94][4.37] whatever this may mean. The following extracts preserved however may throw light on the teaching of Hui-k‘ê. A lay-disciple called Hsiang wrote a letter to Hui-k‘ê:[4.38] “Shadow follows a body and echo rises from a sound.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1799
4.29a. 佛言. 二入者一謂理入. 二謂行入. 理入者深信無生異眞性. 不一不共. 但以客塵之所翳障. 不去不來. 凝住覺觀. 諦觀佛性. 不有不無. 無己無他. 凡聖不二. 金剛心地. 堅住不移. 寂靜無爲. 無有分別. 是名理入. 行入者心不傾倚. 影無流易. 於所有處. 靜念無求. 風鼓不動. 猶如大地. 捐離心我. 救度衆生. 無生無相. 不取不捨. 菩薩心無出入. 無出入心. 入不入故. 故名爲入. 菩薩如是入法. 法相不空. 不空之法. 法不虛棄. 何以故. 不無之法. 具足功德. 非心非影. 法爾清淨. (金剛三昧經入實際品第五.)
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 296
If the Buddha’s Enlightenment really contained so much in it that he himself could not sufficiently demonstrate or illustrate it with his “long thin tongue” (_prabhūtatanujihva_) through his long peaceful life given to meditation and discoursing, how could those less than he ever hope to grasp it and attain spiritual emancipation?
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1149
Besides, whatever I can instruct you is my own and will never be yours.” Kyōgen was disappointed and considered his senior disciple unkind. Finally he came to the decision to burn up all his notes and memorandums which were of no help to his spiritual welfare, and, retiring altogether from the world, to spend the rest of his life in solitude and simplicity in accordance with the Buddhist rules.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1361
Perhaps this is sufficient to show how freely Zen deals with those abstruse philosophical problems which have been taxing all human ingenuity ever since the dawn of intelligence. Let me conclude this part with a sample sermon delivered by Goso Hōyen (Wu-tsu Fa-yen); for a Zen master occasionally, no, quite frequently, comes down to the dualistic level of understanding and tries to deliver a speech for the edification of his pupils. But being a Zen sermon we naturally expect something unusual in it. Goso was one of the ablest Zen masters of the twelfth century. He was the teacher of Yengo (Yüan-wu) famous as the author of the _Hekiganshu_. One of his sermons runs thus[6.35]:
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 90
The mind is ordinarily chock-full with all kinds of intellectual nonsense and passional rubbish. They are of course useful in their own ways in our daily life. There is no denying that. But it is chiefly because of these accumulations that we are made miserable and groan under the feeling of bondage. Each time we want to make a movement, they fetter us, they choke us, and cast a heavy veil over our spiritual horizon. We feel as if we are constantly living under restraint.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 900
Finally, Hui-k‘ê, that is, Shên-kuang, reverently bowing to the master, kept standing in his seat and said nothing.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1699
A monk interposed: “How is it that we read about the second patriarch’s getting its marrow from Dharma?”[f157]
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 732
The will as it is in itself is pure act, and no taint of egotism is there; this is awakened only when the intellect through its own error grows blind as to the true working of the will and falsely recognises here the principle of individuation. The Buddha thus wants an illumined will and not the negation of it. When the will is illumined, and thereby when the intellect is properly directed to follow its original course, we are liberated from the fetters which are put upon us by wrong understanding, and purified of all the defilements which ooze from the will not being correctly interpreted. Enlightenment and emancipation are the two central ideas of Buddhism.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 889
The Emperor Wu thereupon asked Bodhi-Dharma again,[4.32] “What is the first principle of the holy doctrine?”
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 228
Almost all Buddhist scholars in Japan agree that all these characteristic ideas of the Mahayana are systematically traceable in Hinayana literature; and that all the reconstructions and transformations which the Mahayanists are supposed to have put on the original form of Buddhism are really nothing but an unbroken continuation of one original Buddhist spirit and life, and further that even the so-called primitive Buddhism as is expounded in the Pali canons and in the Agama texts of the Chinese Tripitaka, is also the result of an elaboration on the part of the earlier followers of the Buddha.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 893
Finally, the master turned back and said, “What do you wish me to do for you?” Said Kuang, “I am come to receive your invaluable instructions; pray open your gate of mercy, and extend your hand of salvation to this poor suffering mortal.” “The incomparable doctrine of Buddhism,” replied Dharma, “can be comprehended only after a long hard discipline and by enduring what is most difficult to endure, and by practising what is most difficult to practise. Men of inferior virtue and wisdom are not allowed to understand anything about it. All the labours of such ones will come to naught.”
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1176
Therefore, when Rinzai was meekly submitting to the “thirty blows” of Obaku, he was a pitiable sight; as soon as he attained satori, he was quite a different personage and his first exclamation was, “There is not much after all in the Buddhism of Obaku.”[5.19] And when he saw the reproachful Obaku again, he returned his favour by giving him a slap on the face. “What an arrogance, what an impudence!” Obaku exclaimed; but there was reason in Rinzai’s rudeness, and the old master could not but be pleased with this treatment from his former tearful Rinzai.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1077
4. Hui-nêng’s method of demonstrating the truth of Zen was purely Chinese and not Indian. He did not resort to abstract terminology nor to romantic mysticism. The method was direct, plain, concrete, and highly practical. When the monk Ming came to him and asked for instruction, he said, “Show me your original face before you were born.” Is not the statement quite to the point? No philosophic discourse, no elaborate reasoning, no mystic imagery, but a direct unequivocal dictum. In this the sixth patriarch cut the first turf and his disciples quickly and efficiently followed in his steps. Notice how brilliantly Lin-chi made use of this method in his sermon on a “true man of no title.” (See the “Introduction.”)
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1
The most fruitful growth of Buddhism in the Far East has resulted in the development of Zen and Shin. Zen attained its maturity in China and Shin in Japan. The vigour and vitality which Buddhism still has after more than two thousand years of history, will be realised when one comes in contact with these two branches of Buddhism. The one appeals to the inmost religious consciousness of mankind, while the other touches the intellectual and practical aspects of the Oriental mind, which is more intuitive than discursive, more mystical than logical. If Zen is the ultra “self-power” wing of Buddhism, Shin represents the other extreme wing known as the “other-power,” and these two extremes are synthesised in the enlightened Buddha-consciousness.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1501
This book was compiled under the auspices of the reigning Emperor Shuu, and is known as “The Imperial Edition of the Regulations in the Zen Monastery.”[7.1] In Japan the Zen monasteries have never been established on such a grand scale as in China, and as the result all the regulations as detailed in the Imperial Edition were not practised. But their spirit and all that was applicable to Japanese life and conditions were adopted. The ideals of Zen life were never lost sight of anywhere.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 973
This pleased the master very much. Hui-nêng was given an office as rice-pounder for the Brotherhood. More than eight months, it is said, he was employed in this menial labour, when the fifth patriarch wished to select his spiritual successor among his many disciples. One day he made an announcement that any one who could prove his thorough comprehension of the religion would be given the patriarchal mantle and proclaimed as his legitimate heir.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1352
When Baso Dōichi was sick,[6.29] one of his disciples came and inquired about his condition, “How do you feel to-day?” “Nichimen-butsu, Gwachimen-butsu!” was the reply which literally means “sun-faced Buddha, moon-faced Buddha!” A monk asked Jōshu,[6.30] “When the body crumbles all to pieces and returns to the dust, there eternally abides one thing.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 861
“As the Dharma in essence has no desire to possess, the wise are ever ready to practise charity with their body, life, property, and they never begrudge, they never know what an ill grace means. As they have a perfect understanding of the threefold nature of emptiness, they are above partiality and attachment. Only because of their will to cleanse all beings of their stains, they come among them as of them, but they are not attached to the form. This is known as the inner aspect of their life.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1475
Emerson expresses the same view in his own characteristic manner: “Foremost among these activities (that is, mathematical combination, great power of abstraction, the transmutings of the imagination, even versatility, and concentration), are the somersaults, spells, and resurrections, wrought by the imagination. When this wakes, a man seems to multiply ten times or a thousand times his force. It opens the delicious sense of indeterminate size, and inspires an audacious mental habit.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1320
If this can be gained, what does it matter whether a thing known as precious be broken and an animal be sacrificed? Is not the recovering of the soul more important than the loss of a kingdom?
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 856
“2. By ‘being obedient to karma’ is meant this: There is no self (_ātman_) in whatever beings that are produced by the interplay of karmaic conditions; pain and pleasure we suffer are also the results of our previous action. If I am rewarded with fortune, honour, etc., this is the outcome of my past deeds which by reason of causation affect my present life. When the force of karma is exhausted, the result I am enjoying now will disappear; what is then the use of being joyful over it? Gain or loss, let us accept karma as it brings us the one or the other, the spirit itself knows neither increase nor decrease. The wind of gladness does not move it as it is silently in harmony with the Path. Therefore this is called ‘being obedient to karma.’
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1138
“You say they have flown away,” Baso said, “but all the same they have been here from the very beginning.”
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1885
[f40] The rendering is by Rhys Davids who states in the footnote: “The word I have here rendered ‘earnest contemplation’ is Samadhi, which occupies in the Five Nikayas very much the same position as faith does in the New Testament; and this section shows that the relative importance of Samādhi, Paññā, and Śīla played a part in early Buddhism just as the distinction between faith, reason, and works did afterwards in Western theology. It would be difficult to find a passage in which the Buddhist view of the relation of these _conflicting_ ideas is stated with greater beauty of thought, or equal succinctness of form.” But why conflicting?
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 564
By thus specifying the operation of Prajñā, the Mahayanists have achieved an advance in making clearer the nature of sambodhi: for when the mind reverses its usual course of working and instead of dividing itself externally, goes back to its original inner abode of oneness, it begins to realise the state of “one-thought-viewing” where Ignorance ceases to scheme and the Defilements do not obtain.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1452
They replied, “We have recently a new comer in this monastery, he does some menial work for us and looks very much like a Zen monk.” He was then brought in the presence of the governor who at once spoke to him, “I have one question in which I wish to be enlightened, but the gentlemen here grudge the answer. May I ask you to give me a word for them?” “I humbly wish you to ask,” politely requested the monk.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 375
Therefore when Mahāmati finishes praising the Buddha’s virtues before the whole assembly at the summit of Mount Laṅkā, the Buddha is quite definite in his declaration of the main theme of his discourse in this Sutra. Let us however first quote the song of the Bodhisattva Mahāmati since it sums up in a concise and definite manner all the essentials of Mahayana Buddhism and since at the same time it illustrates my statement concerning the union of Enlightenment and Love.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1036
The sermons here preserved are mere fragments of those delivered during the thirty-seven years of Hui-nêng’s active missionary life.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1659
Later, a master called Koboku Gen (K‘u-mu Yüan)[7.41] commented on this song of poverty by Kyōgen in the following verse:
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1232
The monk stood stupefied. A bystander suggested, “Why don’t you make a bow?” Obeying the order, Jō was about to bow when he abruptly awoke to the truth of Zen. In this case Jo’s self-absorption or concentration did not seemingly last very long, the bowing was the turning point, it broke up the spell and restored him to sense, not to an ordinary sense of awareness, but to the inward consciousness of his own being.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 834
Tao-hsüan did not understand the message of Dharma in its full signification, though he could read in it something not quite of the so-called “practice of meditation.” And therefore it is sometimes argued by scholars that there is not much of Zen in Tao-hsüan’s account of Dharma worthy of its first Chinese promulgator and that therefore Dharma could not be so regarded as is claimed by the followers of the Zen school of Buddhism.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1301
I am utterly blind and deaf, but every colour is recognised and every sound discerned.” The Zen masters will go on like this indefinitely. Basho (Pa-chiao), a Korean monk of the ninth century, once delivered a famous sermon which ran thus: “If you have a staff (_shujo_, or _chu-chang_ in Chinese), I will give you one; if you have not, I will take it away from you.”[6.9]
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1289
A monk asked Jōshu (Chao-chou), one of the greatest masters in China,[6.2] “What is the one ultimate word of truth?” Instead of giving him any specific answer, he made a simple response saying, “Yes.” The monk who naturally failed to see any sense in this kind of response asked for a second time, and to this the master roared back, “I am not deaf!”[f125] See how irrelevantly (shall I say?) the all-important problem of absolute oneness or of the ultimate reason is treated here!
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 630
Enlightenment or the dispelling of Ignorance which is the ideal of the Buddhist life, we can see now most clearly, is not an act of the intellect, but the transforming or re-modelling of one’s whole being through the exercise of the most fundamental faculty innate in every one of us. Mere understanding has something foreign in it and does not seem to come so intimately into life.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 990
Did the teaching of Bodhi-Dharma come now to be believed as the genuine transmission of the Buddha? And for that reason did the robe really cease to signify anything relative to the truth of Zen? If so, when Bodhi-Dharma first declared his special mission as teacher of Zen, was he looked upon as a heretic and persecuted accordingly? The legend that he was poisoned by his rival teachers from India seems to corroborate this.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 922
This put the young novice on the way to final enlightenment, which he attained after many years’ study under the master. When Sêng-ts‘an thought that the time was ripe to consecrate him as his successor in the faith, he handed him as the token of the rightful transmission of the Law the robe which had come down from Bodhi-Dharma, the first patriarch of Zen in China. He died in A.D. 606. While much of his life is obscure, his thought is gleaned from a metrical composition known as _Hsin-hsin-ming_, or “Inscribed on the Believing Mind,” which is one of the most valuable contributions by the masters to the interpretation of Zen teaching. Here follows a somewhat liberal translation of the poem:
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1690
In Japan, too, when Hakuin modernised Zen, he utilised profusely slangy phrases, colloquialisms, and even popular songs. This neological tendency of Zen is inevitable, seeing that it is creative and refuses to express itself in the worn-out lifeless language of scholars and stylists. As the result even learned students of Chinese literature these days are unable to understand the Zen writings, and their spiritual meanings as well.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1893
This “true dhyana” then as is described in this Sutra in the Nikayas, is more of the Mahayana than of the Hinayana so called.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 191
But at the same time this left much room for the later Buddhists to develop their own theories not only as to the teaching of the Buddha but mainly as to its relation to his personality.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1015
He died in A.D. 706, seven years prior to Hui-nêng. His school known as the Northern in contrast to Hui-nêng’s Southern School prospered in the north far better than the latter did in the south. But when Ma-tsu (died 788) and Shih-t‘ou (700–790) began their active propaganda in the south and finally established the foundations of Zen teaching, Shên-hsiu’s school failed to find able successors and finally disappeared altogether so that all the records we have of their movements come from the rival school. It thus came to pass that Hui-nêng, and not Shên-hsiu was recognised as the sixth patriarch of Zen Buddhism in China.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1022
When it is regarded as like the ripening of a fruit, the modelling of a vessel, the growing of a plant, or the mastering of an art, which takes place gradually and in time, it is an act of gradual process: but when it is comparable to a mirror reflecting objects, or to the Ālaya reproducing all mental images, the cleansing of mind takes place instantaneously.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 315
That the lay-devotees thus asserted themselves even at the expense of the Arhats, may also be gleaned from other sources than the _Vimalakīrti_, but especially from such Sutras as the _Śrīmālā_, _Gaṇḍhavyūha_, _Vajrasamādhi_, _Candrottara-dārikā_, etc. What is the most noteworthy in this connection is that woman plays an important rôle on various occasions. Not only is she endowed with philosophising talents, but she stands on equal footing with man.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 2007
[f148] Formerly, this was an open affair, and all the mondos (askings and answerings) took place before the whole congregation, as is stated in the Regulations of Hyakujo. But, later, undesirable results followed, such as mere formalism, imitations, and other empty nonsenses. In modern Zen, therefore, all sanzen is private, except on formal occasions.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1901
In many respects the Sutra itself shows evidence of a later compilation. The point I wish to discuss here mainly concerns itself with the Buddha’s intellectual efforts to explain the realities of life by the theory of causation. That the Buddha regarded Ignorance as the principle of birth-and-death and therefore of misery in this world, is a well-established fact in the history of Buddhism.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 246
That does he know, and he knows also other things far beyond (far better than those speculations): and having that knowledge he is not puffed up, and thus untarnished he has in his own heart realised the way of escape from them, has understood, as they really are, the rising up and passing away of sensations, their sweet taste, their danger, how they cannot be relied on; and not grasping after any [of those things men are eager for], he, the Tathagata, is quite set free.”[f27]
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1201
Later in the midst of his sleep one night he recalled the fact that once when he was under another master he was told to find out the ultimate signification of the statement, “All things return to one”[f116][5.33]; and this kept him up the rest of that night and through the several days and nights that succeeded. While in this state of an extreme mental tension, he found himself one day looking at Goso Hoyen’s verse on his own portrait, which partly read,[5.34]
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 628
And you further say that even the Rishis of old, whose words they hold in such deep respect, did not pretend to know, or to have seen where, or whence, or whither Brahma is. Yet these Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas say, forsooth, that they can point out the way to union with that which they know not, neither have seen.... They are like a string of blind men clinging one to the other, neither can the foremost see, nor can the middle one see, nor can the hindmost see.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1254
Hōyen, of Gosozan, used to produce his own hand and asked his disciples why it is called a hand. When one knows the reason, there is satori and one has Zen. Whereas, with the God of mysticism there is the grasping of a definite object, and when you have God, what is not God is excluded. This is self-limiting. Zen wants absolute freedom, even from God. “No abiding place” means that; “Cleanse your mouth even when you utter the word ‘Buddha’” amounts to the same thing.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1829
6.74. 普請摘茶. 潙山謂仰山曰. 終日摘茶. 只聞子聲不見子形. 請現本形相見. 仰山撼茶樹. 師云子只得其用. 不得其軆. 仰山云. 未審和尙如何. 師良久. 仰山云. 和尙只得其軆. 不得其用. 師云放子二十棒. (傳燈錄第九卷.)