FOOTNOTES
[f1] As it was not expedient to set up Chinese type in England, special Chinese notes at the end of the book have been prepared in Japan, in which are found all the Chinese characters considered by the author useful for scholars’ reference. The superior figures throughout the present work point to the Chinese notes in the Appendix.
[f2] One of the popular lectures prepared by the author for students of Buddhism, 1911. It was first published in The Eastern Buddhist, under the title, “Zen Buddhism as Purifier and Liberator of Life.” Since it treats of Zen in its general aspect, I have decided to make it serve as Introduction to this book.
[f3] See also the Essay entitled “History of Zen Buddhism,” p. [151] ff.
[f4] The founder of the Rinzai School of Zen Buddhism, died 867.
[f5] The founder of the Ummon School of Zen Buddhism, died 996.
[f6] Literally, an old clumsy gimlet of the Ch‘in dynasty.
[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.
[f8] See also the Essay entitled, “[Practical Methods of Zen Instruction].”
[f9] Originally a mosquito driver in India.
[f10] A bamboo stick a few feet long.
[f11] Also a stick or baton fancifully shaped and made of all kinds of material. It means literally “as one wishes or thinks,” (cinta, in Sanskrit).
[f12] This reminds one of the remarks made by the master Ten (Chan), of Hofuku (Pao-fu), who, seeing a monk approach, took up his staff and struck a pillar, and then the monk. When the monk naturally cried with pain, said the master, “How is it that this does not get hurt?” (See Chinese Notes, [1.25].)
[f13] Hekiganshu is a collection of one hundred “cases” with Seccho’s (Hsüeh-tou) poetical comments and Yengo’s partly explanatory and partly critical annotations. The book was brought to Japan during the Kamakura era, and ever since it is one of the most important text-books of Zen, especially for the followers of the Rinzai school.
[f14] Gutei was a disciple of Tenryu (T‘ien-lung), probably towards the end of the T‘ang dynasty. While he was first residing in a small temple, he had a visit from a travelling nun, who came right into the temple without removing her headgear. Carrying her staff with her, she went three times around the meditation chair in which Gutei was sitting. Then she said to him, “Say a word of Zen, and I shall take off my hat.” She repeated this three times, but Gutei did not know what to say. When the nun was about to depart, Gutei suggested, “It is growing late, and why not stay here over night?” Jissai (Shih-chi), which was the name of the nun, said, “If you say a word of Zen, I shall stay.” As he was still unable to say a word, she left.
This was a terrible blow on poor Gutei, who pitifully sighed: “While I have the form of a man, I seem not to have any manly stamina!” He then resolved to study and master Zen. When he was about to start on his Zen “wanderings” he had a vision of the mountain god who told him not to go away from his temple, for a Bodhisattva in flesh would be coming here before long and enlighten him in the truth of Zen. Surely enough a Zen master called Tenryu (T‘ien-lung) appeared the following day. Gutei told the master all about the humiliating experience of the previous day and his firm resolution to attain the secrets of Zen. Tenryu just lifted one of his fingers and said nothing. This however was enough to open Gutei’s mind at once to the ultimate meaning of Zen, and it is said that ever since Gutei did or said nothing but just holding up a finger to all the questions that might be asked of him concerning Zen.
There was a boy in his temple, who seeing the master’s trick imitated him when the boy himself was asked about what kind of preaching his master generally practised. When the boy told the master about it showing his lifted little finger, the master cut it right off with a knife. The boy ran away screaming in pain when Gutei called him back. The boy turned back, the master lifted his own finger, and the boy instantly realised the meaning of the “one finger Zen” of Tenryu as well as Gutei.
[f15] Compare this with the statement made by the sixth patriarch himself when he was asked how it was that he came to succeed the fifth patriarch “Because I do not understand Buddhism.” Let me also cite a passage from the Kena-Upanishad, in which the readers may find a singular coincidence between the Brahman seer and those Zen masters, not only in thought but in the way it is expressed:
“It is conceived of by him by whom it is not conceived of;
He by whom It is conceived of, knows It not.
It is not understood by those who understand It;
It is understood by those who understand It not.”
Lao-tzŭ, founder of Taoist mysticism, breathes the same spirit when he says: “He who knows it speaks not, he who speaks knows not.”
[f16] The conception of Dharmakāya apart from the physical body (rūpakāya) of the Buddha was logically inevitable, as we read in the Ekottara-Āgama, XLIV., “The Life of the Śākyamuni-Buddha is extremely long, the reason is that while his physical body enters into Nirvana, his Law-body exists.” But the Dharmakāya could not be made to function directly upon suffering souls, as it was too abstract and transcendental; they wanted something more concrete and tangible towards which they could feel personally intimate. Hence the conception of another Buddha-body, that is, Sambhogakāya-Buddha or Vipākaja-Buddha, completing the dogma of the Triple Body (Trikāya).
[f17] The absolute faith Shinran had in the teaching of Hōnen as is evidenced in this quotation proves that the Shin sect is the result of Shinran’s inner experience and not the reasoned product of his philosophy. His experience came first, and to explain it to himself as well as to communicate it to others, he resorted to various Sutras for verification. The Teaching, Practice, Faith, and Attainment was thus written by him giving an intellectual and scriptural foundation to the Shin-shu faith. In religion as in other affairs of human life, belief precedes reasoning. It is important not to forget this fact when tracing the development of ideas.
[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. We read in one of the Sutras belonging to the Agama class of Buddhist literature, which is entitled Sutra on the Cause and Effect in the Past and Present (fas. II.): “My original vows are fulfilled, the Dharma [or Truth] I have attained is too deep for the understanding. A Buddha alone is able to understand what is in the mind of another Buddha. In this age of the Five Taints (pañca-kashāyā), all beings are enveloped in greed, anger, folly, falsehood, arrogance, and flattery; they have few blessings and are stupid and have no understanding to comprehend the Dharma I have attained. Even if I make the Dharma-Wheel revolve, they would surely be confused and incapable of accepting it. They may on the contrary indulge in defamation, and, thereby falling into the evil paths, suffer all kinds of pain. It is best for me to remain quiet and enter into Nirvana.” In the Sutra on the Story of the Discipline, which is considered an earlier translation of the preceding text and was rendered into Chinese by an Indian Buddhist scholar, Ta-li and a Tibetan, Mang-siang, in A.D. 197, no reference is yet made to the Buddha’s resolution to keep silent about his Enlightenment, only that what he attained was all-knowledge which was beyond the understanding and could not be explained, as its height was unscalable and its depth unfathomable, containing the whole universe in it and yet penetrating into the unpenetrable”.... Cf. the Mahāpadāna Suttanta (Dīgha Nikāya, XIV), and the Ariyapariyesana Suttam (Majjhima, XXVI).
[f19] Cf. Saṁyukta Āgama (Chinese), Fas. XXXII.
[f20] That the personality of the Buddha was an object of admiration and worship as much as, or perhaps more than, his extraordinary intellectual attributes, is gleaned throughout the Agama literature. To quote one or two instances: “When Subha-Mānava Todeyyaputta saw the Blessed One sitting in the woods, the Brahman was struck with the beautiful serenity of his personality which most radiantly shone like the moon among the stars; his features were perfect, glowing like a golden mountain; his dignity was majestic with all his senses under perfect control, so tranquil and free from all beclouding passions, and so absolutely calm with his mind subdued and quietly disciplined.” (The Middle Āgama, fas. XXXVIII.) This admiration of his personality later developed into the deification of his being, and all the evils moral and physical were supposed to be warded off if one thought of him or his virtues. “When those beings who practised evil deeds with their bodies, mouths, or minds, think of the merits of the Tathagata at the moment of their deaths, they would be kept away from the three evil paths and born in the heavens; even the vilest would be born in the heavens.” (The Ekottara Āgama, fas. XXXII.) “Wherever Śramaṇa Gautama appears, no evil spirits or demons can approach him; therefore let us invite him here and all those evil gods [who have been harrassing us] would by themselves take to their heels.” (Loc. cit.) It was quite natural for the Buddhists that they later made the Buddha the first object of Recollection (smṛti), which, they thought, would keep their minds from wandering away and help them realise the final aim of the Buddhist life. These statements plainly demonstrate that while on the one hand the teaching of the Buddha was accepted by his followers as the Dharma beautiful in the beginning, beautiful in the middle, and beautiful in the end, his person was on the other hand regarded as filled with miraculous powers and divine virtues, so that his mere presence was enough to create a most auspicious atmosphere not only spiritually but materially.
[f21] When the Buddha entered Nirvana, the monks cried, “Too soon has the Tathagata passed away, too soon has the World-honoured One passed away, too soon has the Great Law died out; all beings are forever left to misery; for the Eye of the World is gone.” Their lamentation was beyond description, they lay on the ground like great trees with roots, stems, and branches all torn and broken to pieces, they rolled and wriggled like a slain snake. Such excessive expressions of grief were quite natural for those Buddhists whose hearts were directed towards the personality of their master more than towards his sane and rationalistic teachings, Cf. the Pali Parinibbāna-suttanta.
[f22] For a more or less detailed account of the various Buddhist schools that came up within a few centuries after the Buddha, see Vasumitra’s Samayabhedo-paracana-cakra. Professor Suisai Funahashi recently published an excellent commentary on this book.
[f23] Cf. The Sukhāvatī-vyūha (edited by Max Müller and B. Nanjio), p. 7, where we have: “Buddhasvaro anantaghoshah,” that is, the Buddha’s voice is of infinite sounds. See also the Saddharma-puṇḍarīka (p. 128) where we read: “Svareṇa caikena vadāmi dharmam,” I preach the law with one voice. The parable of the water of one taste (ekarasaṁ vāri) variously producing herbs, shrubs, and others, is very well known among the Mahayanists.
[f24] Here we find the justification of a “mystic” interpretation of the sacred books of any religion. The Swedenborgian doctrine of Correspondence thus grows illuminating. The philosophy of Shingon mysticism somewhat reflects the idea of correspondence, though naturally it is based on a different set of philosophical ideas. Varieties of interpretation are always possible in anything not only because of the presence of the subjective element in every judgment, but because of infinite complications of objective relationship.
[f25] Cf. such Sutras as the Tevijja, Mahāli, Brahmajāla, etc. in the Dīgha Nikāya. See also the Sutta Nipāta, especially the Atthakavagga, which is one of the earliest Buddhist texts in our possession at present. There we read about “Ajjhattasanti” (inward peace) which cannot be attained by philosophy, nor by tradition, nor by good deeds.
[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.
[f27] The Dialogue of the Buddha, Sacred Books of the Buddhists, Vol. II., p. 29.
[f28] In fact, the term, prajñā or in pañña Pali, is not an exclusive possession of the Mahayanists, for it is also fully used by their rival disciples of the Buddha. The latter however failed to lay any special emphasis on the idea of enlightenment and its supreme significance in the body of Buddhism, and as the consequence Prajñā was comparatively neglected by the Hinayanists. Mahayanism on the other hand may be designated as the religion of Prajñā par excellence. It is even deified and most reverently worshipped.
[f29] This is no other than “the opening of the pure eye of the Dharma” (virajaṁ vītamalaṁ dhamma-cakkhum udapādi), frequently referred to in the Agamas when one attains to Arhatship.
[f30] Read, for instance, chap. XV., entitled “Duration of Life of the Tathagata.”
[f31] Dhammanadam, 153, 154.
[f32] Ata etasmāt kāraṇan mahāmate mayedam uktaṁ: yāṁ ca rātriṁ tathāgato ’bhisambuddho yāṁ ca rātriṁ parinirvāsyati atrāntara ekam api aksharaṁ tathāgatena na udāhṛitaṁ na udāharishyati.—Laṅkāvatāra, Chap. III., p. 144. See also Chapter VII., p. 240. (For this reason, O Mahāmati, I say unto you: During the time that elapsed between the night of the Tathagata’s Enlightenment and the night of his entrance into Nirvana, not one word, not one statement was given out by him.)
[f33] According to Aśvaghosha’s Awakening of Faith, Ignorance means the sudden awakening of a thought (citta) in consciousness. This may be variously interpreted, but as long as Ignorance is conceived, not as a process requiring a certain duration of time, but an event instantaneously taking place, its disappearance which is enlightenment must also be an instantaneous happening.
[f34] This is the usual formula given as the qualification of an Arhat, to be met with throughout the Nikāyas.
[f35] Chapter II., “On Skilfullness.”
[f36] In this connection it may not be amiss to say a word about what is known in Buddhism as the “act of no-effort or no-purpose” (anābhogacaryā) or “the original vows of no-purpose” (anābhogapraṇidhāna). This corresponds, if I judge rightly, to the Christian idea of not letting the right hand know what the left hand is doing. When spirit attains to the reality of enlightenment and as a result is thoroughly purified of all defilements, intellectual and affective, it grows so perfect that whatever it does is pure, unselfish, and conducive to the welfare of the world. So long as we are conscious of the efforts we make in trying to overcome our selfish impulses and passions, there is a taint of constraint and artificiality, which interferes with spiritual innocence and freedom, and love which is the native virtue of an enlightened spirit cannot work out all that is implied in it and meant to be exercised for the preservation of itself. The “original vows” are the content of love and begin to be operative, anabhoga (un-purposely), only when enlightenment is really creative. This is where religious life differs from mere morality, this is where the mere enunciation of the Law of Origination (pratītya-samutpāda) does not constitute Buddhist life, and this is where Zen Buddhism maintains its reason of existence against the alleged positivism of the Hinayana and against the alleged nihilism of the Prajñā-pāramitā school.
[f37] Dialogues of the Buddha, Part III., p. 35.
[f38] Dialogues of the Buddha, Part I., p. 82.
[f39] The Pali text that will correspond to this Chinese Sutra in the Dīrgha-Āgama is the Kevaddha Sutta, but the passage quoted here is missing. See also the Lohicca (Lou-chê) and Sāmañña-phala in the Chinese Āgamas, in which the Buddha tells how essential the life of a recluse is to the realisation of enlightenment and the destruction of the evil passions. Constant application, earnest concentration, and vigilant watchfulness—without these no Buddhists are ever expected to attain the end of their lives.
[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?
[f41] One hundred and eight samadhis are enumerated in the Mahāvyutpatti. Elsewhere we read of “innumerable samadhis.” Indians have been great adepts in this exercise, and many wonderful spiritualistic achievements are often reported.
[f42] This series of dhyanas has also been adopted by Buddhists, especially by Hinayanists. No doubt the Mahayana conception of dhyana is derived or rather has developed from them, and how much it differs from the Hinayana dhyanas will be seen later as we go on. The detailed description of these dhyanas is given in the Agamas; see for instance the Sāmañña-phala Sutta in which the fruits of the life of a recluse are discussed. These mental exercises were not strictly Buddhistic, they were taught and practised more or less by all Indian philosophers and mendicants. The Buddha, however, was not satisfied with them, because they would not bring out the result he was so anxious to have, that is, they were not conducive to enlightenment. This was the reason why he left his two old teachers, Arada and Udraka, under whom he first began his homeless life.
[f43] For example, the ten subjects for meditation are: Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, Morality, Charity, Heaven, Serenity, Breathing, Impermanence, and Death. The five subjects of tranquillisation are: Impurity, Compassion, Breathing, Origination, and Buddha. The four subjects of recollection are: Impurity of the Body, Evils of the Senses, Constant Change of Thought, and Transitoriness of Existence.
[f44] Laṅkāvatāra, Nanjo Edition, p, 77.
[f45] There is however a Sutra in the Saṁyukta Āgama, fas. XXXIII., p. 93b (Anguttara-Nikāya, XI., 10), dealing with true dhyana (ājānīya-jhāna) which is to be distinguished from untrained dhyana (khaḷuṅka-jhāna). The latter is compared to an ill-disciplined horse (khaḷuṅka) kept in the stable that thinks nothing of his duties but only of the fodder he is to enjoy. In a similar way dhyana can never be practised successfully by those who undertake the exercise merely for the satisfaction of their selfish objects; for such will never come to understand the truth as it is. If emancipation and true knowledge are desired, anger, sleepiness, worrying, and doubt ought to be got rid of, and then the dhyana can be attained that does not depend upon any of the elements, or space, or consciousness, or nothingness, or unthinkability—the dhyana that is not dependent upon this world or that world or the heavenly bodies, or upon hearing or seeing or recollecting or recognising—the dhyana that is not dependent upon the ideas of attachment or seeking—the dhyana that is not in conformity with knowledge or contemplation. This “true dhyana” then as is described in this Sutra in the Nikayas, is more of the Mahayana than of the Hinayana so called.
[f46] Kern’s translation,” Sacred Books of the East,” Vol. XXI., pp. 299–300.
[f47] For this and the following, see the Essay entitled, “History of Zen Buddhism from Bodhi-Dharma to Hui-nêng,” p. [151] ff.
[f48] The story of Enlightenment is told in the Dīgha-Nikāya, XIV., and also in the Introduction to the Jātaka Tales, in the Mahāvastu, and the Majjhima-Nikāya, XXVI. and XXXVI., and again in the Samyutta-Nikāya, XII. In detail they vary more or less, but not materially. The Chinese translation of the Sutra on the Cause and Effect in the Past and Present, which seems to be a later version than the Pali Mahāpadāna, gives a somewhat different story, but as far as my point of argument is concerned, the main issue remains practically the same. Aśvaghosha’s Buddhacarita is highly poetical. The Lalita-vistara belongs to the Mahayana. In this Essay I have tried to take my material chiefly from The Dialogues of the Buddha, translated by Rhys Davids, The Kindred Sayings, translated by Mrs. Rhys Davids, Majjhima-Nikāya, translated by Sīlācāra, and the same by Neumann, the Chinese Āgamas and others.
[f49] The idea that there were some more Buddhas in the past seems to have originated very early in the history of Buddhism as we may notice here, and its further development, combined with the idea of the Jātaka, finally culminated in the conception of a Bodhisattva, which is one of the characteristic features of Mahayana Buddhism.
The six Buddhas of the past later increased into twenty-three or twenty-four in the Buddha-vamsa and Prajñā-pāramitā and even into forty-two in the Lalita-vistara. This idea of having predecessors or forerunners seems to have been general among ancient peoples. In China, Confucius claimed to have transmitted his doctrine from Yao and Shun, and Laotzŭ from the Emperor Huang. In India, Jainism which has, not only in the teaching but in the personality of the founder, many similarities to Buddhism, mentions twenty-three predecessors, naturally more or less corresponding so closely to those of Buddhism.
[f50] It is highly doubtful that the Buddha had a very distinct and definite scheme for the theory of Causation or Dependence or Origination, as the Paṭicca-samuppāda is variously translated. In the present Sutra, he does not go beyond Viññāna (consciousness or cognition), while in its accepted form now the Chain starts with Ignorance (avijjā). We have however no reason to consider this tenfold Chain of Causation the earliest and most authoritative of the doctrine of Paṭicca-samuppāda. 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.
[f51] Cakkhu literally means an eye. It is often found in combination with such terms as paññā (wisdom or reason), buddha, or samanta (all-round), when it means a faculty beyond ordinary relative understanding. As was elsewhere noticed, it is significant that in Buddhism, both Mahayana and Hinayana, seeing (passato) is so emphasised, and especially in this case the mention of an “eye” which sees directly into things never before presented to one’s mind is quite noteworthy. It is this cakkhu or paññā-cakkhu in fact that, transcending the conditionality of the Fourfold Noble Truth or the Chain of Origination, penetrates (sacchikato) into the very ground of consciousness, from which springs the opposition of subject and object.
[f52] Here as well as in the next verse, “the truth” stands for Dharma.
[f53] We have, besides this, another verse supposed to have been uttered by the Buddha at the moment of Supreme Enlightenment; it is known as the Hymn of Victory. It was quoted in my previous Essay on Zen Buddhism and the Doctrine of Enlightenment. The Hymn is unknown in the Mahayana literature. The Lalita-vistara has only this:
“Chinna vartmopasanta rajāḥ sushkā āsravā na punaḥ sravānti;
Chinne vartmani vartata duḥkhasyaisho ’nta ucyate.”[3.1]
[f54] The Mahāvyutpatti, CXLII., gives a list of thirteen terms denoting the act of comprehending with more or less definite shades of meaning: buddhi, mati, gati, mataṁ, dṛishtaṁ, abhisamitāvī, samyagavabodha, supratividdha, abhilakshita, gatiṁgata, avabodha, pratyabhijñā, and menire.
[f55] Franz Pfeiffer, p. 312, Martensen, p. 29.
[f56] Translated by Bhikkhu Sīlācāra. The original Pali runs as follows:
Sabbābhibhū sabbavidū ’ham asmi,
Sabbesu dhammesu anūpalitto,
Sabbaṁjaho tanhakkhaye vimutto,
Sayaṁ abhiññāya kam uddiseyyaṁ.
Na me ācariyo atthi, sadiso me na vijjati,
Sadevakasmiṁ lokasmiṁ na ’tthi me paṭipuggalo.
Ahaṁ hi arahā loke, ahaṁ satthā anuttaro,
Eko ’mhi sammasambuddho, sītibhūto ’smi nibbuto.
Dīgha-Nikāya, XXVI.
[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).
[f58] The Buddhacarita, Book XIV.
[f59] Nānañ ca pana me dassanaṁ udapādi akuppā me ceto-vimutti ayaṁ antimā jāti natthi dāni punabbhavo.
[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.
[f61] Tassa evam jānato evam passato kāmāsavāpi cittaṁ vimuccati bhavāsavāpi cittaṁ vimuccati avijjāsavāpi cittaṁ vimuccati, vimuttasmiṁ vimuttamit ñāṇaṁ hoti. Khina jāti vusitaṁ brahmacariyaṁ kataṁ karanīyam nāparaṁ itthattāyāti pajānāti.
[f62] The Brahmajāla Sutta, p. 43. Translation by Rhys Davids.
[f63] The idea of performing miracles systematically through the power acquired by self-concentration seems to have been greatly in vogue in India even from the earliest days of her civilisation, and the Buddha was frequently approached by his followers to exhibit his powers to work wonders. In fact, his biographers later turned him into a regular miracle-performer, at least as far as we may judge by the ordinary standard of logic and science. 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. In the Kevaddha Sutta, three wonders are mentioned as having been understood and realised by the Buddha: the mystic wonder, the wonder of education, and the wonder of manifestation. The possessor of the mystic wonder can work the following logical and physical impossibilities: “From being one he becomes multiform, from being multiform he becomes one: from being visible he becomes invisible: he passes without hindrance to the further side of a wall or a battlement or a mountain, as if through air: he penetrates up and down through solid ground as if through water: he walks on water without dividing it, as if on solid ground: he travels cross-legged through the sky like the birds on wing: he touches and feels with the hand even the moon and sun, beings of mystic power and potency they be: he reaches even in the body up to the heaven of Brahma.” Shall we understand this literally and intellectually? Cannot we interpret it in the spirit of the Prajñā-pāramitā idealism? Why? Taccittam yacittam acittam. (Thought is called thought because it is no-thought.)
[f64] The questions are: Is the world eternal? Is the world not eternal? Is the world finite? Is the world infinite? Potthapāda-Sutta.
[f65] Cf. Dhammapada, v. 385. “He for whom there is neither this nor that side, nor both, him, the fearless and unshackled, I call indeed a Brahman.”
[f66] Sutta-nipāta, v, 720. Sanantā yanti kussobbhā, tunḥī yāti mahodadhi.
[f67] The Majjhima-Nikāya, 140, Dhātuvibhangasuttam. Asmīti bhikkhu maññitam etaṁ; Ayam aham asmīti maññitam etaṁ; Bhavissan ti maññitam etaṁ; Na bhavissan ti maññitam etaṁ; Rūpī bhavissan ti maññitam etaṁ; Arūpī bhavissan ti maññitam etaṁ; Saññī bhavissan ti maññitam etaṁ; Asaññi bhavissan ti maññitam etaṁ; Nevasaññi-nasaññi bhavissan ti maññitam etaṁ.
[f68] Majjhima Nikāya, 22.
[f69] Cf. Sutta-Nipāta, v. 21. “By me is made a well-constructed raft, so said Bhagavat, I have passed over to Nirvana, I have reached the further bank, having overcome the torrent of passions; there is no further use for a raft: therefore, if thou like, rain, O sky!”
[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. 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. You look into the mirror and finding an image thereon you take it for a reality, while the image is yourself and nobody else. The one who views the world thus, has the rightful view of it, ya evam pasyati sa samyakpasyati. Indeed, when he takes hold of ekāgra (one-pointedness or oneness of things), he realises the state of mind in which his inner wisdom reveals itself (svapratyātmāryajñānagocara) and which is called the Tathāgatagarbha. In this illustration “dharma” and “adharma” are synonyms of being (sat) and non-being (asat) or affirmation (asti) and negation (nāsti). Therefore, the abandoning of dharma and adharma (dharmādharmayoḥ prahāṇaṁ) means the getting rid of dualism in all its complexities and implications. Philosophically, this abandoning is to get identified with the Absolute, and morally to go beyond good and evil, right and wrong. Also compare Sutta-Nipāta, verse 886, where dualism is considered to be the outcome of false philosophical reasoning “Takkañ ca diṭṭhisu pakappayitvā, saccaṁ musā ti dvayadhammam āhu.”
[f71] Abridged from the Majjhima Nikāya, 22, p. 139. Cf. also the Samyutta Nikāya, XII., 70. p. 125.
[f72] For the Buddhist version of the story, see the Saddharma-puṇḍarīka Sūtra chapter 4, and the Vajrasamādhi Sūtra, chapter 4 (Chinese translation).
[f73] Samyutta XII., 65, Nagara; cf. also one of the Prajñā-pāramitā sūtras which is known as one preached by Mañjuśrī (Nanjo Catalogue, No. 21). In the Sutra we find that the Buddha, after mentioning the simile of a gem-digger, makes reference to a man who feels overwhelmed with delight when people talk pleasantly about the old towns and villages once visited by himself. The same sort of a delightful feeling is expressed by one who will listen to the discourse on Prajñāpāramitā and understand it; for he was in his past lives present at the assembly which was gathered about the Buddha delivering sermons on the same subject. That the understanding of the doctrine of Prajñāpāramitā is a form of memory is highly illuminating when considered in relation to the theory of Enlightenment as advanced here.
That the ushering of Enlightenment is accompanied with the feeling of return or remembrance is also unmistakably noted by the writer of the Kena-Upanishad (VI., 50):
“Now in respect to the Atman:
It is as though something forces its way into consciousness
And consciousness suddenly remembers—
Such a state of mind illustrates the awakening of knowledge of the Atman.”
Sonadanda the Brahman had the following to say when he grasped the meaning of the Buddha’s discourse on the characteristics of the true Brahman (Rhys David’s translation): “Most excellent, oh Gotama, most excellent! Just as if a man were to set up that which has been thrown down, or were to reveal that which has been hidden away, or were to point out the right road to him who has gone astray, or were to bring a light into the darkness so that those who had eyes could see external forms—just even so has the truth been made known to me, in many a figure, by the venerable Gotama.”
[f74] Buddhacarita, translated by E. B. Cowell, pp. 131–132.
[f75] Lefmann’s edition, p. 289.
[f76] Ariyapapariyesana-sutta, Majjhima-Nikāya, XXVI., p. 167.
[f77] Used to designate the school which upholds the doctrine of enlightenment (sambodhi).
[f78] This translation is not at all satisfactory.
[f79] Jōshu (778—897) was one of the early masters of Zen in the T‘ang dynasty when it began to flourish with its vigorous freshness. He attained to a high age of one hundred and twenty. His sermons were always short and to the point, and his answers are noted for their being so natural and yet so slippery, so hard to catch.
[f80] Six Essays by Bodhi-Dharma[4.25] is the book in which the so-called writings of Bodhi-Dharma are collected. See also the Essay “[On Satori]” which follows.
[f81] For Tao-hsüan’s edition in the original Chinese, see [Note 4.28] in the Appendix.
[f82] This is the most significant phrase in Dharma’s writing. I have left it untranslated, for later this will be explained fully.
[f83] The author of this story or prefatory note is T‘an-lin (Donrin), who, according to Dr. Tokiwa, of the Tokyo Imperial University, was a learned scholar partaking in the translation of several Sanskrit works. He is also mentioned in connection with Yeka (Hui-k‘ê) in the biography of the latter by Tao-hsüan. If Donrin were more of a scholar as we can see by this identification than a genuine Zen master, it was quite natural for him to write down this “Meditation on Four Acts,” which mainly appeals as it stands to the scholarly interpretation of Zen. While the doctrine of Pi-kwan is emphatically Zen, there is much in the “Meditation” that lends itself to the philosophising of Zen.
[f84] Translated into Chinese during the Northern Liang dynasty which lasted A.D. 397–439. The translator’s name is lost.
[f85] 大乘壁觀功業最高
[f86] We read in Tao-hsüan’s Biographies that wherever Bodhi-Dharma stayed he taught people in his Zen doctrine, but as the whole country at the time was deeply plunged into scholastic discussions, there was a great deal of slanderous talk against meditation when they learned of Bodhi-Dharma’s message.
[f87] Is it possible that this passage has some reference to the Vajrasamādhi where Bodhisattva Mahābala speaks of a “flaccid mind” and a “strong mind”? The former which is possessed by most common people “pants” (or gasps or hankers) very much, and prevents them from successfully attaining to the Tathāgata-dhyāna, while the “strong mind” is characteristic of one who can enter upon the realm of reality (bhūtakoṭi). As long as there are “pantings” (or gaspings) in the mind, it is not free, it is not liberated, and cannot identify itself with the suchness of reason. The mind must be “strong” or firm and steady, self-possessed and concentrating, before it is ready for the realisation of Tathāgata-dhyāna—a dhyana going far beyond the reach of the so-called four dhyānas and eight samādhis.
[f88] This subject was treated in another place, though rather sketchily, and will be further elaborated later in an independent essay.
[f89] In this connection I wish to make some remarks against certain scholars who consider the philosophy of Śūnyatā to be really the foundation of Zen. Such scholars fail utterly to grasp the true purport of Zen which is first of all an experience and not at all a philosophy or dogma. Zen can never be built upon any set of metaphysical or psychological views; the latter may be advanced after the Zen experience has taken place, but never before. The philosophy of the Prajñāpāramitā can never precede Zen, but must always follow it. Buddhist scholars like those at the time of Dharma are too apt to identify teaching and life, theory and experience, description and fact. When this confusion is allowed to grow, Zen Buddhism will cease to yield an intelligent and satisfactory interpretation. Without the fact of Enlightenment under the Bodhi-tree near the Nairañjanā, no Nāgārjunas could ever hope to write a single book on the Prajñā philosophy.
[f90] As I stated before, there is a confusion between Dharma’s mien-pi habit of sitting and his doctrine of the pi-kuan meditation. The confusion dates quite early, and even at the time of the author of the Records the original meaning of pi-kuan, wall-contemplation, must have been lost.
[f91] Sometimes this man is said to be a civilian and sometimes a soldier embracing Confucianism.
[f92] As one can readily see, this story is more or less fictitious. I mean Kuang’s standing in the snow and cutting-off of his arm in order to demonstrate his earnestness and sincerity. Some think that the snow story and that of self-mutilation do not belong to that of Kuang, but borrowed from some other sources, as Tao-hsüan makes no reference to them in his book. The loss of the arm was due to a party of robbers who attacked Kuang after his interview with Dharma. We have no way to verify these stories either way. The whole setting however is highly dramatic, and there must have been once in the history of Zen some necessity to interweave imagination largely with facts, whatever they may be.
[f93] According to Hsieh-sung, the author of the Right Transmission of the Law, Bodhi-Dharma has here followed Nāgārjuna in the anatomy of Zen-understanding. For Nāgārjuna says in his famous commentary on the Prajñāpāramitā-sūtra, “Moral conduct is the skin, meditation is the flesh, the higher understanding is the bone, and the mind subtle and good is the marrow.” “This subtle mind,” says Hsieh-sung, is what is secretly transmitted from the Buddha to his successors in the faith. He then refers to Chih-I of the Sui dynasty who regards this mind as the abode of all the Buddhas and as the middle way in which there is neither unity nor multiplicity and which can never be adequately expressed in words.
[f94] According to this, there must have been a special volume of sermons and letters by Hui-k‘ê, which were compiled evidently by his disciples and admirers before they were put down in writing and thoroughly revised by the author himself. In the case of Bodhi-Dharma too, according to Tao-hsüan, his sayings were apparently in circulation in the day of Tao-hsüan, that is, early in the T‘ang dynasty.
[f95] Understood by some to be leprosy.
[f96] In the Vimalakīrti, Chapter III., “The Disciples,” we have the following: “Do not worry about the sins you have committed, O monks,” said Vimalakīrti, “Why? Because sins are in their essence neither within nor without nor in the middle. As the Buddha taught us, all things are defiled when Mind is defiled; all things are pure when Mind is pure: and Mind is neither within nor without nor in the middle. As is Mind, so are sins and defilements, so are all things—they never transcend the suchness of truth.”
[f97] Hsin, is one of those Chinese words which defy translation. When the Indian scholars were trying to translate the Buddhist Sanskrit works into Chinese, they discovered that there were five classes of Sanskrit terms which could not be satisfactorily rendered into Chinese. We thus find in the Chinese Tripitaka such words as prajñā, bodhi, buddha, nirvāṇa, dhyāna, bodhisattva, etc., almost always untranslated; and they now appear in their original form among the technical Buddhist terminology. If we could leave hsin with all its nuance of meaning in this translation, it would save us from the many difficulties that face us in its English rendering. For hsin means mind, heart, soul, spirit—each singly as well as all inclusively. In the present composition by the third patriarch of Zen, it has sometimes an intellectual connotation but at other times it can properly be done by “heart.” But as the predominant note of Zen Buddhism is more intellectual than anything else, though not in the sense of being logical or philosophical, I decided here to translate hsin by “mind” rather than by “heart.”
[f98] This means: When the absolute oneness of things is not properly understood, negation as well as affirmation will tend to be one-sided view of reality. When Buddhists deny the reality of an objective world, they do not mean that they believe in the unconditioned emptiness of things; they know that there is something real which cannot be done away with. When they uphold the doctrine of void this does not mean that all is nothing but an empty hollow, which leads to a self-contradiction. The philosophy of Zen avoids the error of one-sidedness involved in realism as well as in idealism.
[f99] I.e., Tat tvam asi.
[f100] There is however a variation from five years to fifteen years according to different authorities.
[f101] These accounts, whether truly historical or not, concerning the controversy between the two leaders of Zen early in the T‘ang dynasty prove how heated was the rivalry between the North and the South. The Sermons of the Sixth Patriarch (Fa-pao-tan-ching) itself appears as if written with the sole object of refuting the opponents of the “abrupt” school.
[f102] This is a constant refrain in the teaching of the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras—to awaken one’s thought where there is no abode whatever (na kvacit pratishṭitaṁ cittaṁ utpādayitavyam). When Jōshu called on Ungo, the latter asked, “O you, old wanderer! how is it that you do not seek an abiding place for yourself?” “Where is my abiding place?” “There is an old temple ruin at the foot of this mountain.” “That is a fitting place for your old self,” responded Jōshu. 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!”
[f103] This is the name of the place where Hui-nêng had his Zen headquarters.
[f104] Hsing means nature, character, essence, soul, or what is innate to one. “Seeing into one’s Nature” is one of the set phrases used by the Zen masters, and in fact the avowed object of all Zen discipline. Satori is its more popular expression. When one gets into the inwardness of things, there is satori. This latter however being a broad term, can be used to designate any kind of a thorough understanding, and it is only in Zen that it has a restricted meaning. In this article I have used the term as the most essential thing in the study of Zen; for “seeing into one’s Nature” suggests the idea that Zen has something concrete and substantial which requires being seen into by us. This is misleading, though satori too I admit is a vague and naturally ambiguous word. For ordinary purposes, not too strictly philosophical, satori will answer, and whenever chien-hsing is referred to, it means this, the opening of the mental eye. As to the sixth patriarch’s view on “seeing into one’s Nature,” see above under “[History of Zen Buddhism].”
[f105] According to the Mahāparinirvāna-sūtra, translated into Chinese by Dharmaraksha, A.D. 423, Vol. XXXIII., he was one of the three sons of the Buddha while he was still a Bodhisattva. He was most learned in all Buddhist lore, but his views tended to be nihilistic and he finally fell into hell.
[f106] That is, from the idea that this sitting cross-legged leads to Buddhahood. From the earliest periods of Zen in China, the quietist tendency has been running along the whole history with the intellectual tendency which emphasises the satori element. Even to-day these currents are represented to a certain extent by the Soto on the one hand and the Rinzai on the other, while each has its characteristic features of excellence. My own standpoint is that of the intuitionalist and not that of the quietist; for the essence of Zen lies in the attainment of satori.
[f107] W. Lehmann, Meister Eckhart. Göttingen, 1917, p. 243. Quoted by Prof. Rudolf Otto in his The Idea of the Holy, p. 201.
[f108] In Claud Field’s Mystics and Saints of Islam (p. 25), we read under Hasan Basri, “Another time I saw a child coming toward me holding a lighted torch in his hand, ‘Where have you brought the light from?’ I asked him. He immediately blew it out, and said to me, ‘O Hasan, tell me where it is gone, and I will tell you whence I fetched.’” Of course the parallel here is only apparent, for Tokusan got his enlightenment from quite a different source than the mere blowing out of the candle. Still the parallel in itself is interesting enough to be quoted here.
[f109] See the Essay entitled “[Practical Methods of Zen Instruction].”
[f110] The lightning simile in the Kena-Upanished (IV. 30), as is supposed by some scholars, is not to depict the feeling of inexpressive awe as regards the nature of Brahman, but it illustrates the bursting out of enlightenment upon consciousness. “A—a—ah” is most significant here.
[f111] This is spread before the Buddha and on it the master performs his bowing ceremony, and its rolling up naturally means the end of a sermon.
[f112] Tou chi chia, meaning “the verse of mutual understanding” which takes place when the master’s mind and the disciple’s are merged in each other’s.
[f113] It was originally a mosquito driver, but now it is a symbol of religious authority. It has a short handle, a little over a foot long and a longer tuft of hair, usually a horse’s tail or a yak’s.
[f114] In the Chinese Notes I have added [six more such verses] which may further help the reader to gain an insight into the content of satori.
[f115] This is one of the most noted kō-an and generally given to the uninitiated as an eye-opener. When Jōshu was asked by a monk whether there was Buddha-Nature in the dog, the master answered “Mu!” (wu in Chinese), which literally means “no.” But as it is nowadays understood by the followers of Rinzai, it does not mean anything negative as the term may suggest to us ordinarily, it refers to something most assuredly positive, and the novice is told to find it out by himself, not depending upon others (aparapaccaya), as no explanation will be given nor is any possible. 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.
[f116] Another kō-an for beginners. A monk once asked Jōshu, “All things return to the One, but where does the One return?” to which the master answered, “When I was in the province of Seiju (Ts‘ing-chou), I had a monkish garment made which weighed seven kin (chin).
[f117] He is the founder of the modern Japanese Rinzai school of Zen. All the masters belonging to this school at present in Japan trace back their line of transmission to Hakuin.
[f118] Literally, “a great doubt”, but it does not mean that, as the term “doubt” is not understood here in its ordinary sense. It means a state of concentration brought to the highest pitch.
[f119] Ganto (Yen-t‘ou, 828—887) was one of the great Zen teachers in the T‘ang dynasty. But he was murdered by an outlaw when his death-cry is said to have reached many miles around. When Hakuin first studied Zen, this tragic incident in the life of an eminent Zen master who is supposed to be above all human ailments, troubled him very much, and he wondered if Zen were really the gospel of salvation. Hence this allusion to Ganto. Notice also here that what Hakuin discovered was a living person and not an abstract reason or anything conceptual. Zen leads us ultimately to somewhat living, working, and this is known as “seeing into one’s own Nature” (chien-hsing). The Chinese Notes, [5.39].
[f120] Kō-ans (kung-an) are sometimes called “complications,” (kê-t‘êng) literally meaning “vines and wistarias” which are entwining and entangling; for according to the masters there ought not to be any such thing as a kō-an in the very nature of Zen, it was an unnecessary invention making things more entangled and complicated than ever before. The truth of Zen has no need for kō-ans. It is supposed that there are one thousand seven hundred kō-ans which will test the genuineness of satori.
[f121] Tsu-yüan (1226–1286) came to Japan when the Hōjō family was in power at Kamakura. He established the Engakuji monastery which is one of the chief Zen monasteries in Japan. While still in China his temple was invaded by soldiers of the Yüan dynasty, who threatened to kill him, but Bukko was immovable and quietly uttered the following verse:
“Throughout heaven and earth there is not a piece of ground where a single stick could be inserted;
I am glad that all things are void, myself and the world:
Honoured be the sword, three feet long, wielded by the great Yüan swordsmen;
For it is like cutting a spring breeze amidst the flashes of lightning.”
See Chinese Notes, [5.40].
[f122] That is, sitting cross-legged in meditation.
[f123] This lively utterance remind one of a lightning simile in the Kena-Upanishad (IV. 30):
“This is the way It [that is, Brahman] is to be illustrated:
When lightnings have been loosened,—
a—a—ah!
When that has made the eyes to be closed,—
a—a—ah!
So far concerning Deity [devata].”
Lightning flash is a favourite analogue with the Zen masters too; the unexpected onrush of satori into the ordinary field of consciousness has something of the nature of lightning. It comes so suddenly and when it comes the world is at once illumined and revealed in its entirety and in its harmonious oneness; but when it vanishes everything falls back into its old darkness and confusion.
[f124] Pao-tz‘u Wên-ch‘in, a disciple of Pao-fu Ts‘ung-chan, who died 928 A.D.
[f125] Another time when Jōshu was asked about the “first word,” he coughed. The monk remarked, “Is this not it?” “Why, an old man is not even allowed to cough!”—this came quickly from the old master. Jōshu had still another occasion to express his view on the one word. A monk asked, “What is the one word?” Demanded the master, “What do you say?” “What is the one word?”—the question was repeated when Jōshu gave his verdict, “You make it two.” (Ch. N., [6.3].)
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., (Ch. N., [6.4].)
[f126] There are many mondoes purporting to the same subject. The best known one by Jōshu is quoted elsewhere; of others we mention the following. A monk asked Risan (Li-shan), “All things are reduced to emptiness, but where is emptiness reduced?” Risan answered, “The tongue is too short to explain it to you.” “Why is it too short?” “Within and without, it is of one suchness,” said the master. (Ch. N., [6.6].)
A monk asked Keisan (Ch‘i-shan), “When relations are dissolved, all is reduced to emptiness; but where is emptiness reduced?” The master called out to the monk, and the monk responded, “Yes,” whereupon the master called his attention, saying, “Where is emptiness?” Said the monk, “Pray, you tell me.” Keisan replied, “It is like the Persian tasting pepper.” While the one light is an etiological question as long as its origin is the point at issue, the questions here referred to are teleological because the ultimate reduction of emptiness is the subject for solution. But as Zen transcends time and history, it recognises only one beginningless and endless course of becoming. When we know the origin of the one light, we also know where emptiness ends. (Ch. N., [6.7].)
[f127] Another time a monk was told, “Hold on to your poverty!” Nan-yin Yegu’s (Nan-yüan Hui-yü) answer to his poverty-stricken monk was more consoling, “You hold a handful of jewels yourself.” The subject of poverty is the all-important one in our religious experience—poverty not only in the material but also in the spiritual sense. Asceticism must have as its ground-principle a far deeper sense than to be merely curving human desires and passions, there must be in it something positive and highly religious. “To be poor in spirit,” whatever meaning it may have in Christianity, is rich in signification for Buddhists, especially for Zen followers. A monk, Sei-jei (Ch‘ing-shi), came to Sozan (Ts‘ao-shan), a great master of the Sōtō school in China, and said, “I am a poor lonely monk: pray have pity on me.” “O monk, come on forward!” Whereupon the monk approached the master, who then exclaimed, “After enjoying three cupfuls of fine chiu (liquor) brewed at Ch‘ing-yüan, do you still protest that your lips are not at all wet?” As to another aspect of poverty, cf. Hsiang-yen’s poem of poverty.
[f128] An analogous story is told of Sekito Kisen (Shih-t‘ou Hsi-ch‘ien) who is grandson in faith of the sixth patriarch. The story is quoted elsewhere.
[f129] When this is literally translated, it grows too long and loses much of its original force. The Chinese runs thus: hao li yu ch‘a t‘ien ti hsüan chüeh. It may better be rendered, “An inch’s difference and heaven and earth are set apart.”
[f130] That is, Ts‘ao-ch‘i, where the sixth patriarch of Zen used to reside. It is the birthplace of Chinese Zen Buddhism.
[f131] Does this not remind us of an old mystic who defined God as an unutterable sigh?
[f132] A monk asked Hsüan-sha, “What is the idea of the National Teacher’s calling out to his attendant?” Said Hsüan-sha, “The attendant knows well.” Yün-chü Hsi commented on this: “Does the attendant really know, or does he not? If we say he does, why does the National Teacher say, ‘It is you that are not fair to me’? But if the attendant knows not, how about Hsüan-sha’s assertion? What would be our judgment of the case?”
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.”
A monk asked Fa-yen, “What is the idea of the National Teacher’s calling out to his attendant?” Fa-yen said, “You go away now, and come back some other time.” Remarked Yün-chü, “When Fa-yen says this, does he really know what the National Teacher’s idea is? or does he not?”
A monk approached Chao-chou with the same question, to which he replied, “It is like writing characters in the dark: while the characters are not properly formed, their outlines are plainly traceable.”
[f133] Literally, “A day [of] no work [is] a day [of] no eating.” cf. II. Thessalonians, III., 10: “If any would not work, neither should he eat.” It is noteworthy that St. Francis of Assisi made this the first rule of his Brotherhood.
[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.
[f135] He was the noted Confucian disciple of Baso (Ma-tsu), and his wife and daughter were also devoted Zen followers. When he thought the time had come for him to pass away, he told his daughter to watch the course of the sun and let him know when it was midday. The daughter hurriedly came back and told the father that the sun had already passed the meridian and was about to be eclipsed. Hō came out, and while he was watching the said eclipse, she went in, took her father’s own seat, and passed away in meditation. When the father saw his daughter already in Nirvana, he said, “What a quick-witted girl she is!” Hō himself passed away some days later.
[f136] This historical temple was unfortunately destroyed by the earthquake of 1923, with many other buildings.
[f137] In those monasteries which are connected in some way with the author of this admonition, it is read or rather chanted before a lecture or Teisho begins.
[f138] I must not forget to mention that after the reading of the Hṛidaya Sūtra the following names of the Buddhas and others are invoked: 1. Vairocana-Buddha in his immaculate Body of the Law, 2. Vairocana-Buddha in his perfect Body of Bliss, 3. Śākyamuni-Buddha in his infinite manifestations as Body of Transformation, 4. Maitreya-Buddha who is to come in some future time, 5. All the Buddhas past, present, and future in the ten quarters of the world, 6. The great holy Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, 7. The great morally-perfect Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, 8. The great compassionate Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, 9. All the venerable Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, and 10. Mahāprajñāpāramitā.
[f139] When the slop-basin goes around, spiritual beings are again remembered: “This water in which my bowls were washed tastes like nectar from heaven. I now offer this to the numerous spirits of the world: may they all be filled and satisfied! Om ma-ku-ra-sai (in Pekingese, mo-hsiu-lo-hsi) svāha!”
[f140] This question of dust reminds one of Berkeley’s remark: “We have just raised a dust and then complain we cannot see.”
[f141] Shê-li, is some indestructible substance, generally in pebble-form, found in the body of a saint when it is cremated.
[f142] Kung-an is a question or theme given to the student for solution. It literally means “public document,” and, according to a Zen scholar, it is so called because it serves as such in testing the genuineness of enlightenment a student claims to have attained. The term has been in use since the early days of Zen Buddhism in the T‘ang dynasty. The so-called “cases” or “dialogues” (mondo) are generally used as kō-ans. A special chapter devoted to the subject will be found in the second series of The Essays.
[f143] I cannot tell how early this “Sesshin” originated in the history of the Zendo. It is not in Hyakujo’s Regulations, and did not start in China but in Japan probably after Hakuin. The Sojourn period generally being a “stay at home” season, the monks do not travel, but practise “Sesshin” and devote themselves to the study of Zen; but in the week specially set up as such, the study is pursued with the utmost vigour.
[f144] That is, ti-ch‘ang. Tei means “to carry in hand,” “to show forth,” or “manifest,” and sho “to recite.” Thus by a Teisho the old master is revived before the congregation and his discourses are more or less vividly presented to view. It is not merely explaining or commenting on the text.
[f145] Dharaṇī is a Sanskrit term which comes from the root dhṛi, meaning “to hold.” In Buddhist phraseology, it is a collection, sometimes short, sometimes long, of exclamatory sentences which are not translated into other languages. It is not therefore at all intelligible when it is read by the monks as it is done in the Chinese and Japanese monasteries. But it is supposed to “hold” in it in some mysterious way something that is most meritorious and has the power to keep evil ones away. Later, dharanis and mantrams have grown confused with one another.
[f146] The founder of Tenryuji, Kyoto. He is known as “Teacher of Seven Emperors.” 1274–1361.
[f147] San-ch‘an literally means “to attend or study Zen.” As it is popularly used now in Japan, it has, besides its general meaning, the special one as is referred to in the text.
[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.
[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.
[f150] As to the life of his teacher, Daito, reference was made to it elsewhere.
[f151] The wind is probably one of the best imageries to get us into the idea of non-attachment or Śūnyatā philosophy. The New Testament has at least one allusion to it when it says, “The wind bloweth as it listeth,” and here we see the Chinese mystics making use of the wind to depict his inner consciousness of absolute identity, which is also the Buddhist notion of the void. Now compare the following passage from Echkart: Darum ruft die Braue auch weiter: “Weiche von mir, mein Geliebter, weiche von mir”: “Alles, was irgend der Darstellung fähig ist, das halte ich nicht für Gott. Und so fliehe ich vor Gott, Gottes wegen!”—‘Ei, wo ist dann der Seele Bleiben?’—“Auf den Fittichen der Winde!” (Büttner, Meister Eckeharts Schriften und Predigten, Erster Band, p. 189.) “So flieche ich vor Gott, Gottes wegen,” reminds us of a Zen master who said, “I hate even to hear the name of the Buddha.” From the Zen point of view, “Gottes wegen,” may better be left out.
[f152] The full passage is: “He who seeks learnedness gets daily enriched. He who seeks the Tao is daily made poor. He is made poorer and poorer until he arrives at non-action (wu wei). With non-action, there is nothing that he cannot achieve.” (Chap. 48.)
Na vāsanair bhidyate cit na cittaṁ vāsanaiḥ saha,
Abbinnalakshaṇaṁ cittaṁ vāsanaiḥ pariveshtitarṁ.
Malavad vāsanā yasya manovijñāna-sambhavā,
Pata-śuklopamaṁ cittaṁ vāsanair na virājate.
Yathā na bhāvo nābhāvo gaganaṁ kathyate mayā,
Ālayaṁ hi tathā kāya bhāvābhāva-vivarjitaṁ.
Manovijñāna vyāvṛittaṁ cittaṁ kālusbya varjitam,
Sarvadharmāvabodhena cittaṁ buddhaṁ vadāmyaham.
The Laṅkāvatāra, p. 296.
[f154] Not an ordinary question asking enlightenment, but one that has a point in it showing some understanding on the part of the inquirer. All those questions already quoted must not be taken in their superficial or literary sense. They are generally metaphors. For instance, when one asks about a phrase having no shadow, he does not mean any ordinary ensemble of words known grammatically as such, but an absolute proposition whose verity is so beyond a shadow of doubt that every rational being will at once recognise as true on hearing it. Again, when reference is made to murdering a parent or a Buddha, it has really nothing to do with such horrible crimes, but as we have in Rinzai’s sermon elsewhere, the murdering is transcending the relativity of a phenomenal world. Ultimately, therefore, this question amounts to the same thing as asking “Where is the one to be reduced, when the many are reduced to the one?”
[f155] This means Buddha who is supposed by Buddhists to have been the owner of a golden-coloured body, sixteen feet in height.
[f156] Generally after a sermon the monks come out and ask various questions bearing on the subject of the sermon, though frequently indifferent ones are asked too.
[f157] See the article on the “History of Zen Buddhism,” p. [149] et seq.
[f158] For detail see “[Practical Methods of Zen Instruction].”
[f159] Cf. also “[History of Zen Buddhism]” where reference is made to the Northern and Southern school of Zen under the fifth patriarch in China.
[f160] See for detail p. [177], “History of Zen.”
[f161] According to Fariduddin Attar, A.D. 1119–1229, of Khorassan, Persia, Cf. Claud Field’s Mystics and Saints of Islam, p. 123 et seq.
[f162] Underhill—Mysticism, p. 369.
[f163] After this book went to the press, I have come across an old edition of the spiritual cow-herding pictures, which end with an empty circle corresponding to the eighth of the present series. Is this the work of Seikyo as referred to in Kakuan’s Preface? The cow is shown to be whitening here gradually with the progress of discipline. I may have an occasion later to reproduce this edition.
[f164] See also a Sutra in the Anguttara Āgama bearing the same title, which is evidently another translation of the same text. Also compare “The Herdsman, I.,” in The First Fifty Discourses of Gotama the Buddha; Vol. II., by Bhikkhu Sīlācāra. Leipzig, 1913. This a partial translation of the Majjhima Nikāya of the Pali Tripitaka. The eleven items as enumerated in the Chinese version are just a little differently given. Essentially of course, they are the same in both texts. A Buddhist dictionary called Daizo Hossu gives reference on the subject to the great Mahayana work of Nāgārjuna, the Māhāprājñāpāramitā-Śāstra, but so far I have not been able to identify the passage.
[f165] The ten pictures reproduced here were specially prepared for the author by Reverend Seisetsu Seki, Abbot of Tenryuji, Kyoto, which is one of the principal historical Zen monasteries in Japan. The original Chinese verses with their introductory notes are found in the [Appendix].
[f166] It will be interesting to note what a mystic philosopher would say about this: “A man shall become truly poor and as free from his creature will as he was when he was born. And I say to you, by the eternal truth, that as long as ye desire to fulfil the will of God, and have any desire after eternity and God; so long are ye not truly poor. He alone hath true spiritual poverty who wills nothing, knows nothing, desires nothing.”—(From Eckhart as quoted by Inge in Light, Life, and Love.)