Essays in Zen Buddhism: First Series

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].)

f13Hekiganshu 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.

f27The 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.”

f31Dhammanadam, 153, 154.