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UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Encounter Dialogue: The Literary History of a Zen Buddhist Genre Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9t73b6gf Author Van Overmeire, Ben Publication Date 2016 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: SAN DIEGO Encounter Dialogue: The Literary History of a Zen Buddhist Genre A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Literature by Ben Van Overmeire Committee in charge Professor Richard Cohen, Chair Professor Suzanne Cahill Professor Page Dubois Professor Emily Roxworthy Professor Pasquale Verdicchio 2016 Copyright Ben Van Overmeire, 2016 All rights reserved SIGNATURE PAGE The Dissertation of Ben Van Overmeire is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically Chair University of California, San Diego 2016 iii DEDICATION To my family iv EPIGRAPH 霞一日問居士。昨日相見何似今日。士曰。如法舉昨日事來。作箇宗眼。霞曰。祇 如宗眼還著得龐公麼。士曰。我在你眼裡。霞曰。某甲眼窄。何處安身。士曰。是 眼何窄。是身何安。霞休去。士曰。更道取一句。便得此語圓。霞亦不對。士曰。 就中這一句。無人道得。 Another day, Master Xia asked Layman Pang: “How does yesterday, when we saw each other, resemble today?” The Layman said: “It is as if, relying on the Dharma, you examine yesterday’s affair and create a lineage eye.” Xia said: “Only if my lineage eye returns to attach to the honored Pang!” The Layman said: “I am in your eye.” Xia said: “This person’s eye is narrow. How can you put a body there?” The Layman said: “How is this eye narrow? How is this body to be put?” Xia ceased, and started to go away. Pang said: “If you say one more phrase, then this conversation will be perfect.” Xia did not answer. The Layman said: “As for getting this one phrase exactly right, no one can do it.” The Sayings of Layman Pang v TABLE OF CONTENTS SIGNATURE PAGE........................................................................................................ iii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................. iv EPIGRAPH ....................................................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................ vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................ ix VITA ................................................................................................................................. xi ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION ..................................................................... xii INTRODUCTION: Zen Encounter Dialogues as Utopian Riddles.............................. 1 Overview..................................................................................................................................... 1 What is Zen? .............................................................................................................................. 3 “Encounter Dialogue” or “Koan”?.......................................................................................... 6 Encounter Dialogue as Genre................................................................................................. 12 Encounter Dialogue as Riddle ................................................................................................ 14 Encounter Dialogues as Utopian Narratives......................................................................... 20 Chapter Overview ................................................................................................................... 26 A note on language conventions ............................................................................................. 30 CHAPTER 1: Reading Chan Encounter Dialogue during the Song Dynasty: The Record of Linji, the Lotus Sutra, and the Sinification of Buddhism ........................... 31 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 31 Comparison: The Lotus Sūtra................................................................................................ 35 vi History and Legend ................................................................................................................. 39 The Lotus Sutra as Legend...................................................................................................... 43 The Record of Linji as History................................................................................................ 45 Gongan Practice in The Gateless Barrier............................................................................... 48 Conclusion................................................................................................................................ 50 CHAPTER 2: Zen and the Art of Swordsmanship: Eiji Yoshikawa’s Musashi and Japanese Modernity........................................................................................................ 52 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 52 Musashi and Modernity .......................................................................................................... 55 Overcoming Modernity: The Way of the Samurai .............................................................. 59 Zen and the Art of War........................................................................................................... 64 Meeting your Mother: Encounters with Zen masters.......................................................... 69 Conclusion................................................................................................................................ 75 CHAPTER 3: Mirrors of Zen: Encounter Dialogues as Frame-Stories in Daisetz Suzuki’s An Introduction to Zen Buddhism and Janwillem van de Wetering’s The Empty Mirror ................................................................................................................... 77 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 77 Suzuki’s Mirrors in the Text .................................................................................................. 80 Van de Wetering’s The Empty Mirror.................................................................................... 92 Reflecting and Empty Mirrors............................................................................................. 104 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................. 106 CHAPTER 4: “Mountains, Rivers, and the Whole Earth:” Gender, Lineage, and Reenactment of Encounter Dialogue........................................................................... 108 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 108 vii Linji and Mayu Play Guanyin.............................................................................................. 111 Gender and Performance...................................................................................................... 118 Lineage and Performance..................................................................................................... 125 Grasping and Granting: Two Types of Encounter Dialogue ............................................ 133 From Mind to Body, From Lineage to Kinship.................................................................. 139 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 146 WORKS CITED ........................................................................................................... 150 viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Unlike the Zen school, which confines the roots of one’s spiritual development to those masters enshrined in lineage records, this dissertation is the product of a collective, one that I wish to acknowledge here. This dissertation would have gone nowhere without my advisor, Richard Cohen. For seven years now, Richard has been the creative and intellectual force driving my thinking forward, always inviting me to dig deeper and argue stronger. I am humbled by his self-effacing commitment to education, and can imagine no one guiding me better in the strange world of academia. Though coming later to this project, Suzanne Cahill has also been decisive in its formation. If there’s any merit to my translations of classical Chinese in the pages to come, that merit is due to Suzanne’s kind patience in teaching me this quirky tongue. Her non-assuming way of being a great scholar is as moving as it is inspirational. I would not have disposed of the variety of theoretical tools I use here without Page Dubois. Her seminars and encouragement are a beacon in UCSD’s literature department, and I count myself lucky to have worked with her. Pasquale Verdicchio nurtured my understanding and respect for Zen practitioners, something easily lost when one reads too much in modern Zen scholarship. Finally, Emily Roxworthy expertly guided my explorations of performance theory. I would have been lost without her. Beyond my dissertation committee, numerous friends and colleagues assisted
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