An Introduction to Zen Words and Phrases Translated by Michael D

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An Introduction to Zen Words and Phrases Translated by Michael D 久須本文雄 Kusumoto Bun’yū (1907-1995) 禅語入門 Zengo nyūmon Tokyo: 大法輪閣 Daihōrin-kaku Co. Ltd., 1982 An Introduction to Zen Words and Phrases Translated by Michael D. Ruymar (Michael Sōru Ruymar) 1 What follows is a translation of Kusumoto Bunyū’s (久須本⽂雄) 1982 book Zengo Nyūmon (禅 語⼊⾨, An Introduction to Zen Words and Phrases, Tokyo: Daihōrin-kaku Co. Ltd.), absent its glossary of monastic terms. The main text consists of 100 words and phrases selected by Dr. Kusumoto for exegesis from a variety of sources, but particularly from classic kōan (Zen case) collections like the Blue Cliff Record, the Gateless Barrier, and the Book of Serenity, as well as from the collected writings or sayings of renowned Zen Masters from both China and Japan, like Zen Masters Linji and Dōgen, or, again, from the poetry of such as Han Shan (Cold Mountain) and others. As a genre, there are numerous books of this kind available in Japan, and I have become familiar with two excellent Zengo texts now available to English readers: (i) Moon by The Window: The calligraphy and Zen insights of Shodo Harada (Wisdom Publications, 2011), !and (ii) Zen Words Zen Calligraphy (Tankosha, 1991). It is evident from the breadth and depth of his commentaries that Dr. Kusumoto brought a lifetime of study to bear on the matter contained herein. Though sketchy, he was born in 1908 and graduated in 1933 from what is now Hanazono University, one of several prestigious institutions at which he was destined to lecture in his areas of specialization: Chinese philosophy and Zen studies. He practiced Zen at Enpuku-ji Temple in Kyoto, and, in his book, expressed gratitude both to Hidane Jōzan Rōshi (Zengo 37), and to Hisamatsu Shin’ichi (Zengo 76). His association with Dr. Hisamatsu (1889-1980), an ardent practitioner of the so-called Japanese tea ceremony (茶道: chadō or sadō, the Way of Tea) may account for the numerous references to Tea praxis scattered throughout his book. Hisamatsu was the founder of the FAS Association, a name taken from its motto “to awaken to Formless Self, to stand for the standpoint of All mankind, to create Super-historical history,” where the “Formless Self” (musō no jiko, 無相の⾃⼰) is the awakened mind-dharma (shinbō, ⼼法) which penetrates the three times and ten directions. On weekends and during summer breaks, Dr. Hisamatsu’s students would regularly avail themselves of the excellent facilities at the Urasenke School of Tea in Kyoto, and one has to wonder whether Dr. !Kusumoto was among them, from time to time. I can claim no special qualifications to translate Dr. Kusumoto’s text. I was attracted to his book as a way to come to grips with the metaphors, paradoxes and sheer oddness which abound in Zen expressionism, but I can’t claim success in that. Then I thought that adding comments to the selections would bring me to some degree of clarity, but that hasn’t been the case in any fundamental way. Consequently, I offer my comments herein to Zengo 1 to 82 and 89 (the last I translated and the first I commented on) only as ‘legs painted on a snake’ in the hope that someone else may find some value therein. I wouldn’t have finished the translation (as I did in 2006) if I hadn’t come across McGill University Professor Victor Sōgen Hori’s outstanding Zen Sand: The book of capping phrases for Kōan practice (University of Hawai’i Press, 2003), which I quote throughout. Finally, I’m not an academic. I did this work very spottily across much time. Even so, I don’t think this translation does Dr. Kusumoto a complete disservice. On a more positive note, what I have come to appreciate in this effort is that, whether theist, atheist or agnostic, Zen offers a path to a non-egoic experience of a seamless reality in which we live, breathe and have our being, whether we choose to admit it or not, such that, in a pragmatic sense, it makes no difference whether God, Brahman or Buddha Nature etc. are regarded as an ontological reality, as organized religions (other than Buddhism) profess, or are reduced to shorthand for the entirety of the known and unknown laws of Nature by materialistic atheists like Albert Einstein, or are simply viewed as useful reifications of the formless, free and unhindered svachitta (jishin, ⾃⼼: self-mind) of one who has grasped that engi soku ze kū, kū soku ze engi (縁起即是空 空即是縁起: conditioned genesis is emptiness, emptiness is conditioned genesis), !as in Zen. – Sōru (2014) ! ! Author’s Foreword Non-dependence on words and letters, a special transmission outside of the scriptures, direct pointing to the heart-and-mind of man, and a seeing into one’s Nature which is the attainment of Buddhahood, are the distinguishing characteristics of Zen. That is the Zen Dharma transmitted to China by the First Patriarch, the Great Master Bodhidharma. Following the Sixth Patriarch, Zen Master Huineng, Zen split into Five Houses and Seven Schools, and eventually flourished. It was then brought to Japan by Patriarchs and Masters like Eisai, Dōgen and Yinyuan (Ingen), where it has prospered up to the present time. It was through that transmission of the lamp of Zen that Zen came to be instrumental in the development and formation of Japan’s spiritual cultures, and I expect !that its future role, too, will be truly great. Zen values the human mind. Brushing aside that which soils the mind and exhaustively seeking out one’s Original Mind or Buddha Nature - in other words, pure human nature, the Real Self - its sole aim is building true human character. Zen does not toy with words, whether written or spoken. Being a religion of action that relies on self-exertion (jiriki), it demands active religious experience, individual practice and individual attainment - to !know for yourself whether the water is hot or cold. While reading, it is vital to truly appreciate that Zengo are words and phrases which Zen monks have grappled with in deadly earnest in the course of rigorous training. We should grasp the life that throbs, and the ideas that live on, even now, within Zengo. I hope that, apart from your intellectual grasp of them, you will take up these Zengo, which harbour !that life and thought, as mottos for living. This book is a selection of one hundred Zengo of the highest strain, unpacked, easily and clearly explained in terms that are as ordinary as possible. The Meditation Hall jargon (zendō yōgo) appended at the end1 is a selection from the Zendō (Meditation Hall) of two hundred and eighty vocabulary items with definitions, for those who start to practice Zen and pursue the Truth, or those who are new to Zen in general. I will be happy if this is !even a little useful for understanding Zen, or for character building and the art of living. 1 Translator’s Note: The glossary of Meditation Hall jargon is not included in this translation but can be found by consulting the original text. ! ! From the Translator This is dedicated to the memory of Michael Angelo Ruymar, Mabel Marie Armstrong (Foster), Zen Master Kobori Nanrei Sōhaku, and many others I wish were here. I am grateful for the kindness of the Hosoya family and the Urasenke Foundation, without whom I would not have survived in Japan, or have learned anything whatsoever. The publisher of Zengo Nyūmon, Daihōrin-kaku, has generously permitted its English translation to be released in this format. Please respect the copyright which governs it and the appended commentaries, and do not divert any portion of this material for sale or purchase in any manner or medium. – Michael Sōru Ruymar (March 2014) Zengo! 1 無 ! Zengo: Mu Translation: No !Source: Mumonkan (The Gateless Barrier): 1 In Tang dynasty China there was a well-known monk named Zhaozhou Congshen (778-897) who lived a long life of one hundred and twenty years. His skilled elucidation of the Truth and his instruction to the congregation of monks was like light revealed from his mouth, as in the expression “his lips flashed light.” Because Reverend Zhaozhou did not use the “stick and shout,” just verbal instruction, his Zen-style was called “lip and !mouth” Zen. One time a monk asked Zhaozhou, “has a dog the Buddha-nature or not,” and Zhaozhou responded, “Mu!” i.e. “No!” The monk asked his question recalling Śākyamuni Buddha’s instruction that “all sentient beings have the Buddha-nature.” This is no different from the monk’s having pressed Zhaozhou, ‘if you say that “the dog has no Buddha-nature,” aren’t you calling the Buddha a liar? But if you say that “it has,” then !why was it born a beast?’ Zhaozhou responded “Mu,” but also with “U,” i.e. “it has,” to the identical question of another monk. Anyone would harbour doubts over Zhaozhou’s intention in responding with utter contradictories like “no” at one time and with “yes” at another to the same question. To Zhaozhou, however, there was nothing particularly odd in responding with “Yes” and with “No” to the monks’ inquiries. His “U” and “Mu” are not the u-mu of “it has,” or, “it has not.” In general, it is common sense to regard u and mu, “it has” and “it has not” as opposites. However, Zhaozhou’s U and Mu have an elevated dimension of meaning that surpasses the common-sensical. They allude to absolute Nothingness (zettai Mu) beyond dualistic ideations, as explained by Nishida Kitarō (1870-1945), the Zen-inspired founder of the Nishida School of Philosophy.
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