Zen Ritual This page intentionally left blank Zen Ritual Studies of Zen Buddhist Theory in Practice edited by steven heine and dale s. wright 1 2008 1 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright # 2008 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Zen ritual : studies of Zen Buddhist theory in practice / edited by Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-19-530467-1; 978-0-19-530468-8 (pbk.) 1. Zen Buddhism—Rituals. 2. Spiritual life—Zen Buddhism. I. Heine, Steven, 1950– II. Wright, Dale Stuart. BQ9270.2.Z46 2007 294.3'438—dc22 2006103400 987654321 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Acknowledgments We extend our sincere thanks to Cynthia Read for her continuing support for our series of edited volumes on Zen theory and prac- tice, and her remarkably efficient staff at Oxford University Press including Daniel Gonzalez for their professional work on this volume. In addition, we would like to thank Aviva Menashe for her excellent editorial assistance. This page intentionally left blank Contents Abbreviations, ix Contributors, xi Introduction: Rethinking Ritual Practice in Zen Buddhism, 3 Dale S. Wright 1. Ritual in Japanese Zen Buddhism, 21 T. Griffith Foulk 2. Chan Rituals of the Abbots’ Ascending the Dharma Hall to Preach, 83 Mario Poceski 3. Buddhist Rituals for Protecting the Country in Medieval Japan: Myo¯an Eisai’s ‘‘Regulations of the Zen School,’’ 113 Albert Welter 4. Is Do¯gen’s Eiheiji Temple ‘‘Mt. T’ien-t’ung East’’?: Geo-Ritual Perspectives on the Transition from Chinese Ch’an to Japanese Zen, 139 Steven Heine 5. Zazen as an Enactment Ritual, 167 Taigen Dan Leighton viii contents 6. Women and Do¯gen: Rituals Actualizing Empowerment and Healing, 185 Paula K. R. Arai 7. Invocation of the Sage: The Ritual to Glorify the Emperor, 205 Michel Mohr 8. Meditation in Motion: Textual Exegesis in the Creation of Ritual, 223 David E. Riggs 9. Dharma Transmission in Theory and Practice, 261 William M. Bodiford Pinyin–Wade-Giles Conversion Table, 283 Notes, 291 Index, 333 Abbreviations *D O¯ kubo Do¯shu,ed.,Do¯gen Zenji zenshu (Tokyo: Chikuma shobo¯, 1969–1970). *DZZ Do¯gen zenji zenshu, ed. Kagamishima Genryu, Kawamura Ko¯do¯, Suzuki Kakuzen, Kosaka Kiyu, et. al., 7 vols. (Tokyo: Shunjusha, 1988–1993). T Taisho¯ shinshu daizo¯kyo¯ [Japanese Edition of the Buddhist Canon] (Tokyo: Daizo¯kyo¯kai, 1924–1935). SSo¯to¯shu zensho kanko¯kai, ed., So¯to¯shu zensho, rev. and enlarged, 18 vols. (Tokyo: So¯to¯shu shumucho¯, 1970– 1973). ZZ Zoku zo¯kyo¯ [Dai Nihon zokuzo¯kyo¯] (Kyoto: Zo¯kyo¯ shoin, 1905–1912). *These are two different versions of Do¯gen’s collected works. Notes on Terminology First, aware that there are two acceptable systems of scholarly trans- literation for Chinese (Pinyin and Wade-Giles), each at this point rather well known, the editors of this volume have allowed authors to work in the system of transliteration that they feel most suitable. Please see the appendix for Pinyin–Wade-Giles conversion table. Also, there are a number of terms in this volume, both English and foreign words that are common in Buddhist studies, being used x abbreviations in various ways by the contributors, either italicized or romanized, with caps or in lowercase, as one word or separated, or with or without hyphens. Rather than enforcing uniformity in style, we have left these as the author intended. Examples include: abbot, Buddha, Buddha-dharma, Buddha Hall, Buddha nature, Dharma, Dharma Hall, Fukanzazengi, Mikkyo¯, Monks (Monks’) Hall, ro¯shi, Sangha, Tripitaka, Vinaya, zazen, and Zazenshin, among others. In addition, please note that some authors have chosen to use diacritical marks for Sanskrit terms but others have not. Contributors PAULA K. R. ARAI received her Ph.D. from Harvard University. In addition to several articles and chapters in edited volumes, she has written Women Living Zen: Japanese So¯to¯ Buddhist Nuns. She is also currently completing a book manuscript, Healing Zen: Japanese Buddhist Women’s Rituals of Transformation. Her research has been funded by two Fulbright grants, American Council of Learned So- cieties, Reischauer Institute, and Mellon Faculty Fellowship. WILLIAM M. BODIFORD is professor of Asian Languages and Cul- tures at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of So¯to¯ Zen in Medieval Japan, editor of Going Forth: Visions of Buddhist Vinaya, and associate editor of Encyclopedia of Buddhism. He also has authored many essays, articles, and translations concerning Zen Buddhism in particular and Japanese religions in general. T. GRIFFITH FOULK is professor of religion at Sarah Lawrence College and co-editor-in-chief of the So¯to¯ Zen Translation Project based in Tokyo. He has trained in both Rinzai and So¯to¯ Zen mon- asteries in Japan and has published extensively on the institu- tional and intellectual history of Chan/Zen Buddhism. STEVEN HEINE is professor of religious studies and history and director of the Institute for Asian Studies at Florida International University. Heine has published numerous books and articles dealing xii contributors with the life and thought of Do¯gen and the history and philosophy of Zen Buddhism, including Do¯gen and the Ko¯an Tradition: A Tale of Two Sho¯bo¯genzo¯ Texts; Shifting Shape, Shaping Text: Philosophy and Folklore in the Fox Ko¯an; Opening a Mountain: Ko¯ans of the Zen Masters; and Did Do¯gen Go to China? What He Wrote and When He Wrote It. TAIGEN DAN LEIGHTON has taught at the Institute of Buddhist Studies of the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. He is author of Faces of Compassion: Classic Bodhisattva Archetypes and Their Modern Expression and the forthcoming Visions of Awakening Space and Time: The Worldview of Do¯gen and the Lotus Sutra. He is editor and co-translator of Do¯gen’s Extensive Record: A Translation of the Eihei Ko¯roku and Do¯gen’s Pure Standards for the Zen Community: A Trans- lation of Eihei Shingi. MICHEL MOHR is an assistant professor of religious studies at the University of Hawaii. His research focuses on Japanese religions, with a special emphasis on the Tokugawa and Meiji periods. His publications include Traite´ sur l’In- ´epuisable Lampe du Zen: To¯rei (1721–1792) et sa vision de l’e´veil [Treatise on the Inexhaustible Lamp of Zen: To¯rei and His Vision of Awakening], 2 vols. (1997). Mohr’s recent works include the article ‘‘Chan and Zen’’ for the Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Second Edition (2005) and chapters in The Ko¯an (2000) and Zen Classics (2006). MARIO POCESKI is an assistant professor of Buddhist studies and Chinese religions at the University of Florida. His research focuses on the history of Buddhism in late medieval China. His latest publication is The Hongzhou School and the Development of Tang Dynasty Chan. His other publications in- clude two books and a number of articles on various aspects of Buddhism. DAVID E. RIGGS is currently a researcher at the International Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto. He has taught at the University of California Santa Barbara and the University of Illinois. He received his Ph.D. from the Uni- versity of California, Los Angeles, where his dissertation was entitled, ‘‘The Rekindling of a Tradition: Menzan Zuiho¯ and the Reform of Japanese So¯to¯ Zen in the Tokugawa Era.’’ ALBERT WELTER is professor of religious studies at the University of Win- nipeg, specializing in Chinese and Japanese Buddhism. His previous publi- cations include articles on Chinese Chan, including the recent book, Monks, Rulers, and Literati: The Political Ascendancy of Chan Buddhism. He is currently contributors xiii researching the Chan scholiast Yongming Yanshou’s Chan-based Buddhist syncretism and preparing a translation of the Ko¯zen gokokuron. DALE S. WRIGHT is David B. and Mary H. Gamble Professor of Religious Studies and Asian Studies at Occidental College. His area of specialization is Buddhist philosophy, particularly Huayan Buddhism and Chan/Zen Bud- dhism. His publications include Philosophical Meditations on Zen Buddhism, and co-edited with Steven Heine, The Ko¯an: Texts and Contexts in Zen Bud- dhism; Zen Canon: Understanding the Classic Texts; and Zen Classics: Formative Texts in the History of Zen Buddhism. This page intentionally left blank Zen Ritual This page intentionally left blank Introduction: Rethinking Ritual Practice in Zen Buddhism Dale S. Wright Role of Ritual in Zen Approaching the grand entrance to Eiheiji, one of Japan’s premier Zen Buddhist temples, I am both excited and intimidated. I under- stand that once I enter this gate, every moment of my life for the next three days will be subsumed under the disciplinary structures of Zen ritual. Although I have already trained in the ritual procedures of the So¯to¯ school, this is the head temple of its founder, the re- nowned master Do¯gen, and I realize how exacting and demanding their adherence to proper ritual will be.