78. Zen and Esoteric Buddhism

78. ZEN AND ESOTERIC BUDDHISM William M. Bodiford Introduction Zen and esoteric Buddhism can be seen either as two complementary expressions of a single underlying Buddhism, or as two fundamen- tally separate entities that have overlapped due to historical and social proximity. The traditional Zen myth of an ancestral lineage, whose members transmit the entirety of the buddha-mind (busshin 佛心), can imply either view. Traditional accounts of Zen history assert that the orthodox Bud- dhist lineage was brought from India to China by Bodhidharma in the fifth century and then successfully transplanted to Japan several times beginning in the late twelfth century. The Zen that subsequently developed in Japan drew inspiration from the Chinese Buddhist monasticism of the Song dynasty (960–1279), not only its material culture and institutional practices but especially its literature, mythos, and doctrines (see Foulk 1993; Schlütter 2008). Insofar as the Chinese government designated the major Buddhist monasteries as Zen 禪 (Chan) institutions and the “pure rules” (shingi 清規; qinggui) gov- erning life at these institutions to constitute a major genre of Zen literature, the Buddhism transmitted by the Zen ancestors must embrace all the diverse practices of Chinese Buddhist monasticism, including its many dhāraṇī (esoteric spells or formulae) and rituals.1 Yet because the members of the Zen lineage claim to transmit only the buddha- mind, they are free to eschew any characteristics deemed external to that mind, whether texts, practices, or dogma. Japanese scholars commonly refer to the inclusive view of Zen as “mixed Zen” (kenshū zen 兼修禪, i.e., Zen mixed with other forms of Buddhism) or “esoteric Zen” (mikkyō zen 密教禪) and the exclusive 1 Many dhāraṇī are known by a variety of alternative names, and their precise formats can vary depending on region, Zen lineage, or ritual context. In this essay I try to use the most common generic names and provide the Taishō serial numbers of scriptures where canonical versions of the same spells can be found. These numbers are for purposes of identification only. The actual textual sources and histories of the ones used in Zen are more complex than can be discussed here. zen and esoteric buddhism 925 version as “pure Zen” (junsui zen 純粹禪; see Takeuchi 1976, 121, 144, 181). Such distinctions, however, usually reflect modern analyti- cal categories more than historical evidence. When similar vocabulary appears in the historical record, it is rarely purely descriptive but almost always serves polemical or sectarian agendas. Keizan Jōkin 瑩山紹瑾 (1264–1325), for example, is in current scholarship widely credited with introducing esoteric Zen into the Japanese Sōtō Zen lineage. Kei- zan’s Sōjiji 總持寺, today the most powerful Zen temple in the Sōtō order, began as a Shingon chapel for esoteric rituals (Bodiford 1993, 97). At the same time, Keizan criticized the rival Rinzai Zen lineage of Eisai on the grounds that Eisai’s Zen was not pure but combined the three doctrines of exoteric, esoteric, and [buddha-]mind (jun’itsu narazu, ken-mitsu-shin no sanshū o oku 純一ならず、顯密心の三宗をおく).2 In short, Keizan’s actions seem accepting of esoteric Zen, while his words agree with the views of the modern Zen apologist D. T. Suzuki (1870–1966), who stated that Zen stands apart from the esoteric Buddhist elements it harbors.3 Rather than describing the relationship between Zen and esoteric Buddhism (a description that necessarily renders religious judgments outside the realm of objective scholarship), this essay surveys a few historical examples to illustrate the many ways that Zen and esoteric Buddhism have and continue to overlap in Japan. This survey begins with esoteric aspects of the Zen tradition inherited from China and the roles they play in Japan. Next it examines the influence of Japanese esoteric Buddhist traditions within Zen, and concludes with a brief overview of secret initiations in Zen. Esoteric Aspects of Zen Dhāraṇī play a prominent role in the daily services of Zen temples across East Asia, including China, Korea, and especially Japan.4 The 2 Keizan’s assertion appears in his biography of Dōgen 道元 (1200–1253) in the Denkōroku 傳光録. For a transcription of the manuscript version of this text, see Azuma 1970, 110. The idea that Buddhism consists of the three categories of exoteric, esoteric, and mind seems to have originated with Zanning 贊寧 (919–1001) in his Song gaoseng zhuan 宋高僧傳 (fascicle 3; T. 2061.50:719c). 3 Suzuki discusses what he calls “the Shingon elements of Chinese Zen” in his Man- ual of Zen Buddhism (1960, 21) and “the Chinese Shingon element” in The Training of the Zen Buddhist Monk (1965, 80). 4 Regarding Korea, especially note Buswell 1992, 229–42, “Principal Chants Used in Korean Monasteries.” More than forty percent of these chants (fourteen out of a total .

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