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Traditions of Meditation in Chinese Buddhism

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Traditions of Meditation in Chinese Buddhism Kuroda Institute Studies in East Asian Buddhism 4 Traditions of Meditation in Chinese Buddhism Edited by Peter N. Gregory UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII PRESS HONOLULU KURODA INSTITUTE Studies in East Asian Buddhism STUDIES IN CH' AN AND HuA-YEN Robert M. Gimello and Peter N. Gregory 06GEN STUDIES William R. LaFleur THE NoRTHERN ScHooL AND THE FoRMATION OF EARLY CH' AN BUDDHISM John R. McRae The Kuroda Institute for the Study of Buddhism and Human Values is a non-profit, educational corporation, founded in 1976. One of its primary objectives is to promote scholarship on Buddhism in its historical, philo­ sophical, and cultural ramifications. The Institute thus attempts to serve the scholarly community by providing a forum in which scholars can gather at conferences and colloquia. To date the Institute has sponsored six confer­ ences in the area of Buddhist Studies. The present volume is the outgrowth of the fourth such conference, held at the Institute in May, 1983. Volumes resulting from other and future conferences, as well as individual studies, are planned for publication in the present series. The Institute also publishes a series with the University of Hawaii Press devoted to the translation of East Asian Buddhist classics. © I986 KURODA INSTITUTE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 93 94 95 96 6 5 4 3 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Tr aditions of meditation in Chinese Buddhism. (Studies in East Asian Buddhism; 4) Based on papers presented at a conference sponsored by the Kuroda Institute for the Study of Buddhism and Human Values in 1983. Includes index. I. Meditation (Buddhism) 2. Buddhism-China. I. Gregory, Peter N., 1945- II. Kuroda Institute. III. Series: Studies in East Asian Buddhism ; no. 4. BQ628.T72 1986 294.3'443 86-19243 ISBN 0-8248-1088-0 Contents Preface v Introduction PETER N 0 GREGORY Meditation in Fa-hsiang Buddhism 15 ALAN SPONBERG The Four Kinds of Samadhi in Early T'ien-t'ai Buddhism 45 DANIEL B. STEVENSON The Concept of One-Practice Samadhi in Early Ch'an 99 BERNARD FAURE Ch'ang-lu Tsung-tse's Tso-Ch'an I and the "Secret" of Zen Meditation 129 CARL BIELEFELDT From Dispute to Dual Cultivation: Pure Land Responses to Ch'an Critics 163 DAVID w. CHAPPELL Chinul's Systemization of Chinese Meditative Te chniques in Korean Son Buddhism 199 RoBERT E. B uswELL , JR. Contributors 243 Glossary 245 Index 255 Preface The papers collected in this volume grew out of a conference I organized in the spring of 1983 through the Kuroda Institute for the Study of Buddhism and Human Values, the fourth such conference on Buddhist Studies sponsored by the Kuroda Institute. All the original con­ ference papers have been revised to varying degrees in light of the discus­ sion that ensued and in response to the other papers. In this regard I would like to acknowledge the contributions of Professors Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (Middlebury College), John R. McRae (Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard University), and William F. Powell (Uni­ versity of California at Santa Barbara), all of whom took part in the con­ ference as discussants. Their perceptive comments and enthusiastic par­ ticipation did much to enhance the quality of the resulting volume. In preparing the papers for publication, I have made every effort to make them work together synergistically to present a coherent overview of the traditions of Chinese Buddhist meditation. I would like to take this opportunity to gratefully acknowledge our danapati, Dr. Steven Rockefeller. His generous contribution to the Kuroda Institute made the conference possible, and his continued sup­ port of the Kuroda Institute's series, Studies in East Asian Buddhism, has helped make possible the publication of this volume. I would also like to thank Stephan Bodian, the production editor for the series, and Stuart Kiang and the staff at the University of Hawaii Press for their dili­ gent and careful attention to detail in the preparation of this volume. Finally, I would like to thank Robert Burger for compiling the index. PETER N. GREGORY Introduction Peter N. Gregory During the past two decades there has been a steady profileration of books in the West on Buddhist meditation. This trend reflects a growing interest in Buddhism both as a viable religious alternative and as an aca­ demic field of study. But this broader interest in Buddhism is also very much an outgrowth of our fascination with Buddhist meditation. For it is on the theory and practice of meditation that Buddhism may have the most to offer us, whether we are interested in it for personal reasons (as a vehicle for our own spiritual growth) or for more academic ones (for gaining a broader understanding of the nature of religion). In the course of its long and varied development, Buddhism has produced a veritable treasury of reflection on meditation, one whose extensiveness and sub­ tlety cannot be matched by any of the other great religions. Whether it is practiced or not, meditation remains central to the tradition as a whole, and without appreciating its importance one simply cannot begin to understand Buddhism. The wealth of English language books on Buddhist meditation ranges from translations of classical texts, academic studies, and per­ sonal accounts by Westerners to expositions by modern masters. Many are excellent, and some have even achieved the status of classics in their own right, contributing not just to our deeper understanding of Bud­ dhism but also, in many instances, to our personal insight as well. Most, however, deal with either the Theravada or Tibetan Buddhist tradition, whether in classical or contemporary guise. Very few deal with the kinds of meditation ty pical of the East Asian Buddhist traditions. The out­ standing exception, of course, is Zen; most bookstores that trade in Bud­ dhism even have a separate section reserved exclusively for Zen. Yet the majority of books written about Zen meditation tend to treat it in isola­ tion from the larger Buddhist historical and cultural context of which it is a part. Zen meditation, zazen, is often discussed or recommended as a 2 Peter N. Gregory spiritual technique free of the usual cultural and doctrinal impediments that discourage all but the most dogged or those specially drawn to the exotic. Such a representation is, undoubtedly, the result of a number of factors: the increasingly py schological orientation of educated Ameri­ cans; an American penchant for the practical and experiential accompa­ nied by an impatience with the theoretical; the apologetic and missionary character of some publications; the lack of familiarity with Zen's Bud­ dhist legacy on the part of many Western enthusiasts, and so forth. But it is also very much a reflection of Zen's own professed stance, its disdain for traditional Buddhist doctrine and its insistence on cutting through to the ultimate with a single thrust of the sword. But such a stance is itself the result of a long and complex historical evolution, one in which Zen came to define itself as the Sudden Te aching in contrast to the other more textually oriented traditions within Chinese Buddhism-a teaching, that is, that dispensed with the usual compro­ mises suited to the less spiritually adept in order to grasp the ultimate directly. Zen claims to represent a special mind-to-mind transmission outside of the textual tradition, a transmission that ultimately traces back to the enlightenment experience of the historical Buddha. Zen's stance is thus related to its emergence as a distinct tradition within the sectarian arena of Chinese Buddhism. As the chapters by Bernard Faure and Carl Bielefeldt well demonstrate, Zen's public attitude toward medi­ tation is deeply colored by its own sectarian claims and the kind of rhe­ torical posture they entailed. While clear presentations of the techniques and psy chology of Zen meditation are valuable, Western familiarity with Zen has now reached a point where an understanding of the larger historical context within which Zen articulated itself is also necessary. Such an understanding is important not only for a more balanced academic view, but also for a more serious appraisal of the meaning of Zen practice for contemporary American life. The radical character of Zen emerged as part of a complex dialectic within Buddhism, and we cannot understand Zen until we understand what it is critiquing. If we take its statements out of their Buddhist context and interpret them instead within our own cultural con­ text, they are apt to mean something quite different, particularly in the realm of ethics. Zen's iconoclasm had a different meaning within a cul­ tural context where Buddhist moral teachings were widely affirmed than it does today to contemporary Americans who lack any such background and who are probably already suffering from an excess of moral rela­ tivism. Philip Kapleau records the shock that he and a fellow seeker experi­ enced when they first witnessed the unabashed religiosity of a modern Japanese roshi bowing before an enshrined image of his temple founder. Recalling the stories of the great T'ang Dy nasty Chinese Ch'an masters Introduction 3 (masters who did not hesitate to use a carved image of the Buddha as firewood to keep warm), Kapleau's friend could barely hold back his dis­ dain. When the roshi asked them if they would also like to offer incense, the friend asked the roshi why he didn't spit on the statue instead. To this, the roshi replied: "If you want to spit you spit; I prefer to bow."' Like Kapleau's friend, it is easy for us to be misled by Zen rhetoric.
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