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FREE ZEN BUDDHISM: VOLUME 2: A HISTORY (JAPAN) PDF Heinrich Dumoulin | 520 pages | 31 Mar 2006 | World Wisdom Books | 9780941532907 | English | Bloomington, IN, United States Heinrich Dumoulin, S.J. () Though Zen is said to be based on a "special transmission outside scriptures" which "did not stand upon words", [1] the Zen-tradition has a rich doctrinal and textual background. It has been influenced by sutras such as the Lankavatara Sutra[2] [3] the Vimalakirti Sutra[4] [5] [6] the Avatamsaka Sutra[7] and the Lotus Sutra. Subsequently, the Zen tradition produced a rich corpus of written literature which has become a part of its practice and teaching, including the Platform Sutra[3] [8] lineage charts, collected sayings of Zen-masters, and the koan-literature. Contrary to the popular image, literature does play a role in the Zen-training. UnsuiZen-monks, "are expected to become familiar with the classics of the Zen canon". Nevertheless, Zen is often pictured as anti-intellectual. Zen Buddhism: Volume 2: A History (Japan) use of koans, which are highly stylized literary texts, reflects this popularity among the higher classes. One view was that of jiaowai biechuan"a special transmission outside the teaching". The famous saying "do not establish words and letters", attributed in this period to Bodhidharma, [14]. The Zen tradition, especially Rinzai Zen, aims to give a direct transmission of insight, and stresses the impossibility of giving any positive statement of this insight. Not founded upon words and letters. It lets one see into [one's own true] nature and [thus] attain Buddhahood. An example of this non- dependence on words and scripture in 9th century China is Teshan Tokusan From the Zen perspective, scriptures are nothing but scraps of paper for wiping up filth. Masao Abe points out that the role of the intellect in the understanding of Zen should not be misunderstood:. Zen Buddhism: Volume 2: A History (Japan) is clear that Zen is not a philosophy. It is beyond words and intellect and is not, as in the case of philosophy, a study of the processes governing thought and conduct, nor a theory of principles or laws that regulate people and the universe. For the realisation of Zen Buddhism: Volume 2: A History (Japan), practice is absolutely necessary. Nevertheless, Zen is neither a mere anti-intellectualism nor a cheap intuitism nor is it an encouragement to animal-like spontaneity. Rather, it embraces a profound philosophy. Although intellectual understanding cannot be a substitute for Zen's awakening, practice without a proper and legitimate form of intellectual understanding is often misleading. The importance given to Zen's non-reliance on written words is also often misunderstood as an opposition to the study of Buddhist texts. What the Zen tradition emphasizes is that enlightenment of the Buddha came not through conceptualization, but rather through direct insight:. Despite its Zen Buddhism: Volume 2: A History (Japan) of "no dependence upon words and letters," Chan did not reject Zen Buddhism: Volume 2: A History (Japan) scriptures of the Buddhist Zen Buddhism: Volume 2: A History (Japan), but simply warned of the futility of relying on them for the attainment of emancipating insight. The sacred texts — and much more so the huge exegetical apparatus that had grown up around them in the older scholastic schools — were regarded as no more than signposts pointing the way to liberation. But direct insight has to be supported Zen Buddhism: Volume 2: A History (Japan) study and understanding hori Zen Buddhism: Volume 2: A History (Japan) of the Buddhist teachings and texts. It is for that reason the vow states "the Dharma teachings are infinite, I vow to study them all. Intellectual understanding without practice is called yako-zen"wild fox Zen"but "one who has only experience without intellectual understanding is a zen temma"Zen devil"". The early Buddhist schools in China were each based on a specific Zen Buddhism: Volume 2: A History (Japan). At the beginning of the Tang Dynastyby the time of the Fifth Patriarch Hongren —the Zen school became established as a separate school of Buddhism. These too became formalised, and as such became a subject of disputes on the right way to teach Zen and the avoidance of dependence on words. Up to that point [Shenhui — ], the school did not call itself Chan meditationa rather colorless name. It was in fact still looking for a name, and the custom then was to tie a new teaching to a sutra. Huike used the Srimala sutra, but Daoxin later drew inspiration from the Awakening of Faith. Members of the East Mountain Teachingrealizing that the Awakening of Faith was a sastra, came up with the next best; they conjured up a lineage of Lankavatara sutra masters, this being the sutra that informed the Awakening of Faith. Shenhui then Zen Buddhism: Volume 2: A History (Japan) the myth that Huineng favored the Diamond Sutra. Kalupahana does see a struggle to give clues to students about ultimate reality, without going back to scripture e. According to him, the use of kung-an's served this role. The sutra is grounded on the prajnaparamita-teachings on emptiness. Manjusri is the last bodhisattva to answer, who says that "by giving an explanation they have already fallen into dualism". Vimalakirti, in his turn, answers with silence. Thus are all Zen masters reluctant to express enlightenment, the condition of nonduality, in words or signs. The Avatamsaka Sutra is a compilation of sutras of various length. The various sutras were probably joined together shortly before its translation into Chinese, at the beginning of the 5th century CE. The Avatamsaka "garland", string of flowers sutra integrates the teachings on sunyata and vijnaptimatra mind-only. All in One, One in All. The All melts into a single whole. There are no divisions in the totality of reality [ The universal Buddhahood of all reality is the religious Zen Buddhism: Volume 2: A History (Japan) of the Avatamsaka-sutra. Are countless worlds and Buddhas From the tip of each hair of Buddha's body Are revealed the indescribable Pure Lands The indescribable infinite Lands. All ensemble in Zen Buddhism: Volume 2: A History (Japan) hair's tip [of Buddha]. All levels of reality are related and interpenetrated. This is depicted in the image of Indra's net. This "unity in totality allows every individual entity of the phenomenal world its uniqueness without attributing an inherent nature to anything". Xinxin Ming's Faith in mind is "in many passages [ The Zen- tradition developed a rich textual tradition, based on the interpretation of the Buddhist teachings and the recorded sayings of Zen-masters. It was constructed over a longer period of time, and contains different layers of writing. At the heart of the sermon is the same understanding of the Buddha-nature that we have seen in texts attributed to Bodhidharma and Hingren, including the idea that the fundamental Buddha-nature is only made invisible to ordinary humans by their illusions". It contains the well-known story of the contest for the succession of Hongren. According to the text, Huineng won this contest, but had to flee the monastery to avoid the rage of the supporters of Henxui. The story is not a factual account, but an 8th-century construction, probably by the so- called Oxhead school. Chan texts present the school as Buddhism itself, or as the central teaching of Buddhism, which has been transmitted from the seven Buddhas of the past to the twenty-eight patriarchs, and all the generations of Chinese and Japanese Chan and Zen masters that follow. Another literary device for establishing those traditions was given by the Kao-seng-chuan Biographies of Eminent Monkscompiles around McRae considers Dumoulin's A History of Zen to be a modern example of this genre, disguised as scientific history. One view was that of chiao-wai pieh- ch'uan"a special transmission outside the teaching". It was replaced by an introduction by Yang I, which emphasised "a special practice outside the teaching": [72]. The differences go back to the interpretation of the Long Scroll of the Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices, a text attributed to Bodhidharma. In this text, the "entrance by principle" li-ju is characterized in two ways:. Entrance by principle is said to "awaken one to the truth [wu-tsung] in accordance with [scriptural] teaching [chi-chiao]. The second statement can be seen as a Zen Buddhism: Volume 2: A History (Japan) of a "special transmission outside the teachings". It contains the recorded sayings attributed to Linji Yixuan d. It was published inbut developed in a period stretching from to In this text, Linji is explicitly placed in line with these teachers of the Hongzhou school. Yuanjue Zongan belonged to the Yunmen-faction, and also re-issued the Yunmen yuluthe "Discourse Records of Yunmen". Koan practice developed from a literary practice, styling snippets of encounter-dialogue into well-edited stories. It arose in interaction with "educated literati". The title may be more accurately rendered as Gateless Barrier or Gateless Checkpoint. The Japanese Zen-tradition also developed a corpus of its own. In the Rinzai-school, the koan-curricula were systematized by dharma-heirs of Hakuinwho himself produced an extended corpus of written texts. During the Tokugawa-period the Soto-school started to place a growing emphasis on textual authority. In the bakufu declared that "Eheiji's standards kakun must be the rule for all Soto monks". The Soto hierarchy, no doubt afraid of what other radical reformers might find in Dogen's Shobo Genzoa work open to a variety of interpretations, immediately took steps to restrict access to this traditional symbol of sectarian authority.