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The Gist of Soto Zen

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The Gist of Soto Zen Reiho Masunaga I. What Is Zen? Zen and its cultur are unique to the East. But recently Zen has found admires in the West, primarily through the writings of Dr. D. Suzuki. In America Zen is currently enjoying something of a boom. In the West, Buddhism is sometimes even identified with Zen. Briefly, Zen first saw the light of day in India, developed on Chinese soil, and reached its most mature expression in Japan. We can readily see why its outlook is so wide. Also, because Zen has maintained an inse- pararable relationship with the culture of the countries in which it deve- loped, its contents gradually became richer and deeper. Although the word Zen is of Indian origin, it has entered the vocabularies of most foreign languages. Zen is the Japanese pronuciation of the Chinese cha- racter (pronounced Ch'an in modern Chinese), which was chosen by the Chinese because of its phonetic approximation to the Prakrit jhan. Jhan is the shortened form of jhana, in Sanskrit dhyana, suffering the loss of the final vowel. Dhyana means "to think". The meaning of dhyana is usually represented in Buddhist texts by the word joryo "to think quietly", i. e., to think after freeing the mind from all distractions. The practice of dhyana antedates Buddhism. The members of the highest of the four hereditary castes in India, the Brahman caste, devoted themselves to the practice of dhyana. Indian thinkers dwelled largely in forests in order to escape the intense heat. They would seat themselves according to specified posture beneath a lage tree and meditate, regarding such meditation not merely as a reli- gious task, but as a great pleasure. Such meditation came to be known as zazen, the characteristic form of meditation of the Zen. sect. It was held -814- The Gist of Soto Zen (R. Masunaga) (20) to be "anraku no homon," i. e. "the comfortable way". Zen is not theory. Religious truth is to be exeprienced through the practice of zazen. And this truth works in unity with practice. Only after Zen (dhyana meditation) was adopted by Buddhists were its methods and goals sharply dif ined. Zazen is basic to Buddhism because the enlightenment of its founder Gautama Buddha was achieved through the practice of zazen. The Buddha's zazen does not separate body and mind, nor does it seek rebirth in heaven after death. It is the essential method of gaining the ideal of perfecting the, personality. Therefore, zazen is considered the most fundamental religious exercise in Buddhism. A movement arose within Chinese Budd- hism attempting to unify all of Buddhism through the practice of zazen. This movement is what we call the Zen sect. The founder of the Zen sect is Bodhidharma. Bodhidharma, as he is also called, brought no sacred scripture with him from India when he arrived in Canton, China, about 47o A. D. He journeyed to North China, crossing the Yang-tze River, and took up residence in the Shao-lin Temple on Sung-shan Mountain near the capital Lo-yang and devoted himself to zazen. Bodhidharma's view of Buddhism, briefly stated, is that all beings possess the Buddha nature (Buddhata, Buddhatva) i. e, have a nature iden- tical to that of the Buddha, and through the practice of zazen they can come to realize this in its deepest sense. Realization of the Buddha-mind found within us is the esssence of Zen. When we realize this Buddha- mind inherent within us, it will be manifested in our everyday life and will serve as a means to help society in general and our fellow man in particular. Some scholars say that Zen is non-subjective self-awakening. But I feel that it must be realized in daily activity through zazen; otherwise it will only be a dreamy concept. Life magazine ran a special issue on Buddhism in its March 7, 1955 number in which it took up the Zen sect under the title, "An Austere Sect Which Seeks Out Truth by Meditation and Intuition." Zen thought stands high among Mahayana schools, and its practice is firm like that of the Theravada, It gift to the Orient, and particularly to Japan, has been great -813- (21) The Gist of Soto Zen (R. Vlasunaga) indeed. The characteristics of Zen culture are a simple form combined with a free and easy style. Western intellectuals and artists have recently developed an appreciation of this simplicity and profundity characteris- tic of Zen, which accounts for their growing interest in it. In brief, then, Zen is a religion which aims at putting the heart at rest through the practice of zazen by means of which deep realization of the Buddha-mind inheernt in us is achieved. II. Development in Zen Although the word Zen appears to have but one meaning, in reality it embraces many different forms. Tsung-mi (Jap. Shumitsu) of the T'ang Dynasty (618-907A.D.) in China divided it into five groups: firstly, Non- Buddhist Zen (Jap. Gedo-Zen); secondly, popular Zen (Jap. Bombu Zen); thirdly, Hinayana Zen' (Jap Shojo-Zen); f ourthly, Mahayana Zen (Jap Daijo- Zen); fifthly, Zen of the Highest Vehicle (Jap Saijojo Zen). Non-Buddhist Zen comprises the dhyana (meditation) of Brahmanism, the Yoga Philosophy (one of the six schools of "unorthodox" philosophy in India), and non- Buddhist meditation in general like that of Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta. Popular Zen is an amateurish type of Zen practised by Buddhists within the framework of Buddhism. Hinayana Zen is that Zen which is found within the Hinayana school. Hinayana means an abandoned or dis- carded vehicle and indicates therefore a teaching which is no longer usa- ble. Naturally, those who belong to this school do not use this appellation because of its obvious bias, but call their school the Theravada, i, e., the Way of the Elders. Observance of Commandments and practice of 'meditation constitute the essence of the Theravada. Those who mainly practised Zen (meditation) were called Yogins and were distinguished from those who emphasized scholarship. The former were particularly respected, Mahayana Zen is that form of Zen which is practised by members of Mahayana sohool. Many of the Mahayana sutras were preached by the Buddha after he entered a samadhi (meditation, consequently Zen). For example, Maha- prajnaparamita sutra was preached while the Buddha was in the Samadhi- -812- The Gist of Soto Zen (R. Masunaga) (22) Raja-Samadhi, Avatarhsaka sutra in the Sagaramudra Samadhi, Saddharma- pundarika sutra in the Ananta-Nirdesa-Pratisthana-Samadhi, Mahaparinir- vana sutra in the Acala-Samadhi. Therefore we might say that the whole of Mahayana Buddhism is the product of the zazen of the Buddha. Lastly, Tsung-mi lists the Zen of the Highest Vehicle, which is the Zen trans- mitted by Dharma. In the Zen sect scripture is not considered the final- authority; the sect aims at the realization of the Buddha-heart (Buddha- nature) within us. It was in oder to achieve this that Dharma beseeched us to practise zazen. Of the first three patriarchs of the Zen sect each had only one main disciple who succeeded him. They practised the dhutas (Jap. zuda austere religious exercises), but exerted little influence on society in general. However, beginning with the fourth patriarch, Tao-hsin (Jap. Doshin) and the fifth patriarch, Hung-jen (jap. Konin), we find them having a large number of disciples, totaling perhaps five hundreds or more, assembled on Mt, Shuang-f eng (Jap. Sobo) leading a collective life. Zen now changed from a largely Indian school to one which is more suited to Chinese ideals and begins to exert influence over Chinese society. Work in these large Zen monasteries is divided among the monks; some do the cooking, some ds the cleaning, others attend to farming, etc. Such work is designated " samu" in the Zen sect. In the Zen sect equal importance is attached to samu as to purely religious matters. If we probe deeply into our hearts, we shall arrive at our nature which is identical to that of the Buddha. Since all things are based on the Bud- dha-mind, we might say all things have the same value as zazen. It is for this reason that Zen has achieved such spiritual depth in China. Ac- codingly, no matter where we are or what work we do, we can always live in the Zen spirit. Once we have grasped the Zen spirit, we can free ourselves from a narrow interpretation of scripture and look at it with detachment. We might say that we are no longer "turned "(controlled) by the scripture, but "turn" (control) it ourselves. It is evident that in order to lead a collective life, we must establish -811- (23) The Gist of Soto Zen (R. Masunaga) a certain set of rules which will govern our relations wiith each other. Such rules are called "Shingi," Since the Chinese have traditionally placed emphasis on ritual and ceremony, it is only likely that they would at- tach much importance to Shingi. This also enabled Zen monks to establish their own independent monasteries. The center point of the Zen monasteries is the Zendo or Sodo (Zen Hall or Monks Hall) in which zazen is practised. There is also a Hatto or Lectue Hall where the Buddhist Law is preached by Zen masters repre- senting the Buddha or patriarchs. The sixth patriarch of the Zen sect is known in histoy as Hui-Hang (Jap. Eno). Through his efforts Zen was finally turned into a thoroughly Chinese sect capable of reaching the common people. Hui-neng had a great nember of disciples, but amony them two are outstanding; Nan-yueh Huai-jang (Jap.
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