Essays in Zen Buddhism
D.T. Suzuki
2,061 passages indexed from Essays in Zen Buddhism (D.T. Suzuki) — Page 14 of 42
License: Public Domain
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1577
I cannot help quoting another comment on the story as this is one of the most significant subjects in the study of Zen. When Suibi Mugaku (Ts‘uiwei Wu-hsiao)[7.21], a disciple of Tanka, was making offerings to the Arhats, probably carved in wood, a monk came up and asked, “Tanka burned a wooden Buddha and how is it that you make offerings to the Arhats?” The master said, “Even when it was burned, it could not be burned up; and as to my making offerings, just leave me alone as I please.” “When these offerings are made to the Arhats, would they come to receive them, or not?” “Do you eat everyday, or not?” the master demanded. As the monk remained silent, the master declared, “Intelligent ones are hard to be met with!”
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 160
Around this personality or this divine nature there will now grow various systems of philosophy essentially based on his own teaching, but more or less modified according to the spiritual experiences of the disciples.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 2031
Cow, revered by the Indians, 355; on the herding of, 355; gone out of sight, 364; forgotten, 363; on the back of, 362; herding the, 361; seeing the traces of the, 358; seeing the, 359; catching the, 360; looking for the, 357.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 314
None of the Buddha’s disciples were his matches in the depth, breadth, and subtleties of thought, and when the Buddha told them to visit his sickroom, they all excused themselves for some reason or other, except Mañjuśrī, who is Prajñā incarnate in Mahayana Buddhism.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 571
The objective facts could not be denied, they boldly and uncomfortably confronted him, while Ignorance balked the progress of his cognitive faculty moving farther onward or rather inward. He was hemmed in on both sides, he did not know how to find his way out, he went first this way and then that way, forever with the same result—the utter inutility of all his mental labour.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 791
But as soon as Zen is formulated into an independent system, not only with its characteristic features but with its historically ascertainable facts, it will be necessary for the historians to trace its line of transmission complete and not interrupted; for in Zen, as we shall see later, it is of the utmost importance for its followers to be duly certified or approved (_abbhanumodana_) by the master as to the genuineness or orthodox character of their realisation.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1000
Whatever historical circumstances surrounded Hui-nêng in those remote days, it is certain that in this statement, “to see one’s own face even before one was born,” we find the first proclamation of the new message which was destined to unroll a long history of Zen and to make Hui-nêng really worthy of the patriarchal robe. We can see here what a new outlook Hui-nêng has succeeded in opening to the traditional Indian Zen.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 142
If the Way could be mastered in this manner, it would be well for them to wait until the appearance of Maitreya Buddha [which is said to be at the end of the world] and then to awaken the enlightenment-thought. How could such ones ever hope for spiritual freedom? Under the fifth patriarch, all of his five hundred disciples, except one Hui-nêng, understood Buddhism well.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1776
_Coming Home on the Cow’s Back._ The struggle is over; gain and loss, he is no more concerned with. He hums a rustic tune of the woodman, he sings simple songs of the village-boy. Saddling himself on the cow’s back, his eyes are fixed at things not of the earth, earthy. Even if he is called to, he will not turn his head; however enticed he will no more be kept back.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 177
Buddhism did not come out of the Buddha’s mind fully armed, as did Minerva from Jupiter. The theory of a perfect Buddhism from the beginning is the static view of it, and cuts it short from its continuous and never-ceasing growth. Our religious experience transcends the limitations of time, and its ever-expanding content requires a more vital form which will grow without doing violence to itself.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 2002
[f142] _Kung-an_ is a question or theme given to the student for solution. It literally means “public document,” and, according to a Zen scholar, it is so called because it serves as such in testing the genuineness of enlightenment a student claims to have attained. The term has been in use since the early days of Zen Buddhism in the T‘ang dynasty. The so-called “cases” or “dialogues” (_mondo_) are generally used as kō-ans. A special chapter devoted to the subject will be found in the second series of The Essays.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1353
Of this I have been told, but where does this one thing abide?” The master replied, “It is windy again this morning.” When Shuzan (Shou-shan) was asked what was the principal teaching of Buddhism, he quoted a verse[6.31]:
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 652
The “knowing thus, seeing thus,” does not mean an intellectual comprehension of facts or truths which fall outside the pale of one’s own experience, but it is the perception of events that have actually taken place within oneself. Even an intellectual comprehension will be impossible when there is no experience that goes to support its validity.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1601
As regards the Meditation practised in the Mahayana, We have no words to praise it fully, The Virtues of Perfection such as charity and morality, And the invocation of the Buddha’s name, confession, and ascetic discipline, And many other good deeds of merit,— All these issue from the practise of Meditation. Even those who have attained it even for one sitting, Will see all their evil karma wiped clean; Nowhere they will find the evil paths, But the Pure Land will be near at hand. With a reverential heart, let them to this Truth Listen even for once. And let them praise it, and gladly embrace it, And they will surely be blessed most infinitely.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1866
XXXVIII.) This admiration of his personality later developed into the deification of his being, and all the evils moral and physical were supposed to be warded off if one thought of him or his virtues. “When those beings who practised evil deeds with their bodies, mouths, or minds, think of the merits of the Tathagata at the moment of their deaths, they would be kept away from the three evil paths and born in the heavens; even the vilest would be born in the heavens.” (The Ekottara Āgama, fas.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1217
Like a bird escaped from its cage, my mind, my consciousness moved about [without restraint] sometimes eastward, sometimes westward, sometimes northward or southward. Sitting[f122] through two days in succession, or through one day and night I did not feel any fatigue.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 331
The wantonness of “a free spirit” is thus now regulated to operate in the great work of universal salvation. Its creative activity will devise all possible means for the sake of love for all beings animate as well as inanimate. Dhyana is one of those devices which will keep our minds in balance and well under the control of the will. Zen is the outcome of the dhyana discipline applied to the attainment of Enlightenment.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1857
[f16] The conception of Dharmakāya apart from the physical body (_rūpakāya_) of the Buddha was logically inevitable, as we read in the _Ekottara-Āgama_, XLIV., “The Life of the Śākyamuni-Buddha is extremely long, the reason is that while his physical body enters into Nirvana, his Law-body exists.” But the Dharmakāya could not be made to function directly upon suffering souls, as it was too abstract and transcendental; they wanted something more concrete and tangible towards which they could feel personally intimate. Hence the conception of another Buddha-body, that is, Sambhogakāya-Buddha or Vipākaja-Buddha, completing the dogma of the Triple Body (_Trikāya_).
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 588
Ignorance from which starts the series of the Nidānas has no time-limits, for it is not of time, but of the will, as is enlightenment. When time-conception enters, enlightenment which is negatively the dispelling of Ignorance loses all its character of finality, and we begin to look around for something going beyond it. The Fetters would ever be tightening around us, and the Defilements would be our eternal condition.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 782
We know in a general way that Mahākāśyapa succeeded the Buddha as the leader of the Faith, but as to his special transmission of Zen, we have no historical records in the Indian Buddhist writings at present in our possession.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1333
Hōgen protested, “All the monks coming from Jōshu lately speak of his reference to a cypress tree in answer to a monk’s question, ‘What was the real object of the coming east of Bodhi-dharma?’ How do you say that Jōshu made no such reference to a cypress tree?”
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1809
5.8. 馬祖居南嶽傳法院. 獨處一庵. 唯習坐禪. 凡有來訪者都不顧. 師往彼亦不顧. 師觀其神宇有異. 遂憶六祖讖. 乃多方而誘導之. 一日將甎於庵前磨. 馬祖亦不顧. 時旣久. 乃問曰. 作什麽. 師云. 磨作鏡. 馬祖云. 磨甎豈得成鏡. 師云磨甎旣不成鏡. 坐禪豈能成佛祖. 乃離座云. 如何即是. 師云. 譬人駕車. 車若不行. 打牛即是. 打車即是. 又云. 汝學坐禪. 爲學坐佛. 若學坐禪. 禪非坐臥. 若學坐佛. 佛非定相. 於無住法不應取捨. 汝若坐佛. 即是殺佛. 若執坐相. 非達其理. 馬祖聞斯示誨. 豁然開悟. (古尊宿語錄.)
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 261
What they sought was finally given, and they found that the idea of the Buddha’s being a common soul was a delusion, that the Tathagata arrived in his Supreme Perfect Enlightenment “many hundred thousand myriads of kotis of æons ago,” and that all those historical “facts” in his life which are recorded in the Agama or Nikaya literature are his “skilful devices” (_upāya-kauśalya_) to lead creatures to full ripeness and go in the Buddha Way.[f30] In other words, this means that Enlightenment is the absolute reason of the universe and the essence of Buddhahood, and therefore that to obtain Enlightenment is to realise in one’s inner consciousness the ultimate truth of the world which for ever is.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1986
[f128] An analogous story is told of Sekito Kisen (Shih-t‘ou Hsi-ch‘ien) who is grandson in faith of the sixth patriarch. The story is quoted elsewhere.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1094
Whatever this is, the world for those who have gained a satori is no more the old world as it used to be; even with all its flowing streams and burning fires, it is never the same one again. Logically stated, all its opposites and contradictions are united and harmonised into a consistent organic whole. This is a mystery and a miracle, but according to the Zen masters such is being performed every day. Satori can thus be had only through our once personally experiencing it.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1534
“O you, monks, who are here in this mountain monastery, remember that you are gathered for the sake of the religion and not for the sake of clothes and food. As long as we have shoulders [that is, the body], we have to wear clothes, and as long as we have a mouth, we have to eat; but be ever mindful, throughout the twelve hours of the day, to apply yourselves to the study of the Unthinkable. Time passes like an arrow, never let your minds be disturbed by worldly cares.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1830
6.77. 鄧隱峰一日推土車次. 馬大士展脚在路上座. 峯云請師收足. 大師云. 已展不收. 峯云已進不退. 乃推車輾過. 大師脚損. 歸法堂執斧子云. 適來碾損老僧脚底出來. 峯便出於大師前引頸. 大師乃置斧. (傳燈錄第八.)
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 838
There are some other essays ascribed to Dharma,[f80] but most of which, though deeply imbibing the spirit of Zen, are spurious except one which I am inclined to think to be genuinely his. It is entitled “On the Pacification of the Soul.”[4.26] Together with the first one which is generally known under the title, “Meditation on Four Acts,”[4.27] we have just two pieces of writings handed down as Dharma’s.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 345
Samadhi and dhyana are to a great extent synonymous and interchangeable, but strictly samadhi is a psychological state realised by the exercise of dhyana. The latter is the process and the former is the goal. The Buddhist scriptures make reference to so many samadhis, and before delivering a sermon the Buddha generally enters into a samadhi,[f41] but never I think into a dhyana. The latter is practised or exercised.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 188
The Buddha evidently had quite a pragmatic conception of the intellect and left many philosophical problems unsolved as unnecessary for the attainment of the final goal of life. This was quite natural with him. Whilst he was still alive among his disciples, he was the living illustration of all that was implied in his doctrine.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1586
The patience and humility of the new applicant are tried thus hard until finally he will be taken in by the authorities, who, apparently moved by his earnestness and perseverance, will try somehow to accommodate him.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 792
Therefore, as long as Zen is the product of the Chinese soil from the Indian seed of Enlightenment as I take it, no special line of transmission need be established in India unless it is in a general logical manner such as was attempted in my previous Essays.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1135
Tokusan (Teh-shan Hsüan-chien, 779–865)[5.12] was a great scholar of the _Diamond Sutra_ (_Vajracchedikā_). Learning that there was such a thing as Zen ignoring all the written scriptures and directly laying hand on one’s soul, he came to Ryutan (Lung-t‘an) to be instructed in the doctrine. One day Tokusan was sitting outside trying to see into the mystery of Zen. Ryutan said, “Why don’t you come in?” Replied Tokusan, “It is pitch dark.” A candle was lighted and handed over to Tokusan. When the latter was at the point of taking it, Ryutan suddenly blew the light out, whereupon the mind of Tokusan was opened.[f108][5.13]
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 749
“Myself subject to death, but perceiving the wretchedness of things subject to death and seeking after the incomparable security of Nirvana which is deathless, to that incomparable security I attained, even to Nirvana which is deathless.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1418
Next, we may mention the method of counter-questioning, wherein questions are not answered by plain statements but by counter-questionings. In Zen, generally speaking, a question is not a question in its ordinary sense, that is, it is not simply asked for information, and therefore it is natural that what ordinarily corresponds to an answer is not an answer at all.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 481
It was due to Bodhi-Dharma (died 528)[f47] that Zen came to be the Buddhism of China. It was he that started this movement which proved so fruitful among a people given up to the practical affairs of life. When he declared his message, it was still tinged with Indian colours, he could not be entirely independent of the traditional Buddhist metaphysics of the times. His allusion to the _Vajrasamādhi_ and the _Laṅkāvatāra_ was natural, but the seeds of Zen were sown by his hands. It now remained with his native disciples to see to it that these seeds grew up in harmony with the soil and climate. It took about two hundred years for the Zen seeds to bear fruit, rich and vigorous in life, and fully naturalised while retaining intact the essence of what makes up Buddhism.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 87
They are the overflowing of a soul filled with deep experiences. Therefore, unless we are ourselves elevated to the same height as the masters, we cannot gain the same commanding views of life. Says Ruskin: “And be sure also, if the author is worth anything, that you will not get at his meaning all at once,—nay, that at his whole meaning you will not for a long time arrive in any wise.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 20
I curse the day on which I shall die. I curse the whole of my life. I fling everything back at your cruel face, senseless Fate! Be accursed, be forever accursed! With my curses I conquer you. What else can you do to me?... With my last thought I will shout into your asinine ears: Be accursed, be accursed!” This is a terrible indictment of life, it is a complete negation of life, it is a most dismal picture of the destiny of man on earth.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1342
So far Zen appears to be nothing but a philosophy of negation and contradiction, whereas in fact it has its affirmative side, and in this consists the uniqueness of Zen. In most forms of mysticism, speculative or emotional, their assertions are general and abstract, and there is not much in them that will specifically distinguish them from some of the philosophical dictums. Sings Blake for instance:
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 178
Inasmuch as Buddhism is a living religion and not an historical mummy stuffed with dead and functionless materials, it must be able to absorb and assimilate all that is helpful to its growth. This is the most natural thing for any organism endowed with life. And this life may be traceable under divergent forms and constructions.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1588
The Meditation Hall is regulated with militaristic severity and precision to cultivate such virtues as humility, obedience, simplicity, and earnestness in the monkish hearts that are ever prone to follow indiscriminately the extraordinary examples of the old masters, or that are liable to put in practice in a crude and undigested manner the high doctrines of a Śūnyatā philosophy such as is expounded in the Prajñā-pāramitā class of Mahayana literature. A partial glimpse of such life we have already gained in the description of the table manners as above.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1358
Ki-su Chi-jo (Kuei-tsung Chih-ch‘ang) was one of the able disciples of Baso (Ma-tsu).[6.34] When he was weeding in the garden, a Buddhist scholar versed in the philosophy of Buddhism came to see the master. A snake happened to pass by them, and the master at once killed it with a spade. The philosopher-monk remarked, “How long I have heard of the name of Kisu, and how reverently I have thought of it!
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 194
What has been accepted as an authoritative injunction from the mouth of the Buddha, was now to be examined as a subject of philosophical discussion. Two factions were ready to divide the field with each other, and radicalism was opposed to conservatism, and between the two wings there were arranged schools of various tendencies. The Sthaviras were pitted against the Mahāsaṁghikas, with twenty or more different schools representing various grades of diversity.[f22]
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 676
If Enlightenment were just this seeing or having insight, it would not be so spiritually enlightening as to bring about a complete riddance of evil passions and the sense of perfect freedom. Intuitions could not go so penetratingly into the source of life and set all doubts at rest and sever all bonds of attachment, unless one’s consciousness were thoroughly prepared to take in the All in its wholeness as well as its suchness.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1180
There is no doubt that satori goes deep into the very root of individuality. The change achieved thereby is quite remarkable, as we see in the examples above cited.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 222
Not only there was no ego-substance behind our mental life, but there was no ego in the physical world, which meant that we could not separate in reality acting from actor, force from mass, or life from its manifestations. As far as thinking goes, we can establish these two pairs of conception as limiting each other, but in the actuality of things they must all be one, as we cannot impose our logical way of thinking upon reality in its concreteness.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1091
There are several other phrases in Chinese designating this spiritual experience, each of which has a special connotation, showing tentatively how this phenomenon is interpreted. At all events, there is no Zen without satori, which is indeed the Alpha and Omega of Zen Buddhism. Zen devoid of satori is like a sun without its light and heat. Zen may lose all its literature, all its monasteries, and all its paraphernalia; but as long as there is satori in it, it will survive to eternity.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 982
This narrative is taken from the literature left by the followers of the sixth patriarch and is naturally partial in his favour. If we had another record left by Shên-hsiu and his school, the account here reproduced may materially differ. In fact, we have at least one document telling Shên-hsiu’s relation to Hung-jên. It is the memorial inscription on his grave-stone written by Chang-shuo,[4.52] one of his lay-disciples.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1125
The mind seems to have something of this mechanism; when a certain moment is reached, a hitherto closed screen is lifted, an entirely new vista opens up, and the tone of one’s whole life thereafter changes. This mental clicking or opening is called satori by the Zen masters and is insisted upon as the main object of their discipline.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 2029
Buddhism, and its founder, 31ff.; and its Pali scholars, 37; as a life, 37; as the teaching of the Buddha, 37; and its divisions, 42; as a living system of Buddhist experience, 42, 44; its vital problems, 43ff.; its essence, 44; to be comprehensively and inwardly conceived, 48; Buddhism, growing beyond monasticism, 62ff.; and women, 64; Chinese, characterised, 93; persecuted in China, 95; its influence on Taoism, 98; acting on Confucian ideas, 99; defined, 101.