Essays in Zen Buddhism
D.T. Suzuki
2,061 passages indexed from Essays in Zen Buddhism (D.T. Suzuki) — Page 30 of 42
License: Public Domain
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1049
“When the abrupt doctrine is understood, there is no need of disciplining oneself in things external. Only let a man always have a right view within his own mind, no desires, no external objects will ever defile him. This is the seeing into his Nature. O my friends, have no fixed abode inside or outside,[f102] and your conduct will be perfectly free and unfettered. Take away your attachment, and your walk will know no obstructions whatever....
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1970
[f116] Another kō-an for beginners. A monk once asked Jōshu, “All things return to the One, but where does the One return?” to which the master answered, “When I was in the province of Seiju (Ts‘ing-chou), I had a monkish garment made which weighed seven kin (_chin_).
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1570
Therefore, says a Zen master, “Let one’s ideal rise as high as the crown of Vairochana, (the highest divinity), while his life may be so full of humility as to make him prostrate before a baby’s feet.”[7.18] Which is to say, “if any man desire to be first the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.” Therefore, the monastery life is minutely regulated and all the details are enforced in strict obedience to the spirit already referred to.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1790
1.26. 楚圓慈明上堂云. 一塵纔擧. 大地全收. 一毛頭獅子. 百億毛頭現. 百億毛頭現. 一毛頭現. 千頭萬頭. 但識取一頭. 乃豎起拄杖子云. 者箇是南源拄杖子. 那箇是一頭. 喝一喝. 卓拄杖一下. 下座. (慈明錄.)
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 868
In comparing these two texts the reader will be impressed with the most important and most striking change Bodhi-Dharma made in his quotation, which is the substituting of _pi-kuan_ for _chüeh-kuan_. _Pi_ ordinarily means “wall” or “precipice,” and is often found in combination with _li_, “standing,” in such phrases as _pi li wan jên_ 壁立萬仞, to describe an unscalable wall, or figuratively to represent the attitude, for instance, of Acala-Vidyārāja standing straight up.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 219
While Enlightenment and Nirvana were closely related to the conception of Buddhahood itself, there was another idea of great importance to the development of Buddhism, which however had no direct connection apparently, though not in its ultimate signification, with the personality of the Buddha. This idea naturally proved to be most fruitful in the history of Buddhist dogmatics along with the doctrines of Enlightenment and Nirvana.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1499
According to Hyakujo, the Zen monasteries were to be neither Hinayanistic nor Mahayanistic, but they were to unite the disciplinary methods of both schools in a new and original manner, best suited to the realisation of the Zen ideals, as they were conceived by the masters of the earlier days.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1304
It is related that Ōkubo Shibun, famous for painting bamboo, was requested to execute a kakemono representing a bamboo forest. Consenting, he painted with all his known skill a picture in which the entire bamboo grove was in red.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1328
From an ordinary point of view he is altogether unreliable, yet he seems to think that the truth of Zen requires such contradictions and denials; for Zen has a standard of its own, which, to our common-sense minds, consists just in negating everything we properly hold true and real. In spite of these apparent confusions, the philosophy of Zen is guided by a thorough-going principle which, when once grasped, its topsy-turviness becomes the plainest truth.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 145
To make this point clear and to justify the claim for Zen that it transmits the essence of Buddhism and not its formulated articles of faith as are recorded in letters, it is necessary to strip the spirit of Buddhism off all its outer casings and appendages, which, hindering the working of its original life-force, are apt to make us take the unessential for the essential.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 775
The Buddha never thought that his followers would come to lay the entire stress of his teaching on these intellectual structures which could not stand by themselves without being supported by an inner spirit. The Eightfold Path of Righteousness was an ethical guide to Enlightenment, and as such it was regarded by the Buddha. Those who have no higher insight into his teaching than reading a moral signification in it, take it for a kind of ethical culture and no more.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1991
A monk asked Fa-yen, “What is the idea of the National Teacher’s calling out to his attendant?” Fa-yen said, “You go away now, and come back some other time.” Remarked Yün-chü, “When Fa-yen says this, does he really know what the National Teacher’s idea is? or does he not?”
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1904
“Chinna vartmopasanta rajāḥ sushkā āsravā na punaḥ sravānti; Chinne vartmani vartata duḥkhasyaisho ’nta ucyate.”[3.1]
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 680
372: “Without knowledge (_paññā_, _prajñā_) there is no meditation (_jhāna_, _dhyāna_), without meditation there is no knowledge: he who has knowledge and meditation is near unto Nirvana.” This mutual dependence of jhāna and paññā is what distinguished Buddhism from the rest of the Indian teachings at the time. Jhāna or dhyāna must issue in paññā, must develop into seeing the world as it really is (_yathābhūtaṁ_); for there is no Buddhism in meditation merely as such.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 369
The special features of this Sutra, which distinguish it from the other Mahayana writings, are, to give the most noteworthy ones: first, that the subject-matter is not systematically developed as in most other Sutras, but the whole book is a series of notes of various lengths; secondly, that the Sutra is devoid of all supernatural phenomena, but filled with deep philosophical and religious ideas concerning the central teaching of the Sutra, which are very difficult to comprehend, due to tersity of expression and to the abstruse nature of the subject-matter; thirdly, that it is in the form of dialogues exclusively between the Buddha and the Bodhisattva Mahāmati while in the other Mahayana Sutras the principal figures are generally more than one besides the Buddha himself who addresses them in turn; and lastly, that it contains no Dharanis or Mantrams—those mystical signs and formulas supposed to have a miraculous power.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1239
1. People often imagine that the discipline of Zen is to induce a state of self-suggestion through meditation. This is not quite right. As we can see from the various instances above cited, satori does not consist in producing a certain premeditated condition by intensely thinking of it. It is the growing conscious of a new power in the mind, which enables it to judge things from a new point of view.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1221
“Thence my joy knew no bounds. I could not quietly sit in the Meditation Hall; I went about with no special purpose in the mountains walking this way and that. I thought of the sun and the moon traversing in a day through a space 4,000,000,000 miles wide. ‘My present abode is in China,’ I reflected then, ‘And they say the district of Yang is the centre of the earth.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1869
[f21] When the Buddha entered Nirvana, the monks cried, “Too soon has the Tathagata passed away, too soon has the World-honoured One passed away, too soon has the Great Law died out; all beings are forever left to misery; for the Eye of the World is gone.” Their lamentation was beyond description, they lay on the ground like great trees with roots, stems, and branches all torn and broken to pieces, they rolled and wriggled like a slain snake. Such excessive expressions of grief were quite natural for those Buddhists whose hearts were directed towards the personality of their master more than towards his sane and rationalistic teachings, Cf. the Pali _Parinibbāna-suttanta_.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1738
Therefore, when Bodhi-Dharma was ready to leave China, he said that Dōfuku got the skin, the nun Sōji got the flesh, and Dōiku the bone, while Yeka had the marrow (or essence) of Zen.[f160][8.1] Nangaku who succeeded the sixth patriarch had six accomplished disciples, but their attainments differed in depth. He compared them with various parts of the body, and said, “You all have testified to my body, but each has grasped a part of it.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 410
The third dhyana is called “Attaching oneself to Thatness” (_tathatālambana_) whereby one realises that to discriminate the two forms of non-atman-ness is still due to an analytical speculation and that when things are truthfully (_yathābhūtam_) perceived, no such analysis is possible, for then there obtains absolute oneness only.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 281
“The Buddha hath the cause told Of all things springing from a cause; And also how things cease to be— ’Tis this the Mighty Monk proclaims.”
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 981
The patriarch then advised him that it would be wise for him to hide his own light under a bushel until the proper time arrived for his public appearance and active propaganda, and also that the robe which was handed down from Bodhi-Dharma as the sign of faith should no more be given up to Hui-nêng’s successors, because Zen was now fully recognised by the outside world in general and there was no more necessity to symbolise the faith by the transference of the robe.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1919
[f69] Cf. _Sutta-Nipāta_, v. 21. “By me is made a well-constructed raft, so said Bhagavat, I have passed over to Nirvana, I have reached the further bank, having overcome the torrent of passions; there is no further use for a raft: therefore, if thou like, rain, O sky!”
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 556
And it was this completeness, this finality that was so entirely satisfying to the Buddha, who now knew that the chain was found broken and that he was a liberated man. The Buddha’s experience of Enlightenment therefore could not be understood by referring it to the intellect which tantalises but fails to fulfill and satisfy.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 242
And this is the position taken up by Zen Buddhism as regards what it considers a final reality. Zen in this respect faithfully follows the injunction of the Master.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1931
Sonadanda the Brahman had the following to say when he grasped the meaning of the Buddha’s discourse on the characteristics of the true Brahman (Rhys David’s translation): “Most excellent, oh Gotama, most excellent! Just as if a man were to set up that which has been thrown down, or were to reveal that which has been hidden away, or were to point out the right road to him who has gone astray, or were to bring a light into the darkness so that those who had eyes could see external forms—just even so has the truth been made known to me, in many a figure, by the venerable Gotama.”
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1842
7.46. 藥山一日院主請師上堂. 大衆方集. 師良久. 便歸方丈. 閉門. 院主逐後曰. 和尙許某甲上堂. 爲什麽却歸方丈. 師曰. 院主. 經有經師. 論有論師. 律有律師. 又爭怪得老僧. (傳燈錄卷十四.)
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 956
After a while the patriarch traced the character “Buddha” (_fo_) on the stone on which Fa-jung was in the habit of sitting in meditation. Seeing it, the latter looked as if shocked. Said the patriarch “I see this is still with you.” But Fa-jung failed to see the meaning of this remark and earnestly implored to be instructed in the ultimate teaching of Buddhism. This was done, and Fa-jung became the founder of the Niu-t‘ou school of Zen Buddhism.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 306
The constitution of the Brotherhood will now have to change. In the beginning of Buddhism, it was a congregation of homeless monks who subjected themselves to a certain set of ascetic rules of life. In this Buddhism was an exclusive possession of the _élite_, and the general public or Upāsaka group who accepted the Threefold Refuge Formula was a sort of appendage to the regular or professional Brotherhood.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1536
Even when they are thus devoted to the cause, if their thoughts are not really dwelling on the mysterious and intransmissible Way of the Buddhas and Fathers, they may yet come to ignore the law of moral causation, ending in a complete downfall of the true religion. Such all belong to the family of evil spirits; however long my departure from the world may be, they are not to be called my descendants.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1849
[f13] _Hekiganshu_ is a collection of one hundred “cases” with Seccho’s (Hsüeh-tou) poetical comments and Yengo’s partly explanatory and partly critical annotations. The book was brought to Japan during the Kamakura era, and ever since it is one of the most important text-books of Zen, especially for the followers of the Rinzai school.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 336
The Samana Gotama’s insight is ruined by his habit of seclusion. He is not at home in conducting an assembly. He is not ready in conversation. So he keeps apart from others in solitary places. Even as a one-eyed cow that, walking in a circle, follows only the outskirts, so is the Samana Gotama.”
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 413
The _Laṅkāvatāra_ was thus handed over by Bodhi-Dharma to his first disciple Hui-k‘ê as the most illuminating document on the doctrine of Zen. But the development of Zen in China naturally did not follow the line as was indicated in the Sutra, that is, after the Indian fashion; the soil where the dhyana of the _Laṅkāvatāra_ was transplanted did not favour its growth in the same manner as it did in the original climate. Zen was inspired with the life and spirit of the dhyana of the Tathagata, but it created its own mode of manifestation. Indeed this was where it showed its wonderful power of vitality and adaptation.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1018
Hui-nêng was a great advocate of absolute idealism, while Shên-hsiu was a realist and refused to ignore a world of particulars where Time rules over all our doings. An idealist does not necessarily ignore the objective aspect of reality, but his eyes are always fixed at one point which stands by itself, and his surveyings are done from this absolute point. The doctrine of abruptness is thus the result of looking at the multitudinousness of things in absolute unity.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1981
[f126] There are many mondoes purporting to the same subject. The best known one by Jōshu is quoted elsewhere; of others we mention the following. A monk asked Risan (Li-shan), “All things are reduced to emptiness, but where is emptiness reduced?” Risan answered, “The tongue is too short to explain it to you.” “Why is it too short?” “Within and without, it is of one suchness,” said the master. (Ch. N., [6].)
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 778
Therefore, to understand Zen as expressing the Doctrine of Enlightenment which is the reason of Buddhism, we must wait for the rise of the Mahayana movements. And when this was introduced into China by Bodhi-Dharma, it grew up to what we now know by the name of Zen Buddhism.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1278
Fanaticism is vital enough as far as its explosiveness is concerned, but this is not a true religion, and its practical sequence is the destruction of the whole system, not to speak of the fate of its own being. Zen is what makes the religious feeling run through its legitimate channel and what gives life to the intellect.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 308
While the Buddha regarded the various elements of his congregation with perfect impartiality, cherishing no prejudices as to their social, racial, and other distinctions, the full benefit of his teaching could not extend beyond the monastic boundaries. If there was nothing in it that could benefit mankind in general, this exclusiveness was naturally to be expected.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 278
The logical links however accurately adjusted and perfectly wrought together, fail by themselves to be pacifying to the soul in the most thoroughgoing manner. We require something more fundamental or more immediate for the purpose, and I maintain that the mere reviewing of the Fourfold Noble Truth or the Twelvefold Chain of Origination does not result in the attainment of the Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1828
6.72. 雲居道膺 (died 901). 因荆南節度使問曰. 世尊有密語. 迦葉不覆藏. 如何是世尊密語. 師召曰. 尙書. 其人應諾. 師曰. 會應. 曰不會. 師曰汝若不會世尊密語. 汝若會迦葉不覆藏. (傳燈錄第十七.)
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 522
His personal greatness was such as occasionally made his disciples advance theories somewhat contrary to the advice supposed to have been given by their Master. This was inevitable. The world with all its contents, individually as well as as a whole, is subject to our subjective interpretation, not a capricious interpretation indeed, but growing out of our inner necessity, our religious yearnings.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1508
In India the monks are mendicants; when they meditate they retire into a quiet corner from worldly cares; and inasmuch as they are supported economically by their secular devotees, they do not propose to work in any menial employment such as Chinese and Japanese Zen monks are used to. What saved Zen Buddhism from deteriorating into quietism or mere intellectual gymnastics, which was more or less the fate befalling other schools of Buddhism, was surely due to the gospel of work.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1619
Under the direction of a master, a monk may finally attain to a thorough knowledge of all the mysteries of Zen; but this is more or less intellectual, though in the highest possible sense. The monk’s life, in and out, must grow in perfect unison with this attainment. To do this a further training is necessary, for what he has gained at Zendo is after all the pointing of the direction where his utmost efforts have to be put forth. But it is not at all imperative now to remain in the Zendo.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1913
In the _Kevaddha Sutta_, three wonders are mentioned as having been understood and realised by the Buddha: the mystic wonder, the wonder of education, and the wonder of manifestation.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 121
The same old insignificant staff and yet more mystical statements from Ummon. One day his announcement was: “My staff has turned into a dragon, and it has swallowed up the whole universe; where would the great earth with its mountains and rivers be?”[1.23] On another occasion, Ummon, quoting an ancient Buddhist philosopher who said that “Knock at the emptiness of space and you hear a voice; strike a piece of wood and there is no sound,” Ummon took out his staff, and striking space, he cried, “Oh, how it hurts!” Then tapping at the board, he asked, “Any noise?” A monk responded, “Yes, there is a noise.”[f12][1.24] Thereupon exclaimed the master, “O you ignoramus!”
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 725
When he came to the master, he was set to exercise himself in a Samadhi known as “Fa-hua San-mei” (_saddharma-puṇḍarkīa-samādhi_).[3.9] While exercising himself in it, he came across a certain passage in the Sutra, and his mind was opened, and he at once realised the statement referred to by his master, which was this—that he with the master personally attended the Buddha’s congregation at the Vulture Peak where the Buddha discoursed on the Sutra.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1275
As I conceive it, Zen is the ultimate fact of all philosophy and religion. Every intellectual effort must culminate in it or rather must start from it, if it is to bear any practical fruits. Every religious faith must spring from it if it has to prove at all efficiently and livingly workable in our active life.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 208
When attention thus centres in the person of the Buddha as the author of the Dharma, the question of his inner experience known as Enlightenment becomes the most vital one. Without this experience the Buddha could not be called a Buddha; in fact, the term “Buddha,” the Enlightened One, was his own making. If a man understands what enlightenment is or really experiences it in himself, he knows the whole secret of the Buddha’s superhuman nature and with it the riddle of life and the world.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 991
At all events, the question of the robe is deeply connected with the status of Zen teaching among the various schools of Buddhism at the time, and also with its firmer hold on the popular minds than ever before.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 837
According to Tao-hsüan, Bodhi-Dharma left many writings or sayings which were apparently still in circulation at the time of the author of the _Biographies of the High Priests_, but the only authentic writing of the Zen founder’s at present in our possession is a very short one which is preserved in Tao-hsüan’s _Biographies_ as well as in Tao-yüan’s Records.