Essays in Zen Buddhism
D.T. Suzuki
2,061 passages indexed from Essays in Zen Buddhism (D.T. Suzuki) — Page 9 of 42
License: Public Domain
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 755
All the desires, feelings, thoughts, and strivings thus illuminated cease to be egotistic and are no more the cause of defilements and fetters and many other hindrances, of which so many are referred to in all Buddhist literature, Mahayana and Hinayana. In this sense the Buddha is the Jina, Conqueror, not an empty conqueror over nothingness, but the conqueror of confusion, darkness, and Ignorance.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1379
Of course, words are not to be altogether disregarded inasmuch as they correspond to the feelings or experiences. To know this is more important in the understanding of Zen. Language is then with the Zen masters a kind of exclamation or ejaculation as directly coming out of their inner spiritual experience. No meaning is to be sought in the expression itself, but within ourselves, in our own minds, which are awakened to the same experience.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1943
[f90] As I stated before, there is a confusion between Dharma’s _mien-pi_ habit of sitting and his doctrine of the _pi-kuan_ meditation. The confusion dates quite early, and even at the time of the author of the _Records_ the original meaning of _pi-kuan_, wall-contemplation, must have been lost.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 723
The sense of return or that of recognising old acquaintances one experiences at the time of Enlightenment is a familiar fact to students of Zen Buddhism. To cite one instance, Chih-I (530–597)[3.6] who is generally known by his honorary title as Chih-chê Tai-shih,[3.7] was the founder of the T‘ien-tai school of Buddhist philosophy in China.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 107
In other words, psychologically Zen releases whatever energies we may have in store, of which we are not conscious in ordinary circumstances.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 484
During the T‘ang dynasty (618–906) when Chinese culture reached its consummation, great Zen masters succeeded one after another in building up monasteries and educating monks as well as lay-disciples who were learned not only in the Confucian classics but in the Mahayana lore of Buddhism. The emperors too were not behind them in paying respects to these Zen seers, who were invited to come to the court in order to give sermons to these august personages.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 918
“As I stand before you, O master,” asked Sêng-ts‘an, “I know that you belong to the Brotherhood, but pray tell me what are the Buddha and the Dharma.”
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 114
By meditating on those utterances or actions that are directly poured out from the inner region undimmed by the intellect or the imagination, and that are calculated successfully to exterminate all the turmoils arising from ignorance and confusion.[f7]
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1865
To quote one or two instances: “When Subha-Mānava Todeyyaputta saw the Blessed One sitting in the woods, the Brahman was struck with the beautiful serenity of his personality which most radiantly shone like the moon among the stars; his features were perfect, glowing like a golden mountain; his dignity was majestic with all his senses under perfect control, so tranquil and free from all beclouding passions, and so absolutely calm with his mind subdued and quietly disciplined.” (The Middle Āgama, fas.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 403
The Sutra sometimes goes so far as this: “O Mahāmati, it is because the Sutras are preached to all beings in accordance with their modes of thinking, and do not hit the mark as far as the true sense is concerned; words cannot re-instate the truth as it is.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 869
What was the reason of Dharma’s changing _chüeh_, “to awaken,” or “to be enlightened” into a word which apparently has no organic relation to the following _kuan_, “to perceive,” or “to contemplate”? The novel combination is a very important one, for it alters the sense of the whole context in which it occurs.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1960
[f106] That is, from the idea that this sitting cross-legged leads to Buddhahood. From the earliest periods of Zen in China, the quietist tendency has been running along the whole history with the intellectual tendency which emphasises the satori element. Even to-day these currents are represented to a certain extent by the Soto on the one hand and the Rinzai on the other, while each has its characteristic features of excellence. My own standpoint is that of the intuitionalist and not that of the quietist; for the essence of Zen lies in the attainment of satori.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 380
“He whose appearance is beyond the senses and sense-objects and is not to be seen by them or in them—how could praise or blame be predicated of him, O Muni?
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 2015
For instance, when one asks about a phrase having no shadow, he does not mean any ordinary ensemble of words known grammatically as such, but an absolute proposition whose verity is so beyond a shadow of doubt that every rational being will at once recognise as true on hearing it.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 599
By this seeing, the will sees itself and is thereby made free and its own master. This is knowing in the most fundamental sense of the term and herein consists the Buddhist redemption.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1768
_Seeing the Traces of the Cow._ By the aid of the Sutras and by inquiring into the doctrines, he has come to understand something, he has found the traces. He now knows that things, however multitudinous, are of one substance, and that the objective world is a reflection of the self. Yet, he is unable to distinguish what is good from what is not, his mind is still confused as to truth and falsehood. As he has not yet entered the gate, he is provisionally said to have noticed the traces.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1854
[f15] Compare this with the statement made by the sixth patriarch himself when he was asked how it was that he came to succeed the fifth patriarch “Because I do not understand Buddhism.” Let me also cite a passage from the _Kena-Upanishad_, in which the readers may find a singular coincidence between the Brahman seer and those Zen masters, not only in thought but in the way it is expressed:
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 671
Further, that Enlightenment consists in seeing into things “yathābhūtam” or “yathātatham,” free from doubt, not disturbed by intellection or theorisation, may be gleaned from the last gāthā in the _Itivuttaka_, where the Buddha is praised for his various virtues. I quote the first three stanzas:
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1158
The experience they have gone through with within themselves is not a very elaborate, complicated, and intellectually demonstrable thing; for none of them ever try to expound it by a series of learned discourses, they do just this thing or that, or utter a single phrase unintelligible to outsiders, and the whole affair proves most satisfactory both to the master and to the disciple.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 357
It is almost a state of death, total extinction, except that one in this dhyana has life, warmth, and the sense-organs in perfect condition. But in point of fact it is difficult to distinguish this Nirodha-vimoksha (deliverance by cessation) from the last stage of the Aruppa (or Arūpa) meditation, in both of which consciousness ceases to function even in its simplest and most fundamental acts.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1749
The Christian and Mahommetan mystics also mark the stages of spiritual development. Some Sufis describe the “seven valleys”[f161] to traverse in order to reach the court of Simburgh where the mystic “birds” find themselves gloriously effaced and yet fully reflected in the Awful Presence of themselves. The “seven valleys” are: 1. the Valley of Search; 2. the Valley of Love, which has no limits; 3. the Valley of Knowledge; 4. the Valley of Independence; 5. the Valley of Unity, pure and simple; 6.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1949
We thus find in the Chinese Tripitaka such words as _prajñā_, _bodhi_, _buddha_, _nirvāṇa_, _dhyāna_, _bodhisattva_, etc., almost always untranslated; and they now appear in their original form among the technical Buddhist terminology. If we could leave _hsin_ with all its nuance of meaning in this translation, it would save us from the many difficulties that face us in its English rendering. For _hsin_ means mind, heart, soul, spirit—each singly as well as all inclusively.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1812
5.17. 潙山問. 我聞汝在百丈先師處. 問一答十. 問十答百. 此是汝聦明靈利. 意解識想. 生死根本. 父母未生時. 試道一句看. 師被一問. 直得茫然. 歸寮將平日看過底文字. 從頭要尋一句酬對. 竟不能得. 乃自歎曰. 畵餅不可充飢. 屢乞潙山說破. 山曰. 我若說似汝. 汝已後罵我去. 我說底是我底. 終不干汝事. 師遂平昔所看文字燒却曰. 此生不學佛法也. 且作箇長行粥飯僧. 免役心神. 乃泣辭潙山. 直過南陽. 覩忠國師遺蹟遂憩止焉. 一日芟除草木. 偶拋瓦礫. 擊竹作聲. 忽然省悟. 遽歸沐浴焚香. 遙拜潙山. 贊曰. 和尙大慈恩逾父母. 當時若爲我說破. 何有今日之事. 乃有頌. 一擊忘所知. 更不假修治. 動容揚古路. 不墮悄然機. 聲色外威儀. 諸方達道者. 咸言上上機. (五燈會元卷九.)
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 878
In any event the underlying meaning of the “wall-contemplation” must be found in the subjective condition of a Zen master, which is highly concentrated and rigidly exclusive of all ideas and sensuous images. To understand the phrase, “_pi-kwan_” as simply meaning “wall-gazing” will be sheer absurdity. If the specific message of Dharma as the founder of Zen in China is to be sought anywhere in the writings of his, which are still in existence, it must be in this “Mahayanistic wall-contemplation.”
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 735
The body-knower (the soul) which is unembodied, must be either knowing or unknowing; if it is knowing, there must be some object to be known, and if there is this object, it is not liberated. Or if the soul be declared to be unknowing, then what use to you is this imagined soul? Even without such a soul, the existence of the absence of knowledge is notorious as, for instance, in a log of wood or a wall.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 285
The reason for this, therefore, must be sought somewhere else, that is, not in the formal truth contained in the stanza, but in the subjective condition of the one to whose ears it chanced to fall and in whom it awakened a vision of another world. It was in the mind of Śāriputra itself that opened up to a clear and distinct understanding of the Dharma; in other words, the Dharma was revealed in him as something growing out of himself and not as an external truth poured into him.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1858
[f17] The absolute faith Shinran had in the teaching of Hōnen as is evidenced in this quotation proves that the Shin sect is the result of Shinran’s inner experience and not the reasoned product of his philosophy. His experience came first, and to explain it to himself as well as to communicate it to others, he resorted to various Sutras for verification. _The Teaching, Practice, Faith, and Attainment_ was thus written by him giving an intellectual and scriptural foundation to the Shin-shu faith. In religion as in other affairs of human life, belief precedes reasoning. It is important not to forget this fact when tracing the development of ideas.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 362
If Enlightenment was merely a negative state of cessation, the Buddha could not find any impulse in him that would urge him to exertion in behalf of others. Critics sometimes forget this fact when they try to understand Buddhism simply as a system of teaching as recorded in the Agamas and in Pali Buddhist literature. As I said before, Buddhism is also a system built by his disciples upon the personality of the Buddha himself, in which the spirit of the Master is more definitely affirmed.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1106
Before we go on, it is advisable, therefore, to have this point clearly understood so that we leave no doubt as to the ultimate purport of Zen, which is by no means wasting one’s life away in a trance-inducing practise, but consists in seeing into the life of one’s being or opening an eye of satori.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 283
The point to which I wish to call attention here is this: Is there anything intellectually remarkable and extraordinary and altogether original in this stanza that has so miraculously awakened Śāriputra from his habitually cherished way of thinking? As far as the Buddha’s Dharma (Doctrine) was concerned, there was not much of anything in these four lines.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1974
[f120] Kō-ans (_kung-an_) are sometimes called “complications,” (_kê-t‘êng_) literally meaning “vines and wistarias” which are entwining and entangling; for according to the masters there ought not to be any such thing as a kō-an in the very nature of Zen, it was an unnecessary invention making things more entangled and complicated than ever before. The truth of Zen has no need for kō-ans. It is supposed that there are one thousand seven hundred kō-ans which will test the genuineness of satori.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1880
[f36] In this connection it may not be amiss to say a word about what is known in Buddhism as the “act of no-effort or no-purpose” (_anābhogacaryā_) or “the original vows of no-purpose” (_anābhogapraṇidhāna_). This corresponds, if I judge rightly, to the Christian idea of not letting the right hand know what the left hand is doing.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1796
4.29. 菩提達摩畧辨大乘入道四行. 曇琳序曰. 法師者. 四域南天竺國. 是大婆羅門國王. 第三之子也. 神慧踈朗. 聞皆曉悟. 志存摩訶衍道. 故捨素從緇. 紹隆聖種. 冥心虛寂. 通鑑世事. 內外俱明. 德超世表. 悲誨邊隅. 正教陵替. 遂能遠涉山海. 遊化漢魏. 忘心之士. 莫不歸信. 存見之流. 乃生譏謗. 于時唯有道育. 慧可. 此二沙門. 年雖後生. 俊志高遠. 幸逢法師. 事之數載. 虔恭諮啓. 善蒙師意. 法師感其精誠誨以眞道. 令如是安心如是發行. 如是順物. 如是方便. 此是大乘安心之法. 令無錯謬. 如是安心者. 壁觀. 如是發行者. 四行. 如是順物者. 防護譏嫌. 如是方便者. 遣其不著. 此畧序所云爾.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1898
[f49] The idea that there were some more Buddhas in the past seems to have originated very early in the history of Buddhism as we may notice here, and its further development, combined with the idea of the Jātaka, finally culminated in the conception of a Bodhisattva, which is one of the characteristic features of Mahayana Buddhism.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 287
Ānanda saw Śāriputra coming afar off, and he said to him; “Serene and pure and radiant is your face. Brother Śāriputra! In what mood has Śāriputra been to-day?”
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1697
Jōshu says[7.43]: “This thing is like holding up a transparent crystal in your hand. When a stranger comes, it reflects him as such; when a native Chinese comes, it reflects him as such. I pick up a blade of grass and make it work as a golden-bodied one[f155] sixteen feet high. I again take hold of a golden-bodied one sixteen feet high and make him act as a blade of grass. The Buddha is what constitutes human desires and human desires are no other than Buddhahood.” A monk asked,[f167]
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1610
One summer evening when Hakuin presented his view to the old master who was cooling himself on the veranda, the master said, “Stuff and nonsense.” Hakuin echoed this loudly and rather satirically, “Stuff and nonsense!” Thereupon the master seized him, boxed him several times, and finally pushed him off the veranda. It was soon after the rainy weather, and poor Hakuin rolled in the mud and water. Having recovered himself after a while, he came up and reverentially bowed to the teacher, who then remarked again, “O you, denizen of the dark cavern!”
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1513
As the philosophy of Zen is to transcend the dualistic conception of flesh and spirit, its practical application will naturally be, dualistically speaking, to make the nerves and muscles the most ready and absolutely obedient servants of the mind, and not to make us say that the spirit is truly ready but the flesh is weak. Whatever religious truths of this latter statement, psychologically it comes from the lack of a ready channel between mind and muscles.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 2048
Rinzai (lin-chi), 190, 210, 281; on a man of no title, 8f.; on staff, 21; the school of, 212; on Ōbaku’s Buddhism, 232; and Ōbaku, 291; his “Kwats!” 279f.; his “rough” method, 290; with a hoe, 314; sermon on Zen life, 331f.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 9
Lastly, in sending this humble work, not written in the author’s native tongue, out to the world, he cannot help thinking of his late teacher in Zen, Soyen Shaku, of Engakuji, Kamakura, with regret that his life had not been spared for several years yet, not only for the sake of Japanese Buddhism but for many of his lamenting friends. This is the seventh autumn for the maple-trees to scatter their crimson leaves over his grave at Matsu-ga-oka. Might his spirit not for once be awakened from deep meditation and criticise the book now before the reader!
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 136
Whether this allegation is true or not, will be decided, on the one hand, when we understand what is really the essence or genuine spirit of Buddhism, and, on the other, when we know the exact status of Zen doctrine in regard to the ruling ideas of Buddhism as they are accepted in the Far East. It may also be desirable to know something about the development of religious experience in general.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 963
The Tendai (T‘ien-tai) followers object to see two of their Fathers Hui-szŭ and Chi-i mentioned as “adepts in Zen but not appearing in the world though well-known at the time.” They think that these two are great names in the history of their school and ought not to be so indifferently referred to in the records of the Zen masters.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1670
When this is expressed in the more Indian and technical terms of the _Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra_, it is as follows:
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1030
Have a thorough understanding once for all as to the being of Self-Nature, and you know that nothing dualistic obtains in it; for here you have nothing to be particularly distinguished as enlightenment, or ignorance, or deliverance, or knowledge, and yet from this nothingness there issues a world of particulars as objects of thought.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 720
As long as the Buddha was going over the Chain of Origination from the epistemological point of view, that is, as long as he attempted to get back to his native will through the channel of empirical consciousness, he could not accomplish his end. It was only when he broke through the wall of Ignorance by the sheer force of his will that he could tread the ancient path.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 83
From the ethical point of view, therefore, Zen may be considered a discipline aiming at the reconstruction of character. Our ordinary life only touches the fringe of personality, it does not cause a commotion in the deepest parts of the soul. Even when the religious consciousness is awakened, most of us lightly pass over it so as to leave no marks of a bitter fighting on the soul. We are thus made to live on the superficiality of things.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 279
The Buddha must have experienced something that went far deeper into his inmost consciousness than the mere intellectual grasping of empirical truths. He must have gone beyond the sphere of analytical reasoning. He must have come in touch with that which makes our intellectual operations possible, in fact that which conditions the very existence of our conscious life.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 504
When I say that Buddhism did not really affect Chinese thought until it was converted into Zen through which the creative genius of China began to formulate its philosophy along a much deeper and more idealistic line of thought than that of the Ante-Ch‘in period, there will be many who will object to this view.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1110
“When this [seeing into one’s own Nature] is not attained, one cannot escape from the transmigration of birth-and-death, however well one may be versed in the study of the sacred scriptures in twelve divisions. No time will ever come to one to get out of the sufferings of the triple world.
Essays in Zen Buddhism, passage 1175
As they say, the snake has now grown into the dragon; or more graphically, a common cur—a most miserable creature wagging its tail for food and sympathy, and kicked about by the street boys so mercilessly—has now turned into a golden-haired lion whose roar frightens to death all the feeble-minded.