SelfDefinition.Org The Practice of Zen 1959 Garma C.C. Chang Chang Chen-chi (1920-1988) I. The Nature of Zen Esta página en español: ..la-naturaleza-del-zen.htm

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The Nature of Zen

What is Zen? "Zen" is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word "Ch'an," and "Ch'an" is the abbreviation of the original phrase "Ch'an-Na" – a corruption of the pronunciation of the Sanskrit word Dhyana or the Pali, Jhana. In other words, "Zen" is a mispronunciation of another mispronunciation! This, however, is less important than the fact that Zen represents a teaching which may well be considered as the pinnacle of all Buddhist thought, a teaching that is most direct, profound, and practical – capable of bringing one to thorough liberation and perfect Enlightenment. But it is very difficult to give a clear account of it. Zen is, as one of the Chinese expressions puts it, something "round and rolling, slippery and slick" – something ungraspable and indescribable, which cannot be explained or interpreted. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile trying to overcome this difficulty in order to present a clearer picture of Zen.

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Zen Style and Zen Art

Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism, originated and developed in China. Its philosophy and practice are not essentially different from those of other Mahayana schools. Zen does not possess any unique or exclusive teachings that are not included in over-all Mahayana Buddhism. The difference is solely in the unconventional style and in the unusual forms of expression adopted by the Zen Buddhists. This "Zen style" or "tradition," formed in the later period of Zen history, is so outstanding and unusual that it has made Zen a remarkable and extraordinary form of Buddhist teaching unparalleled in any other field of philosophy or religion.

What, then, is this "Zen style"? Put briefly, Zen style consists of the puzzling language, baffling attitudes, and surprising methods that Zen Buddhists employ in their teachings and practice.

For example, a monk asked, "What is the meaning of Bodhidharma's coming from the West?" (That is to say, "What is the Truth?") The Master answered, "The cypress tree in the courtyard." The same question, put before another Master, was answered by, "The teeth of the board grow hair." One may interpret these answers as implying the ubiquitousness of Reality; for truth is everywhere and all-pervading: the cypress tree or the blowing wind, the howling dog or even the board that grows hair are all vibrantly alive in the present "here and now." The purport of Bodhidharma's coming from the West is to elucidate this universal Truth. One may also interpret the real purpose of the reply "The teeth of the board grow hair" as an intention on the part of the Master to knock the disciple off the track of his habituated, sequential thinking and to bring him directly to the "state-of-beyond" by means of an apparently illogical and irrelevant answer.

One may go even further and say that the Zen Master had no intention of answering the question; he was merely making a plain and straightforward statement of what he saw and felt at the moment the question was put. In this down-to-earth "plain feeling" in its primordial, genuine, and natural state lies the whole secret of Zen. Plain, yet marvelous, this feeling is the most cherished keystone of Zen – sometimes described as the tang hsia i nien, [a] or instantaneous thought.

[a. See the Appendix of Chinese characters for this and other lettered references. Numbers refer to the Endnotes ]

Because it is instantaneous, no artificiality, conceptualization, or dualistic idea could ever arise from it. In it there is no room for such things. It is only through the realization of this "instantaneous mind" that one is freed from all bondage and suffering. Never departing from this eternal "instantaneousness," the Zen Master sees everything as the great Tao – from the cypress tree to a stick of dry dung. Thus the Master made no effort to give a relevant answer; he just plainly stated what he saw and felt at that moment.

No matter what these Zen Masters meant by their answers, or how one interprets them, this indisputable fact remains: the answers given in many Zen koans are of an uncommon nature. Therefore the first lesson is to become acquainted with this Zen manner of strange "style of expression." Otherwise, Zen will only mystify and confuse one's "innocent inquiry," all to no purpose. One should remember that no matter how mysterious or how senseless a koan [Endnote 1-1] appears to be, there is always something deep behind it – the strange remarks always imply something.

Fully to decode these riddles, however, requires not only a complete mastery of Zen idiom and traditions (which is a task solely for the professional), but some direct personal experience in Zen itself. If one lacks either one, Zen is, indeed, difficult to grasp. In any case, and for anyone, the first task is to become familiar with the "Zen styles" and traditions.

The second important lesson is to learn of the difficulties and obstacles one can expect to meet in his Zen studies. For Zen is not a subject that may be understood through superficial efforts. It presents a formidable challenge; in fact, it is the most difficult subject in Buddhism. One would be foolish to cherish a hope of understanding Zen by reading one or two books, or by sitting for a few hours in meditation. Some years of hard work, at least, are needed to achieve the goal. In any case, it is fitting and wise for both serious and casual Zen students to know what difficulties they are up against at the very outset of their studies.

The first difficulty is the apparent ungraspability and the indefinite nature of Zen. There seems to be no organized system to follow, nor any definite philosophy to learn. Contradictions and inconsistencies abound everywhere. Although these may be explained away by the so-called illogical logic of Zen, the "slippery indefiniteness" so frequently encountered remains to confound and puzzle one. For instance, the question raised by that most common koan already mentioned, "What is the meaning of Bodhidharma's coming from the West?" has more than two hundred different answers! Here are several more of them:

A monk asked Hsiang Lin, "What is the meaning of Bodhidharma's coming from the West?" Hsiang Lin replied, "Sitting for too long, one becomes exhausted." To the same question Chiu Feng answered, "An inch of a turtle's hair weighs nine pounds." On the other hand, Tung Shan's reply to Lung Ya was, "I will tell you when the mountain stream flows back."

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Three Reasons for Ungraspability

There are three reasons for this ungraspability or indefiniteness of Zen:

1. The ultimate Prajna-Truth that Zen tries to illustrate is, itself, ungraspable and indefinable in nature. 2. Zen is a very practical teaching in that its main object is to bring individuals to Enlightenment [Endnote 1-2] by the quickest and most direct route; and as each disciple differs in disposition, capacity, and state of advancement, a Zen Master must give his instructions in different ways and from different levels of approach in order to make his Zen practical and effective. This factor has been responsible for the great varieties of expressions, which further complicate the matter and make Zen more difficult to understand. 3. After the period of the Sixth Patriarch, Hui Neng (638-713), [Huineng] Zen gradually became an Art – a unique art for transmitting the Prajna-Truth – refusing, as all great arts do, to follow any set form, pattern, or system in expressing itself. This exceptionally liberal attitude gave birth to those radical and sometimes "wild" Zen expressions, which also contribute so greatly to the complexity and incomprehensibility of the subject.

Some brief explanations of these three points may be helpful here.

I. The first point: Why is the ultimate Prajna-Truth that Zen tries to illustrate so indefinable and ungraspable? "To define" means to settle the limits of, or to declare the exact meaning of a certain thing. "To grasp," in the sense used here, means to comprehend the import of a thing and retain it. Since the very act of defining is to confine something within a certain boundary, it cannot be otherwise than finite, narrow, and exclusive in its nature; and again, since "to comprehend" means mentally to grasp something, but not everything, it must also be restrictive and thus limitative in its nature.

But the ultimate Prajna-Truth that Zen tries to convey cannot possibly be a thing that is narrow, finite, or exclusive; it must be something vast, universal, and infinite – all-inclusive and all-embracing – defying definition and designation. How, then, can Zen-Truth be otherwise than indefinable and ungraspable? The very word "defining" suggests a finger pointing to a particular object, and the word "grasping," a hand holding something tightly and not letting it go.

These two pictures vividly portray the narrow, tight, and clinging nature of the human mind. With this deplorable limitation and tightness deeply rooted in the human way of thinking, no wonder the free and all-inclusive Prajna-Truth becomes an evasive shadow forever eluding one's grasp. This indefinable and ungraspable nature of Zen-Truth is well illustrated in the following two koans:

A. The Sixth Patriarch [Hui Neng] asked Huai Jang, "From whence do you come?"

Huai Jang replied, "I come from Mount Su."

The Patriarch then asked, "What is it and how does it come?"

And Huai Jang answered, "Anything I say would miss the point."

Hui Neng [Huineng] was the teacher of Huai Jang.

Huai Jang [Nanyue_Huairang] was the teacher of Ma Tsu.

Ma Tsu [Mazu_Daoyi] was the teacher of Nan Chuan and Pai Chang (see next page).

B. Fu Ta Shih [Fudaishi] said in his famous stanza:

Empty-handed I go, but the spade is in my hands;

I walk on my feet, yet I am riding on the back of a bull;

When I pass over the bridge,

Lo, the bridge, but not the water, flows!

II. The second point: With what different instructions and from what different levels has Zen applied its practical teachings to bring the individual disciples directly to Enlightenment?

This is a very difficult question to answer because it includes all aspects of Zen Buddhism. A satisfactory reply would demand a full review of the whole field, which is beyond the scope of this book. In fact, many Zen Masters and scholars have tried this very task, attempting to assign the different Zen instructions and the numerous Zen koans to various groups and levels, with accompanying explanations and comments, but none of them has been very successful. There are two reasons for this, first, the undissectable and unclassifiable nature of Zen itself, and second, the dearth of qualified persons who are not only capable of making such a classification, but willing as well to run against the tradition and spirit of Zen by so doing.

[Point 2 continues on the next page with a discussion of the koan. Point 3 appears on the following page, Zen as a Special Buddhist Art.]

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