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THE ZEN EXPERIENCE

Library Journalcalled it, The best history ofZen ever written.


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The truth of Zen has always resided inindividual experience rather than intheoretical writings. To give the modern

reader access to understanding of this truth,THE ZE E!"E#$E%E illumines Zen as it wascreated and shaped by the personalities,perceptions, and actions of its masters overthe centuries.

&eginning with the twin roots of Zen in $ndian

&uddhism and %hinese Taoism, we follow itthrough its initial flowering in %hina under the'irst "atriarch &odhidharma( its division intoschools of )gradual* and )sudden*enlightenment under +henhsui and +henhui(the ushering in of its golden age by Huineng(the development of )shoc-* enlightenment byatsu( its poetic greatness in the person of

Hanshan( the perfection of the use of the-oan by Tahui( the migration of Zen to Japanand its extraordinary growth there under asuccession of towering Japanese spiritualleaders.

#ich in historical bac-ground, vivid in

revealing anecdote and memorable /uotation,this longneeded wor- succeeds admirably inta-ing Zen from the library shelves andrestoring its living, human form.

BOOKS BY THOMAS HOOVER


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NonfictionZen CultureThe Zen Experience

FictionThe MoghulCaribbeeall !treet !a"urai #The +amurai!trategy$%ro&ect 'aedalus%ro&ect Cyclops(ife )lood!yndro"e

*ll free as e+boos atwww.thomahoo!"#.info

THE


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ZEN

EXPERIENCE

Thoma Hoo!"#

!-/ET, !-/ET C(*!!-C!, ME/T01, %(2ME, ME1-'-*/*/' /*( )003! are published in the 2nited !tates byThe /ew *"erican (ibrary, -nc., 4566 )roadway, /ew7or, /ew 7or 48849.:irst %rinting, March, 49;85?;9%1-/TE' -/ T@E 2/-TE' !T*TE! 0: *ME1-C*(ibrary of Congress Cataloging in %ublication 'ata)ibliography Zen )uddhis"A@istory. %riests, ZenA

)iography.-!)/ 8+=>


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PERMISSIONS

!elections fro" Zen and Zen Classics, ols. - and --, by 1.

@. )lyth #ToyoD The @ouseido %ress, copyright B4958, 495= by 1. @. )lyth, copyright B 49?; by:rederic :ranc$, reprinted by per"ission of oan'aves.

!elections fro" Cold Mountain by @an+shan, )urtonatson, trans. #/ew 7orD Colu"bia 2niversity %ress,49?8$, reprinted by per"ission of publisher.

!elections fro" The 1ecorded !ayings of (ay"an %ang,1uth :uller !asai et al., trans. #/ew 7orD ohn

eatherhill$, reprinted by per"ission of publisher.!elections fro" *nthology of Chinese (iterature, Cyril)irch, ed., ary !nyder, trans. #/ew 7orD rove%ress, copyright B 495> by rove %ress$, reprinted byper"ission of publisher.

!elections fro" TaoD * /ew ay of Thining by ChangChung+yuan, #/ew 7orD @arper F 1ow, %erennial(ibrary, copyright B 49?> by Chang Chung+yuan$,reprinted by per"ission of publisher.

!election fro" * @istory of Zen )uddhis" by @einrich !.. 'u"oulin, %aul %eachey, trans. #/ew 7orD %antheon)oos, 495


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!elections fro" The olden *ge of Zen by ohn C. @. u#Taipei, TaiwanD @waang )oo !tore$, reprinted byper"ission of author.

!elections fro" The Zen Teaching of the @ui @ai on!udden -llu"ination by ohn )lofeld #/ew 7orD!a"uel eiser, 49?


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indebted to the wors of a nu"ber of Zen interpreters forthe est, including '. T. !uGui, ohn )lofeld, ChangChung+yuan, and Charles (u. -n cases where this fingerpointing at the "oon "istaenly ai"s astray, - alone a"responsible.

CONTENTSP#"fac" to Z"nTaois"D The ay to Zen(ao TGuChuang TGu3uo @siangD * /eo+TaoistThe !even !ages of the )a"boo roveThe )uddhist 1oots of ZenThe )uddha

/agar&una3u"ara&iva!eng+chaoTao+shengThe !ynthesisPART I. THE EAR(Y MASTERS4. )odhidhar"aD :irst %atriarch of Zen. @ui+nengD !ixth %atriarch and :ather of Modern ZenPART II. THE *O()EN A*E OF ZEN5. Ma+tsuD 0riginator of I!hocI Enlighten"ent?. @uai+haiD :ather of Monastic ChHan;. /an+chHuan and Chao+chouD Masters of the -rrational9. %Hang and @an+shanD (ay"an and %oet

48. @uang+poD Master of the 2niversal Mind


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PART III. SECTARIANISM AN) THE KOAN44. (in+chiD :ounder of 1inGai Zen4


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our reach for a new level of consciousness. 0f the "anyfor"s this search has taen, perhaps the "ost intriguingis Zen. rowing out of the wisdo" of China, -ndia, andapan, Zen beca"e a powerful "ove"ent to explore thelesser+nown reaches of the hu"an "ind. Today Zen hasco"e westward, where we are rediscovering "odernsignificance in its ancient insights. This boo is anatte"pt to encounter Zen in its purest for", by returningto the greatest Zen "asters.

Zen teachings often appear deceptively si"ple. This"isconception is co"pounded by the Zen clai" thatexplanations are "eaningless. They are, of course, but"erely because genuine Zen insights can arise only fro"individual experience. *nd although our experience canbe described and even analyGed, it cannot be trans"ittedor shared. *t "ost, the IteachingsI of Zen can only clearthe way to our deeper consciousness. The rest is up tous.

Zen is based on the recognition of two inco"patibletypes of thoughtD rational and intuitive. 1ationalitye"ploys language, logic, reason. -ts precepts can betaught. -ntuitive nowledge, however, is different. -t lurse"bedded in our consciousness, beyond words. 2nlierational thought, intuition cannot be ItaughtI or eventurned on. -n fact, it is i"possible to find or "anipulatethis intuitive consciousness using our rational "indAany"ore than we can grasp our own hand or see our owneye.

The Zen "asters devised ways to reach thisrepressed area of hu"an consciousness. !o"e of theirtechniJuesAlie "editationAwere borrowed fro" -ndian)uddhis", and so"eAlie their antirational paradoxesA"ay have been learned fro" Chinese Taoists. )ut otherinventions, lie their &arring shouts and blows, e"ergedfro" their own experience. Throughout it all, however,their words and actions were only a "eans, never an end.

That end is an intuitive realiGation of a single greatinsightAthat we and the world around are one, both partof a larger enco"passing absolute. 0ur rational intellect"erely obscures this truth, and conseJuently we "ust


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shut it off, if only for a "o"ent. 1ationality constrains our"indK intuition releases it.

The irony is that the person gli"psing this "o"ent ofhigher consciousness, this 0neness, encounters theulti"ate realiGation that there is nothing to realiGe. Theworld is still there, unchanged. )ut the difference is thatit is now an extension of our consciousness, seen directlyand not analytically. *nd since it is redundant to beattached to so"ething already a part of you, there is asudden sense of freedo" fro" our agoniGing bondage tothings.

*long with this also co"es release fro" theconstraints of artificial values. Creating syste"s andcategories is not unlie counting the colors of a rainbowAboth "erely detract fro" our experience of reality, whileat the sa"e ti"e li"iting our appreciation of the worldHsrichness. *nd to declare so"ething right or wrong issi"ilarly nearsighted. *s *lan atts once observed, IZenunveils behind the urgent real" of good and evil a vastregion of oneself about which there need be no guilt orrecri"ination, where at last the self is indistinguishablefro" od.I *nd, we "ight add, where od is also onewith our consciousness, our self. -n Zen all dualitiesdissolve, absorbed in the larger reality that si"ply is.

/one of these things is taught explicitly in Zen.-nstead they are discovered waiting in our consciousnessafter all else has been swept away. * scornful twelfth+century Chinese scholar su""ariGed the Zen "ethod asfollowsD I!ince the Zen "asters never run the ris ofexplaining anything in plain language, their followers"ust do their own pondering and puGGlingAfro" which areal threshing+out results.I -n these pages we will watchthe threshing+out of Zen itselfAas its "asters unfold anew real" of consciousness, the Zen experience.

TAOISM& THE 'AY TO ZEN

Taois" is the original religion of ancient China. -t isfounded on the idea that a funda"ental principle, theTao, underlies all nature. (ong before the appearance ofZen, Taoists were teaching the superiority of intuitive


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thought, using an anti+intellectualis" that often ridiculedthe logic+bound li"itations of conventional Chinese lifeand letters. @owever, Taois" was always upbeat andpositive in its acceptance of reality, a Juality that alsorubbed off on Zen over the centuries. :urther"ore, "anyTaoist philosophers left writings whose world view see"sal"ost Zen+lie. The early Chinese teachers of "editation#called dhyana in !ansrit and ChHan in Chinese$absorbed the Taoist tradition of intuitive wisdo", andlater Zen "asters often used Taoist expressions. -t isfitting, therefore, that we briefly "eet so"e of the "ostfa"ous teachers of Chinese Taois".

(AO TZ0

0ne of the "ost influential figures in ancient Chinese loreis re"e"bered today "erely as (ao TGu #enerableMaster$. Taoist legends report he once disputed #andbettered$ the scholarly Confucius, but that he finallydespaired of the world and rode an oxcart off into thewest, pausing at the @an+u %assAon the insistence of itseeperAto set down his insights in a five+thousand+character poe". This wor, the Tao Te Ching #The ayand the %ower$, was an eloJuent, organiGed, and lyricalstate"ent of an i"portant point of view in China of thesixth century ).C., an understanding later to beco"e anessential ele"ent of ChHan )uddhis".

The word ITaoI "eans "any, "any thingsAincludingthe elan vital or life force of the universe, the har"oniousstructuring of hu"an affairs, andAperhaps "osti"portantAa reality transcending words. Taoists declaredthere is a nowledge not accessible by language. *s theTao Te Ching announces in its opening line, IThe Tao thatcan be put into words is not the real Tao.I

*lso funda"ental to the Tao is the unity of "ind and"atter, of the one who nows and the thing nown. Theunderstanding of a truth and the truth itself cannot beseparated. The Tao includes and unifies these into alarger IrealityI enco"passing both. The notion that ournowledge is distinguishable fro" that nown is anillusion.


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*nother teaching of the Tao Te Ching is that intuitiveinsight surpasses rational analysis. hen we act on ourspontaneous &udg"ent, we are al"ost always better off.Chapter 49 declares, I(et the people be free fro"discern"ent and relinJuish intellection . . . @old to oneHsoriginal nature . . . Eli"inate artificial learning and onewill be free fro" anxieties.I4The wise defer to a real" ofinsight floating in our "ind beyond its conscious state.

Taoists also Juestioned the value of socialorganiGation, holding that the best govern"ent is the onegoverning least and that Ithe wise deal with thingsthrough non+interference and teach through no+words.I


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who is usually placed in the fourth century ).C., so"etwo centuries after (ao TGu. *n early historian tells thatonce Chuang TGu was invited to the court to serve as a"inister, an invitation he declined with a typical storyD *nox is selected for a festival and fattened up for severalyears, living the life of wealth and indulgenceAuntil theday he is led away for sacrifice. *t that reconing whatwould he give to return to the si"ple life, where therewas poverty but also freedo"L

-n Chuang TGuHs own boo of wisdo", he also deridedthe faith in rationality co""on to Chinese scholars. Toe"phasiGe his point he devised a vehicle for assaultingthe apparatus of logicAthat being a InonsenseI storywhose point could only be understood intuitively., Therehas yet to be found a "ore deadly weapon againstpo"pous intellectualiGing, as the ChHan )uddhists laterproved with the oan. Chuang TGu also new how Juiclyco"edy could deflate, and he used it with consu""atesill, again paving the way for the absurdist Zen "asters.-n fact, his dialogues often anticipate the Zen mondo, theexchanges between "aster and pupil that haveco"icstraight+"an overtones.

-n this regard, Chuang TGu also so"eti"es anticipatestwentieth+century writers for the Theater of the *bsurd,such as )ecett or -onesco. !ignificantly, the Colu"biascholar )urton atson suggests that the "ost fruitfulpath to Chuang TGu Iis not to atte"pt to sub&ect histhoughts to rational and syste"atic analysis, but to readand reread his words until one has ceased to thin ofwhat he is saying and instead has developed an intuitivesense of the "ind "oving beyond the words, and of theworld in which it "oves.I?This is undoubtedly true. Theeffect of co"ic parody on logic is so telling that the onlyway to really understand the "essage is to stop trying toIunderstandI it.

Concerning the li"itations of verbal trans"ission,Chuang TGu tells a story of a wheel"aer who onceadvised his due that the boo of ancient thought the"an was reading was Inothing but the lees and scu" ofbygone "en.I The due angrily de"anded anexplanationAand received a classic defense of the


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superiority of intuitive understanding over language andlogic.

$ loo- at the matter in this way( when $ am ma-ing awheel, if my stro-e is too slow, then it bites deep but isnot steady( if my stro-e is too fast, then it is steady, butdoes not go deep. The right pace, neither slow nor fast,cannot get into the hand unless it comes from the heart.$t is a thing that cannot be put into words( there is an artin it that $ cannot explain to my son. That is why it isimpossible for me to let him ta-e over my wor-, and here$ am at the age of seventy, still ma-ing wheels. $n myopinion, it must have been the same with the men of old.1ll that was worth handing on died with them( the rest,they put into their boo-s.2

Chuang TGuHs parable that perhaps best illustrates theTaoist ideal concerns a coo who had discovered onelives best by following natureHs rhyth"s. The cooexplained that his naturalness was easy after he learnedto let intuition guide his actions. This approach he calledpracticing the Tao, but it is in fact the ob&ective of Zenpractice as well."rince 3en Hui remar-ed, 4How wonderfully you havemastered your art.4 The coo- laid down his -nife andsaid, 43hat your servant really cares for is Tao, whichgoes beyond mere art. 3hen $ first began to cut up oxen,$ saw nothing but oxen. 1fter three years of practicing, $no longer saw the ox as a whole. $ now wor- with myspirit, not with my eyes. y senses stop functioning andmy spirit ta-es over.45

hat he described is the eli"ination of the rational"ind, which he refers to as the senses, and the relianceupon the intuitive part of his "ind, here called the spirit.@e explained how this intuitive approach allowed hi" towor naturally.

1 good coo- changes his -nife once a year because hecuts, while a mediocre coo- has to change his everymonth because he hac-s. $6ve had this -nife of mine for


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nineteen years and have cut up thousands of oxen withit, and yet the edge is as if it were fresh from thegrindstone. There are spaces between the 7oints. Theblade of the -nife has no thic-ness. That which has nothic-ness has plenty of room to pass through thesespaces. Therefore, after nineteen years, my blade is assharp as ever.89

(ao TGu and Chuang TGu did not see the"selves asfounders of any for"al religion. They "erely describedthe obvious, encouraging others to be a part of natureand not its antagonist. Their "ove"ent, now called%hilosophical Taois", was eclipsed during the @an'ynasty #


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Confucianis". 0ne for" of this opposition was thei"ported religion of )uddhis", which provided a spiritualsolace "issing in the teachings of Confucius, while theother was a revival a"ong intellectuals of %hilosophicalTaois".

K0O HSIAN*& A NEO1TAOIST

-n this disruptive environ"ent, certain intellectualsreturned again to the insights of (ao TGu and Chuang TGu,creating a "ove"ent today nown as /eo+Taois". 0ne ofthe thiners who tried to reinterpret original Taoist ideasfor the new ti"es was 3uo @siang #d. ca. 64


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TGu who wrote a co""entary on 3uo @siang.I46/onethe+less, the idea of wuwei, processed through )uddhis",e"erged in different guise in later ChHan, influencing theconcept of Ino+"ind.I

THE SEVEN SA*ES OF THE BAMBOO *ROVE

0ther Chinese were content "erely to live the ideas of/eo+Taois". *"ong these were the !even !ages of the)a"boo rove, "en part of a larger "ove"ent nown asthe !chool of %ure Conversation. Their favorite pasti"ewas to gather north of (oyang on the estate of one oftheir "e"bers, where they engaged in refinedconversation, wrote poetry and "usic, and #notincidentally$ dran wine. To so"e extent they reflectedthe recluse ideal of old, except that they found thesatisfaction of the senses no i"pedi"ent to introspection.hat they did forswear, however, was the world ofgetting and spending. *lthough "en of distinction, theyre&ected fa"e, a"bition, and worldly station.

There is a story that one of the !even !ages, a "anna"ed (iu (ing #ca.


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THE B0))HIST ROOTS OF ZEN

There is a legend the )uddha was once handed a flowerand ased to preach on the law. The story says hereceived the blosso" without a sound and silentlywheeled it in his hand. Then a"id the hush his "ostperceptive follower, 3ashyapa, suddenly burst into as"ile . . . and thus was born the wordless wisdo" of Zen.

The understanding of this silent insight was passeddownthrough the centuries, independent of the scriptures,finally e"erging as the Chinese school of ChHan, latercalled Zen by the apanese. -t is said the absence of earlywritings about the school is nothing "ore than would beexpected of a teaching which was, by definition, beyondwords. The "aster en+yu su""ed it up when heanswered a de"and for the :irst %rinciple of ChHan with,I-f words could tell you, it would beco"e the !econd%rinciple.I

This version of ZenHs origin is satisfying, and for all wenow it "ay even be true. )ut there are other,considerably "ore substantive, sources for the ideas thatca"e to flower as ChHan. Taois", of course, had plowedaway at the Confucianist clutter restraining the Chinese"ind, but it was )uddhis" that gave China the necessarynew philosophical structureAthis being the "etaphysicalspeculations of -ndia. %ure Chinese naturalis" "et -ndianabstraction, and the result was ChHan. The school ofChHan was in part the grafting of fragile foreign ideas#)uddhis"$ onto a sturdy native species of understanding#Taois"$. )ut its si"plicity was in "any ways a re+expression of the )uddhaHs original insights.

THE B0))HA

The historic )uddha was born to the high+caste fa"ilyauta"a during the sixth century ).C. in the region thatis today northeast -ndia and /epal. *fter a childhood andyouth of indulgence he turned to asceticis" and for overhalf a decade rigorously followed the traditional -ndianpractices of fasting and "editation, only finally to re&ect


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these in despair. @owever, an auspicious drea" and onefinal "editation at last brought total enlighten"ent.auta"a the seeer had beco"e )uddha theEnlightened, and he set out to preach.

-t was not gods that concerned hi", but the "ind of"an and its sorrowing. e are unhappy, he explained,because we are slaves to our desires. Extinguish desireand suffering goes with it. -f people could be taught thatthe physical or pheno"enal world is illusion, then theywould cease their attach"ent to it, thereby findingrelease fro" their self+destructive "ental bondage.

The )uddha neglected to set down these ideas inwritten for" however, perhaps unwisely leaving this tasto later generations. @is teachings subseJuently wererecreated in the for" of ser"ons or sutras. -n later years,the )uddhist "ove"ent split into two separatephilosophical ca"ps, nown today as Theravada andMahayana. The Theravada )uddhistsAfound pri"arily insoutheast *sia, !ri (ana, and )ur"aAvenerate the earlywritings of )uddhis" #nown today as the %ali Canon$and tend to content the"selves with practicing thephilosophy of the )uddha rather than enlarging upon itwith speculative co""entaries. )y contrast, the followersof MahayanaAwho include the bul of all )uddhists inChina, apan, and TibetAleft the si"ple prescriptions ofthe )uddha far behind in their creation of a vast newliterature #in !ansrit, Tibetan, and Chinese$ of co"plextheologies. Chinese ChHan grew out of Mahayana, as ofcourse did apanese Zen.

NA*AR+0NA

*fter the )uddha, perhaps the "ost i"portant )uddhistfigure is the second+century *.'. -ndian philosopher/agar&una. !o"e call hi" the "ost i"portant thiner *siahas produced. *ccording to Tibetan legends his parentssent hi" away fro" ho"e at seven because anastrologer had predicted his early death and they wishedto be spared the sight. )ut he broe the spell by entering)uddhist orders, and went on to beco"e the faithHsfore"ost philosopher.


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Today /agar&una is fa"ous for his analysis of the so+called isdo" )oos of Mahayana, a set of !ansritsutras co"posed between 488 ).C. and *.'. 488.#-ncluded in this category are The %erfection of isdo" in;,888 (ines, as well as the 'ia"ond !utra and @eart!utra, both essential scriptures of Zen.$ /agar&una wasthe originator of the Middle %ath, so na"ed because itstrove to define a "iddle ground between affir"ation ofthe world and co"plete negation of existence.

1eality, said /agar&una, cannot be realiGed throughconceptual constructions, since concepts are containedinside reality, not vice versa. ConseJuently, only throughthe intuitive "ind can reality be approached. @is na"efor this IrealityI beyond the "indHs analysis was sunyata,usually translated as Ie"ptinessI but so"eti"es as Itheoid.I #+unyata is perhaps an unprovable concept, but sotoo are the ego and the unconscious, both hypotheticalconstructs useful in explaining reality but i"possible tolocate on the operating table.$ /agar&unaHs "ost+Juoted"anifesto has the logic+defying ring of a Zen D I/othingco"es into existence nor does anything disappear./othing is eternal, nor has anything any end. /othing isidentical or differentiated. /othing "oves hither andthither.I

*s the ChHan teachers interpreted the teaching ofsunyata, the things of this world are all a "ental creation,since external pheno"ena are transient and only exist forus because of our perception. ConseJuently they areactually IcreatedI by our "ind #or, if you will, a "oreuniversal entity called Mind$. ConseJuently they do notexist outside our "ind and hence are a void. 7et the"ind itself, which is the only thing real, is also a voidsince its thoughts cannot be located by the five senses.The oid is therefore everything, since it includes boththe world and the "ind. @ence, sunyata.

*s a "odern /agar&una scholar has describedsunyata, or e"ptiness, it is a positive sense of freedo",not a deprivation

4This awareness of 6emptiness6 is not a blan- loss ofconsciousness, an inanimate space( rather it is the


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cognition of daily life without the attachment to it. $t is anawareness of distinct entities, of the self, of 6good6 and6bad6 and other practical determinations( but it is awareof these as empty structures.48=

The Zen "asters found ways to achieve the cognitionwithout attach"ent postulated by /agar&una, and theypaid hi" ho"age by "aing hi" one of the legendarytwenty+eight -ndian %atriarchs of Zen by posthu"ousdecree.

K0MARA+IVA

The -ndian "issionary who trans"itted the idea ofE"ptiness to China was 3u"ara&iva #6==+=46$, aswashbucling guru who, "ore than any other individual,was responsible for planting sophisticated Mahayana)uddhist ideas in Chinese soil. )efore telling his story,however, it "ay be well to reflect briefly on how)uddhis" got to China in the first place.

*lthough there are records of a )uddhist "issionaryin China as early as *.'. 4=;, historians are hard pressedto find the na"e of an out+and+out native Chinese)uddhist before so"eti"e in the third century.)uddhis", which at first apparently was confused withTaois", see"s to have co"e into fashion after the /eo+Taoists ran out of creative stea". !hortly thereafter,around *.'.


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"issionaries tried to gain acceptability for )uddhis" byexplaining it in Taoist ter"s, including stretching the twoenough to find I"atching conceptsI or ideas withsuperficial si"ilarity, and they also let out the "yth thatthe )uddha was actually (ao TGu, who had gone on to-ndia after leaving China.

hen barbarians saced the /orthern Chinese centerof (oyang in the year 646 and too over /orth ChinaHsgovern"ent, "any of its influential Confucianist scholarsfled to the south. These e"igres were disillusioned withthe social ideas of Confucianis" and ready for a solace ofthe spirit. Thus they turned for co"fort to )uddhist ideas,but using /eo+Taoist ter"inology and often treating)uddhis" "ore as a sub&ect for salon speculations thanas a religion. )y translating )uddhis" into a /eo+Taoistfra"ewor, these southern intellectuals effectivelyavoided having to grapple with the new ideas in )uddhist"etaphysics.

-n /orth China, the )uddhists too advantage of thenew absence of co"peting Confucianists to "ove intoruling circles and assu"e the role of the literate class.They preached a si"ple for" of )uddhis", oftensha"elessly dwelling on "agic and incantations toarouse interest a"ong the greatest nu"ber of followers.The co""on people were drawn to )uddhis", since itprovided for the first ti"e in China a religion that see"edto care for peopleHs suffering, their personal growth, theirsalvation in an afterlife. Thus )uddhis" too hold in/orth China "ainly because it provided hope and "agicfor the "asses and a political firewall againstConfucianis" for the new rulers. *s late as the beginningof the fifth century, therefore, )uddhis" was"isunderstood and encouraged for the wrong reasons inboth north and south.

3u"ara&iva, who would change all this, was born in3ucha to an -ndian father of the )rah"in caste and a"other of noble blood. hen he was seven he and his"other traveled to 3ash"ir to enter )uddhist orderstogether. *fter several years of studying the Theravadasutras, he "oved on to 3ashgar, where he turned hisattention to Mahayana philosophy. *t age twenty we find


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hi" bac in 3ucha, being ordained in the ingHs palaceand sharpening his understanding of the Mahayanascriptures. @e also, we are told, sharpened his non+)uddhist a"orous sills, perhaps finding consolation inthe illusory world of the senses for the hollow e"ptinessof sunyata.

-n the year 6;< or 6;6, he was taen captive andre"oved to a re"ote area in northeastern China, wherehe was held prisoner for al"ost two decades, "uch to thedis"ay of the rulers in ChHang+an, who wanted nothing"ore than to have this teacher #who was by then afa"ous )uddhist scholar$ for their own. *fter seventeenyears their patience ran out and they sent an ar"y todefeat his recalcitrant captors and bring hi" bac. @earrived in ChHang+an in the year =84 and i""ediatelybegan a pro&ect crucial to the future of Chinese)uddhis". * "odern scholar of Chinese religion tellswhat happened next.

4. . . %hinese mon-s were assembled from far and near towor- with him in translating the sacred texts. This was a6highly structured pro7ect,6 suggestive of the cooperativeenterprises of scientists today. There were corps ofspecialists at all levels> those who discussed doctrinal/uestions with ?umara7iva, those who chec-ed the newtranslations against the old and imperfect ones, hundredsof editors, subeditors, and copyists. The /uality and/uantity of the translations produced by these men in thespace of eight years is truly astounding. Than-s to theirefforts the ideas of ahayana &uddhism were presentedin %hinese with far greater clarity and precision than everbefore. +unyata@agar 7una6s concept of the Aoid@wasdisentangled from the Taoist terminology that hadobscured and distorted it, and this and other -eydoctrines of &uddhism were made comprehensibleenough to lay the intellectual foundations of the greatage of independent %hinese &uddhism that was tofollow.48B

The Chinese rulers contrived to put 3u"ara&ivaHsother devotion to use as well, installing a hare" of ten


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beautiful young Chinese girls for hi", through who" hewas encouraged to perpetuate a lineage of his own. Thisgenetic experi"ent apparently ca"e to nothing, but twonative Chinese studying under hi", !eng+chao #6;=+=4=$and Tao+sheng #ca. 658+=6=$, would carry his contributionthrough the final steps needed to open the way for thedevelop"ent of ChHan.

SEN*1CHAO

The short+lived !eng+chao was born to a hu"ble fa"ily inthe ChHang+an region, where he reportedly got hisindispensable grounding in the Chinese classics byworing as a copyist. @e originally was a confir"edTaoist, but after reading the sutra of i"alairti #whichdescribed a pious noble"an who co"bined the secularlife of a bon vivant business"an with an inner existenceof )uddhist enlighten"ent, a co"bination instantlyattractive to the practical Chinese$, !eng+chao turned)uddhist. -n the year 69;, at age fifteen, he traveled tothe northwest to study personally under the fa"ous3u"ara&iva, and he later returned to ChHang+an with the"aster.

Conversant first in the Taoist and then in the )uddhistclassics, !eng+chao began the real synthesis of the twothat would eventually evolve into ChHan. The Chinascholar alter (iebenthal has written that the doctrine of/agar&unaHs Middle %ath, siniciGed by !eng+chao,e"erged in the later ChHan thiners cleansed of thetraces of -ndian origin. @e declares, I!eng+chaointerpreted Mahayana, Nthe ChHan foundersO @ui+neng and!hen+hui re+thought it.I4;

Three of !eng+chaoHs treatises exist today as the )ooof Chao #or Chao (un$, and they give an idea of howChuang TGu "ight have written had he been a )uddhist.There is the distrust of words, the un"istaablepreference for i""ediate, intuitive nowledge, and the"asterful use of wordplay and paradox that leaves his"eaning a"biguous. Most i"portant of all, he believedthat truth had to be experienced, not reasoned out. Truth


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was what lay behind wordsK it should never be confusedwith the words the"selvesD

)1 thing called up by a name may not appear as what itis expected to appear( a name calling up a thing may notlead to the real thing. Therefore the sphere of Truth isbeyond the noise of verbal teaching. How then can it bemade the sub7ect of discussionC +till $ cannot remainsilent.*85

The dean of Zen scholars, @einrich 'u"oulin,declares, IThe relationship of !eng+chao to Zen is to befound in his orientation toward the i""ediate andexperiential perception of absolute truth, and revealsitself in his preference for the paradox as the "eans ofexpressing the inexpressible.I


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world is one, nothing is divisible, even truth, andtherefore the sub&ective understanding of truth "ustco"e all at once or not at all. %reparatory wor andprogress toward the goal of enlighten"ent, includingstudy and "editation, could proceed step+by+step and arewholeso"e and worthwhile, but to Ireach the othershore,I as the phrase in the @eart !utra describesenlighten"ent, reJuires a leap over a gulf, a realiGationthat "ust hit you with all its force the first ti"e.

hat exactly is it that you understand on the othershoreL :irst you co"e to realiGeAas you can only realiGeintuitively and directlyAthat enlighten"ent was withinyou all along. 7ou beco"e enlightened when you finallyrecogniGe that you already had it. The next realiGation isthat there actually is no Iother shore,I since reaching it"eans realiGing that there was nothing to reach. *s histhoughts have been JuotedD I*s to reaching the othershore, if one reaches it, one is not reaching the othershore. )oth not+reaching and not+not+reaching are reallyreaching. . . . -f one sees )uddha, one is not seeing)uddha. hen one sees there is no )uddha, one is reallyseeing )uddha.I


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"uch as to have co"plete union with this sa"e world.)uddhis" teaches union with the oid, while Taois"teaches union with the Tao. *t first they see" oppositedirections. )ut the synthesis of these doctrines appearedin Zen, which taught that the oneness of the oid,wherein all reality is subsu"ed, could be understood asan enco"passing whole or continuu", as in the Tao. )othare "erely expressions of the *bsolute. The )uddhistsunite with the oidK the Taoists yearn to "erge with theTao. -n Zen the two ideas reconcile.

ith this philosophical prelude in place, we "ay nowturn to the "asters who created the world of Zen.


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PART I

THE EAR(Y MASTERS

. . . in which a sixth+century -ndian teacher of"editation, )odhidhar"a, arrives in China to initiatewhat would beco"e a )uddhist school of "editationcalled ChHan. *fter several generations as wanderers,these ChHan teachers settle into a for" of "onastic life

and gradually grow in pro"inence and recognition. 0ut ofthis prosperity e"erges a split in the eighth+centuryChHan "ove"ent, between scholarly urban teachers whobelieve enlighten"ent is IgradualI and reJuirespreparation in traditional )uddhis", and rural ChHanistswho scorn society and insist enlighten"ent is experientialand Isudden,I owing little to the prosperous )uddhistestablish"ent. Then a popular teacher of rural ChHan,capitaliGing on a civil disruption that "o"entarily

weaens the urban elite, gains the upper hand ande"asculates urban ChHan through his preaching that theauthentic line of teaching "ust be traced to an obscureteacher in the rural south, now re"e"bered as the !ixth%atriarch, @ui+neng.


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CHAPTER ONE

BO)HI)HARMA& FIRST PATRIARCH OF ZEN

There is a Zen legend that a bearded -ndian "on na"ed)odhidhar"a #ca. =?8+>6


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)uddhist centers of the north, finally settling in at the!hao+lin "onastery on Mt. !ung for nine years of"editation staring at a wall. @e then trans"itted hisinsights and a copy of the (anavatara sutra to asuccessor and passed onAeither physically, spiritually, orboth. @is devotion to "editation and to theafore"entioned sutra were his legacies to China. @e waslater honored as father of the Chinese Dhyana, orIMeditation,I school of )uddhis", called ChHan.

)odhidhar"a attracted little notice during his years inChina, and the first historical account of his life is a brief"ention in a chronicle co"piled well over a hundredyears after the fact, identifying hi" "erely as apractitioner of "editation. @owever, later stories of hislife beca"e increasingly e"bellished, as he was slowlyelevated to the office of :irst %atriarch of Chinese ChHan.@is life was "ade to fulfill ad"irably the reJuire"ents ofa legend, as it was slowly enveloped in sy"bolicanecdotes illustrating the truth "ore richly than did "erefact. @owever, "ost scholars do agree that there actuallywas a )odhidhar"a, that he was a !outh -ndian whoca"e to China, that he practiced an intensive for" of"editation, and that a short treatise ascribed to hi" isprobably "ore or less authentic. *lthough the legendattached to this unshaven -ndian )uddhist tells us fully as"uch about early ChHan as it does about the "an hi"self,it is nonetheless the first page in the boo of Zen.

&odhidharmaF, the Teacher of the Law, was the third sonof a great &rahmin -ing in +outh $ndia, of the 3esternLands. He was a man of wonderful intelligence, brightand farreaching( he thoroughly understood everythingthat he had ever learned. 1s his ambition was to masterthe doctrine of the ahayana, he abandoned the whitedress of a layman and put on the blac- robe ofmon-hood, wishing to cultivate the seeds of holiness. Hepracticed contemplation and tran/uilli0ation( he -newwell what was the true significance of worldly affairs.$nside and outside he was transpicuous( his virtues weremore than a model to the world. He was grieved verymuch over the decline of the orthodox teaching of the


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&uddha in the remoter parts of the earth. He finally madeup his mind to cross over land and sea and come to%hina and preach his doctrine in the -ingdom of 3ei.8

China at the ti"e of )odhidhar"aHs arrival was apolitically divided land, with the new faith of )uddhis"often supplying a spiritual co""on deno"inator.)odhidhar"a happened to appear at a "o"ent when ane"peror in the northwest, the afore"entioned u#reigned >8


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this reply, but he pressed on, trying another popularJuestion. Ihat is the "ost i"portant principle of)uddhis"LI This second point )odhidhar"a reportedlyanswered with the abrupt Iast e"ptiness.I6Thee"peror was eJually puGGled by this answer and indesperation finally inJuired who, exactly, was thebearded visitor standing before hi"Ato which)odhidhar"a cheerfully ad"itted he had no idea. Theinterview ended as abruptly as it began, with)odhidhar"a excusing hi"self and pressing on. :or hisfirst "iracle, he crossed the 7angtGe &ust outside /aningon a reed and headed north.

The legend of )odhidhar"a pics up again in /orthChina, near the city of (oyang. The stories differ, but the"ost enduring ones lin his na"e with the fa"ous !hao+lin "onastery on Mt. !ung. There, we are told, he"editated for nine years facing a wall #thereby inventingIwall gaGingI$ until at last, a pious version reports, hislegs fell off. *t one ti"e, relates another Zen story, hecaught hi"self doGing and in a fit of rage tore off hiseyelids and cast the" conte"ptuously to the ground,whereupon bushes of the tea plantAZenHs sacra"entaldrinAsprang forth. *nother story has hi" inventing aChinese style of boxing as physical education for thewealing "ons at !hao+lin, thereby founding a classicChinese discipline. )ut the "ost fa"ous episodesurrounding his stay at the !hao+lin concerns the "on@ui+Ho, who was to be his successor. The story tells that@ui+Ho waited in the snows outside !hao+lin for days onend, hoping in vain to attract )odhidhar"aHs notice, untilfinally in desperation he cut off his own ar" to attract the"asterHs attention.

)odhidhar"a advocated "editation, sutras, and thetrappings of traditional )uddhis" as a way to see intooneHs own nature. @is legends represent Zen in itsfor"ative period, before the "ore unorthodox "ethodsfor shaing disciples into a new "ode of consciousnesshad been devised. @owever, one of the stories attributedto hi" by later writers sounds suspiciously lie a Zen"ondo #the traditional consciousness+testing exchange


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between "aster and "on$. *ccording to this story, thedisciple @ui+Hoentreated )odhidhar"a, saying, IMaster, - have notfound peace of "ind. - beg you to pacify "y "ind for"e.I )odhidhar"a replied, I)ring "e your "ind and - willpacify it for you.I @ui+Ho was silent for a ti"e, finallyconceding he could not actually find his "ind. IThere,Isaid )odhidhar"a, I- have pacified it for you.I Thissy"bolic story illustrates eloJuently the concept of the"ind as a perceiver, so"ething that cannot itself besub&ect to analysis. (ogical introspection is i"possible.The "ind cannot exa"ine itself any "ore than the eyecan see itself. !ince the "ind cannot beco"e the ob&ectof its own perception, its existence can only beunderstood intuitively, as @ui+Ho realiGed when he triedto plu"b its whereabouts ob&ectively.

The actual teachings of )odhidhar"a are not fullynown. The first notice of the Iblue+eyed barbarianI #aslater Chinese called hi"$ is in the Chinese )uddhisthistory entitled :urther )iographies of E"inent %riests,usually dated around the year 5=>, "ore than a centuryafter he ca"e to China. This biography also contains thebrief text of an essay attributed to )odhidhar"a. *t theti"e it was co"piled, )odhidhar"a had not yet beenanointed the :irst %atriarch of ZenD rather he was "erelyone of a nu"ber of priests teaching "editation.*ccordingly there would have been no incentive toe"bellish his story with an apocryphal essay, and for thisreason "ost authorities thin it is authentic.=* later,"ore detailed version of the essay by )odhidhar"a iscontained in the 1ecords of the Trans"ission of the (a"p#*.'. 488=$. This latter text is usually the one Juoted,and it is agreed to be the superior literary docu"ent.>eare in good co"pany if we accept this essay as a "ore orless accurate record of the thoughts of the :irst %atriarch.

The text that )odhidhar"a left was "eant to showothers the several ways to enlighten"ent.

There are many ways to enter the "ath, but brieflyspea-ing, they are two sorts only. The one is 4Entranceby #eason4 and the other 4Entrance by %onduct.I5


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The first of these paths, the Entrance by 1eason, "ight"ore properly be called entrance by pure insight. Thepath advocated see"s a blending of )uddhis" andTaois", by which the sutras are used as a vehicle forleading the seeer first to "editation, and then to anonliterary state of consciousness in which all dualities,all sense of oneself as apart fro" the world, are erased.This is an early and eloJuent su""ary of ZenHsob&ectives.

&y 4Entrance by #eason4 we mean the reali0ation of thespirit of &uddhism by the aid of scriptural teaching. 3ethen come tohave a deep faith in the True ature which is one and thesame in all sentient beings. The reason that it does notmanifest itself is due to the overwrapping of externalob7ects and false thoughts. 3hen one, abandoning thefalse and embracing the true, and in simpleness ofthought, abides in pi+uan pure meditation or 4wallga0ing4F, one finds that there is neither selfhood norotherness, that the masses and the worthies are of oneessence, and firmly holds on to this belief and nevermoves away therefrom. He will not then be guided byany literary instructions, for he is in silent communicationwith the principle itself, free from conceptualdiscrimination, for he is serene and notacting.B

)odhidhar"a is given credit for inventing the ter"pi-uan, whose literal translation is Iwall+gaGing,I but whoseactual "eaning is anyoneHs guess. "i-uanis so"eti"escalled a "etaphor for the "indHs confrontation with thebarrier of intellectAwhich "ust eventually be hurdled ifone is to reach enlighten"ent. -n any case, this text is anun"istaable endorse"ent of "editation as a "eans fortranJuiliGing the "ind while si"ultaneously dissolving ouri"pulse to discri"inate between ourselves and the worldaround us. -t points out that literary instructions can goonly so far, and at last they "ust be abandoned in favorof reliance on the intuitive "ind.;


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The other %ath #or Tao$ he described was called theIEntrance by ConductI and invoes his -ndian )uddhistorigins. The description of IconductI was divided into foursections which, taen together, were intended tosubsu"e or include all the possible types of )uddhistpractice.

&y 4Entrance by %onduct4 is meant the 'our 1cts in whichall other acts are included. 3hat are the fourC 8. How tore/uite hatred( ;. To be obedient to ar"a( G. ot tosee- after anything( and . To be in accord with the'har"a.5

The first *ct of Conduct counseled the believer to endureall hardships, since they are pay"ent for evil deedsco""itted in past existences.

3hat is meant by 4How to re/uite hatred4C Thosewho discipline themselves in the "ath should thin- thuswhen they have to struggle with adverse conditions>During the innumerable past ages $ have wanderedthrough multiplicity of existences, all the while givingmyself to unimportant details of life at the expense ofessentials, and thus creating infinite occasions for hate,illwill, and wrongdoing. 3hile no violations have beencommitted in this life, the fruits of evil deeds in the pastare to be gathered now. either gods nor men canforetell what is coming upon me. $ will submit myselfwillingly and patiently to all the ills that befall me, and $will never bemoan or complain. $n the +utra it is said notto worry over ills that may happen to you. 3hyC &ecausethrough intelligence one can survey the whole chain ofcausationF. 3hen this thought arises, one is in concordwith the principle because he ma-es the best use ofhatred and turns it into the service of his advancetowards the "ath. This is called the 4way to re/uitehatred.I48

The second 1ule of Conduct is to be reconciled towhatever co"es, good or evil. -t see"s to reflect theTaoist attitude that everything is what it is and


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conseJuently value &udg"ents are irrelevant. -f goodco"es, it is the result of "eritorious deeds in a pastexistence and will vanish when the store of causativear"a is exhausted. The i"portant thing to realiGe is thatnone of it "atters anyway.

3e should -now that all sentient beings are produced bythe interplay of -armic conditions, and as such there canbe no real self in them. The mingled yarns of pleasureand pain are all woven of the threads of conditioningcauses. . . . Therefore, let gains and losses run theirnatural courses according to the ever changingconditions and circumstances of life, for the ind itselfdoes not increase with the gains nor decrease with thelosses. $n this way, no gales of selfcomplacency willarise, and your mind will remain in hidden harmony withthe Tao. $t is in this sense that we must understand therule of adaptation to the variable conditions andcircumstances of life.88

The third 1ule of Conduct was the teaching of the )uddhathat a cessation of seeing and a turning towardnonattach"ent brings peace.

en of the world remain unawa-ened for life( everywherewe find them bound by their craving and clinging. This iscalled 4attachment.4 The wise, however, understand thetruth, and their reason tells them to turn from the worldlyways. They en7oy peace of mind and perfect detachment.They ad7ust their bodily movements to the vicissitudes offortune, always aware of the emptiness of thephenomenal world, in which they find nothing to covet,nothing to delight in. . . . Everyone who has a body is anheir to suffering and a stranger to peace. Havingcomprehended this point, the wise are detached from allthings of the phenomenal world, with their minds free ofdesires and craving. 1s the scripture has it, 41ll sufferingsspring from attachment( true 7oy arises fromdetachment.4 To -now clearly the bliss of detachment istruly to wal- on the path of the Tao.8;


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The fourth 1ule of Conduct was to dissolve our perceptionof ob&ect+sub&ect dualities and view life as a unifiedwhole. This "erging of self and exterior world)odhidhar"a calls pure "ind or pure reason.

The Dharma is nothing else than #eason which is pure inits essence. This pure #eason is the formless 'orm of all'orms( it is free of all defilements and attachments, andit -nows of neither 4self4 nor 4other.48G

@aving set forth this rather elegant state"ent of Zenand )uddhist ideals, as ascribed to )odhidhar"a, itunfortunately is necessary to add that it appears to havebeen taen directly fro" the a&rasa"adhi !utra#attributing Juotations fro" the sutras to %atriarchs wasco""on$, with the sole exception of the ter"pi-uan.4=*t the very least, the legend at this ti"e does not portray)odhidhar"a as a despiser of the sutras. @e was, in fact,using a sutra as a vehicle to pro"ote his practice ofintensive "editation. -t is not nown what role "editationplayed in )uddhis" at this ti"e. @owever, the scholar @u!hih Juestions how well it was understood. IN*n early)uddhist historianHsO )iographies, which covered thewhole period of early )uddhis" in China fro" the firstcentury to the year >49, contained only 8. *nd practically all of the 88,practically no Chinese )uddhists who really understood orseriously practiced dhyana or Zen.I4>

%erhaps )odhidhar"a, arriving in >


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and :our *cts,H the teaching ofpi-uan, wall+conte"plation, was what "ade )odhidhar"a the firstpatriarch of Zen )uddhis" in China.I45!uGui interpretspi-uan as referring to the "ind in a thoughtless state, inwhich "editation has per"itted the rational "ind to besuppressed entirely. The use of "editation for this goalinstead of for developing "agical powers, as had beenthe goal of earlier dhyana "asters, see"s to have beenthe profound new idea introduced to China by)odhidhar"a.4?

The passage of )odhidhar"a is also swathed inlegend. hat eventually happened to this traveling -ndianguruL 'id he die of poison, as one legend saysK or did hewander off to Central *sia, as another reportsK or did hego to apan, as still another story would have itL The storythat has been the "ost enduring #recorded in a !ungwor, %hingte ch6uantenglu$ tells that after nine yearsat the !hao+lin "onastery decided to return to -ndia andcalled together his disciples to test their attain"ent. Thefirst disciple reportedly said, I*s - view it, to realiGe thetruth we should neither rely entirely on words and lettersnor dispense with the" entirely, but rather we should usethe" as an instru"ent of the ay.I To this, )odhidhar"areplied, I7ou have got "y sin.I

/ext a nun ca"e forward and said, I*s - view it, theTruth is lie an auspicious sighting of the )uddhist%aradiseK it is seen once and never again.I To this)odhidhar"a replied, I7ou have attained "y flesh.I

The third disciple said, IThe four great ele"ents aree"pty and the five s-andhasNconstituents of thepersonalityD body, feelings, perception, will, andconsciousnessO are nonexistent. There is, in fact, nothingthat can be grasped.I To this )odhidhar"a replied, I7ouhave attained "y bones.I

:inally, it was @ui+HoHs turn. )ut he only bowed to the"aster and stood silent at his place. To hi" )odhidhar"asaid, I7ou have attained "y "arrow.I4;

*ccording to a co"peting story, )odhidhar"a died ofpoisoning at the age of 4>8 and was buried in the"ountains of @onan.49/ot too long thereafter a lay)uddhist na"ed !ung 7un, who was returning to China


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after a trip to -ndia to gather sutras, "et )odhidhar"a inthe "ountains of Turestan. The :irst %atriarch, who waswaling barefoot carrying a single shoe, announced hewas returning to -ndia and that a native Chinese wouldarise to continue his teaching. !ung 7un reported this to)odhidhar"aHs disciples on his return and they openedthe "asterHs grave, only to find it e"pty save for theother shoe.

@ow "uch of the story of )odhidhar"a is legendL Theanswer does not really "atter all that "uch. *s withMoses, if )odhidhar"a had not existed it would havebeen necessary toinvent hi". *lthough his first full biography #ca. 5=>$"aes no particular fuss over hi", less than a centuryafter this, he was declared the founder of Zen, providedwith a lineage stretching directly bac through /agar&unato the )uddha, and furnished an exciting anecdotalhistory. 7et as founders go, he was a worthy enoughindividual. @e does see" to have devised a strain of)uddhist thought that could successfully be grafted ontothe hardy native Chinese Taoist organis". @e also left anactive disciple, later to be nown as the !econd %atriarch,@ui+Ho, so he "ust have had either a charis"aticpersonality or a philosophical position that distinguishedhi" fro" the general run of "editation "asters.

-t is i"portant to eep in "ind that )odhidhar"a,"an and "yth, was the product of an early for" of Zen.The later "asters needed a lineage, and he was tappedfor the role of :irst %atriarch. The "a&or proble" with)odhidhar"a was that "any of his ideas were in directcontradiction to the position adopted by later Zenteachings. :or instance, recall that he pro"oted thereliance on a sutra #the (anavatara$K and he heavilystressed "editation #so"ething later Zen "asters wouldpartially circu"vent$. The esuit scholar @einrich'u"oulin has declared that )odhidhar"aHs attributedteaching in no way deviates fro" the great Mahayanasutras.


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%erhaps the evolution of Zen is best de"onstrated bythe slow change in the paintings of )odhidhar"a,cul"inating in the latter+day portrayals of hi" as ascowling gru"p. @is i"age beca"e successively "ore"isanthropic through the centuries, perhaps as a way ofunderscoring the later Zen practice of establishing arather dehu"aniGed relationship between the Zen "asterand pupil, as the "aster shouts, beats a "on, anddestroys his ego through "erciless Juestion+and+answersessions. :or all we now, the Iwall+gaGing )rah"inI ofancient China "ay have had a wry s"ile to go along withhis droll sense of hu"or. %erhaps it is fitting to close withthe "ost lasting apocrypha associated with his na"e, towit the stanGa that later "asters attributed to hi" as analleged su""ary of his teaching, but which he,pro"ulgator of the (anavatara !utra, wouldundoubtedly have disownedD

1 special transmission outside the sutras(o reliance upon words and letters(Direct pointing to the very mind(+eeing into one6s own nature.

Cha/t"# Two

H0I1K2O& SECON) PATRIARCH OF ZEN


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@ui+Ho #=;?+>96$ first enters the history of Zen as aneager Chinese scholar devoted to "editation. ishing tobeco"e a disciple of the fa"ous -ndian "on who hadrecently installed hi"self at the !hao+lin "onastery, @ui+Ho set up a vigil outside the gate. Ti"e passed and thesnows began to fall, but still )odhidhar"a ignored hi",

declaring, IThe inco"parable doctrine of )uddhis" canonly be co"prehended after a long hard discipline, byenduring what is "ost difficult to endure and bypracticing what is "ost difficult to practice. Men ofinferior virtue are not allowed to understand anythingabout it.I4 :inally @ui+Ho despaired and resorted to anextre"e "easure to de"onstrate his sincerityD he cut offhis own ar" and offered it to the "aster. #This actreportedly has been repeated since by an occasional

overenthusiastic Zen novice.$ Even a single"inded"aster of "editation lie )odhidhar"a could not ignoresuch a gesture, and he agreed to accept @ui+Ho as hisfirst Chinese disciple.

2nlie )odhidhar"a, @ui+Ho is not a "ysterious,legendary figure, but rather is re"e"bered by a detailedhistory that interacts periodically with nown events inChinese history.< @e ca"e fro" the Chi fa"ily and wasoriginally na"ed !eng+Ho, only later beco"ing nown as

@ui+Ho. The "ost reliable report has hi" co"ing fro"


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u+lao, with a reputation as a scholarly intellectualpreceding hi". -ndeed he see"s to have been a Chinesescholar in the finest sense, with a deep appreciation of allthree "a&or philosophiesD Confucianis", Taois", and)uddhis". -t was toward the last, however, that heslowly gravitated, finally abandoning his scholarly secularlife and beco"ing a )uddhist "on. @e was around ageforty, in the pri"e of what was to be a very long life,when he first encountered )odhidhar"a at the !hao+lin"onastery. hether he lost his ar" by self+"utilation, asthe later Zen chronicles say, or whether it was severed ina fight with bandits, as the earliest history reports, "aynever be deter"ined.6The later story is certainly "orepious, but the earlier would see" "ore plausible.

:or six years he studied "editation with)odhidhar"a, gradually retreating fro" the life of thescholar as he turned away fro" intellectualis" andtoward pure experience. hen )odhidhar"a finallydecided to depart, he called in all his disciples for thefa"ous testing of their attain"ent recounted in Chapterl.=@ui+Ho, by si"ply bowing in silence when ased whathe had attained, proved that his understanding of the"asterHs wordless teaching was superior, and it was hewho received the (anavatara !utra. The eventreportedly was sealed by a short refrain, now universallydeclared to be spurious, in which )odhidhar"a predictedthe later division of ChHan into five schoolsDIriginally $ came to this landTo transmit the Dharma and to save all from error1 flower with five petals opens(If itself the fruit will ripen.

*s the story goes, @ui+Ho re"ained at the !hao+lin fora while longer and then went underground, supportinghi"self through "enial wor and learning about Chinesepeasant life firsthand. 1eportedly, he wanted totranJuiliGe his "ind, to acJuire the hu"ility necessary ina great teacher, and not incidentally to absorb the(anavatara !utra. hen ased why he, an enlightenedteacher, chose to live a"ong "enial laborers, he would


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reply tartly that this life was best for his "ind and in anycase what he did was his own affair. -t was a hardexistence, but one he believed proper. %erhaps it was inthis for"ative period that the inner strength of ChHanHsfirst Chinese "aster was forged.

@ui+HoHs "a&or concern during this period "ustinevitably have been the study of the (anavatara !utraentrusted hi" by )odhidhar"a. The (anavatara was notwritten by a Zen "aster, nor did it co"e out of the Zentradition, but it was the pri"ary scripture of the first twohundred years of ChHan. *s'. T. !uGui has noted, there were at least three Chinesetranslations of this !ansrit sutra by the ti"e)odhidhar"a ca"e to China.5@owever, he is usuallygiven credit, at least in Zen records, for originating the"ove"ent later nown as the (anavatara school. *s thesutra was described by a non+ChHan Chinese scholar inthe year 5=>, IThe entire e"phasis of its teaching isplaced on %ra&na #highest intuitive nowledge$, whichtranscends literary expression. )odhidhar"a, the Zen"aster, propagated this doctrine in the south as well asin the north, the gist of which teaching consists inattaining the unattainable, which is to have right insightinto the truth itself by forgetting word and thought. (aterit grew and flourished in the "iddle part of the country.@ui+Ho was the first who attained to the essentialunderstanding of it. Those addicted to the literaryteaching of )uddhis" in ei were averse to beco"ingassociated with these spiritual seers.I?

The (anavatara purportedly relays the thoughts ofthe )uddha while ensconced on a "ountain pea in !ri(ana. *lthough the wor is notoriously disorganiGed,vague, and obscure, it was to be the stone on which @ui+Ho sharpened his penetrating enlighten"ent. The "a&orconcept it advances is that of Mind, characteriGed by '.T. !uGui as Iabsolute "ind, to be distinguished fro" ane"pirical "ind which is the sub&ect of psychologicalstudy. hen it begins with a capital letter, it is theulti"ate reality on which the entire world of individualob&ects depends for its value.I;0n the Juestion of Mind,the (anavatara has the following to sayD


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. . . the ignorant and the simple minded, not -nowing thatthe world is what is seen of ind itself, cling to themultitudinousness of external ob7ects, cling to thenotions of being and nonbeing, oneness and otherness,bothness and notbothness, existence and nonexistence,eternity and noneternity. . . .5

*ccording to the (anavatara, the world and ourperception of it are both part of a larger conceptualentity. The teachings of the (anavatara cast the gravestdoubt on the actual existence of the things we thin wesee. 'iscri"ination between oneself and the rest of theworld can only be false, since both are "erely"anifestations of the sa"e enco"passing essence, Mind.0ur perception is too easily deceived, and this is thereason we "ust not i"plicitly trust the i"ages that reachour consciousness.

. . . $Ft is li-e those water bubbles in a rainfall which havethe appearance of crystal gems, and the ignorant ta-ingthem for real crystal gems run after them. . . . TFhey areno more than water bubbles, they are not gems, nor arethey notgems, because of their being so comprehendedby one partyF and not being so comprehended byanotherF.89

1eality lies beyond these petty discri"inations. Theintellect, too, is powerless to distinguish the real fro" theillusory, since all things are both and neither at the sa"eti"e. This conviction of the (anavatara re"ained at thecore of Zen, even after the sutra itself was supplanted bysi"pler, "ore easily approached literary wors.

*s @ui+Ho studied the (anavatara and preached, hegradually acJuired a reputation for insight thattranscended his deliberately unpretentious appearance.Throughout it all, he led an itinerant life, traveling about/orth China. -t is reported that he found his way to thecapital of the eastern half of the ei ingdo" after itsdivision in the year >6=. @ere, in the city of 7eh+tu, hetaught his version of dhyanaand opened the way to


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enlighten"ent for "any people. Though unassu"ing in"anner and dress, he nonetheless aroused antagonis"fro" established )uddhist circles because of his success,encountering particular opposition fro" a conventionaldhyana teacher na"ed Tao+huan. *ccording to 'urther&iographies of the Eminent "riests :=


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include all citiGens, with the gullible e"peror suggestedfor the role of Ipope.I The e"peror was taen with theidea and after several years of co"plex political"aneuvering, he proscribed )uddhis" in /orth China.

*s a result, @ui+Ho was forced to flee to the south,where he too up te"porary residence in the"ountainous regions of the 7angtGe 1iver. Thepersecution was short+lived, since the e"perorresponsible died soon after his decree, whereupon @ui+Horeturned to ChHang+an. @owever, these persecutions "ayhave actually contributed to the spread of his teaching,by forcing hi" to travel into the countryside.

The only authentic frag"ent of @ui+HoHs thought thathas survived records his answer to an inJuiry sent by alay devotee na"ed @siang, who reportedly was seeingspiritual attain"ent alone in the &ungle. The inJuiry,which see"s "ore a state"ent than a Juestion, went asfollowsD

. . . he who aspires to &uddhahood thin-ing it to beindependent of the nature of sentient beings is to beli-ened to one who tries to listen to an echo bydeadening its original sound. Therefore the ignorant andthe enlightened are wal-ing in one passageway( thevulgar and the wise are not to be differentiated fromeach other. 3here there are no names, we create names,and because of these names, 7udgments are formed.3here there is no theori0ing, we theori0e, and because ofthis theori0ing, disputes arise. They are all phantomcreations and not realities, and who -nows who is rightand who is wrongC They are all empty, no substantialitieshave they, and who -nows what is andwhat is notC +o we reali0e that our gain is not real gainand our loss not real loss. This is my view and may $ beenlightened if $ am at faultC8;

This IJuestion,I if such it is, sounds suspiciously lie aser"on and stands, in fact, as an eloJuent state"ent ofZen concerns. @ui+Ho reportedly answered as follows, ina frag"ent of a letter that is his only nown extant wor.


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Kou have truly comprehended the Dharma as it is( thedeepest truth lies in the principle of identity. $t is due toone6s ignorance that the mani7ewel is ta-en for a pieceof bric-, but lo when one is suddenly awa-ened to selfenlightenment it is reali0ed that one is in possession ofthe real 7ewel. The ignorant and the enlightened are ofone essence, they are not really to be separated. 3eshould -now that all things are such as they are. Thosewho entertain a dualistic view of the world are to bepitied, and $ write this letter for them. 3hen we -nowthat between this body and the &uddha, there is nothingto separate one from the other, what is the use ofsee-ing after irvana as something external toourselvesFC8G

@ui+Ho insists that all things spring fro" the oneMind, and conseJuently the ideas of duality, ofattach"ent to this or that pheno"enon, or even thepossibility of choice, are eJually absurd. *lthough henew all too well that enlighten"ent could not beobtained fro" teaching, he still did not advocate a radicalbrea with the traditional "ethods of the )uddhistdhyana"asters. @is style was unorthodox, but histeaching "ethods were still confined to lectures and"editation. This low+ey approach was still closer to thetradition of the )uddha than to the &arring techniJues ofIsudden enlighten"entI destined to erupt out of ChineseChHan.

Toward the end of his life, @ui+Ho was bac in ChHang+an, living and teaching in the sa"e unassu"ing "anner.@is free+lance style see"s to have continued to outragethe "ore conventional teachers, and a later story recordsa "artyrHs death for hi".4=0ne day, while a learned"aster was preaching inside the 3Huang+chou Te"ple,@ui+Ho chanced by and started to chat with thepassersby outside. radually a crowd started to collect,until eventually the lecture hall of the revered priest wase"ptied. This fa"ous priest, re"e"bered as %ien+ho,accused the ragged @ui+Ho to the "agistrate CheChHung+&Han as a teacher of false doctrine. *s a result he


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was arrested and subseJuently executed, an i"pious485+year+old revolutionary.

Cha/t"# Th#""

SEN*1TS2AN3 TAO1HSIN3 FA1+0N*3 AN) H0N*1+EN& FO0R EAR(Y MASTERS


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The Fifth Patriarch,Hung-jen (left)

The "aster succeeding @ui+Ho was !eng+tsHan #d. 585$,who then taught :a+&ung #>9=+5>?$ and Tao+hsin #>;8+5>4$, the latter in turn passing the robe of the patriarchyto @ung+&en #584+?=$. The "asters !eng+tsHan, Tao+hsin,and @ung+&en are honored today as the Third, :ourth, and:ifth %atriarchs, respectively, and revered as thetorchbearers of ChHanHs for"ative years. 7et when weloo for infor"ation about their lives, we find the sourcesthin and diffuse. 0ne reason probably is that before ?88nobody realiGed that these "en would one day beelevated to founding fathers, and conseJuently no onebothered recording details of their lives.

'uring the seventh century the scattered teachers ofdhyana see" to have gradually coalesced into a sort ofad hoc "ove"entAwith siGable followings growing uparound the better+nown figures. * certain a"ount ofrespectability also e"erged, if we can believe thereferences to i"perial notice that start appearing in thechronicles. -t would see" that the dhyanaor ChHan"ove"ent beca"e a "ore or less coherent sect, arecogniGable if loosely defined school of )uddhis".@owever, what the "ove"ent apparently was striving tobeco"e was not so "uch a branch of )uddhis" in Chinaas a Chinese version of )uddhis". The "en laterre"e"bered as the Third, :ourth, and :ifth %atriarchshave in co""on a struggle to bend )uddhist thought to


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*nother version of the story says @ui+Ho greeted!eng+tsHan with the words, I7ou are suffering fro"leprosyK why should you want to see "eLI

To this !eng+tsHan responded, I*lthough "y body issic, the "ind of a sic "an and your own "ind are nodifferent.I

hatever actually happened, it was enough toconvince @ui+Ho that he had found an enlightened being,one who perceived the unity of all things, and heforthwith trans"itted to !eng+tsHan the sy"bols of thepatriarchyAthe robe and begging bowl of )odhidhar"aAtelling hi" that he should tae refuge in the )uddha, the'har"a #the universal truth proclai"ed by )uddha$, andthe !angha #the )uddhist organiGation or priesthood$.!eng+tsHan replied that he new of the !angha, but whatwas "eant by the )uddha and the 'har"aL The answerwas that all three were expressions of Mind.?=$, and finally he went to hide on @uan+ung"ountain for ten years, where his "ere presencereportedly was enough to ta"e the wild tigers who hadterroriGed the people there. The only surviving wor thatpurportedly relays his teaching is a poe", said to be oneof the earliest ChHan treatises, which is called the Hsinhsinming, or I0n the )elieving Mind.I= -t starts off in alyrical, al"ost Taoist, voice worthy of Chuang TGu, as itcelebrates "anHs original nature and the folly of striving.

There is nothing difficult about the Mreat 3ay&ut, avoid choosingInly when you neither love nor hate,Does it appear in all clarity.

Do not be anti or pro anything.The conflict of longing and loathing,This is the disease of the mind.ot -nowing the profound meaning of things,3e disturb our :original< peace of mind to no purpose.


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/ext, the poe" turns to an acnowledg"ent of theMahayanist concept of the all+enco"passing Mind, thegreatest single truth of the universe, and of /agar&unaHsoid, the cos"ic e"ptiness of sunyata.

Things are things because of the ind.The ind is the ind because of things.$f you wish to -now what these two are,They are originally one Emptiness.$n this Aoid both :ind and things< are one,1ll the myriad phenomena contained in both.=

The poe" closes with an affir"ation of the ChHan credo ofunity and the absence of duality as a sign ofenlighten"ent.

$n the 3orld of #ealityThere is no self, no otherthanself.. . .1ll that can be said is 4o Duality43hen there is no duality, all things are one,There is nothing that is not included.. . .The believing mind is not dual(3hat is dual is not the believing mind.&eyond all language,'or it there is no past, no present, no future.B

!ince the earliest historical sources "aintain that!eng+tsHan left no writings, so"e have Juestioned theattribution of this lilting wor to the Third %atriarch.hatever its authorship, the real i"portance of the poe"lies in its subtle "erging of Taois" and )uddhis". ecan watch as the voices of ancient China and ancient-ndia are blended together into a perfect har"ony untilthe parts are inseparable. -t was a noble atte"pt toreconcile )uddhist "etaphysics with Chinesephilosophical concepts, and it was successful in a li"itedway. *s for !eng+tsHan, the legends tell that he finally wasoverco"e by his longing for the south and, handing down


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ChHan. The founding e"peror, THai+tsung, was a wise andbeneficent I!on of @eaven,I as Chinese rulers werestyled.92nder his influence, the capital city of ChHang+anbeca"e the "ost cos"opolitan "etropolis in the ancientworld, with such widespread influence that when the firstvisiting apanese ca"e upon it, they were so daGGled theyreturned ho"e and built a replica for their own capitalcity. The city was laid out as a grid, with lavish ver"ilioni"perial palaces and gardens clustered regally at oneend. -ts inhabitants nu"bered upward of two "illion,while its international "arets and fleshpots werecrowded with traders fro" the farthest reaches of *siaand Europe, echoing with a truly astounding cacophonyof tonguesD -ndian, apanese, Turish, %ersian, 1o"an(atin, and *rabic, not to "ention the "any dialects ofChinese. Christians "oved a"ong the )uddhists, as didMusli"s and ews. *rtisans wored with silver, gold,&ewels, sils, and porcelains, even as poets gathered inwine shops to nibble fruits and relax with round+eyedforeign serving girls. !uch were the worldly attractions ofChHang+an during the early seventh century. This newsophistication and urbaniGation, as well as the politicalstability that "ade it all possible, was also reflected inthe change in ChHanAfro" a concern chiefly of no"adicdhyana teachers hiding in the "ountains to the focus ofsettled agricultural co""unities centered in "onasteries.

The growth in ChHan toward an established place inChinese life began to consolidate under the :ourth%atriarch, Tao+hsin, the "an whose life spanned the !uiand the early THang dynasties. @e is best re"e"beredtoday for two thingsD :irst, he was particularly dedicatedto "editation, practicing it "ore avidly than had anydhyana "aster since )odhidhar"aK and second, he iscredited with beginning the true "onastic tradition forChHan. @is for"ation of a self+supporting "onasticco""unity with its own agricultural base undoubtedlybrought ChHan a long way toward respectability inChinese eyes, since it reduced the dependence onbegging. -tinerant "endicants, even if teachers ofdhyana, had never elicited the ad"iration in China theytraditionally en&oyed in the -ndian ho"eland of the


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)uddha. )egging was believed to fashion character,however, and it never disappeared fro" ChHan discipline.-ndeed, ChHan is said to have encouraged begging "orethan did any of the other Chinese )uddhist sects, but as aclosely regulated for" of "oral training.

Tao+hsin, whose fa"ily na"e was !su+"a, ca"e fro"@onan, but he left ho"e at seven to study )uddhis" and"et the Third %atriarch, !eng+tsHan, while still in histeens. hen !eng+tsHan decided to drop out of sight, heased this brilliant pupil to tae up the teaching ofdhyanaand )odhidhar"aHs (anavatara !utra at a"onastery on Mt. (u. Tao+hsin agreed and re"ained for anu"ber of years, attracting followers and reportedlyperfor"ing at least one notable "iracle. The story saysthat he saved a walled city fro" being starved out bybandits by organiGing a progra" of public sutra chantinga"ong its people. e are told that the robbers retired oftheir own accord while, as though by "agic, previouslydry wells in the city flowed again. 0ne day not too longthereafter Tao+hsin noticed an unusual purple cloudhanging over a nearby "ountain. Taing this as a sign,he proceeded to settle there #the "ountain later beca"enown as !huang+feng or ITwin %easI$ and found thefirst ChHan co""unity, presiding over a virtual ar"y ofso"e five hundred followers for the next thirty years.

@e is re"e"bered today as a charis"atic teacherwho finally stabiliGed dhyanateaching. -n an age ofpolitical tur"oil, "any intellectuals floced to the newschool of ChHan, with its pro"ise of tranJuil "editation inuneasy ti"es. Tao+hsin apparently encouraged hisdisciples to operate a for" of co""une, in whichagriculture and its ad"inistration were "erged with thepractice of "editation.48-n so doing, he see"s not only tohave revolutioniGed the respectability of dhyana practice,but also to have beco"e so"ething of a national figurehi"self. This, at any rate, is what we "ay sur"ise fro"one of the "ore durable legends, which has hi" defyingan i"perial decree to appear before the e"peror, THai+tsung.

This legend concerns an episode which allegedly tooplace around the year 5=>. *s the story goes, an i"perial


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"essenger arrived one day at the "ountain retreat tosu""on hi" to the palace, but Tao+hsin turned hi" downcold. hen the "essenger reported this to the e"peror,the response was to send bac a renewed invitation.*gain the "essenger was "et with a refusal, along with achallenge.

I-f you wish "y head, cut it off and tae it with you. -t"ay go but "y "ind will never go.I

hen this reply reached the e"peror, he againdispatched the "essenger, this ti"e bearing a sealedsword and a su""ons for the "asterHs head. )ut he alsoincluded a contradictory decree reJuiring that Tao+hsinnot be har"ed. hen the "aster refused a third ti"e toco"e to the palace, the "essenger read the decree thathis head should be severed. Tao+hsin obligingly bentover, with the co""and ICut it off.I )ut the "essengerhesitated, ad"itting that the i"perial orders also forbadehar"ing hi". 0n hearing this Tao+hsin reportedly roaredwith laughter, saying, I7ou "ust now that you possesshu"an Jualities.I44

The :ourth %atriarchHs teachings are not well nown,other than for the fact that he supposedly devised andpro"oted new techniJues to help novices achieveintensive "editation. The following excerpt of histeaching illustrates his fervor for dhyana.!it earnestly in "editationQ The sitting in "editation isbasic to all else. )y the ti"e you have done this for threeto five years, you will be able to ward off starvation with abit of "eal. Close the door and sitQ 'o not read thesutras, and spea to no "anQ -f you will so exerciseyourself and persist in it for a long ti"e, the fruit will besweet lie the "eat which a "oney taes fro" thenutshell. )ut such people are very rare.4@e began as a Taoist scholar, but laterturned to )uddhis", traveling even farther south aroundhis fortieth year to beco"e the disciple of a priest na"ed@ui+neng, whose te"ple was TsHao+chHi, &ust north of thesouthern port city of Canton in 3uangtung province. -t willbe re"e"bered that @ui+neng #whose legend we willexplore in the next chapter$ had also been a disciple ofthe :ifth %atriarch, @ung+&en, studying alongside !hen+hsiu. !hen+hui is thought to have studied under @ui+nengfor around five years, until the latterHs death in ?46. *fterthis he traveled about China, ending up at @ua+tHai,slightly northeast of the capital of (oyang. @e see"s tohave been a "an of charis"atic presence, one whoinspired followers easily. Then, in the year ?6


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the "an honored by E"press u, had posed falsely asthe heir of @ung+&en. The /orthern school of !hen+hsiuand his heir, %Hu+chi, had perpetrated a historical deceit,said !hen+hui, robbing the true !ixth %atriarch, thesoutherner @ui+neng, of his due recognition. :or !hen+huito have challenged the hand+piced school of the rulingfa"ily was an incredibly courageous act, but perhaps onethat was &ust audacious enough to win public sy"pathy.

@e touted this new proposition "ore or less full+ti"ebetween the years ?6< and ?=>, as he traveled about/orth China and got to now the officials of the THangregi"e. @is political standing gradually i"proved and hewas eventually invited #in ?=>, at age seventy+seven$ to(oyang to assu"e leadership of the great @o+tse te"ple.*lthough the particular ob&ect of his criticis", !hen+hsiuHsdisciple %Hu+chi, had died in ?69, !hen+huiHs attacs onthe lineage continued undi"inished. %olitics finallycaught up with hi", however, when a follower of !hen+hsiuHs I/orthernI ChHan na"ed (u -, who &ust happened tobe chief of i"perial censors, accused hi" of plottingagainst the govern"ent #citing as evidence the largecrowds he routinely attracted$. :inally, E"peror @suan+tsung #grandson of E"press u$ hi"self su""oned!hen+hui fro" (oyang to ChHang+an, where he Juestionedthe "aster and finally sent hi" into exile in the deepsouth. This was about ?>6. -t was at this point thatChinese political history and ChHan collide, for the thronewas soon to need !hen+huiHs help.

E"peror @suan+tsung #reigned ?45$ has beencredited by "any with the wrec of the THang 'ynasty. *tthe beginning of his reign the capital had been in the eastat (oyang #where E"press u had "oved it. to escapeher "e"ories$, but the aristocracy in the westsuccessfully pressured hi" to bring it bac to ChHang+an.-n his declining years @suan+tsung beca"e infatuatedwith the wife of his son, a lady now infa"ous in Chinesehistory as 7ang 3uei+fei. !he subseJuently was divorcedby her husband and beca"e a "e"ber of the e"perorHshare" in ?6;, co"ing to en&oy enor"ous influence inaffairs of state. !he had first been brought to thee"perorHs attention by one of her relatives, and in typical


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Chinese style she procured govern"ent posts for allavailable "e"bers of her fa"ily. *s the poet Tu :u #?4


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"urdered, so"e say by his own son. !oon thereafter thevictorious "ercenaries saced and looted (oyang, endingforever its pro"inence in Chinese history. Thegovern"ent of the THang survived, but it was pennilessafter the "any war years in which it could not enforcetaxation.;

The ti"e was now ?>?, so"e four years after !hen+huiHs banish"ent. The destitute govern"ent, desperatefor "oney, decided to set up ordination platfor"s in the"a&or cities across China and raise cash by sellingcertificates of investiture for)uddhist "ons. #!ince entry into the priesthoodre"oved an individual fro" the tax rolls, it was acceptedpractice for the Chinese govern"ent to reJuire anadvance co"pensation.$ !hen+huiHs oratorical gifts weresuddenly re"e"bered by so"e of his for"er followers,and the old heretic was recalled to assist in thefundraising. @e was such an effective fundraiser in theruined city of (oyang that the govern"ent co""issionedspecial Juarters to be built for hi" on the grounds of hisold te"ple, the @o+tse. #@e was later to be re"e"beredas the Master of @o+tse.$

The price for his cooperation see"s to have been theofficial acceptance of his version of ChHanHs history. -n hisbattle with the /orthern school of ChHan he had outlivedhis opponents and through a biGarre turn of events hadfinally won the day. !olely through his persistence, theobscure !outhern ChHan "on @ui+neng was installed as!ixth %atriarch in ChHan histories #replacing !hen+hsiu$,and one history went so far as to declare !hen+huihi"self the !eventh %atriarch.

The philosophical significance of what !hen+huiHsI!outhernI doctrine brought to ChHan has been describedas nothing less than a revolution. * "odern Zen scholarhas clai"ed that !hen+huiHs revolution produced aco"plete replace"ent of -ndian )uddhis" with Chinesephilosophy, eeping only the na"e. !hen+hui, he clai"s,swept aside all for"s of "editation or dhyana andreplaced it with a concept called no+"indD the doctrinesof Iabsence of thoughtI and Iseeing into oneHs originalnature.I9


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%erhaps this philosophical coup d6etat "ay best beunderstood by co"paring the /orthern and !outhernteachings. The discredited /orthern school of !hen+hsiuhad preached that the road to enlighten"ent "ust betraversed Istep by step,I that there were in fact twostages of the "indAthe first being a Ifalse "indI whichperceives the world erroneously in dualities, and thesecond a Itrue "indI which is pure and transcends alldiscri"inations and dualities, perceiving the world si"plyas a unity. 0ne proceeds fro" the Ifalse "indI to theItrue "indI step by step, through the suppression oferroneous thought processes by the practice of dhyanaor"editation, in which the "ind and the senses slowlyreach a state of absolute Juietude.

The !outhern school too issue with this theory of the"ind on a nu"ber of points. To begin, they said that ifthere really is no duality in the world, then how can the"ind be divided into IfalseI and ItrueIL They argued thatthe answer Juite si"ply is that there is only one "ind,whose "any functions are all "erely expressions ofsingle true reality. The unity of all things is the truerealityK our "inds are also part of this realityK and uponrealiGing this, you have achieved the sa"e enlighten"entexperience once realiGed by the )uddha. There is noIfalse "indI and Itrue "ind,I nor is there any need for along progra" of dhyana to slowly suppress falsethoughts. *ll that is needed is to practice Iabsence ofthoughtI and thereby intuitively to realiGe a si"ple truthD0ne unity pervades everything. This realiGation theycalled )uddha+"ind, and it could only happen Iall atonceI #not Istep by stepI$, at any ti"e and withoutwarning. This "o"ent of pri"al realiGation they calledIseeing into oneHs original nature.I

*lthough !hen+hui is so"ewhat vague about exactlywhat practice should replace "editation, the scholaralter (iebenthal has inferred the following about !hen+huiHs attitude toward Isudden enlighten"entI as areplace"ent for "editationD I@e see"s to have re&ected"editation in the technical sense of the word. -nstead of"ethodical endeavors designed to pro"ote religiousprogress he reco""ends a change of point of view


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leading to non+attach"ent. . . . /on+attach"ent in thiscase "eans that external ob&ects are not allowed to catchour fancy.. . .

1F thing recollected is isolated, it is singled out ofthe whole, and is thus an illusion( for all short of theundifferentiated continuum is illusive. The senses wor- asusual . . . but 6no desire is aroused.6 . . . This changehappens suddenly, that is, it is not dependent uponpreceding exertions( it can be brought about without firstpassing through the stages of a career. That is why it iscalled 6sudden awa-ening.6 I48

(iebenthal interprets !hen+hui as saying that whereasthe purpose of "editation should be "erely to erase ourattach"ent to physical things, it also re"oves ourcogniGance of the", which is not necessarily areJuire"ent for nonattach"ent. -t should be possible forus to be aware of the world without being attached to itand enslaved by it. *ccording to !hen+huiHs ser"onD

3hen thus my friends are told to discard as uselessall they have learned before, then those who have spentfifty or more, or only twenty years practicing meditation,hearing this, might be very much pu00led. . . . 'riends,listen attentively, $ spea- to you of selfdeception. 3hatdoes selfdeception meanC Kou, who have assembled inthis place today, are craving for riches and pleasures ofintercourse with males and females( you are thin-ing ofgardens and houses. . . . The irvana +utra says, 4To getrid of your passions is not irvana( to loo- upon them asno matter of yours, that is irvana.I44

!o far so goodK but how do we reach this state ofrecognition without attach"entL *pparently the way is toso"ehow find our original state, in which we werenaturally unattached to the surrounding world. The way isto "entally disassociate ourselves fro" the tur"oil ofsociety that surrounds us and loo inward, touching ouroriginal nature. -n this way, bothpra7na and samadhi,awareness and noninvolve"ent, which have been


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described as the active and passive sides of "editation,are achieved si"ultaneously.

ow, let us penetrate to that state in which we are notattached. 3hat do we get to -nowC ot being attachedwe are tran/uil and guileless. This state underlying allmotions and passions is called samadhi. "enetrating tothis fundamental state we encounter a natural wisdomthat is conscious of this original tran/uility andguilelessness. This wisdom is called pra&na. The intimaterelation between sa"adhi and pra&na is thus defined.

. . . $f now you penetrate to that state in which yourmind is not attached, and yet remains open toimpressions, and thus are conscious of the fact that yourmind is not attached, then you have reached the state oforiginal blan-ness and tran/uility. 'rom that state ofblan-ness and tran/uility there arises an inner-nowledge through which blue, yellow, red, and whitethings in this world are well distinguished. That is pra&na.Ket no desires arise from these distinctions. That issa"adhi.

. . . $t follows that freedom from attachment :toexternal things, which replaces meditation in %h6an&uddhism


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)y redefining "editation, !hen+hui had Ilaid thefoundations of Chinese Zen which was no Zen at all.I46*s!hen+hui now describ

zen_experience_(p).doc

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