The Zen Experience Part 49

15.See Ibid.

16.See Ibid.

17.Translated by Cleary, Swampland Flowers, pp. 129-30.

18.See Sekida, Two Zen Cla.s.sics, p. 17.

19.Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism, Second Series, p. 103.

20.Cleary, Swampland Flowers, p. 64.

21.Ibid., p. 57.

22.Ibid., p. 14.

25.But he destroyed them in vain. Around 1300 a monk managed to a.s.semble most of the koans and commentary from scattered sources and put the book back into print. The problem continues to this day; there is now available a book of "answers" to a number of koans--Yoel Hoffman, The Sound of One Hand Clapping (New York: Basic Books, 1975). One reviewer of this book observed sadly, "Now if only getting the 'answer'

were the same as getting the point."

26.

15. EISAI: THE FIRST j.a.pANESE MASTER

1.This anecdote is in Martin Charles Collcutt, "The Zen Monastic Inst.i.tution in Medieval j.a.pan" (Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1975).

2.Although there were various attempts to introduce Ch'an into j.a.pan prior to the twelfth century, nothing ever seemed to stick. Dumoulin (History of Zen Buddhism, pp. 138-39) summarized these efforts as follows: "The first certain information we possess regarding Zen in j.a.pan goes back to the early period of her history. The outstanding j.a.panese Buddhist monk during that age, Dosho, was attracted to Zen through the influence of his Chinese teacher, Hsuan-tsang, under whom he studied the Yogacara philosophy (653). . . . Dosho thus came into immediate contact with the tradition of Bodhidharma and brought the Zen of the patriarchs to j.a.pan. He built the first meditation hall, at a temple in Nara. . . .

"A century later, for the first time in history, a Chinese Zen master came to j.a.pan. This was Tao-hsuan, who belonged to the northern sect of Chinese Zen in the third generation after Shen-hsiu. Responding to an invitation from j.a.panese Buddhist monks, he took up residence in Nara and contributed to the growth of j.a.panese culture during the Tempyo period (729-749). . . . The contemplative element in the Tendai tradition, which held an important place from the beginning, was strengthened in both China and j.a.pan by repeated contacts with Zen.

"A further step in the spread of Zen occurred in the following century when I-k'ung, a Chinese master of the Lin-chi sect, visited j.a.pan. He came at the invitation of the Empress Tachibana Kachiko, wife of the Emperor Saga, during the early part of the Showa era (834-848), to teach Zen, first at the imperial court and later at the Danrinji temple in Kyoto, which the empress had built for him. However, these first efforts in the systematic propagation of Zen according to the Chinese pattern did not meet with lasting success. I-k'ung was unable to launch a vigorous movement. Disappointed, he returned to China, and for three centuries Zen was inactive in j.a.pan."

Another opportunity for the j.a.panese to learn about Ch'an was missed by the famous j.a.panese pilgrim Ennin, who was in China to witness the Great Persecution of 845, but who paid almost no attention to Ch'an, which he regarded as the obsession of unruly ne'er-do-wells.

3.A number of books provide information concerning early j.a.panese history and the circ.u.mstances surrounding the introduction of Buddhism to j.a.pan. General historical works of particular relevance include: John Whitney Hall, j.a.pan, from Prehistory to Modern Times (New York: Delacorte, 1970); Mikiso Hane, j.a.pan, A Historical Survey (New York: Scribner's, 1972); Edwin O. Reischauer, j.a.pan: Past and Present, 3rd ed. (New York: Knopf, 1964); and George B. Sansom, A History of j.a.pan, 3 vols. (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1958-63).

Studies of early j.a.panese Buddhism may be found in: Masaharu Anesaki, History of j.a.panese Religion (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1930: reissue, Rutland, Vt.: Tuttle, 1963); William K. Bunce, Religions in j.a.pan (Rutland, Vt.: Tuttle, 1955); Ch'en, Buddhism in China; Eliot, j.a.panese Buddhism; s.h.i.+nsho Hanayama, A History of j.a.panese Buddhism (Tokyo: Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai, 1966); and E. Dale Saunders, Buddhism in j.a.pan (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1964).

4.In fact, the popularity of esoteric rituals was such that they were an important part of early Zen practice in j.a.pan.

5.This world is well described by Ivan Morris in The World of the s.h.i.+ning Prince: Court Life in Ancient j.a.pan (New York: Knopf, 1964). A discussion of the relation of this aesthetic life to the formation of j.a.panese Zen may be found in Thomas Hoover, Zen Culture (New York: Random House, 1977; paperback edition, New York: Vintage, 1978).

6.One of the most readable accounts of the rise of the j.a.panese military cla.s.s may be found in Paul Varley, Samurai (New York: Delacorte, 1970; paperback edition, New York: Dell, 1972).

7.This theory is advanced eloquently in Collcutt, "Zen Monastic Inst.i.tution in Medieval j.a.pan." In later years the Ch'an sect in China itself actually entered a phase of decadence, with the inclusion of esoteric rites and an ec.u.menical movement that advocated the chanting of the nembutsu by Ch'anists--some of whom claimed there was great similarity between the psychological aspects of this mechanical chant and those of the koan.

8.Accounts of Eisai's life may be found in Dumoulin, History of Zen Buddhism; and in Collcutt, "Zen Monastic Inst.i.tution in Medieval j.a.pan."

9.See Collcutt, "Zen Monastic Inst.i.tution in Medieval j.a.pan."

10.See Saunders, Buddhism in j.a.pan, p. 221.

11.Translated in Wm. Theodore de Bary, ed. Sources of j.a.panese Tradition, Vol. 1 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1958), pp. 236- 37.

12.Ibid., p. 237.

13.De Bary, Sources of j.a.panese Tradition, pp. 239-40.

14.Again the best discussion of this intrigue is provided by Collcutt, "Zen Monastic Inst.i.tution in Medieval j.a.pan."

15.

16.Varley, Samurai, p. 45.

17.

17.DOGEN: FATHER OF j.a.pANESE SOTO ZEN 18.

1.Dumoulin, History of Zen Buddhism, p. 151. This statement may be faint praise, for j.a.pan has never been especially noted for its religious thinkers. As philosophers, the j.a.panese have been great artists and poets. Perhaps no culture can do everything.

2.Biographical information on Dogen may be found in Hee-Jin Kim, Dogen Kigen--Mystical Realist (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1975); Yuho Yokoi, Zen Master Dogen (New York: Weatherhill, 1976); and Dumoulin, History of Zen Buddhism. Translations of his writings maybe found in Dogen Kigen--Mystical Realist and Zen Master Dogen as well as in Jiyu Kennett, Zen is Eternal Life (Emeryville, Calif.: Dharma, 1976); Dogen, Record of Things Heard from the Treasury of the Eye of the True Teaching trans, by Thomas Cleary (Boulder, Colo.: Great Eastern Book Company, 1978); Francis Dojun Cook, How to Raise an Ox (Los Angeles: Center Publications, 1978); and Kosen Nis.h.i.+yama and John Steven, Shobogenzo: The Eye and Treasury of the True Law (New York: Weatherhill, 1977).

3.Kim, Dogen Kigen--Mystical Realist, p. 25.

4.Yokoi, Zen Master Dogen, p. 28.

5.See Collcutt, "Zen Monastic Inst.i.tution in Medieval j.a.pan."

6.Kim, Dogen Kigen--Mystical Realist, p. 29.

7.Ibid., p. 35.

8.See Yokoi, Zen Master Dogen, p. 32.

9.Ibid., pp. 45--46.

10.Ibid., p. 46.

11.Kennett, Zen Is Eternal Life, pp. 141-42.

12.Ibid., p. 152.