See also Xuance's words in the [[Platform Sutra]]: \"How can you enter it or come out of it? If there is entering and coming out, then this is not the great samādhi.\"The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, translated by John McRae, page 69, Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai and Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2000"},"parts":[{"template":{"target":{"wt":"refn","href":"./Template:Refn"},"params":{"group":{"wt":"lower-alpha"},"1":{"wt":"Compare with the teachings of [[Shenhui]] who taught that entering into and exiting from concentration were still conditioned and failed to transcend the false mind: \"If there is exiting from and entering into concentration [...] then this is to completely fail to transcend the false mind, to be with that which is attained, to be conditioned.\"John R. McRae, Zen Evangelist Shenhui, Sudden Enlightenment, and the Southern School of Chan Buddhism, page 178, University of Hawaii Press, 2023
See also Xuance's words in the [[Platform Sutra]]: \"How can you enter it or come out of it? If there is entering and coming out, then this is not the great samādhi.\"The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, translated by John McRae, page 69, Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai and Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2000"}},"i":0}}]}"> [c]
No-Cultivation
Mazu also points out that the Way cannot be cultivated, since whatever is attained through cultivation will still be subject to decay.[40] Thus, Mazu says:
"[It] originally existed and exists at present. It does not depend on the cultivation of the Way and seated meditation. Neither cultivation nor seated meditation—this is the pure Chan (dhyāna) of Tathāgata."[41]
However, while the Way cannot be cultivated, Mazu does say it can be defiled by "intentional creation and action." He says, "The Way needs no cultivation, just not defiling it. What is defilement? When you have a mind of birth and death and an intention of creation and action, all these are defilement."[42]
Original Enlightenment
Accordingly, Mazu taught that the mind is originally pure "without waiting for cleaning and wiping." Mazu says:
This mind originally existed and exists at present, without depending on intentional creation and action; it was originally pure and is pure at present, without waiting for cleaning and wiping. Self-nature attains nirvāna; self-nature is pure; self-nature is liberation; and self-nature departs [from delusions].[43]
Although Mazu did not use the term, as Jia points out, this relates to the doctrine of original enlightenment (benjue).[44] Indeed, Mazu said, "All of you should believe that your mind is Buddha, that this mind is identical with Buddha."[45]
In the famous East Asian śāstra, the Awakening of Faith, original enlightenment is situated among two other terms, "non-enlightenment" (bujue) and "actualized enlightenment" (shijue), and the three together form a cycle of religious practice.[46] That is, in the Awakening of Faith, although all beings are originally enlightened, they do not recognize this fact and this constitutes non-enlightenment. They must therefore engage in religious practice to achieve actualized enlightenment which leads one back to one's original enlightenment.[47] However, as Jia points out, Mazu's approach is different. Where the Awakening of Faith teaches a cycle of practice to regain original enlightenment by moving from non-enlightenment to actualized enlightenment, Mazu simplifies the cycle, emphasizing only original enlightenment.[48] Thus, one can discover that which "originally existed and exists at present" without any need for religious practice.[49]
Criticism of seated meditation
A well-known story found in Mazu's biography depicts Mazu being rebuked for practicing seated dhyāna (meditation) 'to become a Buddha', by his teacher, Nanyue Huairang, who compared sitting in meditation in order to become a buddha with polishing a tile to make a mirror.[50] During this famous encounter, Nanyue Huairang says to Mazu:
"Are you practicing to sit in meditation, or practicing to sit like a Buddha? As to sitting in meditation, meditation is neither sitting nor lying. As to sitting like a Buddha, the Buddha has no fixed form. In the non-abiding Dharma, one should neither grasp nor reject. If you try to sit like a Buddha, you are just killing the Buddha. If you attach to the form of sitting, you will never realize the principle."[51]
Yanagida Seizan saw this story as an indication that Mazu rejected formal sitting meditation.[52] According to Mario Poceski, Yanagida's stance reflects "popular views about classical Chan's rejection of formal meditation, which go back to Hu Shi's pioneering studies of Shenhui and early Chan history."[53] For Poceski, the story "simply asserts that the originally existing Buddha-nature does not depend on the practice of meditation or any other spiritual exercise," a doctrinal position which can also be found in the Vimalakīrti Sūtra.[53]
Bernard Faure observes that seated dhyana was a point of contention in the developing Chan school,[54] noting that quietist tendencies are criticized in the Vimalakīrti Sūtra.[55] Criticism of seated dhyāna can be found in Shenhui's attacks on the so-called Northern school. As Faure states, for Shenhui, "the true practice must be non-intentional (wuzuo),"[50][d] a stance also illustrated in Mazu's dialogue with Nanyue (which Faure deems to be fictional).[50] According to Faure, Nanyue's criticism is directed at "the idea of 'becoming a Buddha' by means of any practice, lowered to the standing of a 'means' to achieve an 'end'."[50]
Faure notes that seated dhyāna as mere quietism was also condemned by Linji, who criticized the practitioner who "sits down cross-legged with his back against a wall, his tongue glued to the roof of his mouth, completely still and motionless." For Linji, "motion and motionlessness are merely two kinds of states; it is the non-dependent Man of the Way who utilizes motion and utilizes motionlessness."[60] Faure further maintains that criticism of seated dhyāna as quietism reflects a resentment toward the socio-economic role and position of monks in Tang society who, quoting Gernet, "undertook only pious works, reciting sacred texts and remaining seated in dhyāna".[60]
Some worried that the spontaneity and emphasis on wisdom (direct insight) promoted by Mazu could be misunderstood, and despite the criticisms and doctrinal debates, seated dhyāna continued to be practiced, even by many of its critics.[60]Guifeng Zongmi, heir to Shenhui's Heze School, succesfully sought to restore the balance between concentration and wisdom which had been disturbed by Shenhui's sudden rhetoric and emphasis on wisdom. Regarding the stance of the Vimalakīrti Sūtra, according to Zongmi, although it says that it is not necessary to sit, this does not mean that it is necessary not to sit. Zongmi says, "Whether or not to be seated depends on what is most suited to the capacities of the practitioner."[60]
Shock techniques
Mazu Daoyi is depicted as having employed novel and unconventional teaching methods in order to shake his students out of routine consciousness. Mazu is credited with the innovations of using katsu (sudden shouts),[61] striking,[62] kicking,[63] and unexpectedly calling to a person by name as that person is leaving.[64] Mazu also employed silent gestures,[14][65] non-responsive answers to questions,[66] and was known to grab and twist the nose of a disciple.[67] Utilizing a variety of sudden shocks, he sought to enable his students to experience enlightenment through the collapse of habitual feeling and thinking.[14] According to Bielefeldt, such methods reflect a shift in emphasis within Zen from essence, or substance (t'i), to function (yung).[68]
John McRae points out that such things as calling to a person by name just as they are leaving bring the attention of the student to the perfection of their automatic response, "yes?" Following Ogawa Takashi, McRae says the goal was "to alert the student to the fact that his Buddha-like ordinary mind was functioning perfectly all the time, like the selfless and undefiled reflection of the mirror, even as the student used that 'ordinary mind' to pose questions and respond automatically to his own name."[69] This "represents the fundamental capability of cognition, the bare working of the human mind" as "primordial cognitive capacity."[70]
Depiction in the later Koan literature
Mazu appears in later Song dynasty Chan anthologies of transmission, encounter dialogues and koans:[71]
Recorded Saying of the Ancient Worthies (compiled 1271),
Records of the Regular Transmission of the Dharma (1062).[g][h]
Examples
Mazu was particularly fond of using the phrase "What the mind is, what the Buddha is." In the particular case of Damei Fachang, hearing this brought about an awakening. Later this same statement was contradicted by Mazu when he taught "No mind, No Buddha":[76]
A monk asked why the Master [Mazu] maintained, "The Mind is the Buddha." The Master answered, "Because I want to stop the crying of a baby." The monk persisted, "When the crying has stopped, what is it then?" "Not Mind, not Buddha", was the answer.[77]
Other examples of kōans in which Mazu figures are as follows:
When sick Mazu was asked how he felt; he replied, "Sun Face Buddha. Moon Face Buddha."[78]
P'ang asked Mazu, "Who is it who is not dependent upon the ten thousand things?" Matsu answered, "This I'll tell you when you drink up the waters of the West River in one gulp".[79]
A monk asked Mazu, "Please indicate the meaning of Ch'an directly, apart from all permutations of assertion and denial." Mazu told him to ask Zhiang. Zhiang paused, then said for him to ask Baizhang. Baizhang seemed to say he didn't understand. The monk returned to Mazu and related what happened. Mazu observed dryly that Zhiang had white hair, while Baizhang's was black.[80]
A generation later his lineage through Baizhang came to include Huangbo Xiyun (d.850), and his celebrated successor Linji Yixuan (d.866).[84] From Linji Yixuan derived the Linji school and the Japanese sect, the Rinzai school.
A second line was Guishan Lingyou (771-853), to whom the Guiyang school was named, and therein Yangshan Huiji (807-883).
The Hung-chou school has been criticised for its radical subitism.
Guifeng Zongmi (圭峰 宗密) (780–841), an influential teacher-scholar and patriarch of both the Chán and the Huayan school claimed that the Hung-chou tradition believed "everything as altogether true".[85]
According to Zongmi, the Hung-chou school teaching led to a radical nondualism that believed that all actions, good or bad, are expressions of the essential Buddha-nature and therefore denied the need for spiritual cultivation and moral discipline. This was a dangerously antinomian view as it eliminated all moral distinctions and validated any actions as expressions of the essence of Buddha-nature.
While Zongmi acknowledged that the essence of Buddha-nature and its functioning in the day-to-day reality are but different aspects of the same reality, he insisted that there is a difference. To avoid the dualism he saw in the Northern Line and the radical nondualism and antinomianism of the Hung-chou school, Zongmi's paradigm preserved "an ethically critical duality within a larger ontological unity."[86]
Notes
↑ MacRae cites Sodōshū [Anthology of the patriarchal hall], edited by Yanagida Seizan (Kyoto: Chūbun shuppansha 1972), at 72 a14-b3
↑ For these Extensive Records of the dialogues of Mazu, see volume 119 of Wan-tzu hsu-tsang-ching [Newly Compiled Continuation of the Buddhist Canon] (Taipei: Hsin-wen-feng 1977), reprint of Dainippon zoku zokyo
↑ Compare with the teachings of Shenhui who taught that entering into and exiting from concentration were still conditioned and failed to transcend the false mind: "If there is exiting from and entering into concentration [...] then this is to completely fail to transcend the false mind, to be with that which is attained, to be conditioned."[38]
See also Xuance's words in the Platform Sutra: "How can you enter it or come out of it? If there is entering and coming out, then this is not the great samādhi."[39]
↑ According to Luis Gómez, although modern scholarship has assumed that Shenhui rejected meditation outright, Shenhui is "not clear on the important question of the practice of meditation."[56] Shenhui reluctantly acknowledges that some kind of "polishing" is necessary, however on this point he is ambiguous. Gómez states that Shenhui "never explains what this 'polishing' means. We have no way of knowing whether it refers to some form of meditation practice."[56] Gómez states that for Shenhui, "The point at issue is not so much whether one sits in zazen or not, but whether thoughts should be allowed to arise in the process of meditation."[57] Gómez maintains that for Shenhui, samādhi is not a "quietistic state of immobile contemplation" characterized by "absence of mental content and activity," but is rather "defined apophatically, as single minded detachment from all objects and practices."[58] Gómez says, "Clearly Shen-hui's practice is not sitting nor is it concentration—that is, it is not fixing (ting) the mind on an object. It is based on the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa's description of samādhi as movement," which is "a technique that does not remove or erase the multiplicity of objects from the mind."[57] Although Gómez observes that "a number of passages in the literature suggest that some schools of early Ch’an rejected outright the practice of sitting in meditation,"[56] he believes the conclusion that the Southern School rejected seated meditation outright is mistaken and "has been repeatedly and justly criticized."[59] For Gómez, the point was not whether sitting or not sitting was necessary, but that attempting to "concentrate" and "purify" the mind was to misunderstand the "non-dual nature of enlightenment."[59]
↑ Mazu appears at koans #3 (at 25-28), #53 (255-259), #73 (324-328). At #53 Mazu discusses "wild ducks flying" with Baizhang Huaihai (WG: Pai-chang Huaihai). This collection was brought to Japan by Sōtō Zen master Dogen Kigen (1200-1253), and thereafter has received intense scrutiny, being recognized as the "foremost of Zen texts" by the Rinzai Zen school.[74]
↑ Koans from the Gateless Gate text are presented, with Mazu (under his Japanese name Baso) quoted at #30 (at 114) and #33 (at 117)
↑ These and other sources for Mazu Daoyi are given by Chang Chung-yuan in his Original Teachings of Ch'an Buddhism (New York: Pantheon 1969; reprint Vintage 1971) at 308-309.
↑ Erudition can be suspect in Ch'an/Zen. "I know that erudition disturbs enlightenment", wrote Keizan Zenji (1268-1325) of the Soto school in the Book of the Transmission. He quotes the Kegon Sutra, "A poor man who counts another's treasure cannot have his own. Erudition is like this." Cited by Jiyu Kennett in her Selling Water by the River. A Manual of Zen Training (New York: Pantheon 1969; reprint Vintage 1972) at 38-39.
↑ Baizhang drafted a new set of vinaya meant especially for Chan monks. Edward Conze, A Short History of Buddhism (London: George Allen & Unwin 1980) at 89.
↑ Baizhang composed the saying: "A day without work, a day without food." [81]
↑ Baizhang was "a dedicated disciple of Mazu and served as his attendant for twenty years." [82]
↑ Jinhua Jia, The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China, pages 76, 78, State University of New York Press, 2006
↑ Jinhua Jia, The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China, page 78, State University of New York Press, 2006
↑ Peter Gregory, Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism, page 162, University of Hawaii Press, 2002
↑ Peter Gregory, Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism, page 157, University of Hawaii Press, 2002
↑ Imre Hamar, Avatamsaka Buddhism in East Asia, page 59, Harrassowitz Verlag · Wiesbaden, 2012
↑ Imre Hamar, Avatamsaka Buddhism in East Asia, page 59, Harrassowitz Verlag · Wiesbaden, 2012
↑ Jinhua Jia, The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China, page 124, State University of New York Press, 2006
↑ Jinhua Jia, The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China, page 78, State University of New York Press, 2006
↑ Jinhua Jia, The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China, page 76, State University of New York Press, 2006
↑ Jinhua Jia, The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China, page 123, State University of New York Press, 2006
↑ Jinhua Jia, The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China, page 76, State University of New York Press, 2006
↑ Peter Gregory, Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism, page 237, University of Hawaii Press, 2002
↑ Jinhua Jia, The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China, page 129, State University of New York Press, 2006
↑ Jinhua Jia, The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China, page 127, State University of New York Press, 2006
↑ Jinhua Jia, The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China, page 127, State University of New York Press, 2006
↑ Jinhua Jia, The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China, page 122, State University of New York Press, 2006
↑ John R. McRae, Zen Evangelist Shenhui, Sudden Enlightenment, and the Southern School of Chan Buddhism, page 178, University of Hawaii Press, 2023
↑ The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, translated by John McRae, page 69, Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai and Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2000
↑ Jinhua Jia, The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China, page 126, State University of New York Press, 2006
↑ Jinhua Jia, The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China, page 125, State University of New York Press, 2006
↑ Jinhua Jia, The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China, page 123, State University of New York Press, 2006
↑ Jinhua Jia, The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China, page 122, State University of New York Press, 2006
↑ Jinhua Jia, The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China, page 73, State University of New York Press, 2006
↑ Mario Poceski, Ordinary Mind as the Way: The Hongzhou School and the Growth of Chan Buddhism, page 142, Oxford University Press, 2007
↑ Jinhua Jia, The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China, page 73, State University of New York Press, 2006
↑ Jinhua Jia, The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China, page 73, State University of New York Press, 2006
↑ Jinhua Jia, The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China, page 73, State University of New York Press, 2006
↑ Jinhua Jia, The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China, page 73, State University of New York Press, 2006
↑ Cheng Chien Bhikshu (Mario Poceski), Sun-Face Buddha: The Teachings of Ma-tsu and the Hung-chou School of Ch'an, pages 59-60, Asian Humanities Press, 1992
↑ Mario Poceski, Ordinary Mind as the Way: The Hongzhou School and the Growth of Chan Buddhism, page 136, Oxford University Press, 2007
1 2 Mario Poceski, Ordinary Mind as the Way: The Hongzhou School and the Growth of Chan Buddhism, pages 136-137, Oxford University Press, 2007
Abe, Masao (1975), Zen and Western Thought, University of Hawaii
Ch'en (1964), Buddhism in China. A historical survey, Princeton University
Chung-Yuan, Chang (1971) [1969, New York, Pantheon 1969], Original Teachings of Ch'an Buddhism. Selected from "Transmission of the Lamp", Vantage)
Cleary, Thomas (ed., transl.) (1992), The Blue Cliff Record, Boston: Shambhala 1992{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Cowie, A.P.; Evison, A. (1986), Concise English-Chinese Chinese-English Dictionary, Beijing: The Commercial Press
Dumoulin, Heinrich (1965), A History of Zen Buddhism, Random House McGraw-Hill
Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005), Zen Buddhism: A History. Volume 1: India and China, World Wisdom Books, ISBN978-0-941532-89-1
Faure, Bernard (1997), The Will to Orthodoxy: A Critical Genealogy of Northern Chan Buddhism, Stanford University Press
Gomez, Luis O. (1991), Purifying Gold: The Metaphor of Effort and Intuition in Buddhist Thought and Practice. In: Peter N. Gregory (editor)(1991), Sudden and Gradual. Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited
Gregory, Peter N. (2002), Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism, University of Hawai’i Press, Kuroda Institute, (originally published Princeton University Press, 1991, Princeton, N.J.), ISBN0-8248-2623-X
Heine, Steven (2008), Zen Skin, Zen Marrow
Kasulis, Thomas P. (2003), Ch'an Spirituality. In: Buddhist Spirituality. Later China, Korea, Japan and the Modern World; edited by Takeuchi Yoshinori, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass
McRae, John (2003), Seeing Through Zen. Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism, The University Press Group Ltd, ISBN978-0-520-23798-8
Perkins, Dorothy (1999), Encyclopedia of China, New York: Facts on File 1999
Reps, Paul (1958), Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, Rutland/Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle 1958
Schuhmacher and Woerner (editors) (1991), Fischer-Schreiber; Ehrhard; Diener (eds.), The Shambala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen, Michael H. Kohn (trans.), Boston: Shambala{{citation}}: |last= has generic name (help)
Shih, Heng-ching (1992), The Syncretism of Ch'an and Pure Land Buddhism, New York: Peter Lang 1992
Suzuki, D.T. (1974) [1934, Kyoto, Eastern Buddhist Society], Manual of Zen Buddhism, Ballantine
Watson, Burton (ed., transl.) (1993), The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-chi. A translation of the Lin-chi Lu, Boston: Shambhala{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Yampolski, Philip (2003), Chan. A Historical Sketch. In: Buddhist Spirituality. Later China, Korea, Japan and the Modern World; edited by Takeuchi Yoshinori, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass
Poceski, Mario (2007), Ordinary Mind as the Way: The Hongzhou School and the Growth of Chan Buddhism, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0-19-531996-5
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.