The Zen Experience Part 34

Such were the exchanges between j.a.panese Buddhist scholars and Ch'an monastery cooks in the early thirteenth century.

In midsummer of 1223, Dogen finally moved ash.o.r.e and entered the temple on Mt. T'ien-t'ung called Ching-te-ssu. His intense study brought no seal of enlightenment, but it did engender severe disappointment with the standards of Ch'an monasteries in China. Although the school that Dogen found was a branch of Lin-chi traceable back to the koan master Ta-hui, different from the fading school Eisai had encountered, Dogen later would denounce impartially the general run of all Ch'an masters he met in China.

_Although there are in China a great number of those who profess themselves to be the descendants of the Buddhas and patriarchs, there are few who study truth and accordingly there are few who teach truth.

. . . Thus those people who have not the slightest idea of what the great Way of the Buddhas and patriarchs is now become the masters of monks. . . . Reciting a few words of Lin-chi and Yun-men they take them for the whole truth of Buddhism. If Buddhism had been exhausted by a few words of Lin-chi and Yun-men, it could not have survived till today.7

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After studying for two years while simultaneously nosing about other nearby monasteries, Dogen finally decided to travel, hoping others of the "five houses" had maintained discipline. (He also seems to have experienced some discrimination as a foreigner in China.) But the farther he went, the more despondent he became; nowhere in China could he find a teacher worthy to succeed the ancient masters. He finally resolved to abandon China and return to j.a.pan.

But at this moment fate took a turn that--in retrospect--had enormous importance for the future of j.a.panese Buddhism. A monk he met on the road told him that T'ien-t'ung now had a new

abbot, a truly enlightened master namd Ju-ching (1163-1228). Dogen returned to see and was received warmly, being invited by Ju-ching to ignore ceremony and approach him as an equal. The twenty-five-year-old j.a.panese monk was elated, and settled down at last to undertake the study he had come to China for. The master Ju-ching became Dogen's ideal of what a Zen teacher should be, and the habits--perhaps even the eccentricities--of this aging teacher were translated by Dogen into the model for monks in j.a.pan.

Ju-ching was, above all things, uncompromising in his advocacy of meditation or _zazen_. He might even have challenged Bodhidharma for the t.i.tle of its all-time pract.i.tioner, and it was from Ju-ching's Ch'an (which may also have included koan study) that Dogen took his cue. Although Ch'an was still widespread, Ju-ching seems to have been the only remaining advocate of intensive meditation in China, and a chance intersection of history brought this teaching to j.a.pan.

Significantly, he was one of the few Ts'ao-tung masters ever to lead the important T'ien-t'ung monastery, traditionally headed by a member of the Lin-chi school. Ju-ching was a model master: strict but kindly; simple in habits, diet, dress; immune to the attractions of court recognition; and an uncompromising advocate of virtually round-the- clock meditation.

But he never asked anything of his monks he did not also demand of himself, even when advanced in years. He would strike nodding monks to refresh their attention, while lamenting that age had so diminished the strength in his arm it was eroding his ability to create good monks.

Ju-ching would meditate until eleven in the evening and then be up again by two-thirty or three the next morning, back at _zazen_. He frequently developed sores on his backside from such perpetual sitting, but nothing deterred him. He even declared the pain made him love _zazen _all the more.

The story of Dogen's final enlightenment at the hands of Ju-ching is a cla.s.sic of j.a.panese Zen. In the meditation hall one early morning all the monks were sitting in meditation when the man next to Dogen dozed off--a common enough occurrence in early-morning sessions. But when Ju- ching came by on a routine inspection and saw the sleeping monk, he was for some reason particularly rankled and roared out, "_Zazen _means the dropping away of mind and body! What will you get by sleeping?" Dogen, sitting nearby, was at first startled, but then an indescribable calm, an ecstatic joy washed over him. Could it be that this was the moment he had been hoping for? Could it be that the fruit had been ready to fall from the tree, with this just the shake needed?

Dogen rushed to Ju-ching's room afterward and burned incense, to signify his enlightenment experience. Throwing himself at the master's feet, he declared, "I have experienced the dropping away of mind and body."

Ju-ching immediately recognized his enlightenment to be genuine (modern masters reportedly can discern a novice's state merely by the way he rings a gong) and he replied, "You have indeed dropped body and mind."

"But wait a minute," Dogen cautioned. "Don't sanction me so easily. How do you really know I've achieved enlightenment?"

To which Ju-ching replied simply, "Body and mind have dropped away."

Dogen bowed in acknowledgment of his acknowledgment. And thus, in May 1225, was the greatest Zen teacher in j.a.pan enlightened. In the fall Ju-ching conferred upon Dogen the seal of patriarchal succession of his line of the Ts'ao-tung sect.8

Dogen stayed on for two more years studying under Ju-ching, but finally he decided to return again to j.a.pan. When they parted, Ju-ching gave his j.a.panese protege the patriarchal robe, his own portrait (called _chinso_, a symbol of transmission), and bade him farewell. So did Dogen return to j.a.pan in the fall of 1227, taking with him the koan collection _Blue Cliff Record_, which he copied his last night in China. But he also brought the fire of a powerful idea, pure meditation, that formed the basis for the j.a.panese Soto school of Zen.

Dogen returned to Eisai's old temple of Kennin-ji, where he proceeded to write the minor cla.s.sic _A Universal Recommendation for Zazen_, introducing the idea of intense meditation to his countrymen.

_You should pay attention to the fact that even the Buddha Sakyamuni had to practice_ zazen _for six years. It is also said that Bodhidharma had to do _zazen _at Shao-lin temple for nine years in order to transmit the Buddha-mind. Since these ancient sages were so diligent, how can present-day trainees do without the practice of _zazen_? You should stop pursuing words and letters and learn to withdraw and reflect on yourself. When you do so, your body and mind will naturally fall away, and your original Buddha-nature will appear.9

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It was the opening shot in a campaign to make pure Zen the meaningful alternative to the decadent traditional Buddhism of the aristocracy and the new Salvationist sect of Pure Land. But first the j.a.panese had to be taught how to meditate, so he wrote a meditation "handbook" that explained exactly how and where to undertake this traditional Buddhist practice. His directions are worth quoting at length.

_Now, in doing _zazen _it is desirable to have a quiet room. You should be temperate in eating and drinking, forsaking all delusive relationships. Setting everything aside, think neither of good nor evil, right nor wrong. Thus, having stopped the various functions of your mind, give up the idea of becoming a Buddha. This holds true not only for _zazen _but for all your daily actions.

Usually a thick square mat is put on the floor where you sit and a round cushion on top of that. You may sit in either the full or half lotus position. In the former, first put your right foot on your left thigh and then your left foot on your right thigh. In the latter, only put your left foot on the right thigh. Your clothing should be worn loosely but neatly. Next, put your right hand on your left foot and your left palm on the right palm, the tips of the thumbs lightly touching. Sit upright, leaning to neither left nor right, front nor back. Your ears should be on the same plane as your shoulders and your nose in line with your navel. Your tongue should be placed against the roof of your mouth and your lips and teeth closed firmly. With your eyes kept continuously open, breathe quietly through your nostrils.

Finally, having regulated your body and mind in this way, take a deep breath, sway your body to left and right, then sit firmly as a rock.

Think of nonthinking. How is this done? By thinking beyond thinking and nonthinking. This is the very basis of _zazen_._10

This first little essay was meant to provide j.a.pan a taste of the real Zen he had experienced in China, and it was the beginning of an astounding literary output. Dogen a.s.serted that since the Buddha had meditated and Bodhidharma had meditated, the most valuable thing to do is meditate. Not surprisingly, he received a cold response from the other schools in Kyoto, both the Tendai sects and the other "Zen"

teachers who, like Eisai, taught a "syncretic" Zen of compromise with establishment Buddhism. His rigid doctrine was socially awkward for the syncretic Zen monks at Kennin-ji--who seasoned their practice with chants and esoteric ceremonies--and Dogen finally decided to spare them further embarra.s.sment by retiring to a mountain retreat.

Off he went to another temple, An'yoin, where he began to elaborate on the role of meditation in Zen practice, writing another essay, ent.i.tled "Bendowa" or "Lecture on Training," designed to provide a more dialectical defense for zazen. Written in the form of eighteen questions and answers, the "Lecture on Training" was intended to further justify the intense meditation he had described earlier. This essay later became the initial section of a ma.s.sive book today known as the _Shobogenzo _(_Treasure of Knowledge Regarding the True Dharma_), which was guarded as a secret treasure of the Soto school for many centuries.

_Question: . . . For most people the natural way to enlightenment is to read the scriptures and recite the nembutsu [Praise to Amida Buddha].

Since you do nothing more than sit cross-legged, how can this mere sitting be a means of gaining enlightenment?

Answer: . . . Of what use is it to read the scriptures and recite the _nembutsu_? It is useless to imagine that the merits of Buddhism come merely from using one's tongue or voice; if you think such things embrace all of Buddhism, the Truth is a long way from you. You should only read the scriptures so as to learn that the Buddha was teaching the necessity of gradual and sudden training and that from this you can realise enlightenment; do not read them so as to make a show of wisdom with useless intellection. . . . Just to continually repeat the _nembutsu_ is equally useless, for it is a frog who croaks both day and night in some field. . . . They who do nothing . . . more than study the scriptures . . . never understand this, so just stop it and thereby cure your delusions and doubts. Just follow the teachings of a true master and, through the power of _Zazen_, find the utterly joyful enlightenment of Buddha.11

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It is not surprising to find Dogen firm in the belief that meditation is superior to the practices of two competing movements: the traditional sutra veneration of the Tendai sect and the Pure Land schools' chanting of the nembutsu to Amida Buddha. But what about the Rinzai Zen teaching that enlightenment is sudden and cannot be induced by gradual practice? He next attacks this position:

_Question: Both in India and China, from the beginning of time to the present day, some Zen teachers have been enlightened by such things as the sound of stones striking bamboos, whilst the color of plum blossoms cleared the minds of others. The [Buddha] was enlightened at the sight of the morning star, whilst [his follower] Ananda understood the Truth through seeing a stick fall. As well as these, many Zen teachers of the five schools after the Sixth Patriarch were enlightened by only so much as a word. Did all of them practise _Zazen_?

Answer: From olden times down to the present day, all who were ever enlightened, either by colors or sounds, practised _Zazen _without _Zazen_ and became instantaneously enlightened.12_

What exactly is he saying here? It would seem that he is convoluting the early teaching of the Southern sect, which proposed that "meditation" is a mind process that might also be duplicated by other means. Dogen seems to be arguing that zazen is efficacious since all who became enlightened were really "meditating" in daily life, whether they realized it or not. The Southern school claimed that _dhyana_ could be anything and therefore it seemed ancillary; Dogen claims it could be anything and therefore it is essential.

Dogen also came back to his original doctrinal dilemma, the question that had sent him wandering from teacher to teacher in j.a.pan while still a youth: Why strive for enlightenment if all creatures are Buddhas to begin with? He finally felt qualified to address his own quandary.

_Question: There are those who say that one has only to understand that this mind itself is the Buddha in order to understand Buddhism, and that there is no need to recite the scriptures or undergo bodily training. If you understand that Buddhism is inherent in yourself, you are already fully enlightened and there is no need to seek for anything further from anywhere. If this is so, is there any sense in taking the trouble to practice _Zazen_?_

_Answer: This is a very grievous mistake, and even if it should be true and the sages should teach it, it is impossible for you to understand it. If you would truly study Buddhism, you must transcend all opinions of subject and object. If it is possible to be enlightened simply by knowing that the self is, in its self-nature, the Buddha, then there was no need for Shakyamuni to try so diligently to teach the Way.1

_Whether this answer resolves the paradox will be left to the judgment of others. But for all his intensities and eccentricities, Dogen was certainly a powerful new thinker, clearly the strongest dialectician in the history of j.a.panese Zen. He was also a magnetic personality who attracted many followers, and by 1233 he had so outgrown the s.p.a.ce at An'yoin that a larger temple was imperative (which became available thanks to his aristocratic connections). His next move was to Kosho-ji, a temple near Kyoto, where he spent the succeeding ten years in intense literary creativity, where he constructed the first truly independent Zen monastery in j.a.pan, and where he found a worthy disciple, Koun Ejo (1198-1280), who served as head monk and ultimately as his successor.

It was here, beginning in 1233, that Dogen finally recreated Chinese Ch'an totally in j.a.pan, right down to an architectural replica of a Sung-style monastery and an uncompromising discipline reminiscent of his old Chinese master Ju-ching.