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Mindfulness in Behavioral Health
Series Editor: Nirbhay N. Singh
Handbook of Zen,
Mindfulness, and
Behavioral Health
Akihiko Masuda
William T. O’Donohue Editors
Mindfulness in Behavioral Health
Series Editor
Nirbhay N. Singh
Medical College of Georgia
Georgia Regents University
Augusta, Georgia, USA
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8678
Akihiko Masuda •William T. O’Donohue
Editors
Handbook of Zen,
Mindfulness,
and Behavioral Health
123
Editors
Akihiko Masuda
Department of Psychology
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Honolulu, HI
USA
William T. O’Donohue
Department of Psychology
University of Nevada
Reno, NV
USA
ISSN 2195-9579 ISSN 2195-9587 (electronic)
Mindfulness in Behavioral Health
ISBN 978-3-319-54593-6 ISBN 978-3-319-54595-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54595-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017933065
©Springer International Publishing AG 2017
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or
part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
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or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in
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Printed on acid-free paper
This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature
The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
This book is dedicated to our wives, Migdalia and Jane
Contents
Introduction: Zen, Mindfulness, and Behavioral Health ........ 1
William T. O’Donohue, Akihiko Masuda and Kayla Sargent
Zen and Zen Buddhism: An Overview ...................... 17
Shudo Ishii, Akihiko Masuda and Kayla Sargent
Zen and Japanese Culture ................................ 29
Akihiko Masuda
Part I Zen: Overview and Foundations
What Is Zen?: The Path of Just Sitting...................... 47
Shohaku Okumura
A Brief Note on Zazen ................................... 63
Tairyu Tsunoda, Akihiko Masuda and Kayla Sargent
The Role and the Present Significance of Koans ............... 67
Daiko Matsuyama
Zen and Body .......................................... 77
Kenshu Sugawara, Akihiko Masuda and Kayla Sargent
Zen and Language: Zen Mondo and Koan ................... 85
Takashi Ogawa, Akihiko Masuda and Kayla Sargent
Part II Zen: Everyday Living and Current Evidence
Zen and Desire ......................................... 95
Kiyozumi Seijun Ishii, Akihiko Masuda and Kayla Sargent
Zen, Self, and Personality ................................. 105
Hidetaka Shuryu Okajima, Akihiko Masuda and Kayla Sargent
Every Day is a Fine Day.................................. 115
Mike K. Sayama
Zen and Forgiveness ..................................... 125
Shoryu Bradley
vii
Zen and Science: Zen as an Ethical Guideline for Scientists’
Conducts .............................................. 141
Rosan Yoshida
Part III Application of Zen to Behavioral Healthcare Issues
Zen and Behavioral Health: A Review of the Evidence ......... 153
Kenneth P. Kushner
Zen and Psychotherapy .................................. 169
Peiwei Li and Daniel Rodriguez Ramirez
Zen’s Thoughts on Psychopathology and Wellness ............. 195
Akihiko Masuda and Kayla Sargent
What Is Measured by Self-report Measures of Mindfulness?:
Conceptual and Measurement Issues ........................ 215
Sungjin Im
Remembering-and-Receiving: Mindfulness and Acceptance
in Zen................................................. 237
Josh Bartok and Lizabeth Roemer
Brief Thoughts on Zen and Behavior Therapy ................ 251
Marsha Linehan and Kayla Sargent
Zen, Mindfulness, and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy............ 255
Holly Hazlett-Stevens
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Zen Buddhism ...... 271
Kenneth Po-Lun Fung and Josephine Pui-Hing Wong
Zen, Pain, Suffering, and Death ............................ 289
Gordon M. Greene
Application of Zen Practices and Principles for Professionals/
Advocates Who Work for Survivors of Trauma and Violence ... 303
Norma Wong
Zen Incarcerated: A Personal Essay ........................ 313
Jeffrey Schneider
Index ................................................. 323
viii Contents
Editors and Contributors
About the Editors
Akihiko Masuda Ph.D. is an assistant professor of clinical psychology at University of
Hawaii at Manoa. He was on the Georgia State University faculty between 2007 and 2016
(assistant professor 2007–2013; associate professor with tenure 2013–2016). Dr. Masuda
was born and raised in Nagano, Japan, and moved to the USA for his psychology career.
His primary areas of interest include acceptance- and mindfulness-based behavioral ther-
apies, diversity, and Zen Buddhism. He is the author of more than 80 peer-reviewed papers
and chapters. He is the editor of the book, Mindfulness and Acceptance in Multicultural
Competency (New Harbinger, 2014).
William T. O’Donohue Ph.D. is a professor of clinical psychology at the University of
Nevada, Reno. He has published research on evidence-based practice in behavioral health,
focusing on cognitive behavior therapy. Dr. O’Donohue has published more than 80 books
and 300 journal articles and chapters. He served as a principle investigator on a number of
grants that have focused on the transfer of technology to practice, including a grant
investigating transferring integrated care to a variety of medical settings in Hawaii.
Contributors
Josh Bartok Greater Boston Zen Center, Boundless Way Zen, Cambridge,
USA
Shoryu Bradley Gyobutsuji Zen Monastery, Kingston, USA
Kenneth Po-Lun Fung University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Gordon M. Greene Spring Green Dojo, Spring Green, WI, USADepartment
of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public
Health, Madison, WI, USAMeriter Hospital, Madison, WI, USA, Spring
Green, WI, USA
Holly Hazlett-Stevens University of Nevada, Reno, USA
Sungjin Im University of Nevada, Reno, USA
Kiyozumi Seijun Ishii Komazawa University, Tokyo, Japan
Shudo Ishii Komazawa University, Tokyo, Japan
Kenneth P. Kushner Department of Family Medicine and Community
Health, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wi, USA
ix
Peiwei Li Springfield College, Springfield, USA
Marsha Linehan University of Washington, Seattle, USA
Akihiko Masuda University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA
Daiko Matsuyama Taizoin Zen Buddhist Temple, Kyoto, Japan
Takashi Ogawa Komazawa University, Tokyo, Japan
Hidetaka Shuryu Okajima Aichigakuin University, Aichi, Japan
Shohaku Okumura Sanshin Zen Community, Bloomington, USA
William T. O’Donohue University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
Daniel Rodriguez Ramirez University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz,
USA
Lizabeth Roemer University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, USA
Kayla Sargent University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA
Mike K. Sayama Chozen-ji, International Zen Dojo, Honolulu, HI, USA
Jeffrey Schneider San Francisco Zen Center, California, USA
Kenshu Sugawara Aichi Gakuin University, Aichi, Japan
Tairyu Tsunoda Komazawa University, Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan
Josephine Pui-Hing Wong Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
Norma Wong Institute of Zen Studies, Honululu, HI, USA
Rosan Yoshida Missouri Zen Center, Webster Groves, MO, USA
x Contributors
Introduction: Zen, Mindfulness,
and Behavioral Health
William T. O’Donohue, Akihiko Masuda
and Kayla Sargent
Keywords
Zen Buddhism Behavioral health Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
Mindfulness
The rationale for this book is fourfold. First, in
recent decades, there has been increased interest
in the implication of mindfulness for improving a
wide variety of problems in behavioral health
(Brown et al. 2007; Hayes et al. 2004; Hofmann
et al. 2010). We think this generally is an adap-
tive trend as there is significant research showing
a wide variety of beneficial effects of mindful-
ness techniques both alone and as an adjunctive
treatment with conventional cognitive behavioral
techniques (Hazlett-Stevens, this volume). This
is particularly important as these interventions
seem to be helpful for problems that are epidemic
in behavioral health, such as depression, anxiety,
and chronic pain. Buddhism is the ultimate
source for the construct of mindfulness
(Kabat-Zinn 2003; Robins 2002; Van Gordon
et al. 2015a,b); thus, part of the rationale of this
book is that it might be useful to explore this root
source in more detail with the focus on Zen
Buddhism. This exploration might result in a
deeper understanding of mindfulness as it can
reveal its context and the system of interrelated
beliefs that help define it.
Second, we pose the question of whether it is
optimal to pluck a technique or construct such as
mindfulness or acceptance from one interrelated
body of beliefs and apply them within another.
What, if anything, is lost when this is done? Is
there any sort of bastardization of the mindful-
ness technique when it is stripped of its historical
and conceptual context in Buddhism? We see
this as a serious intellectual and applied dilemma
(Li et al., this volume), and this book attempts to
explore this issue.
Third, we argue that in the first part of the
twenty-first century, there is a paucity of mean-
ingful theory underlying our applied systems;
further, we posit that finding and understanding
meaning may be an important element not only
in decreasing behavioral health problems but also
in flourishing and improving our well-being
W.T. O’Donohue (&)
University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
e-mail: wto@unr.edu
A. Masuda K. Sargent
University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, USA
e-mail: amasuda4@hawaii.edu
K. Sargent
e-mail: kaylansargent@gmail.com
©Springer International Publishing AG 2017
A. Masuda and W.T. O’Donohue (eds.), Handbook of Zen, Mindfulness, and Behavioral Health,
Mindfulness in Behavioral Health, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54595-0_1
1
(Seligman 2011). Zen, a branch of Buddhism,
might also be able to provide some content for
creating meaning in positive psychology. Thus,
in this text, there are chapters on a wide variety
of subjects that look into broader life domains
such as self, goals, desires, death, meaning, and
relationships.
Fourth and finally, there has been some recent
interest in Buddhism more broadly construed in
an empirical wing of behavioral health, such as
cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT; Gilbert 2010;
Tirch et al. 2016). Buddhism and CBT share
some foundational commonalities: Both assert
that a key part of human suffering is due to
problematic cognitive states. At the same time, it
is fair to say that the specifics of the pathologies
differ: Cognitive therapy is focused mostly on
irrationality or a problematic attributional style,
whereas Buddhism emphasizes desire, attach-
ment to particular beliefs, and a lack of present
moment awareness (i.e., mindfulness). It might
also be fair to say that Buddhism is oriented
toward deeper meta-cognitive processes that give
rise to a myriad of individual automatic thoughts
and irrational ideas rather than individual cog-
nitions one by one.
Another key difference is that rationality itself
is seen as part of the problem in some schools of
Buddhism, such as Zen Buddhism (Ogawa, this
volume), and in CBT, it clearly is seen as the
desired end state—the solution. For example,
Zen koans (公案; a paradoxical anecdote or
riddle, used in Zen Buddhism practice) attempt to
help students overcome and transcend rationality
in order to attain the experience of enlighten-
ment, one aim of Zen (see Matsuyama, this
volume). In an important sense, Zen is simply not
a discursive enterprise—even the content of a
book can be seen as a distraction from the more
important practice of just sitting or returning to
the original wholeness. Psychotherapy, on the
other hand, is a discursive enterprise.
Zen and Buddhism seem to advocate for an
enlightened state, satori, in which a person
experiences significant freedom and liberation
from the problematic cognitive states that have
plagued them historically (see Shudo Ishii;
Masuda; Okumura; and Ogawa, this volume for
Zen’s account of enlightenment). On the other
hand, CBT in general has not defined such an
end state; in contrast, it seems to assert that life
will continually be a challenge cognitively,
advocating that our clients can get better, but
there is always more to know, always more
evidence to collect, and always a way to improve
one’s reasoning.
At a theoretical level, there are interesting
similarities between the ideas of Buddhism and a
deprivation analysis of behavior therapy (Tim-
berlake 1995; Timberlake and Allison 1974).
Buddhism, of course, suggests that happy feel-
ings are fleeting and that desire will constantly
rear its ugly head, causing the individual to be
discontent. Deprivation theory suggests the
same. The notion of a free operant suggests that
there is an ideal condition in which a human can
engage in their optimal level of access to their
entire range of reinforcers (i.e., just enough
chocolate, beach time, reading, skiing, time with
each friend, and sleep): not too much and not too
little. If there is either too much or too little, the
event counts either as a punisher (if too much) or
as a reinforcer (if too little). However, because
this optimal, free operant rate is never actually
experienced by any human; the result is similar
to the Buddhist notion that humans are often in a
state of desire and unhappiness and that exces-
sive or inactive pursuit of desires can never bring
happiness.
Buddhism is much more concerned with
selfishness than CBT. It is fair to say that being
selfless and having compassion toward others are
not central concerns of CBT in Western cultures;
rather, they are commonly set aside to be
addressed by Western religious communities
which often fail to interact with the scientific
pursuit of evidence-based therapies. It is inter-
esting to speculate whether or not these values
would receive a hostile reaction by most cogni-
tive behavior analysts.
Another difference is that Zen practice is
generally seen as involving a large commitment,
including disciplined practice usually over the
span of a few decades (Dogen et al. 1995;
2 W.T. O’Donohue et al.
Uchiyama and Okumura 2014). CBT has a much
simpler, less committed view: 16 one-hour ses-
sions and reading a self-help book may be suf-
ficient to rid oneself of problematic states or even
to flourish (Seligman 2011).
Yet another difference is the individual’s
attitude toward the teacher. Although both share
a basic view of the interaction between the stu-
dent and the master as teaching and learning, in
Zen Buddhism, the master is often an absolute
authority to be respected and obeyed. In CBT,
the therapist is seen as a teacher but one who is
fallible, and a skeptical attitude toward all is
promoted. This is certainly not a master–student
relationship, wherein a clear social hierarchy
exists.
Both Zen Buddhism and CBT focus on lan-
guage; Zen Buddhism in particular focuses on
the role of internal talk, discouraging dualistic
views of how we understand words (e.g., Suzuki
1994,1996). CBT shares in these concerns about
language. A common interchange between a
therapist and client may involve reframes like the
following:
Therapist: You are using the word ‘catastrophe’—
don’t you think this is too strong—can you say
instead you ‘don’t prefer’this?
However, it is also fair to say that perhaps to its
detriment, CBT has not been sufficiently con-
cerned with linguistics and a deeper understand-
ing of problematic and non-problematic language.
For example, CBT has been generally concerned
with semantics (i.e., word meaning) instead of
syntax (i.e., linguistic structure). O’Donohue and
Ferguson (2016), for example, has suggested that
the use of syntax (e.g., passive voice) in sex
offenders when describing their abusive experi-
ences may be significant. It would be interesting
for both Zen and CBT to be explored from a more
sophisticated linguistic perspective as Zen tends
to have a larger sense of the ineffable—what
transcends language—what cannot be said.
Another difference is in the style of commu-
nication. Zen sometimes engages in what might
be taken as very indirect communication that
involves mental gymnastics to understand.
Alternatively, CBT engages in more direct
communication. For example, Zen sometimes
communicates using verses like the following:
The bamboo shadows are sweeping the stairs
But no dust is stirred
The moonlight penetrates the depth of the pool
But no trace is left in the water (Senzaki and
Strout-McCandless 1953, p. 22).
Sometimes in Zen, language use is intentionally
provocative and therefore quite different than
CBT. For example, Zen sometimes uses direct
contradictions to communicate; for example,
there is talk of the “gateless gate”(Senzaki and
Strout-McCandless 1953, p. 30). In one koan, a
monk says, “The flag is moving.”Another monk
says, “The wind is moving.”The former clings to
the entity of the flag; the latter has a broader view
but does not understand true emptiness. The
Sixth Patriarch responds to them with, “The flag
is not moving. The wind is not moving. The
mind is moving.”(pg. 38). Zen also communi-
cates through poignant stories; CBT generally
does not. For example:
Nan-in, a master during the Mejia era, received a
university professor who came to inquire about
Zen.
Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full
and then kept on pouring.
The professor watched the overflow until he could
no longer restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more
will go in.”
“Like this cup,”Nan-in replied, “You are full of
your own opinions and speculations. How can I
show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”
(pgs. 30–31)
Zen sees mediation as a key process; CBT
does not. Cognitive behavior therapists, with the
exception of the more recent mindfulness-based
practitioners, seldom recommend meditation, and
Zen masters do not encourage students to engage
in rational scrutiny of their beliefs or learn skills
to more effectively engage reinforcers.
Zen Buddhism, even when practiced in the
USA, has deep connections with Japanese cul-
ture (Masuda, this volume), whereas CBT has
deeper connections to American culture. Typi-
cally, when one studies Zen, one learns some
Japanese phrases, may be guided toward Japa-
nese martial arts, may be exposed to Japanese
aesthetics, may study Japanese history, may eat
Introduction: Zen, Mindfulness, and Behavioral Health 3
Japanese food, and may engage in other tradi-
tions like taking one’s shoes off before entering a
room.
Another difference is that Zen is more
asocial—one practices meditation along side
others and under a master, but it is a much more
private, personal, and internal undertaking—
mediation is a turning inward. Certainly, Zen
suggests that one treats others with kindness,
compassion, and honesty, but Zen is a looking
inward such that aloneness and one’s inner
experience are paramount. In contrast, CBT pla-
ces significantly more emphasis on a person’s
social context. Couples therapy and communica-
tion training are of explicit concern, social sup-
port is taken as an important variable, social skills
are taught (e.g., to children with autism), and even
one’s cultural social context is seen as key.
Another difference is that Zen Buddhism uti-
lizes terms that are fairly central and upon first
glance appear to be inconsistent with the general
metaphysical commitments of CBT. Dharma, for
example, has no equivalent in CBT theory,
which takes no position on an afterlife as it
typically is beyond its scope of concerns, similar
to how a chemist takes no such position either.
Many other terms have no obvious overlap with
conventional CBT: karma,hara,koans, etc.
However, a metaphysical commonality is that
neither is a theology; that is, neither postulates a
god. Although these both share another part of a
metaphysical stance in that both believe the
universe is lawful, CBTs suggest that science is
needed to determine these laws whereas Zen
suggests that Buddha has discovered the most
relevant laws already. Buddhism has in it a
stronger critique of dualism, suggesting that all is
one. CBT practitioners, on the other hand, are
more content with a wide range of dichotomies
and distinctions.
CBT does not contain an internal, intrinsically
tied ethic. Buddhism does: right speech, right
livelihood, etc. CBT has adopted ethical codes as
part of its organizational structure, and it is fair to
say that an epistemology may be internal to it.
One legitimate concern is that in some
important ways, clinical science and Zen come
from two very different traditions. Clinical sci-
ence is less concerned with individual claims but
much more concerned with epistemology, the
process by which evidence and warrants are
produced for claims. Zen, in stark contrast,
appears to be much more concerned with content
of claims, which are often associated with his-
torical exegesis (i.e., what Buddha and other
masters have said) and personal subjective
experience, thus much less concerned with the
scientific method.
How ought these contrasting traditions be
viewed? First, we believe that there is nothing in
Zen Buddhism that is directly contradictory to
simultaneously also embracing science. The
claims contained in Zen Buddhism can be put to
scientific test. There is a distinction made in the
philosophy of science between the context of
discovery and the context of justification
(Reichenbach 1938). In the context of discovery,
interesting claims are formulated; in the context
of justification, these claims are put to the test.
Zen, we argue, has a potentially important role in
the context of discovery; it may provide inter-
esting content for further scientific investigation.
Second, Houts (2009) has provided an inter-
esting contrast between two ways of making
sense of the world using what he calls the tra-
dition of Athens and the tradition of Jerusalem.
He suggested that main differences in the two
traditions can be captured in the table below:
Basic conceptual differences between thought categories
of Athens and Jerusalem
Athenian Pole Jerusalem Pole
Detachment/Objectivity/
Universal
Involvement/Subjectivity/
Particular
Chronos Kairos
Being Becoming
Logic/Reason Decision/Emotion/Will
Necessary/Inevitable Contingent
Houts (2009) further stated:
At the other end of the universal-versus-particular-
pole lies the individual instance. In focusing on
this way of thinking, the individual person and
what goes on in the emotionally laden and
4 W.T. O’Donohue et al.
embodied musings of the heart are the focus of
concern and the model for how to think. The
Hebraic and early Christian texts of the bible are
filled with examples of stories about individuals.
Teaching is conducted by concrete example rather
than abstract principle (even though this too occurs
especially as the texts themselves came to be
influence by Hellenistic and Roman thought). God
speaks to Abraham and to Job in all of their par-
ticularity, and from these particular stories about
individuals, religious institutions later constructed
principles, rules, and more abstracted generalities
of theology and ethics. In the sayings of Jesus, one
often finds teaching in the form of parables which
are specific stories presented as pictures and
intended to call the hearers to immediate action in
the context of the presentation and the life situation
of Jesus (Jeremias 1963). Some of the clearest
exposition of this relative emphasis on the partic-
ular as contrasted with the universal can be found
in Kierkegaard whose works have done much to
clarify the differences between biblical and Greek
thought. Kierkegaard often juxtaposes the empha-
sis on the individual as opposed to the abstract
“mankind”and the preeminence of the subjective
over the objective (Kierkegaard et al. 1962). In this
way of thinking, thought moves from some
defining, overwhelming, and revealing experience
(the exodus from Egypt, the resurrection of Jesus)
outward instead of moving from some postulates
of reason and on to rational arguments. Truth is
obtained not from detachment but from engage-
ment and commitment to some particular tradition
encountered in powerful experiences…. In this
biblical way of life, the purpose of living is to be
engaged rather than detached. The “real”world is
to be found in commitment, engagement, and
emotionally charged faithfulness to something not
seen with the light of reason, but only encountered
when reason, logic, and those ways of comport-
ment fail and breakdown in self contradiction and
limit (pp. 262–264).
Zen shares this epistemic orientation with
Christianity and many of the same contrasts
apply to it and science. Psychologists have been
dubious and even hostile toward Christianity
(Cummings et al. 2009), but much more open to
Zen and Buddhism. However, this suggests that
Zen may be associated with a different way of
knowing—a more personal one—more akin to
the way you know you love your daughter—
knowledge that is independent from science but
no less secure and possibly even more important
to the individual. It would be unwise to reject
Zen Buddhism simply because it represents a
different way of knowing than that represented
by the scientific method. Houts (2009) stated
further:
From the standpoint of the [protestant] tradition, an
argument for God is like a bake sale for Bill Gates.
This is succinct way of highlighting the stark dif-
ference between the biblical and the Greek tradi-
tions regarding the place of rationality and logic,
where in the latter tradition logic is the supreme
arbiter of what is rational and what is not. From the
culture of Athens, we have inherited the traditions
of critical reflection and the use of rational argu-
ment to settle points of disagreement. From the
dialogues of Socrates to the Principia Mathemat-
ica of Russell and Whitehead (Whitehead and
Russell 1910), rationality and its bedrock, logic,
have been the central force of western philosophy
as well as a chief ingredient in synthesizing theo-
logical expositions. In contrast to this rational
emphasis on reasoned argument and the
well-crafted treatise, the biblical traditions featured
illustrative stories, recitation of great moments for
decision and action, poetry, riddles, grand fantastic
visions, and prophesy. At various times in the
history of western culture, the conflict between
these two very different modes of thought and
expression has erupted in solitary thinkers and
even in the culture at large (p. 268).
The reader will see in the chapters that follow
that Zen, too, communicates the personal through
stories, riddles, and personal commitment (see
Ogawa; Matsuyama, this volume). It is also
interesting to note that Martin Luther and the
advent of the Protestant tradition illustrate the
conflict between a dominant rationalist tradition
from Athens and the eruption of a contrary tra-
dition from Jerusalem. Luther is often quoted for
having said, “Reason is the Devil’s whore.”Zen
too can have a distrustful stance toward reason.
Thus, it is also the case that clinical psychology
must embrace this question if science is the only
way knowledge is produced. If so, how is this
reconciled with everyday, personal knowledge,
the kind that confirms that you love your child,
that genocide is wrong, or that you dislike red
wine? This, too, is knowledge, but it is not the
product of science.
These numerous differences are the reason
why glib suggestions that Zen and CBT ought to
be integrated are problematic. Combining the
two is not like combining water and rum but in
Introduction: Zen, Mindfulness, and Behavioral Health 5
some ways much more like combining oil and
water; there are incompatibilities. It seems much
more reasonable to suggest something softer like
a“Zen-informed CBT,”but until these incom-
patibilities and inconsistencies are resolved, a
stronger synthesis is not possible.
Varieties of Buddhism
In this book, we consider one variety of Bud-
dhism—Zen Buddhism. There are others, and
others have also captured the attention of psy-
chologists in recent years such as the Tibetan
Buddhism of the Dali Lama. There are many
commonalities across Buddhist practices, such as
the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold path.
Differences exist as well. It is beyond the scope
of this book to attempt an accurate exegesis of
each and to isolate all the points of contention.
This is an exercise more relevant to scholars of
Buddhism. Regardless, we want to offer a cau-
tionary tale here that one should not assume in
reading this text that there are no differences; as a
non-denominational or interdisciplinary Bud-
dhist, one should at least be aware of the major
differences. For example, the Rinzai branch of
Zen in Japan is more oriented toward martial arts
practice and the problems of the samurai,
whereas Tibetan Buddhism is relatively more
pacifist, and this latter orientation would gener-
ally be more acceptable to the average CBT
practitioner.
Considerations for Implementing
Zen Within Behavioral Health
The underlying purpose of this text is to provide
behavioral health professionals with a broader
and deeper understanding of how Zen concep-
tualizes our field, to better understand what Zen
has to say about the concept of behavioral health
as we view it in the West. Further, it is important
to us that the voices and perspectives sharing
their knowledge and expertise on these topics
have first-hand experience with Zen. Monks,
academics, practitioners, students, researchers,
and teachers alike have contributed to offer a
comprehensive and diverse analysis of behav-
ioral health from a Zen perspective.
As Masuda and Sargent in this volume point
out, basic linguistic and epistemological differ-
ences between Western and Zen worldviews
prevent traditional Zen practices from transmit-
ting in their exact forms and interpretations
globally. This is evidenced in history given
changes and adaptations of Buddhism observed
as it reached China from India, Japan from
China, etc. That is, as Zen “outsiders”make
sense of Zen within their own cultures, the ways
in which Zen is implemented and practiced
morph and cannot overlap completely with
native forms. Zen-like practices have emerged
with immense popularity across the globe, par-
ticularly within the field of behavioral health.
And out of each transmission arises change of
some sort, such that the identification of a “true”
or “pure”Zen is no longer possible. Because of
this, we have also argued that an array of
behaviors can be conducted in the Buddha way.
The Limits of Mindfulness and Zen
The use of mindfulness is a good example of a
Zen concept being transmitted and therefore
changed as it is applied in a new context. As
noted above, the field of behavioral health has
become increasingly interested in mindfulness
and Zen practices because of their salutary effects
found on various psychological and health out-
comes (see Hazlett-Stevens, Kushner, this vol-
ume). Given these favorable outcomes,
mindfulness and Zen practices are used as a
means to overcome internalizing issues (e.g.,
depression, anxiety, and pain) and to promote
greater behavioral adaptation (Monteiro et al.
2015). Practitioners of diverse theoretical orien-
tations now use forms of mindfulness as a way to
improve therapeutic effectiveness and increase
client functioning. Mindfulness-based cognitive
therapy (MBCT) incorporates mindfulness prac-
tices (i.e., mindfulness meditation) into tradi-
tional CBT methods in order to help clients
decenter, thereby disengaging with symptoms of
6 W.T. O’Donohue et al.
depression that create dysfunction in their daily
lives (e.g., self-criticism). It has also been used to
prevent relapse in addicted populations (Ma and
Teasdale 2004). Mindfulness-based stress
reduction (MBSR) employs mindfulness medi-
tation to alleviate suffering for people who are
chronically ill, suffering with physical and psy-
chosomatic symptoms. These therapeutic
approaches have been effective in their stated
goals (Grossman et al. 2004), and deeper
exploration has pointed to probable cognitive
mechanisms for the effectiveness of these
approaches: A recent meta-analysis revealed that
among the many studies evaluating MBCT and
MBSR, changes in cognitive and emotional
reactivity constituted the strongest mechanism
underlying the behavioral changes that occur
following MBCT and MBSR practices imple-
mented in therapy (Gu et al. 2015), with other
consistent mechanisms including changes in
mindfulness, rumination, and worry.
In the non-secular domain, Zen Buddhism
does not advocate the practice of mindfulness or
meditation for the purpose of attaining these
ends. Zen Buddhism also states that practicing
Zen with the intention to gain these ends can be
detrimental, especially doing so in the extreme
(see Bartok and Roemer, this volume). In Zen
literature, practicing Zen with the intention of
gaining something is called bonpu Zen
(Broughton 2009; Uchiyama et al. 2004). Dogen
Zenji (道元禅師; 1200–1253), the founder of the
Soto school of Zen in Japan, stated that one must
practice Zen simply for the sake of it, instead
(Dogen et al. 2011). In doing so, according to
Dogen, the Buddha Way naturally unfolds
(Okumura 2010).
In Zen, the Buddha Way is the ongoing pur-
suit of self-enlightenment (i.e., embodiment of
true self or nature) or the perfection of self
through the self with an earnest endeavor for the
benefit of mankind and all sentient beings (Japan
Buddhist Federation 1978). For this reason,
many Zen Buddhist scholars and practitioners
perceive that mindfulness and Zen practices in
behavioral health appear narrow in scope (see Li
and Ramirez; Masuda and Sargent, this volume).
Whereas the pursuit of desire for the cessation of
suffering (i.e., depression and anxiety) or the
attainment of happiness certainly could bolster
quality of life, Zen also advocates that one must
direct efforts outward to external surroundings.
In this sense, the self is blended into the whole.
In the practice of mindfulness, this is the point
where Zen Buddhism and Western behavioral
health seem to diverge from one another.
Throughout this book, various authors discuss
the holistic perspective of Zen Buddhism and
how mindfulness practices from this perspective
differ from some of the commonly held styles of
mindfulness practice in the field of behavioral
health.
The Limits of Cognitive Behavior
Therapy and Zen
Applied behavior analysis, which can be con-
strued as either a part of CBT or a competitor
(O’Donohue and Ferguson 2016), has been
concerned that there may be what is called a
“technical drift”in its development (Baer 1981).
The core of this concern was that behavior ana-
lytic techniques would be used without proper
understanding of their roots in learning theory or
their relationships to the wider theory of radical
behaviorism. Similar concerns can be raised
about techniques of CBT. For example, can a
technique related to the content of this book,
mindfulness, be understood in terms of experi-
mental cognitive psychology? If not, is this a
problem for contemporary cognitive psychology,
or mindfulness, or both? What happens to CBT if
it becomes an eclectic grab bag of techniques that
have dubious relationships to one another and
unclear relationships to fundamental psycholog-
ical principles found in learning and cognition?
The Limits of Acceptance-
and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive
Behavior Therapies and Zen
The influence of mindfulness and related
approaches is likely to continue as a dominant
force in the field of behavioral health, especially
Introduction: Zen, Mindfulness, and Behavioral Health 7
in the area of psychotherapy, for the next several
years (Norcross et al. 2013). The expansion of
mindfulness- and acceptance-based cognitive
behavioral therapies (Hayes et al. 2004,2011),
such as acceptance and commitment therapy
(ACT; Hayes et al. 1999,2012), dialectical
behavior therapy (Linehan 1993), mindfulness-
based cognitive therapy (MBCT; Segal et al.
2002), and mindfulness-based stress reduction
(MBSR; Kabat-Zinn 1990), has contributed
substantially to this movement.
As noted above, the mindfulness movement
seen in the field of behavioral health for the past
10 years is generally encouraging, as it sheds
light on an alternative direction in the pursuit of
happiness and flourishing. On the other hand,
according to Zen Buddhism, when the stand-
points of the therapist and client from which
these mindfulness- and acceptance-based treat-
ments are practiced are narrow and rigidly
applied, they are likely to amplify sufferings
unique to human beings.
Zen Buddhism emphasizes the importance of
oneness and wholeness (e.g., experiencing the
self as one blending into the environment and
surroundings) that goes beyond linguistic cate-
gorizations and differentiations. It is this stand-
point from which Zen Buddhism advocates for
mindfulness, acceptance, and compassion—not
from the standpoint of judgement (e.g., good vs.
bad) or self as a separate being that one should
cling to or isolate from others.
Take an ACT clinical case as an example. The
practice of acceptance and commitment to
values-consistent activities are the hallmarks of
ACT practice (Hayes et al. 1999). As noted
extensively in this book (see Fung et al., this
volume), acceptance is a behavior of becoming
open to whatever one is experiencing as it is
without any efforts to change it, whereas the
commitment to valued actions is the purposeful
and intentional behavioral effort made to engage
in the activities that are meaningful to the self. In
sum, when the standpoint of these practices is too
narrow, they end up serving as mood-altering
and self-protection strategies that may
paradoxically isolate the client from his or her
whole personal experience as well as from his or
her surroundings. ACT emerged partially in
response to the pitfall derived from narrow and
rigid standpoints regarding therapy and self
inherent within some traditional CBT approa-
ches. In fact, ACT and Zen Buddhism share
many philosophical assumptions (e.g., act of
person in a context as the fundamental unit of
understanding). Highlighting the importance of
clarifying one’s standpoint, the originators of
ACT caution clinicians not to practice it without
thorough understanding of its conceptual and
philosophical underpinnings (Hayes et al. 1999,
2012).
Looking Forward
Research on CBT, ACT, and mindfulness-based
therapy practices tells us what can be accom-
plished in behavioral health when traditional
practices are parsed out and implemented in
isolation for utilitarian purposes. As you will
learn in subsequent chapters, this utilitarian
approach is, in fact, not Zen at all from a theo-
retical perspective. At the same time, utilitarian
behaviors are a large part of life in all cultures,
including those in which Zen originated. People
have always and will continue to behave in ways
that produce desired results: They will work
toward careers that suit their interests, they will
save money to afford vacations, they will harvest
crops at specific times to create optimal return on
investment and optimal flavor on the table, and in
this sense, it is hard to claim that Zen and
goal-directed behaviors cannot coexist. As such,
psychologists, practitioners, and researchers will
continue to study human behavior with the goal
in mind to achieve some sort of influence over it
in the service of better quality of life at individual
and community levels.
Given that these goal-directed behaviors will
persist in various contexts, we want to
acknowledge the inherent discrepancies in what
appear to be the underlying goals of Zen and
8 W.T. O’Donohue et al.
behavioral health, but we also want to paint a
picture of what a Zen-informed behavioral health
might look like. As the chapters of this book
explain in detail, Zen is not one thing. It is not
zazen, it is not mindfulness, it is not concentra-
tion, it is not reading koans, and it is not the
absence of pleasure or suffering. At its core, Zen
is the culmination of all things that are both
interconnected and independent, and we can
understand the process of behavioral health
similarly: Human beings and the ways in which
we function in our environments are intercon-
nected and independent. They can also be made
predictable through scientific exploration, much
like gardening or preparing food can. Gardening
and cooking can both be utilitarian, yet they can
also be processes that help us to experience the
Buddha Way. Thus, the very best treatments will
rely upon psychological theory, practice, and
research that views people in this light. Rather
than seeing a “mindfulness”practice in a thera-
peutic setting as a Zen practice per se, we can
instead ask ourselves if our mindfulness practice,
or our thought record, or our exposure technique
is implemented with the client’s functioning as a
whole person in mind. Are we considering our
client’swhole context? Are we helping them to
experience their lives in the here-and-now via our
treatments, or have we implemented a given
technique as a Band-Aid for a very specific
symptom? For example, if we implement a
treatment that helps an adolescent with bulimia
nervosa reduce purging behaviors, but upon
follow-up we observe that she began cutting her
thighs, we may have been successful at symptom
reduction, but we failed to address the client’s
functioning as a whole person and missed the
underlying mechanism of her dysregulation
because of our narrow focus on a single symp-
tom. Using meditation or acceptance in this iso-
lated manner does not constitute Zen-informed
behavioral health—rather, a perspective of
wholeness and an appreciation for the
here-and-now in therapy and in research more
closely bridges the gap between Zen and our
field.
Philosophically Informed Behavioral
Health and What Zen May Have
to Offer
It may be important to develop a philosophically
informed theory of behavioral health that
includes key insights from Zen’s perspective.
Some ideas that Zen may offer to behavioral
health include:
1. Although not uniquely (see Houts above),
Zen illustrates another complementary epis-
temology of personal, experiential
knowledge.
2. Zen offers other key insights that provide a
broader and thus more useful structure of
meaning, something suggested by some con-
temporary theorists, such as Seligman (2011),
as important to flourishing and living a vital
life.
3. Zen can provide an important meta-criticism
to irrational ideas that lead to the some of the
kinds of human suffering psychotherapists
find that their patients encounter. This
includes the craving to feel no pain or to
“have it all.”Zen suggests that life is always
bitter sweet and that desire is the root of a lot
of our pain. Should psychotherapists help
their clients simplify their lives, accepting
some of the pain of life as inevitable? This is
in direct contrast to the view that the client
comes to us with goals (e.g., desires), and it is
the CBT therapist’s role to help them gain
these, much as an architect helps a client
design and build a 14 bedroom house.
4. Zen might help CBT realize that both the
body and the mind are important. Zen is lit-
erally an embodied view of the psychology of
a person. CBT has traditionally been much
more concerned with unembodied ideas.
5. Zen can provide an interesting analysis about
living more simply. A popular view of the
professional role of the psychotherapist has
been that the psychotherapist serves as the
architect and the client as the individual who
defines the goal. But what if the client wants
Introduction: Zen, Mindfulness, and Behavioral Health 9
too much? What if the client is what might be
called from a Zen perspective a hungry ghost:
a slave to ever perpetuating desires? Ought
the psychotherapist take a meta-perspective
and see the proliferation of want as the real
problem? A popular Zen meme distributed on
social media follows:
Do one thing at a time.
Do it slowly and deliberately.
Do it completely.
Do less.
Put space between things.
Develop rituals.
Designate time for certain things.
Devote time to sitting.
Smile and serve others.
Make cleansing and cooking become
meditation.
Think about what is necessary.
Live simply.
6. Zen provides another structure by which
to view thoughts, which are phenomena of
obvious importance in cognitive behavior
therapy. Zen, like CBT, suggests a dis-
tancing from thoughts, a view that
thoughts are not inevitable but are prod-
ucts of a complex system of causes. Zen
doesn’t suggest that the way to influence
thoughts is through rational disputation;
rather, the process of meditation changes
the person in such a way that thoughts
change. Thus, potentially, there is another
pathway to modify problematic thoughts,
especially automatic thoughts.
Overview of Chapters
To address the four foci described at the begin-
ning of this chapter, we have gathered experts
from the field of Zen Buddhism, mindfulness-
based interventions, and behavioral health in
Japan and the USA. In terms of the structure, the
present volume consists of four parts. Part I is the
overview of Zen Buddhism in terms of history
and sociocultural background as well as its rel-
evance to Western behavioral health. The aim of
Part I is to elucidate key historical and situational
contexts of Zen Buddhism where the constructs
of mindfulness, acceptance, and compassion
were originally emerged. Following the present
chapter, Shudo Ishii, Ph.D., an emeritus of
Komazawa University, the oldest Soto-Zen
Buddhism university, presents the history of
Zen Buddhism in China and highlight its core
perspective on enlightenment, practice, and
everyday living (Chapter “Zen and Zen
Buddhism: An Overview”). As discussed exten-
sively elsewhere (Dumoulin 2005), the history of
Zen Buddhism is traced back to Gautama Bud-
dha (Shakamuni Buddha; 釈迦牟尼仏陀)of
India in the sixth century B.C., the founder of the
Buddhist religion. His teaching was then trans-
mitted to China by Bodhidharma (菩提達磨)in
the sixth century, and the practice of Bodhid-
harma became the foundation of Zen Buddhism.
Even today, the core perspectives systematized in
China remain central in Zen Buddhism.
Zen Buddhism was then transmitted to Japan
in twelfth century, and there its teachings were
blended into the native Japanese culture (Japan
Buddhist Federation 1978; Suzuki 2010). As
mentioned above, understanding Japanese cul-
ture is crucial for learning Zen Buddhism in the
West in part because many sects of Zen Bud-
dhism in the West trace their origins back to Zen
Buddhism practices systematized in Japan. As
such, Akihiko Masuda, Ph.D., of University of
Hawaii, presents the intricate relation between
Zen Buddhism and Japanese culture (see Chapter
“Zen and Japanese Culture”).
Part II of this volume then delineates the core
features of Zen Buddhism, including its funda-
mental attitudes toward practice and everyday
living, sitting zen mediation, paradoxical and
illogical discourse, and its unique account of
body and language. These chapters are written by
internationally recognized Japanese Zen Bud-
dhist scholars and practitioners. In Chapter
“What is Zen?: The Path of Just Sitting,”Rev.
Shohaku Okumura Roshi, an internationally
known Japanese Soto-Zen monk, presents the
heart of Zen Buddhism by sharing his personal
10 W.T. O’Donohue et al.
journey of the Buddha Way. More specifically,
the heart of Zen Buddhism is described as the
practice of what D.T. Suzuki called “pure sub-
jectivity”(Suzuki 1996), and it is inherently
personal and experiential (Uchiyama and Oku-
mura 2014; Uchiyama et al. 2004). Okumura’s
chapter captures the extraordinariness of living
consistent with the Buddha Way in seemingly
ordinary aspects of everyday living.
Zazen (坐禅; sitting mediation) and koan (公
案; a seemingly paradoxical anecdote or riddle)
are the hallmarks of Zen Buddhism practice.
Whereas many behavioral health practitioners
may have heard of these practices, their core
features and aims are often misunderstood. In
Chapter “A Brief Note on Zazen,”Rev. Tairyu
Tsunoda Roshi of Komazawa University intro-
duces the ideal attitude for practicing zazen.
Many of us think that zazen is for strengthening
our mind and body or attaining a sense of peace,
kindness, and tranquility. However, Tsunoda
Roshi argues for the importance of practicing
zazen for the sake of zazen, without being caught
up in the desire attached achieving these ends.
Subsequently, in Chapter “The role and the
present significance of Koans,”Rev. Daiko
Matsuyama, an internationally recognized Rinzai
Zen monk, presents the process and aims of
koan-based practice and uncovers the reason why
akoan-based practice has been developed into its
current form, which appears quite odd for
Westerners.
Zen Buddhist practice characterized by zazen
and koan is the historically and contextually sit-
uated act of a person as a whole, not merely the
practice of mind or that of body. From this
standpoint, Zen Buddhism presents its unique
account of body, mind, and language (Wright
1992). In Chapter “Zen and Body,”Kenshu
Sugawara, Ph.D., of Aichi Gakuin University,
another well-known Soto-Zen Buddhism uni-
versity in Japan, highlights the Zen account of
body where the body is construed as being more
than a physical entity. Dr. Sugawara also eluci-
dates the role of body for fully experiencing the
Buddha Way in everyday living. Following the
Zen account of body, Takashi Ogawa, Ph.D., of
Komazawa University, presents the role of lin-
guistic processes and discourse in Zen Buddhism
practice (see Chapter “Zen and Language: Zen
Mondo and Koan”). Zen’s account of language,
communication, and reasoning is one of the most
widely discussed topics in the intersection of Zen
Buddhism, philosophy, and psychological sci-
ence (Gergen 1983; Kasulis 1981; Wright 1992).
Ogawa argues that, unlike some misconceptions,
Zen does not reject language or reasoning, and
that it plays a crucial role in Zen Buddhist
practice, although the linguistic practice of Zen is
not like the one we are familiar to.
Part III of this book highlights the Zen Bud-
dhism account of some of the key psychological
constructs fundamental to understanding our
sense of identity and well-being, such as self,
desire, forgiveness, and everyday living (Gilbert
and Irons 2005; Markus and Kitayama 1991;
Menahem and Love 2013). As noted above,
Buddhism is known for its unique treatment of
human desire. Zen Buddhism argues that even
some of the appropriate desires (e.g., desire for
our own child’s wellness) are detrimental espe-
cially when they are excessive. In Chapter “Zen
and Desire,”Seijun Ishii, Ph.D., of Komazawa
University outlines a Zen account of desire from
its perspective of human being as well as the link
between practice and the attainment of enlight-
enment. Following the Zen account of desire,
Hidetaka Okajima, Ph.D., of Aichi Gakuin
University, presents a Zen Buddhist account of
self and personality and its link to the concept of
human desire and enlightenment (see Chapter
“Zen, Self, and Personality”). In Zen Buddhism
literature, the terms self and desire are often used
interchangeably. Okajima argues that Zen prac-
tice is a way to integrate various personal expe-
riences into the sense of self that is more than an
individual self; further, the Buddha Way is this
way of experiencing self.
As an ancient Chinese Zen master, Mazu
Dahui (馬祖道一; 709–778) stated that the
practice of Zen Buddhism should not be dis-
jointed from everyday living (Poceski 2015);
rather, the Buddha Way (e.g., the expression of
true self and proper way to relate to desire)
Introduction: Zen, Mindfulness, and Behavioral Health 11
should be manifest in any given moment of our
lives. Mike Sayama, Ph.D., a Rinzai Zen master,
presents Zen’s perspective about everyday living
and demystifies Zen-consistent living by sharing
his own everyday life (Chapter “Every Day Is a
Fine Day”).
In addition to the constructs of mindfulness
and acceptance, other popular psychological
terms in the field of behavioral health are com-
passion and forgiveness (Neff 2003). For exam-
ple, many psychologists now believe that
forgiveness is an essential aspect of psychologi-
cal well-being (Menahem and Love 2013). Rev.
Shoryu Bradley, the Dharma heir of Shohaku
Okumura, presents a Zen account of forgiveness
(Chapter “Zen and Forgiveness”) and highlights
how the sense of forgiveness in Zen Buddhism
unfolds in everyday life as well as how it is
linked to greater compassion toward humanity
and all sentient beings. Finally, the last chapter of
Part III by Rev. Rosan Daido, a Roshi, presents
Zen principles as a value system that may serve
as an ethical guide for scientists and consumers
of scientific knowledge, the purpose of which is
to protect humanity and our global ecosystem
(Chapter “Zen and Science: Zen as an Ethical
Guideline for Scientists’Conducts”).
Part IV, the last section of this book, focuses
on issues emerging within the intersection of
Zen, mindfulness, and behavioral health. Zen and
mindfulness practices are known for their salu-
tary effects, and Part IV starts with Kenneth
Kushner, Ph.D., of University of Wisconsin,
Madison, also a Rinzai Zen master, who presents
the current state of evidence of Zen on psycho-
logical and health outcomes (see Chapter “Zen
and Behavioral Health: A Review of the
Evidence”). Following Kushner Roshi, Peiwei
Li, Ph.D., and her colleague of Springfield Col-
lege introduce the history and current trends of
cross-fertilization between Zen Buddhism and
psychotherapies. They also raise concerns about
the bastardization of mindfulness practice in the
field of behavioral health with being too narrow
in focus (see Chapter “Zen and Psychotherapy”).
Subsequently, Akihiko Masuda, Ph.D., and
Kayla Sargent of University of Hawaii present
Zen Buddhist thought on the concept and prac-
tice of psychopathology, arguing that many of
the differences between Zen and behavioral
health in their account of psychopathology are
epistemological, rather than empirical (Chapter
“Zen’s Thoughts on Psychopathology and
Wellness”). They also argue that Zen’s holistic
and functional account present an alternative way
of making sense of human psychopathology.
Zen Buddhism is holistic, transient, and
inclusive in its epistemological standpoint, and it
treats mindfulness from this standpoint. In
Chapter “What Is Measured by Self-report
Measures of Mindfulness?: Conceptual and
Measurement Issues,”Sungjin Im of University
of Nevada, Reno reviews most commonly used
self-report measures of mindfulness and their
validities. He also elucidates conceptual and
practical drift of mindfulness from its Eastern
origin. Subsequently, Rev. Josh Bartok Roshi
and Liz Roemer, Ph.D., of University of Mas-
sachusetts Boston, a co-founder of Acceptance-
Based Behavior Therapy (Roemer and Orsillo
2005), present a Zen Buddhist account of
acceptance and mindfulness (Chapter
“Remembering and receiving: Mindfulness and
acceptance in Zen”). More specifically, they
show how the practice of mindfulness and
acceptance is integrated into cognitive and
behavioral practice, while remaining true to each
tradition with the focus on the therapists’atti-
tudes toward their work and their clients. Fol-
lowing Rev Bartok Roshi and Dr. Roemer,
Marsha Linehan, Ph.D., the founder of Dialecti-
cal Behavior Therapy (DBT; Linehan 1993) and
Kayla Sargent present subtle and yet extremely
important overlaps between behavior therapy and
Zen Buddhism (Chapter “Brief Thoughts on Zen
and Behavior Therapy”). This is followed by
Holly Hazlett-Stevens, Ph.D., of University of
Nevada, Reno’s chapter on similarities and dif-
ferences between Zen Buddhism and CBT using
a CBT framework (Chapter “Zen, Mindfulness,
and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy”) and by Ken-
neth Fung, M.D. and his colleague of University
of Toronto’s discussion of the association
between Zen Buddhism and acceptance and
12 W.T. O’Donohue et al.
commitment therapy (ACT) in Chapter
“Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Zen
Buddhism.”
Finally, the last three chapters of Part IV
delineate the application/embodiment of Zen
Buddhism teaching in various applied settings. In
particular, Gordon Greene, Ph.D., of University
of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public
Health as well as a Rinzai Zen master, shares his
experience as a hospital chaplain (Chapter “Zen,
Pain, Suffering and Death”), and Norma Wong
Roshi presents the application of Zen principles
for professionals and advocates who work for
survivors of trauma and violence (Chapter
“Application of Zen Practices and Principles for
Professionals/Advocates Who Work for
Survivors of Trauma and Violence”). Finally,
Jeffrey Schneider, Roshi of San Francisco Zen
Center, describes and reflects upon his work as a
Zen priest with prison populations (Chapter “Zen
Incarcerated: A Personal Essay”).
Editors’Notes on Translated
Chapters
Many chapters written by Japanese authors were
originally composed in Japanese by these authors
and then translated into English by one of the
editors of this volume (A.M.) and his graduate
assistant, Kayla Sargent. We, the editors of the
volume, specify these translated chapters by
presenting the names of translators under the
chapter author at the first page of these chapters.
We do so in part because we would like to take
the full responsibility for the errors and mistakes
of the English versions of these chapters.
It is important to inform the reader that the
English versions of these chapters differ from the
original Japanese versions in two major ways,
although we made our best effort to present the
contents of the original versions as closely as
possible in the translated version. One domain of
difference is the sentence and paragraph struc-
ture. Japanese communication style at times
appears too indirect, subtle, and repetitive for
Western audiences as they are accustomed to
reading. As such, we have restructured some of
the paragraphs to sound more direct and linear.
Second, in the translated versions of chapters, we
have added sentences and paragraphs further
explaining some of the basic terms (e.g., koan,
zazen) used in Zen Buddhism, key figures (e.g.,
Dogen Zenji), as well as its core teachings (e.g.,
enlightenment). Some of these additions were
drawn from other sources that were not included
in the original versions of chapter. Whereas these
changes may enhance the readability for Western
audiences, they may have obscured the unique
features or nuances of Zen Buddhism teachings
and the authors’intensions.
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Introduction: Zen, Mindfulness, and Behavioral Health 15
Zen and Zen Buddhism: An Overview
Shudo Ishii, Akihiko Masuda and Kayla Sargent
Keywords
Zen Buddhism History of Zen Buddhism Chinese Zen Chan
Zen and Zen Buddhism have a long history. A
consensus among Zen Buddhism practitioners
and scholars is that Zen Buddhism began with
Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism
(Dumoulin 2005), who incorporated dhyana (i.e.,
a form of Zen meditation with Indian origins)
into his training. As Zen meditation can be traced
back to India prior to the time of Gautama
Buddha, the history of Zen Buddhism actually
began before Buddhism itself. For a moment,
imagine the tropical climate of India: It must
have been quite natural for the students of
diverse spiritual traditions to meditate tranquilly
under a tree or on a stone as they explored the
meaning of the way.
The term Zen (禅) itself sits upon a rich his-
tory. It can be used to describe similar but
varying concepts or practices depending on the
context and culture with which it is used. The
term Zen is derived from the Japanese pronun-
ciation of the Chinese word Chan (禪), which
came from the Sanskrit word dhyana or the Pali
word jhana. In Japanese Zen Buddhism, the term
is often considered synonymous with yoga (瑜
伽) or samadhi (三昧, an ultimate state of con-
centration achieved through meditation). In
practice, Zen is often understood as the act of
adjusting one’s mind by seeing and reflecting the
true nature of the universe. As such, Zen is also
called Zenjo (禅定) because the Sanskrit dhyana
also emphasizes the adjustment, settlement, and
concentration of the mind, which is roughly
translated as jo (定) in Japanese.
Prior to his awakening or enlightenment, Gau-
tama Buddha was said to seek teachings from two
sages, Ajara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta.
According to Keitoku Dentō-roku (景徳傳燈録in
Japanese; The Record of the Transmission of the
Lamp), one of the most widely read ancient Chan
texts, Gautama Buddha sought the samadhi of
nothingness (i.e., nondiscrimination) and the
samadhi of neither-perception-nor-nonperceptions
from these teachers (see Daoyuan and Whitfield
Translated and Edited by Akihiko Masuda and Kayla
Sargent.
S. Ishii (&)
Komazawa University, Tokyo, Japan
e-mail: soishii@komazawa-u.ac.jp
A. Masuda K. Sargent
University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, USA
e-mail: amasuda4@hawaii.edu
K. Sargent
e-mail: kaylansargent@gmail.com
©Springer International Publishing AG 2017
A. Masuda and W.T. O’Donohue (eds.), Handbook of Zen, Mindfulness, and Behavioral Health,
Mindfulness in Behavioral Health, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54595-0_2
17
2015, p. 76). As noted below, these forms of
samadhi were considered the two highest stages of
Zen meditation. However, once the Buddha
awakened to these states, he questioned the practice
of Zen meditation for the purpose of achieving these
states. Gautama Buddha then left those teachersand
moved to Bodh Gaya of India and attained the
enlightenment of the Middle Way (中道; Chudo in
Japanese) under the famous Bodhi Tree (Japan
Buddhist Federation 1978). The Middle Way
describes the profoundly influential Noble Eight-
fold Path: right view, right resolve, right speech,
right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right
mindfulness, and right samadhi. Although transi-
tioning away from zazen for the purpose of attain-
ing the ultimate state of mind, Gautama Buddha
continued to practice zazen for the rest of his life.
Earlier Buddhist texts categorize the world
into three realms: the world of desire (i.e., phys-
ical and material world), the world of form (i.e.,
energy world), and the world of formlessness (see
Shankman 2008). A detailed account of this
ancient Buddhist perspective is beyond the scope
of this chapter. However, worth noting briefly are
the four levels of dhyana (zen) as well as the four
levels of samadhi in the formless realm described
in these texts. It is said that upon mastery of the
four dhayas in the realms of form, one can move
toward the four formless samadhi in the realm of
formlessness. The four levels of dhyana are said
to correspond to the four levels of attainment in
the realm of formlessness. According to Shank-
man, these four levels of dhyana are “distinctive
meditative states of high concentrations in which
the mind becomes unified”(p. 32). The four
levels of samadhi in the formless realm are
the samadhi of boundless space, of boundless
consciousness, of nothingness, and of neither-
perception-nor-nonperception.
According to an ancient Buddhist story, when
Gautama Buddha attained the highest stage of
samadhi in the realm of formlessness (i.e., that of
neither-perception-nor-nonperception), he
brought himself back to the fourth level of
dhayna. He did so because the fourth level of
dhayna represents the optimal balance between
meditation practice and samadhi while also
capturing the Middle Way of not affirming
self-centered desires as well as that of not falling
into a pattern of excessive pursuit of samadhi
through meditation practice.
Even after the death of Gautama Buddha,
zazen training continued in Buddhism and has
subsequently been transmitted through genera-
tions of Buddhist monks. It is also worth noting
that zazen was integrated into various forms of
spiritual training in India, including Buddhism,
because it was believed to have a mystical power.
Generally speaking, it is said that Zen Bud-
dhism was transmitted to China from India in the
sixth century by Bodhidharma (菩提達磨; Bodai
Daruma in Japanese) of India. In Zen Buddhism,
Bodhidharma is regarded as the founder (i.e., the
first patriarch) of Zen Buddhism as well as the
28th patriarch of Buddhism overall. From this
perspective, China became the birthplace of Zen
Buddhism as a religious organization when the
teaching of Bodhidharma was transmitted to his
Chinese disciple, Huike (慧可; Eka in Japanese;
487–593), who became the second patriarch of
Zen Buddhism.
The philosophy of Zen Buddhism was said to
fully develop during the time of the sixth patri-
arch, Huineng (慧能; Eno in Japanese; 638–
713). Subsequently, Baizhang Huaihai (百丈懷
海; Hyakujo Ekai in Japanese; 720–814) estab-
lished the Pure Rules of Baizhang (百丈清規;
Hyakujo Shingi in Japanese), an early set of rules
for Zen monastic discipline, and Zen Buddhism
rapidly grew to become a major religious and
cultural force. Zen Buddhism faced a significant
threat between the years of 845 and 846 when
Chinese Emperor Wuzong persecuted and dev-
astated Buddhist schools in an effort to cleanse
China of foreign influences. However, some Zen
schools survived as their practices did not rely on
texts or sutras, and these became the leading
sects of Chinese Zen.
Zen Buddhism was also transmitted to Korea
from the seventh to ninth centuries, and subse-
quently to Japan in the twelfth century. In more
recent years, Zen was transmitted from Asian
areas to the West, and it has become a global
phenomenon since. In attempting to understand
18 S. Ishii et al.
“what Zen is,”we must explore the significance
of Chinese Zen in the development and prolif-
eration of Zen worldwide.
Establishment of Zen Buddhism
and Its Philosophy
As mentioned above, Zen can be traced origi-
nally to India, but Zen Buddhism as a major
religious organization originated in China.
Although Bodhidharma of India was said to have
moved to China, disseminating his teachings
through Huike, Zen was actually introduced to
China gradually. Prior to the arrival of Bodhid-
harma, China had already been exposed to Zen
meditation since 67 A.D., when Buddhism was
first introduced to China. It is speculated that
Chinese people were intrigued by Buddhism
when it was introduced to them for the first time;
this is less so because of its formal teachings and
practices and more so a result of the mystic
powers that the foreign monks of Buddhism were
believed to possess. The Dunhuang manuscripts,
a cache of important religious and secular doc-
uments discovered in China’s Mogao Caves in
the early twentieth century, uncovered hidden
aspects of the complicated history of Zen
Buddhism.
In terms of the history of Zen Buddhism, the
Dunhuang manuscripts revealed that Heze
Shenhui (荷沢神会; Kataku Jinne in Japanese,
684–758) played a crucial role in the establish-
ment of Chinese Zen as a religious organization.
Hu Shih (胡適; 1891–1962), a Chinese philoso-
pher, essayist, and diplomat, studied Shenhui
extensively (see McRae 2001). As described in
McRae (2001), Hu Shih (1953) gave Shenhui the
highest regard as the most successful evangelist
in the history of Chinese Buddhism. Hu Shih also
described Shenhui as both the persecutor of
Indian Zen and the founder of the new type of
Chinese Zen. According to McRae (2003),
Shenhui fabricated the history of Zen as “a public
exponent of the ‘good news’of Chan”(p. 107).
Seizan Yanagida (柳田聖山; 1922–2006), one
the most important Japanese Buddhologists in
the twentieth century, also discussed the signifi-
cance of Shenhui extensively throughout his
career (see McRae 1993).
As noted above, the discovery of the Dun-
huang manuscripts elicited a revision of the his-
tory of Zen Buddhism. For example, Rinzai and
Soto sects of Zen Buddhism previously consid-
ered the famous encounter between Bodhid-
harma and Emperor Wu (502–555) as a historical
fact (see Ferguson 2011, pp. 14–16). This epi-
sode was included both in the Blue Cliff Record
(碧巌録; Hekiganroku in Japanese) and in the
Book of Equanimity (從容錄;Shōyōroku in
Japanese), the fundamental scripts of Rinzai Zen
(Linji School) and Soto Zen (Caodong School),
respectively. However, this encounter is now
considered a fiction created by Shenhui.
The Blue Cliff Record is a collection of koans
originally compiled in China during the Song
Dynasty in 1125, subsequently expanded into its
present form by the Rinzai Zen master Yuanwu
Keqin (1063–1135; 圜悟克勤; Engo Kokugon in
Japanese). A koan (公案) is a story, dialogue,
question, or statement, which is used in Zen
practice to provoke enlightenment. The book
includes Yuanwu’s annotations and commentary
on 100 Verses on Old Cases (頌古百則), a
compilation of 100 koans collected by Xuedou
Zhongxian (980–1052; 雪竇重顯, Setcho). The
Book of Equanimity was compiled by Soto Zen
master Wansong Xingxiu (万松行; 1166–1246),
first published in 1224. The book comprises a
collection of 100 koans written by the Soto Zen
master Hongzhi Zhengjue (宏智正覺; 1091–
1157), together with commentaries by Wansong.
In addition to the famous encounter between
Bodhidharma and Emperor Wu, Shenhui appears
to have created other legends about Bodhid-
harma, including nine years of wall gazing,
Huike cutting off his arm to demonstrate his
sincerity in receiving Bodhidharma’s teaching,
and Huike receiving a robe as the testimonial of
the transmission of the True Way.
Hu Shih also emphasized that it was Shenhui
who initially considered the robe as a symbol of
the transmission of the Way to subsequent
leaders, possibly initiating the concept and
Zen and Zen Buddhism: An Overview 19
process of Patriarchal lineage. He also wrote the
original text of the Sixth Patriarch’s Dharma
Jewel Platform Sutra (see Buddhist Text Trans-
lation Society 2001). Historically, Shenhui’s
apparent falsifications played a role in criticisms
of Northern School teachings and the prolifera-
tion of the Southern School of Zen.
Today, Zen Buddhism generally regards
Huineng of the Southern School as the sixth and
last patriarch of Zen Buddhism (Dumoulin 2005;
McRae 2003), largely as a result of Shenhui’s
influence in creating a split between the Northern
and Southern Schools of Zen. Shenhui, of the
Southern School, claimed that Huineng (also of
the Southern School) was the legitimate heir of
Zen Buddhism. At that time, Shenxiu (神秀;
Jinshu in Japanese; unknown-706) of the
Northern School was regarded as the heir of the
fifth patriarch, Hongren (弘忍; Konin in Japa-
nese; 601–674), and he and his students experi-
enced widespread fame and status through the
strong support by China’s imperial court.
When Shenhui claimed that Huineng of the
Southern School was the heir of the fifth patri-
arch in 720, he was largely ignored. However,
when the An Lushan Rebellion (755–763) dev-
astated northern China in an attempt to weaken
the Tang Dynasty, Shenxui and the Northern
School’sinfluence was also significantly weak-
ened. At the same time, Shenhui of the Southern
School gained the power that the Northern
School lost, and his assertions of Huineng as the
sixth patriarch were legitimized. Shenhui subse-
quently proclaimed himself to be the seventh
patriarch, the receiver of the robe from Huineng.
Huineng’s Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra was
one of the most widely read Zen Buddhist texts,
particularly the version edited and published in
1291. As a result, many believed that the stories
of Huineng cited in the Platform Sutra were
historical facts. For example, in the text is a
legendary poetry contest between Huineng
(Southern School) and Shenxiu (Northern
School) at the fifth patriarch’s monastery at
Huangmei. This episode, which was found to be
fictional later in the early twentieth century,
symbolized the emergence of the Southern
School and the demise of the Northern School.
Shenxiu’s poem (McRae 2000, p. 20) goes:
Body is the bodhi tree
Heart is like clear mirror stand
Strive to clean it constantly
Do not let the dust motes land
In response to Shenxiu’s poem, Huineng wrote
(McRae 2000, p. 22) the following:
Bodhi is originally without any tree;
The bright mirror is also not a stand
Originally there is not a single thing
Where could any dust be attracted?
A detailed analysis of these poems is beyond the
scope of this chapter. However, it is worthwhile
to present a brief commentary on this poetry
contest. In Zen’s Chinese Heritage: The Masters
and Their Teachings, a widely read book on
Chinese Zen and its heritage, Andy Ferguson
(2011) explains this episode:
To better understand the doctrinal difference
between Shenxiu’s“Northern”and Huineng’s
“Southern”Zen, it would be useful to briefly
introduce the Buddhist doctrine of “mind.”The
concept of “mind”is central to Zen, as well as
other schools of Buddhist thought and philosophy.
A Zen Buddhist teaching holds that there is but
one universal “mind”that is constituted by the
mind of all living beings. This universal mind is
called “Buddha,”“Buddha nature,”“true self,”and
so on.
But different schools of Zen and Buddhism had
different interpretations about the teaching of mind
and how it may be understood. Shenxiu’s Northern
School believed and advanced the position that
there are “impurities”that can cloud the mind.
These impurities include an individual’s thoughts
or interpretations, and any of which necessarily
give rise to the illusion of an individual self.
Therefore, a “mirror”analogy is applied to this
type of understanding. The individual’s small mind
is likened to a “mirror”that reflects the entire
universe. Delusion is an impurity, and the “dust”
on the mirror that prevents the individual from
maintaining his or her pure, original (and univer-
sal) mind.
In contrast, the Southern School advanced the idea
that there is no way to realize the nature of mind
except through sudden realization, and this must be
done quite apart from any ideas of “purity”or
“impurity.”Even the so-called “dust”on the
20 S. Ishii et al.
allegorical mirror must only be part of mind, so
how can it be called “impure”?“Polishing”the
mirror, or removing impurities through various
practices, does not lead to a genuine realization of
the nature of mind. This difference was at the heart
of the poems attributed to Shenxiu and Huineng in
the contest at Huangmei (pp. 49–50).
Ferguson (2011) also highlights the political
significance of this episode in the Platform Sutra
as follows:
In that competition, the lowly positioned Huineng
proved to have superior spiritual insight, despite
the fact that Shenxiu was Hongren’s most senior
student. This famous episode, well known in the
religious folklore of East Asia, is the legendary
seed of the growth of Zen into Northern (followers
of Shenxiu) and Southern (followers of Huineng)
schools. Twentieth-century scholarship has, to a
large degree, undermined the evidence that this
event really occurred. However, the story of the
poetry contest at Huangmei remains informative,
for it symbolizes the genuine doctrinal differences
that many scholars believe divided the Northern
and Southern Zen schools (p. 49).
This episode is also known for highlighting the
contrast between the Northern School and the
Southern School in their respective accounts of
enlightenment. Shenxiu is said to emphasize
gradual enlightenment (漸悟), whereas Huineng
spoke of sudden enlightenment (頓悟). As such,
the story in the Platform Sutra also implies the
superiority of sudden enlightenment to gradual
enlightenment. According to Hu Shih, Shenhui
used this rhetoric to promote the Southern School
of Zen and criticized Shenxiu and his lineage as a
fundamentally illegitimate practice.
The sudden enlightenment advocated by
Shenhui implies an innate nature of enlighten-
ment; that is, we already have the Buddha nature.
According to Suzuki (1996,1997), the sudden-
ness (頓) in the sudden enlightenment (頓悟)is
not about the immediacy of time. Rather, it is of a
breakthrough in logic and space. The Chinese
character 頓means “sudden,”but in Chinese Zen
Buddhism, the term also means “as it is”or
“thusness.”As such, instead of translating it as
“sudden enlightenment,”Shenhui’s position of
enlightenment could very well be translated as
“original enlightenment,”which is synonymous
with honkaku (本覚; genuine enlightenment).
Worth noting is that Hu Shih, who generally
disagrees with Suzuki’s account of Zen Bud-
dhism, corroborated Shenhui’s emphasis on the
thusness.
Recent studies on Chinese Zen Buddhism and
its heritage suggest that Shenhui’s perspective on
Zen is not actually distinct from that of the
Northern School. In fact, it appears that Shenhui
skillfully integrated the teachings of the Northern
School into his own. Additionally, whereas
Shenxiu was certainly the dominant figure within
the Northern School of Zen, the broader teach-
ings of the Northern School reflected diversity
and complexity that was traditionally
overlooked.
Despite the fictional aspects of Shenhiu’s
teachings, his influential contributions to Chinese
Zen Buddhism remain significant (McRae 2001).
His teaching of original enlightenment was con-
sidered a core teaching of Chinese Zen Bud-
dhism during the Tang Dynasty (618–907), as
well as the key teaching that eventually united all
of Chinese Buddhists under the Sudden
Enlightenment School.
In sum, the discovery of the Dunhuang
manuscripts has offered a more complete history
of early Chinese Zen Buddhism. In studying these
writings, the focus was largely placed on the
investigation of historical facts (e.g., whether
episodes in old Zen texts actually occurred). As
noted above, many of these episodes are found to
be fictional or fabricated. However, as is the case
in many religious and influential texts across
many cultures, many have strongly advocated that
wisdoms within these stories remain profound,
despite the fact that the stories themselves are
fictional; thus, we should appreciate the influential
aspects of these narratives and refrain from
shunning them immediately (see McRae 1993).
Chinese Zen Buddhism in Tang
Dynasty (750–1000 AD)
Because of Shenhui’sinfluence and the shifting
power dynamics following the revolution, the
Southern School of Zen emerged as the
Zen and Zen Buddhism: An Overview 21
prominent Chinese Zen organization during the
Tang Dynasty. However, Shenhui’s line of
Southern School teachings did not evolve into
the dominant sect of Zen Buddhism. Instead, the
lines of Qingyuan Xingsi (青原行思; Seigen
Gyoshi in Japanese; 673–741) and Nanyue
Huairang (南嶽懐譲; Nangaku Ejo in Japanese;
677–744), Shenhui’s fellow disciples, became
the major schools of Chinese Zen. Subsequently,
Mazu Daoyi (馬祖道一; Baso Doitsu in Japa-
nese; 709–788) and his disciples, such as Baiz-
hang Huaihai (百丈懷海; Hyakujo Ekai in
Japanese; 720–814), established the structure of
Chinese Zen Buddhism as a major religious
organization. Mazu was Nanyue Huairang’s
dharma heir.
The Bodhidharma line of Zen studied and
followed the Lankavatara Sutra, one of the
original sutras of Mahayana Buddhism, exten-
sively. Mazu edited the Lankavatara Sutra,
emphasizing sudden enlightenment in his teach-
ing (Poceski 2015). In this text, Mazu attempts to
make sense of important Zen concepts. For
example, one of the most famous questions
posed in Zen Buddhism is “What is the meaning
of Bodhidharma’s coming to China?”This
question, canonically asked of Zen students, asks
what Bodhidharma taught as well as what Zen
teaches. This is how Mazu described the mean-
ing of Zen by quoting the Lankavatara Sutra:
Each one of you, you should believe that your own
mind is the Buddha, that this mind is identical with
the Buddha. The great master Bodhidharma came
from India to China and transmitted the One Mind
teaching of the supreme vehicle in order to cause
you to realize awakening. He also quoted the
Lankavatara Scripture, in order to imprint the
minds of living beings, fearing that they are per-
turbed and lack faith themselves. The truth of this
One Mind is something that each and every one of
you possesses. Therefore, according to the
Lankavatara Scripture, the Buddha’s teaching
asserts that the mind is the essential principle, and
that the lack of a particular point of entry is the
(very essence) of the (true) teaching”(Poceski
2015, p. 83).
The teaching of One Mind in this passage is
analogous to the teaching of original enlighten-
ment. Similarly, Mazu also taught that our
ordinary, everyday behavior can manifest the
Buddha Way. He stated:
The Way needs no [special methods of spiritual]
cultivation—all you need to do is put an end to
[engendering all sorts of] defilements. What are
defilements? If you have a mind [mired in the
circle] of birth and death, and are engaged in
deliberate acts and have [self-centered] ambitions,
then everything [you do] is defilement. If you want
to directly know the Way, then ordinary mind is
the Way. Ordinary mind denotes [a state of mind
in which there is] no [deliberate] action, no [ideas
about] right and wrong, no grasping and discard-
ing, no [notion of] annihilation and permanence,
no ordinary and sacred. The scripture says,
“Unlike the practice of ordinary people, and like
the practice of sages—that is the practice of bod-
hisattvas.”At this very moment, as you engage in
walking, standing, sitting, or reclining, and as you
respond to [various] situations and deal with
[other] people—everything [you do and encounter]
is the Way (Poceski 2015, p. 301).
In summarizing Mazu’s teachings, it is important
to note that what he meant by mind is not what
we usually understand as mind. What he means
is the act of a whole person interacting fully with
his or her surroundings and other individuals in a
given moment. For Mazu, the enlightenment or
the Way is not somewhere “else,”but in the very
moment of one’s life. It is this mind that blends
everyday living and the Way into the original
oneness. The following is an episode that sum-
marizes the teaching of Mazu.
One day Mazu addressed the congregation, saying,
“All of you here! Believe that your own mind is
Buddha. This very mind is buddha mind. When
Bodhidharma came from India to China he trans-
mitted the supreme vehicle teaching of One Mind,
allowing people like you to attain awakening.
Moreover, he brought with him the text of the
Lankavatara Sutra, using it as the seal of the
mind-ground of sentient beings. He feared that
your views would be inverted, and you wouldn’t
believe in the teaching of this mind that each and
every one of you possesses. Therefore [Bodhid-
harma brought] the Lankavatara Sutra, which
offers the Buddha’s words that mind is the essence
—and that there is no gate by which to enter
Dharma. You who seek Dharma should seek
nothing. Apart from mind there is no other Bud-
dha. Apart from Buddha there is no other mind. Do
not grasp what is good nor reject what is bad.
Don’t lean toward either purity or pollution. Arrive
22 S. Ishii et al.
at the empty nature of transgressions; that nothing
is attained through continuous thoughts; and that
because there is no self-nature the three worlds are
only mind. The myriad forms of the entire uni-
verse are the seal of the single Dharma. Whatever
forms are seen are but the perception of mind. But
mind is not independently existent. It is code-
pendent with form. You should speak appropri-
ately about the affairs of your own life, for each
matter you encounter constitutes the meaning of
your existence, and your actions are without hin-
drance. The fruit of the bodhisattva way is just
thus, born of mind, taking names to be forms.
Because of the knowledge of the emptiness of
forms, birth is nonbirth. Comprehending this, one
acts in the fashion of one’s time, just wearing
clothes, eating food, constantly upholding the
practices of a bodhisattva, and passing time
according to circumstances. If one practices in this
manner is there anything more to be done? (Fer-
guson 2011, p. 75)
When Zen Buddhism was first transmitted
from India to China, Chinese people were intri-
gued by the mystical powers associated with it,
rather than its actual teachings. However, as Zen
Buddhism became rooted into the Chinese soil,
such an image was naturally faded. What made
Chinese people attracted to Zen was its teaching
of ordinary, and yet wholehearted way of living.
A quote by Layman Pang (龐居士; Hokoji in
Japanese; 740–808), a nonmonastic student of
Mazu, is known to highlight this point. It goes:
How miraculous and wondrous,
Hauling water and carrying firewood (Ferguson
2011, p. 109)
According to Layman Pang, there is no act that
reflects the Buddha Way more than activities
crucial for everyday living, such as hauling water
and carrying firewood at his time. Linji Yixuan
(臨済義玄; Rinzai Gigen in Japanese; died 866
CE), the founder of the Linji School of Zen
Buddhism, further refined the importance of
everyday and ordinary living as the core teaching
of “人”(nin in Japanese; being a person). The
teaching of nin reflects the continuous practice
(the true self) that is not entangled with anything.
It is to pee and poo, wear clothes, and eat without
being caught up by delusions. Linji used the term
“無事人;one who has nothing to do”to describe
the fully enlightened person, then stated:
[He who has] nothing to do is the noble one.
Simply don’t strive—just be ordinary (see Sasaki
and Kirchner 2008, pp. 178–179).
Zen is not based on analysis, differentiation,
or logic. In Genjokoan (現成公案; sometimes
translated as Actualization of Reality), Dogen
Zenji (道元禅師; 1200–1253), the founder of the
Soto School of Zen in Japan, quoted an episode
of Baoche of Mt. Mayu (麻谷宝徹), a student of
Mazu, to highlight this point. The episode goes:
Zen master Baoche of Mt. Mayu was fanning
himself. A monk approached and said, “Master,
the nature of wind is permanent and there is no
place it does not reach. Why, then, do you fan
yourself?”
“Although you understand that the nature of the
wind is permanent,”Baoche replied, “you do not
understand the meaning of its reaching
everywhere.”
“What is the meaning of its reaching everywhere?”
asked the monk again. The master just kept fan-
ning himself. The monk bowed deeply.
The actualization of the buddha-dharma, the vital
path of its correct transmission, is like this (Dogen
and Tanahashi 1985, pp. 72–73).
Then, Dogen continued with his commentary:
If you say that you do not need to fan yourself
because the nature of wind is permanent and you
can have wind without fanning, you will under-
stand neither permanence nor the nature of wind.
The nature of wind is permanent; because of that,
the wind of the buddha’s house brings for the gold
of the earth and makes fragrant the cream of the
long river (Dogen and Tanahashi 1985, p. 73).
Worth nothing is the contribution of Baizhang
Huaihai, the dharma heir of Mazu. As noted
above, he was said to establish a set of rules for
Chan (Chinese Zen) monastic discipline, known
as the Pure Rules of Baizhang (百丈清規;Hya-
kujo Shingi in Japanese), and reinforced the
independence of Zen Buddhism as a major reli-
gious and cultural force. Within the Pure Rules of
Baizhang, the most notable is the establishment
of group work (普請;fushin in Japanese). Fushin
meant “to assemble people”for labor. The
establishment of this rule was significant because
productive labor was strictly prohibited in early
Indian Buddhism. The rule of fushin with
the emphasis on self-sufficiency and daily labor
Zen and Zen Buddhism: An Overview 23
(e.g., farming) became a regular aspect of the
monastic life. “Day of no working—a day of no
eating”by Baizhang is the most famous quote
derived from this outlook (see Sasaki and
Kirchner 2008, pp. 320–321).
Furthermore, contemporary to Mazu, there
was Shitou Xiqian (石頭希遷; Sekito Kisen in
Japanese; 700–790). Shitou was a disciple of
Huineng’s successor, Qingyuan Xingsi. Later in
the line of Shitou, Dongshan Liangjie (洞山良
价; Tozan Ryokai in Japanese; 807–869) foun-
ded the Caodong School (曹洞宗). The Caodong
School of Zen was transmitted to Japan in the
thirteenth century by Dogen and developed into
the Soto School of Zen.
In his writings, Dogen quoted Dongshan more
than anyone else. Dongshan’s Zen emphasized
the continuous practice without the desire of
gaining something, even the experience of
enlightenment. This continuous practice is often
contrasted with the practice of sudden enlight-
enment taught in the Linji School of Zen. Con-
sistent with Linji, Dongshan and Dogen stated
that every one of us has the Buddha nature,
nevertheless. Dongshan and Dogen then said that
the students of Zen must not become settled with
one-time experience of enlightenment: Instead,
they must continue to strive for the Buddha Way.
Zen Buddhism in Song Dynasty
(960–1279)
Generally speaking, the development and
expansion of Zen Buddhism during the Tang
Dynasty is summarized and called “Five Houses
of Chan (Zen).”Bendowa (辨道話; Discourse on
the Practice of the Way), which was completed
by Dogen in 1231 AD immediate after his return
from China, described the Five Houses of Zen in
the context of Zen history. He stated:
There were two great disciples under the Sixth
Ancestor: Ejo of Nangaku and Gyoshi of Seigen.
Both of them transmitted and maintained Buddha
mandra and were guiding teachings for all beings.
As these two streams of the dharma flowed and
permeated widely, the five gates opened: the
Hogen, Igyo, Soto, Unmon, and Rinzai schools.
These days in Song China, only the Rinzai school
is present everywhere (see Dogen et al. 1997,
p. 21).
Hogen, Igyo, Soto, Unmon, and Rinzai are
Japanese names for the five schools of Zen.
Following a Chinese pronunciation, these
schools are often called the Fayan (法眼),
Guiyang (潙仰), Caodong (曹洞), Yunmen (雲
門), and Linji (臨濟) schools in English,
respectively. As noted above, Linji (Rinzai)
became the most dominant house of Zen Bud-
dhism during the Song Dynasty, and it blanched
out to the Huanglong line (黄龍派) and Yangqi
line (楊岐派). Given these two blanches, Chi-
nese Zen during that time of Song Dynasty is
also called The Five Houses and Seven Schools
of Zen (五家七宗). Toward the end of Song
Dynasty, only Linji (Rinzai) and Caodong (Soto)
schools remained in Asia, including China and
Japan (Ishii 1987).
Linji and Caodong schools in the Song
Dynasty are characterized by Kanna-Zen (看話
禅in Japanese; koan-introspecting Zen) and
Mokusho-Zen (黙照禅in Japanese; Silent Illu-
mination Zen), respectively. Kanna-Zen, which
was formalized by Dahui Zonggao (大慧宗杲;
Daie Soko in Japanese; 1089–1163), is a
koan-based method of Zen Buddhism, and
Mokusho-Zen, which was matured by Hongzhi
Zhengjue (宏智正覺; Wanshi Shogaku in Japa-
nese; 1091–1157), is known as the practice of
just sitting with silence. Of the two, Mokuso-Zen
was matured first.
Hongzhi stated that silent illumination was the
most authentic expression of Buddha Way.
According to the teaching of Silent Illumination
Zen, the Buddha nature naturally unfolds through
continuous practice, as if a light naturally begins
to illuminate in darkness. As such, zazen itself
considered the state of enlightenment, the Bud-
dha Way, and the true self. Dumoulin (2005)
summarized Hongzhi’s Silent Illumination Zen
as follows:
In his view: silent illumination was the most
authentic expression of the tradition that had come
down from the Buddhas and the patriarchs: To one
who forgets the words in silence reality is clearly
revealed…Silence is the stillness that grounds the
24 S. Ishii et al.
enlightened mind, whose natural ability to “shine”
is revealed in silence. Reality reveals itself to those
sitting in silence mediation without leading them to
look on things as objects of intellection. Enlight-
enment is like the mirror-quality of the enlightened
and resplendent Buddha mind (p. 256).
Conversely, Dahui of Kanna-Zen was less
enthusiastic about the Silent Illumination Zen. In
fact, Dahui is sometimes the best known for
calling the Silent Illumination Zen as “silent
illumination false Zen (默照邪禪).”Kanna-Zen
that he established was his efforts to correct
misunderstandings associated with the Silent
Illumination Zen. Concerned about the potential
pitfalls of Silent Illumination Zen practice (i.e.,
just-sitting Zen), Dahui criticized the Silent
Illumination Zen as follows:
Recently a type of heterodox Zen…has been
grown up in the forest of Zen. By confusing the
sickness with the remedy, they have denied the
experience of enlightenment. These people think
that the experience of enlightenment is but an
artificial superstructure meant to attract, so they
give it a secondary position, like branches or
leaves on the tree. Because they have not experi-
enced enlightenment, they think others have not
either. Stubbornly they continued that an empty
silence and a musty state of unconsciousness is the
original realm of the absolute. To eat their rice
twice a day and sit without thoughts in mediation
is what they call complete peace (see Dumoulin
2005, p. 257).
Historically speaking, Kanna-Zen of Dahui is
said to have established in 1134 when Dahui
explicitly criticized the Silent Illumination Zen,
particularly the teachings of Zhenxie Qingliao
(真歇清了; Shinketsu Seiryo in Japanese; 1088–
1151), a senior fellow of Hongzhi (see Ishii
1987,2016; Schlutter 2010). The core of the
controversy was at the actualization of enlight-
enment within the teaching of original enlight-
enment (Ishii 2016; Schlutter 2010).
Consistent with the Silent Illumination Zen,
Dahui acknowledged the original enlightenment
(e.g., Buddha nature) in every one of us. How-
ever, he argued that having the original enlight-
enment does not mean that one naturally
actualizes it. In Dahui’s eyes, the followers of
silent illumination confused the actualization of
enlightenment with original enlightenment (Ishii
2016). Dahui argued that, to actualize enlight-
enment, it is crucial for one to wholeheartedly
face a great doubt and break through it. To
legitimize this point, Dahui pointed out the fact
that even the Original Buddha had to undergo the
experience of great doubt before he recognized
his own true nature (Ishii 2016; Schlutter 2010).
For Dahui, the Silent Illumination Zen mini-
mized the significance of great doubt as well as
importance of practice (i.e., breaking through the
doubt) as they confused the original enlighten-
ment with the actualization of enlightenment into
one (e.g., “you’re already enlightened, so don’t
worry, and just sit”). Dahui stated that “it is
meaningless to talk about an original state of
enlightenment before delusion has been over-
come and enlightenment realized”(Schlutter
2010, p. 120).
For Dahui, koan practice is a crucial way for
recognizing enlightenment through overcoming
greater doubts. According to Dumoulin (2005),
no other Chinese Zen master understood so
completely or promoted so vigorously the use of
koan as Dahui. Many of us today are often
gravitated toward koans for their literal provo-
cation or deep intellectual paradox. However, the
core of a koan, according to Dahui, is to make its
central point through doubt: Enlightenment
draws meaning and value from a great feeling of
doubt. Dahui stated:
Just steadily go on with your koan every moment
of your life. If a thought rises, do not attempt to
suppress it by conscious effort, only renew the
attempt to keep the koan before the mind. Whether
walking or sitting, let your attention be fixed upon
it without interruption! When you begin to find it
entirely devoid of flavor, the final moment is
approaching, do not let it slip out of your
grasp. When all of a sudden something flashes out
in your mind, its light will illuminate the entire
universe and you will see the spiritual land of the
Enlightened One fully revealed at the point of a
single hair, and the great wheel of the Dharma
revolving in a single grain of dust (Dumoulin
2005, p. 257).
He also stated the process of koan practice as
follows:
The thousand and ten thousand doubts that well up
in your breast are really only one doubt, all of them
burst open when doubt is resolved in the koan.As
Zen and Zen Buddhism: An Overview 25
long as the koan is not resolved, you must occupy
yourself with it to the utmost. If you give up on
your koan and stir up another doubt about a word
of scripture or about a sutra teaching or about a
koan of the ancients, or if you allow a doubt about
worldly matters to come up—all this means to be
joined to the evil spirit. You should not too easily
agree with a koan solution that you have discov-
ered, nor should you think about it further and
make distinctions. Fasten your attention to where
discursive thinking cannot reach. Make sure that
you do not allow your mind to run off, like on old
mouse that ran into the horn of an ox (Dumoulin
2005, pp. 257–258).
The koan that Dahui used the most was Zhaoz-
hou’s Wu (Ferguson 2011, p. 153). It goes:
A monk asked Zhaozhou, “Does a dog have
Buddha nature?”
Zhaozhou answered, “Wu! [in Japanese, ‘Mu’]”
Although Zhaozhou was a Zen master of the
Tang Dynasty, Dahui was that of the Song
Dynasty, this mondo (e.g., Zen dialogue) of
Zhaozhou was used as a well-known koan during
the Song Dynasty. Dahui stated that one must
focus on this koan, while letting go of all logical
and analytic ways of thinking and continue to
leap into it. Dahui explained this koan further:
This one character is the rod by which many false
images and ideas are destroyed in their very
foundations. To it you should add no judgments
about being or non-being, no arguments, no bodily
gestures like raising your eyebrows or blinking
your eyes. Words has no place here. Neither
should you throw this character away into the
nothingness of emptiness, or seek it in the comings
and goings of the mind, or try to trace its origins in
the scriptures. You must only earnestly and con-
tinually stir it [this koan] around the clock. Sitting
or lying, walking or standing, you must give
yourself over to it constantly. “Does a dong have
the Buddha-nature? The answer: “Mu.”Without
withdrawing from everyday life, keep trying,
keeping looking at this koan! (Dumoulin 2005,
p. 258)
Finally, Dahui left the following comment to the
students of Zen Buddhism.
Many students today do not doubt themselves, but
they doubt others. And so it is said: “Within great
doubt there necessarily exists great enlighten-
ment.”(see Dumoulin 2005, p. 258)
Conclusions
Many schools of Zen established across the
world today have their origins traced back to
Chinese Zen developed during the Song
Dynasty. For example, Rinzai Zen of Japan is
nothing but the Kanna-Zen. Soto Zen of Japan
(i.e., Dogen Zen) adheres to the teachings of
Mokusho-Zen (Silent Illumination Zen). Core
teachings of different Zen schools can be
understood in terms of the significance of
enlightenment, practice, and its relations (Ishii
2016). As such, the core teachings of Zen dis-
cussed in this chapter as well as this entire vol-
ume can be summarized as follows:
(A) Zen during the Dang Dynasty: We are inher-
ently Buddhas. As such, all of our activities
are the manifestation of enlightenment.
(B) Dogen Zen: One must practice zazen because
we are inherently Buddhas. The Buddha
nature naturally unfolds when we do zazen.
(C) Kanna-Zen: We are inherently Buddhas, but
we must realize it by breaking through the
great doubt.
Finally, as the summary above suggests, Zen
is often understood as the practice of enlighten-
ment. That being said, I think that Dogen Zen is
distinct from other Zen schools in that sense
(Ishii 1991). If you are interested in my account
of Dogen Zen, please read my paper, titled
“Characteristics of Bodhidharma Zen in Japa-
n”(Ishii 2002). Please note that that book is
written in Japanese and not yet translated into
English.
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Zen and Zen Buddhism: An Overview 27
Zen and Japanese Culture
Akihiko Masuda
Keywords
Zen Buddhism Japanese culture Epistemology of Zen Japanese
linguistic practices
Overview
Many scholars, both in Japan and in the West,
point out the interwoven relation between Zen
and Japanese culture. In the West, Japanese
culture is often considered the direct opposite of
Western culture (Hamaguchi 1985; Markus and
Kitayama 1991,2010; Weisz et al. 1984).
Whereas Western culture is viewed as the culture
of independent and autonomous self, Japanese
culture is considered that of interdependent self,
seeing relations with others and what surrounds
the self as vital determinants of self (Hamaguchi
1985; Markus and Kitayama 2010). Western
culture is said to encourage first-order control
coping strategies (e.g., direct attempts to conquer
a targeted problem), and Japanese culture values
second-order control strategies, characterized by
efforts to coexist and harmonize with the events
of focus (Weisz et al. 1984). In the West, nature
is often perceived as an obstacle to be overcome,
and in Japan, it is one with which people identify
(Suzuki 1996; Watanabe 1974). Despite global-
ization and the growing influence of the West,
many Japanese cultural practices remain intact.
And, these cultural practices in Japan may still be
quite peculiar for Westerners.
According to Buddhist scholars (Japan Bud-
dhist Federation 1978), Zen has played a crucial
role in forming Japanese culture, and vice versa.
In explaining its profound impact on Japanese
people, Suzuki (2010) states in Zen and Japanese
Culture that:
It is a significant fact that the other schools of
Buddhism have limited their sphere of influence
almost entirely to the spiritual life of the Japanese
people; Zen has gone beyond it. Zen has entered
internally into every phase of the cultural life of the
people (p. 21).
Even today, Zen teachings are infused in the
daily lives of most Japanese people. This is
perhaps because Zen has permeated deeply into
Japanese cultural wisdoms (e.g., “gratitude
toward the very thing offered to you”), being
transmitted and valued through generations. At
the same time, Zen has shaped itself sociocul-
turally into its present form, one in which Japa-
nese people feel intimately identified (Kasulis
1981; Suzuki 2010).
A. Masuda (&)
University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, USA
e-mail: amasuda4@hawaii.edu
©Springer International Publishing AG 2017
A. Masuda and W.T. O’Donohue (eds.), Handbook of Zen, Mindfulness, and Behavioral Health,
Mindfulness in Behavioral Health, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54595-0_3
29
Knowing Japanese culture is particularly rel-
evant for Westerners who are interested in Zen
for several reasons. First, as described in detail
elsewhere in this volume, Japanese Zen has been
among the earliest influences of Buddhism in the
West. Zen became well recognized due to the
writings of Japanese Zen teachers, such as D.T.
Suzuki (1870–1966) and Shunryu Suzuki (1904–
1971) in the 1900s. Interestingly, despite the
existence of diverse sects of Buddhism, Zen has
become a prominent focus of study for Western
scholars and behavioral health professionals
(Muramoto 1985,2002). Although American
Zen has evolved into diversified and unique
forms, many of its core teachings seem to remain
rooted in Japanese Zen.
Second, Japanese cultural practices illuminate
an alternative way of experiencing and making
sense of the self and the world. Zen states that we
must go beyond our habitual ways of thinking in
order to embody “the Buddha way”(Suzuki
1996), or what Tanahashi and Levitt call the
“original wholeness”(Tanahashi and Levitt
2013). According to Markus and Kitayama
(1991), most of what we, as Westerners, know
about human nature and our culture is based on
the “view of the individual as an independent,
self-contained, autonomous entity who (a) com-
prise a unique configuration of internal attributes
(e.g., traits, abilities, motives, and values) and
(b) behave primarily as a consequence of these
internal attributes”(p. 224). Although a Japanese
worldview may not precisely embody the origi-
nal wholeness, learning an alternative way to
experience the self and the world, such as the one
in Japanese culture, loosens clinging to one’s
fundamental assumptions of the self and the
world (Wright 1992).
Third, some functional and topographical
features of Japan’s sociolinguistic environment
seem to support a wholehearted way of living. As
Skinner (1974), the father of radical behaviorism,
argued, the activities of a person can be under-
stood as the function of his or her historical and
situational environment (e.g., learning history)
combined with his or her genetic endowment.
For humans, environments are mainly social
and interpersonal, and it is our sociocultural
environments that shape and maintain the way
we think, feel, and behave (Nisbett et al. 2001).
As such, elucidating some key features of Japa-
nese language and cultural practices may point to
the way in which a community is built to support
the wholehearted way of living. “Wholehearted
way,”here refers to “the self becoming one with
what he or she does, while blending into his or
her surrounding.”
Fourth and finally, some Japanese cultural
practices may be closer approximations of the
Zen way of living (Dogen et al. 1997; Suzuki
1970). As the spirit of Zen teachings goes
beyond a mediation room, this wholehearted way
of living can be expressed in every facet of daily
life. While we Westerners tend to apply Zen
teachings to limited life domains, such as when
we feel stuck with difficult feelings and narra-
tives, Japanese people are taught to strive for a
wholehearted way in every waking moment.
The purpose of this chapter is to present some,
but certainly not all, features of Japanese cultural
context that seem to promote or support the way
of living that reflects the heart of Zen. To do so, I
will focus mainly on notable features of Japanese
sociolinguistic context (e.g., verbal community)
that maintain cultural wisdoms linked to Zen.
This chapter will focus less on Japanese arts,
poems, tea ceremony, and skilled practices (e.g.,
martial arts), as these cultural practices and their
links to Zen are discussed extensively elsewhere
(Suzuki 2010; Watanabe 1974).
Japanese Zen and Japanese Culture
Viewing Zen as being monolithic is somewhat
misleading, at least formally (Monteiro et al.
2015). In fact, there are diverse sects of Zen in
Japan, such as Rinzai, Soto, and Obaku. Despite
apparent differences, these sects of Zen coexist
somewhat harmoniously without the sectarian or
religious conflicts observed elsewhere (e.g.,
Protestantism vs. Catholicism in Ireland). This
trend of diversity and harmony is at least partially
attributable to the adaptive nature of Buddhism
as well as its worldview of impermanence (e.g.,
“all things are constantly changing”) and the
30 A. Masuda
Dharma of dependent arising (e.g., “all things
arise in dependence upon other things”).
Young-Eisendrath and Muramoto (2002) high-
light this feature of Buddhism below:
No religion is more able than Buddhism to adjust
to, and assimilate, the prevailing ideologies of its
adopted cultures. The Buddhism of each country
where it is practiced is characteristic of that society
and culture: Indian Buddhism was speculative and
logical through its interaction with Hindu philos-
ophy; Chinese Buddhism was practiced under the
influence of Taoism and Confucianism; and Japa-
nese Buddhism is aesthetic and merged with nature
worship under the influence of Shintoism (p. 9).
Transmitting from India to China, and then from
China to Japan, Zen has shaped itself into its
unique forms through assimilating into Japanese
cultural context, which in turn has shaped Japa-
nese culture. What, then, does Japanese Zen look
like? Gergen (1983) described Japanese Zen as
follows:
The Zen tradition offers a variety of means toward
human well-being. Foremost among these, of
course, is meditation, or the practice of za-zen.
Although there are variations in mode, za-zen
typically requires the devotee to sit for a long
periods with legs crossed, hands resting on the lap,
body erect, eyes open, and with regulated breath-
ing and the mind peculiarly focused to search
unselfconsciously for an unexcelled awaking.
Within Zendo, or prayer room, of the Zen mon-
astery, the devotee may further be subject to an
occasional thwacking with a large stick carried by
his instructor. The presence of the stick keeps
one’s mind on his task and inhibits drowsing.
It would be a mistake to equate the Zen means to
personal fulfillment with a stringent form of
meditation. Not only are there a variety of other
types of meditation, far less demanding than what
is required for priesthood, but many additional
modes of enhancement exist as well. Practices
emphasizing harmony with one’s environment,
control over one’s actions, and the suspension of
analytic thought have played a highly important
role in the Zen tradition. They are more evident in
the practice of the formal tea ceremony, the art of
calligraphy, flower arranging, pottery making and
archery…
Added to these activities are attempts at the ele-
mentalism in the course of one’s daily activities. In
the food one eats, or its very pattern in the plate on
which it is served, in the decoration (or lack of it)
with which one surrounds oneself, in the sounds
with which one chooses to live, or in the pattern of
a day’s activities, the attempt is to orient oneself to
elemental and essential aspects of nature and
oneself within nature. One may discover the uni-
verse in a single rock, the lone clap of a bamboo
water gong, or in a drop of dew. And finally, we
must add to these various means of personal ful-
fillment the large volumes of philosophy, art, and
poetry, which attempt to instruct both through
word and sense experience. The “Zen way”is not
specifically a way of mediation; it is more ade-
quately viewed as an entire way of life (Gergen
1983, pp. 130–131).
Gergen (1983) made this statement over
30 years ago. However, the contents in this
statement parallel the intriguing and yet peculiar
image of Zen that many Westerners hold today.
Rinzai Zen and Soto Zen: Two Major
Sects of Zen in Japan
As noted above, Zen was brought to Japan from
China during the Kamakura period (1185–1338
A.D.). This was the dawn of Samurai, who
honored self-discipline, loyalty, and the dharma
of impermanence. Today, there are two major
sects of Zen in Japan (Japan Buddhist Federation
1978); Rinzai Zen, founded in 1191 A.D. by
Eisai, and Soto Zen, brought to Japan in 1224 A.
D. by Dogen. Japanese Soto Zen is also called
Dogen Zen because his teaching of shikantaza
(just sitting) is somewhat distinct from the Chi-
nese Soto school of Zen.
Having its root in Mahayana tradition, the
goal of Zen is said to be self-enlightenment (i.e.,
embodiment of true self or nature) or the per-
fection of self through the self with an earnest
endeavor for the benefit of mankind and all
sentient beings (Japan Buddhist Federation
1978). Because Zen emphasizes the importance
of the details of one’s own daily life, its teachings
spread among a wide range of secular domains
(Japan Buddhist Federation 1978; Suzuki 2010).
Traditionally, Rinzai Zen has appealed to many
intellectuals and members of the ruling class
(Varley 2000). It is Rinzai Zen that has had a
profound influence on traditional Japanese arts
(e.g., tea and flowers) and swordsmanship. On
the other hand, Soto Zen has spread widely
Zen and Japanese Culture 31
among the common people (Hanayama 1978,
p. 19).
Interestingly, these features of Rinzai Zen and
Soto Zen parallel two well-known Japanese fig-
ures influential to the emergence of Zen in the
USA: D.T. Suzuki of Rinzai and Shunryu Suzuki
of Soto. Following the Rinzai school of Zen, D.
T. Suzuki’s Zen is dynamic and charismatic. His
writing on a sudden breakthrough into enlight-
enment has mesmerized many Westerners.
Masculinity is also a characteristic that is asso-
ciated with Rinzai Zen. This association is attri-
butable to D.T. Suzuki’s writing on Zen and its
link to the way of samurai (Suzuki 2010), as well
as to Sogen Omori (1904–1994), the founder of
Chozen-ji in Hawaii, the first Rinzai headquarters
temple established outside Japan. Omori Roshi is
well known for his distinct approach to Zen
practice integrating insights from his martial and
fine arts training with traditional Zen training
(Hosokawa 1999; Omori 2001).
On the other hand, Soto Zen is more or less
viewed as an ordinary and down-to-earth version
of Zen, perhaps because of Shunryu Suzuki and
the personal characteristics observed in his
writings. His writings (Suzuki 1970,2002) are
profound but also include a number of humorous
personal episodes to which many can easily
relate.
There are notable stylistic differences between
Rinzai Zen and Soto Zen, such as Rinzai’s
emphasis on the role of koan (公案; a paradox-
ical anecdote or riddle) and Soto’s focus on the
importance of zazen (坐禅; sitting meditation).
However, both stress the importance of
embodying and experiencing oneness or whole-
ness. In Zen literature, terms such as enlighten-
ment, Satori, Samadhi, Buddha Way,
transcendence, true self, emptiness, and whole-
heartedness, to name a few, are used to describe
this subjective experience of oneness. According
to many Zen practitioners (Dogen et al. 2011;
Okumura 2010), there is nothing sensational,
liberating, or mystical about the experience of
oneness or wholeness. It is as if one simply
becomes settled into the here-and-now as a
whole person, becoming one with the context
(Magid 2002). Suzuki (1996) called this “pure
subjectivity”(p. 240). As noted above, the
experience of wholeness, or a wholehearted way
of living, can be expressed in many behavioral
forms, including activities that we engage in
every day such as eating, washing your face,
talking to a colleague, or watching a child
growing.
Unlike our wishful hope, the experience of
oneness or wholeness does not make a person
wiser or happier. As revealed numerous times in
this volume, even experienced Zen practitioners
continue to experience pain and suffering
throughout their lives. Kodo Sawaki (1880–
1965), a prominent Japanese Soto Zen teacher of
the twentieth century, stated that “Zen is good for
nothing”(Uchiyama and Okumura 2014). Nish-
iari Bokusan (1821–1910), the father of the
modern Soto Sect, described enlightenment in his
commentary on a passage in Dogen’sGenjokoan
(現成公案; sometimes translated as Actualiza-
tion of Reality) as follows:
We normally talk about enlightenment this and
enlightenment that, but what do we actually regard
as enlightenment? I want you to fully understand
this point (the immovable principle of enlighten-
ment). To regard one person’s one-time experience
of realization, or an insight leading to a prediction
of the future, as enlightenment is absolutely
demonic. When we have a true enlightenment
there is not even a speck of what you thought was
enlightenment (see Dogen et al. 2011, p. 51 for
Nishiari’s comment).
He then states:
…to be enlightened is no other than fully expe-
riencing the self and fully experiencing myriad
dharma. The self and myriad dharmas are origi-
nally one thusness. There is no self apart from
myriad dharmas. There is no myriad dharmas apart
from the self. Therefore, when dharma is actual-
ized, the ten directions are comprehended. It is
essential in the practice to “fully experience one
dharma.”In whichever practice, it is good to
solidly master one dharma. When we fully expe-
rience the self, it is not betrayed by myriad dhar-
mas. When we fully experience myriad dharmas,
the self drops off spontaneously (Dogen et al.
2011, p. 55).
32 A. Masuda
What Nishiari referred to as myriad dharmas
above is what Suzuki (1996) referred to as Nat-
ure, “all that constitutes what is commonly
known as Man’s objective world”(p. 231). Fully
experiencing the self and fully experiencing
myriad dharma is to become one with what
shows up as an experience as if the whole self is
melted into the experience.
Zen Account of Linguistic Practice
Rinzai and Soto schools of Zen discuss human
linguistic process extensively. What is referred to
as linguistic process here is also called mind,
dualism (dualistic thinking), essentialism, pre-
conception, ordinary habits of thinking, Western
worldview, and ego, to name a few, in both
classic and contemporary Zen literature. Fol-
lowing D.T. Suzuki’s account (1997), the present
chapter roughly defines it as the process of
cognitively and arbitrarily dividing a collective
or whole experience intro pieces, labeling each
piece, differentiating it from others, thus resulting
in conflicts among them. D.T. Suzuki also stated
that these analytical features of linguistic pro-
cesses are particularly salient in Western cul-
tures. Recent psychological science literature
(Markus and Kitayama 2010; Nisbett et al. 2001)
corroborates this claim that Suzuki made over
80 years ago.
When reading Zen literature, statements such
as “Zen rejects language,”or “one must tran-
scend language in order to gain enlightenment,”
are frequently encountered. Following a con-
ventionally Western way of thinking, we are
likely to presuppose that Zen practice is the tool
to rid that linguistic obstacle. However, many
Zen practitioners and scholars caution us not to
draw such a hasty conclusion (Suzuki 1970,
1996; Uchiyama and Okumura 2014). In short,
being human means being fully situated within a
particular sociolinguistic community (Park 2002;
Skinner 1974). As shown in behavioral science
literature (Hayes et al. 2001; Wilson et al. 2000;
Wright 1992), the complete cessation or avoid-
ance of language, especially trying to do so
intentionally, is not possible. To Zen, enlighten-
ment is the embracing of oneness experientially
and intuitively, which includes our linguistic
practice as well as its product, such as a narrowly
perceived sense of self. Enlightenment is to do
what one does fully in a given moment (Suzuki
2002), while being relatively less determined by
conventional language and cultural practice
(Kasulis 1981; Wright 1992). In other words,
enlightenment cannot be defined by the absence
of these “toxic”linguistic processes.
What does it mean to be less determined by
conventional language and cultural practice?
Another way to conceptualize this stance is to
“relate to our linguistic processes wisely,”and to
“take them lightly.”D.T. Suzuki’s words help us
to feel the transition from a conventional way of
thinking to “pure subjectivity,”as well as helping
us feel how we relate to our language wisely. He
said:
When I began to study Zen, mountains were
mountains: when I thought I understood Zen,
mountains were not mountains; but when I came to
full knowledge of Zen, mountains were again
mountains (Suzuki 1996, p. 240).
In this quote, we can see the transition from how
we typically perceive the world (i.e., the first
part) and what we typically think of what
enlightenment does to us (i.e., the second part) to
what D.T. Suzuki means by “pure subjectiv-
ity”(i.e., the third part). The first part, “When I
began to study Zen, mountains were mountains,”
describes how we typically relate to the world
and ourselves. We tend to perceive and construe
an event we see, hear, or touch as what our mind
says it is as a distinct and constant entity. When
we see mountains, they are “mountains”that are
differentiated from “us,”the perceivers, as well
as other objects we perceive (e.g., rivers).
The second part, “when I thought I under-
stood Zen, mountains were not mountains”is the
stance of complete rejection of one’s own sub-
jective experience and linguistic processes. Once
again, this sentence captures how we typically
think of enlightenment (e.g., complete rejection
of problems). When we learn the perspective of
wholeness and oneness as an alternative to our
Zen and Japanese Culture 33
Western worldview, we quickly try to reject any
perception framed with a word as a delusion
(e.g., “everything is empty, so there is no such
thing as a mountain or self”). According to D.T.
Suzuki, such an attitude is a sign of our attach-
ment to our habitual way of thinking; through
this equally incomplete perspective, we continue
to see the world from a good-or-bad,
right-or-wrong viewpoint.
So, what does it mean by “but when I came to
full knowledge of Zen, mountains were again
mountains”? In the last part of the quote, Suzuki
asks us to experience the mountain as if it is a
dimension of the whole, using the word
“mountains”accordingly. We do not have to
reject our linguistic practices. Instead, we can
simply use them from the perspective of the
wholeness. In an experiential sense, the moun-
tains are mountains and they are also interde-
pendent entities without any boundaries. From
the perspective of the original wholeness, the
word “mountain”refers to the point from which
we see the whole. This seems to be what he
means by “relating to our linguistic process
lightly.”Suzuki (1970) also touched on this as
the most fundamental wisdom of Zen Buddhism.
He says:
…the oneness of duality: not two, and not one.
This is the most important teaching: not two, and
not one. If you think your body and mind are two,
that is wrong; if you think they are one, that is also
wrong. Our body and mind are both two and one…
Each one of us is both dependent and independent
(p. 25).
Japanese Sociolinguistic Context
The Japanese sociocultural community values
Zen’s worldview of wholeness as well as its view
on language. In psychological science literature,
Japanese culture is construed as that of holistic
social cognition, which is contrasted with that of
analytic social cognition, which flourishes in the
West (Nisbett et al. 2001). As noted by Maynard
(1997). Cultural contingencies operated in a
verbal community shape the way its members
think and feel as well as how they communicate
with one another (or how its language is used).
One of the distinct features of holistic culture is
the perceived experience of self and world in
continuity (e.g., the unity of the self as perceived
with the perceived) with the emphasis of context
(e.g., where and when the event of interest takes
place).
The holistic perspective held by Japanese
people differs from the analytic way of thinking,
which assumes that the world is a collection of
distinct objects with unique properties. In the
culture of analytic social cognition, words and
phrases (e.g., “cat”) are analytical, serving to
highlight the unique property of the events, to
which they refer (e.g., a hairy, four-legged ani-
mal meowing) in order to differentiate them from
other events categorized differently (e.g., “dog”).
In the field of behavioral health, the Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
(American Psychiatric Association 2013)isa
salient exemplar of this analytic and categorical
way of thinking.
Japanese society creates a holistic perspective
and encourages its members to use Japanese
language accordingly (Maynard 1997). More
specifically, the focus of discourse in Japanese
language is what Maynard refers to as the scene
(e.g., time and place) where the topic of dis-
course takes place, more so than who-does-what,
as is the case with English. In this linguistic
context, the function of Japanese language is to
blend the actor or figure into the scene or back-
ground, creating a sense of wholeness.
The salience of scene in Japanese language is
evident in its grammatical structure. Unlike a
conventional English discourse that starts with
the actor and then his or her action (e.g., “I went
to work yesterday”), a Japanese sentence often
starts with the specification of the context, fol-
lowed by the description of actor and the actor’s
action taking place in that context. Furthermore,
as described extensively below, what is also
unique about Japanese language is the way the
actor and his or her action are described. Unlike
English which centralizes the actor and his or her
actions as the cause (e.g., “Iwent to…), Japanese
language often describe the actor and his or her
actions as events which happen to emerge from
the context.
34 A. Masuda
This context-focused nature of Japanese ver-
bal community also shapes its unique way of
using a word or phrase. That is, the meaning of a
word is not within the word, but in the context
where it is used, and many Japanese words have
different meanings that contradict one another
when interpreted without context. Take a word
itooshii (愛おしい) as an example. In some con-
texts, it means “dear”and “beloved”as seen in a
phrase such as “my beloved daughter.”In other
contexts, this word means the feelings of “sor-
row”and “grief,”experiences that we Westerners
often consider the direct opposite from “dear”
and “beloved.”Once again, it is the context (e.g.,
when-and-where of the scene, the point of the
speaker and his or her relations with the listener)
that determines the semantic nuance of a given
word.
The semantic nuance of a word, such as
itooshii, is a good example of Japanese style of
dialectical thinking and attitudes. As demon-
strated above, the Japanese sociolinguistic com-
munity seems to encourage its members to
become open to a wide range of experiences
indiscriminately (Maynard 1997; Nisbett et al.
2001). It is as if one is to see the entire world in a
grain of sand, and his or her entire life in a smile
of a child. As a Zen saying goes, it is to fully
experience myriad dharma through a single
experience of here-and-now.
This dialectical attitude is slightly different
from that of the West (Miyamoto and Ryff 2011;
Peng and Nisbett 1999; Zhang et al. 2015). Take
the idiom “Life is sweet and sour.”For
Westerners, this idiom implies that life is the sum
of multiple parts: some aspects of life are sweet
and some aspects are sour. Dialectical efforts for
Westerners include attempts to synthesize con-
tradicting parts that are fundamentally distinct
from one another. For Japanese people, this
idiom suggests that life is sweet and sour as one,
that sweet and sour is life (e.g., the entire uni-
verse as a whole). Furthermore, the idiom
encourages the perceiver of the idiom to blend
into the here-and-now where the person and the
idiom meet. The Japanese way of dialectical
thinking is not the point of compromise or the
coexistence of distinct entities within the
perceived field. Rather, it is the experience of one
(Suzuki 1970).
Zen and Body
Following the analytic and categorical way of
thinking, mind and body are ontologically dis-
tinct in the Cartesian paradigm. Accordingly, we
Westerners tend to perceive mind and body as
separate entities. We also presume that separate
principles and remedies are required for each.
The field of Western medicine and behavioral
health is no exception (O’Donohue and Mara-
gakis 2015). Problems that humans face are
categorically sorted into physical or mental
domains, subsequently treated separately by dif-
ferent professionals specialized for one or
another. Although behavioral medicine and
integrated behavioral health movements promote
an interdisciplinary approach where medicines
and behavioral health are utilized into a coherent
treatment system (O’Donohue and Maragakis
2015), the assumption of mind–body dichotomy
remains strong in our field (Magid 2002).
A rationalist perspective reinforces the mind–
body distinction further in the West (Ozawa-De
Silva 2002). For a rationalist, humans are
essentially thinking beings, and they should
behave based on rational choice (i.e., mind),
rather than on emotional or physiological reac-
tions (i.e., body). This is a wisdom transmitted
through generations in many spiritual traditions.
However, extreme adherence to this
Cartesian-rationalist standpoint yields the rejec-
tion and trivialization of body.
The fundamental position of Zen is a return to
oneness or wholeness. As such, Zen does not
view the body and mind as separate entities:
these are one. For Zen, all of our activities are
viewed as those of a whole person (bodymind),
not as physical activities or mental activities.
From this standpoint, Zen encourages us to
engage in any given activity as that of a whole
person.
In Shobogenzo (正法眼蔵), the Treasure of
the Correct Dharma Eye, Dogen used the term
shinjin (身心) to denote the oneness of body and
Zen and Japanese Culture 35
mind (Dogen and Tanahashi 1985). The return to
bodymind, the oneness, is a central theme in
Dogen Zen (Shaner 1985; Tanahashi and Levitt
2013) as he expressed enlightenment as “drop-
ping away bodymind.”Once again, the oneness
here is not to blend two distinct entities into one.
What Zen aims to do is to experientially
authenticate or return to “the original oneness of
bodymind”(Shaner 1985, p. 18). As such,
bodymind is understood as a potentialtobe
cultivated, more so than an entity or a particular
state of being in itself. In Genjokoan (現成公案),
which is included in Shobogenzo, Dogen
described bodymind as follows:
When you see forms or hear sounds fully engaging
body-and-mind, you intuit dharmas intimately.
Unlike things and their reflections in the mirror,
and unlike the moon and its reflection in the water,
when one side is illuminated, the other side is dark
(Dogen et al. 2011, p. 51).
Dogen then stated:
…When actualized by myriad things, your body
and mind as well as bodies and minds of others
drop away. No trace of enlightenment remains, and
this no-trace continues endlessly (Dogen et al.
2011, p. 55).
Body and Japanese Culture
Generally speaking, Japanese people tend to
view mind and body as one more so than
Westerners do. According to Nakao and Ohara
(2014), this tendency of perceived unity of mind
and body is attributable to three core belief sys-
tems in Japanese tradition: Shintoism, Buddhism,
and ancient Chinese ideology, particularly Con-
fucianism and Taoism. Although the Western-
ized era of imperialism and democracy has been
dominant over the past 150 years in Japan, these
traditional views remain influential even today.
In many ways, the unity of body and mind are
emphasized in every facet of daily activities in
Japanese society. For example, the Japanese
education system continues to emphasize the
importance of honing the mind and the body
equally as described by the idiom bunbu ryodo
(文武両道; excellence in both scholarship and
the martial arts). Many Westerners may feel the
idiom of bunbu ryodo dualistic. However, if
seeing this idiom from the standpoint of Japanese
dialectics, we can grasp that body and mind are
two sides of the same coin, or a whole. Today,
fewer Japanese people practice martial arts.
However, a contemporary understanding of this
idiom is that the true self is a balanced self and
that one cannot neglect either body or mind in
order to hone the unity of self.
Traditionally, Japanese society values the
processes through which one cultivates the unity
of bodymind. Given the pragmatic and realistic
nature of Japanese culture (Varley 2000), the
term “unity of body-skill-mind (singitai;心技
体)”captures the nuance of the “bodymind”
unity. Building a skill takes time and requires
perseverance, and it is this perseverance (nintai;
忍耐) that traditionally many Japanese people
value. “Ishi no ue ni mo san nen”(石の上にも三
年) is a well-known idiom describing the virtue
that perseverance prevails. It literally says that
“three years on a (cold) stone (will make the
stone warm).”Staying on a task with a whole-
hearted effort, whatever the task one engages in,
is an opportunity for a person to confront various
subjective experiences; it is like zazen, a sitting
mediation. Through a continued practice, one
experiences joy, bodily aching, unrelated
thoughts, joy, and frustration, to name a few.
Given our “microwave society”(i.e., desire to
attain what we want quickly), perseverance is
decreasingly welcome in recent years. At the
same time, it is the very source of personal
growth, the unity of mind–skill–body and
“dropping off bodymind.”
Zen Account of Self and Japanese
Culture
One of the most challenging teachings of Zen
centers around the nature of self and the meaning
of that term. In secular and academic cultures,
“no self”is a popular term, with which Zen is
often associated with (Mathers et al. 2009).
36 A. Masuda
So what is self for Zen Buddhism? In Genjokoan,
Dogen stated that:
To study the Buddha way is to study the self. To
study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self
is to be verified by all things. To be verified by all
things is to let the body and mind of the self and
the body and mind of others drop off. There is a
trace of realization that cannot be grasped. We
endlessly express this ungraspable trace of real-
ization (see Okumura 2010, p. 2).
The self that Dogen talks about in the above
passage is not the sense of self as we typically
perceive it (i.e., self as an independent and con-
sistent being). Rather, it is the self as an
all-interpenetrating being, which is “the reality of
life prior to separation into dichotomies such as
self/other or subject/object”(Dogen et al. 2011,
p. 182). Once again, this self is the experience of
original wholeness or oneness described above.
Reflecting his teacher, Kodo Sawaki (1880–
1965), Kosho Uchiyama (1912–1998) shares the
quote that Sawaki roshi often said to his students,
“Zazen is the self selfing the self,”or “To prac-
tice zazen is to be intimate with the self”
(Uchiyama and Okumura 2014, p. 25).
Uchiyama explains “Zazen is the self selfing the
self,”as followed by commenting on the quote
by Dogen, which is just mentioned above.
“To study the Buddha Way is to study the self”
means we should study the self, which includes all
heaven and earth…Correctly speaking, we should
accept everything as the contents of our “self.”We
should meet everything as a part of ourselves. “To
study the self”means to awaken to such a self. For
instance, many people visit my house or write me
letters. Many of these people talk or write about
their problems and anguish and ask for my advice.
I never feel troubled by such requests. As soon as I
am asked about such troubles, they become my
own. As long as I have such an attitude, these
problems are my own. And they enrich my life. If I
reject other people’s problems saying, “That’s not
my business,”my life becomes poorer and poorer.
Therefore, to meet everything, without exception,
as part of my life is most essential in the Buddha
way. This is what Dogen Zenji meant by saying,
“To study Buddha Way is to study the self”
(Dogen et al. 2011, p. 182)
It is important to clarify Uchiyama’s statements
above. He does not say that we must solve the
problems of others for them or that it is our
responsibility to take care of others’problems.
What he attempts to explain above is the
importance of perspective taking and compassion
toward the self and others, not necessarily the
importance of solving the problems of others.
Rather, sharing in life with others and holding
that sharing as part of an inherent view of the self
is part of the Buddha Way. Uchiyama then
explained what Dogen means by “To study the
self is to forget the self,”as follows:
…when we forget ourselves in the Buddha Way,
we forget ourselves because everything is the
contents of “self”and whatever we encounter is
part of ourselves. This is not a continuation of
egoism. To work as an all-interpenetrating self is
merely a thought. Therefore, in Buddhism it is a
mistake to say that we have an idea of
all-interpenetrating self. It cannot be the Buddha
Way as long as we consider the word
“all-interpenetrating self”a thought (Dogen et al.
2011, p. 183).
In explaining the “all-interpenetrating self,”
Uchiyama talked about a mother’s attitudes
toward her child as an example (Uchiyama and
Okumura 2014). He stated that when a mother
takes care of her child wholeheartedly, she
experientially becomes one with her child and
that in her experience in that moment, there is no
perceived distinction between herself and her
child. When we have a heart-to-heart conversa-
tion with our friends or loved ones, we may also
experience this forgetting of the self. There is
something intimate there, and the experience of it
is clear. Uchiyama seems to say that we can
simply extend this “forgetting of the self”expe-
rience to others and our surroundings.
Self and Japanese Linguistic Practice
Regarding the expression of “self”and “I”in
Japanese discourse, one salient feature of Japa-
nese linguistic practice is the absence of a subject,
such as “I”in both spoken and written forms
(Maynard 1997). While the inclusion of subject is
crucial for an English sentence, this is not the case
for the Japanese language. For example, a psy-
chotherapist in the USA may ask a client “How
do you feel?”and in responding to this question,
Zen and Japanese Culture 37
the client may say, “Ifeel sad.”In the therapist’s
question as well as the client’s answer, the agent
and action are clearly identified.
Alternatively, in Japanese linguistic context,
the subject and verb are likely to be omitted. In a
similar circumstance as the one just above, a
Japanese therapist may ask his or her client “do
nasare mashita ka (どうなされましたか; how feel-
ing?),”and then the client’s answer may be
something like, “kanashii desu (悲しいです; sad-
ness it is).”In this discourse, the subject is not
specified, but implied. Maynard (1997) argues
that Japanese discourses do not need to specify
who-says-what-to-whom because the dyad (re-
lationship between the speaker and listener) is the
basic unit of communication rather than the focus
being an individual.
Second, as mentioned above, Japanese lin-
guistic practice emphasizes the context or scene,
more so than who-does-what-to-whom (Maynard
1997). This feature of Japanese language also
seems to reinforce the experience of self as an
interdependent being. Take a typical evening
conversation between my wife and myself as an
example. My wife is Puerto Rican and I am
Japanese. We communicate in English because it
is the language that both of us can speak. So, the
conversation flows like this:
My wife: What did you do today?
Me: I took Kyoko (our youngest daughter) to the
zoo this afternoon. We saw pandas. They were so
cute and she (Kyoko) really enjoyed seeing them.
This is an ordinary discourse. Now, let us focus
on my answer in the discourse. If I respond to her
in Japanese, it will be something like this:
Me: Kyo no gogo, Kyoko to doubutsu-en ni ittek-
itayo. Panda ga ite ne, totemo kawai kata. Kyoko
ha ooyorokobi data yo (今日の午後、キョウコと動
物園にいってきたよ。パンダがいてね、とてもかわい
かった。キョウコは大喜びだったよ).
The word-to-word translation of this Japanese
sentence is something like, “this afternoon, with
Kyoko, Zoo, (I) went to. Pandas, there were.
(they were) so cute, and Kyoko very excited
(became).”As can be seen, in a Japanese dis-
course, the context (when-and-where) is speci-
fied first, and “I”as an agent of action is omitted,
but implied by finishing the sentence with “went
to.”The omission of subjects (actors) is also the
case in subsequent sentences (e.g., “we saw
pandas,”“they were so cute”), as if the actions of
the agents (I, Kyoko, pandas) happen to emerge
from that context.
Third, the Japanese linguistic community
utilizes “there is”expressions over
who-does-what (Maynard 1997). In English, the
phenomenon of interest is often articulated into
agent, action, and object as seen in the following
sentence, “Aki has two daughters.”This
straightforward English sentence is translated in
Japanese, as “Aki-san ni ha musume-san ga
futari imasu (あきさんには娘さんが二人います).”
The literal meaning of the Japanese sentence is
“there are two daughters at Mr. Aki.”In Japa-
nese, phenomena that the English language
usually expresses as “x has y”tends to be
expressed as “there is y in x.”
Finally, Japanese language has several ways
to de-emphasize the agent and action in a sen-
tence. For example, I recently accepted a faculty
position at University of Hawaii at Manoa. In
English, I would share this news with my col-
league by saying something like, “I recently
accepted an offer from University of Hawaii at
Manoa.”However, I am very likely to share this
news with my Japanese colleagues by saying
something like “konotabi Hawaii-daigaku kara
itadaita ofa wo shoudaku surukoto ni nari-
mashita.”The literal translation of this sentence
is something like “It turns out that I will become
a faculty member at University of Hawaii.”In
my Japanese expression, myself as an agent is
de-emphasized by saying “It turns out…” as if it
is the external factor that determines my career in
Hawaii, not myself. Pointing out this feature of
Japanese discourse, Maynard (1997) calls Japa-
nese a “Be-language”or “Become-language,”
while English as a “Do-language”or
“Have-language.”Summarizing the features of
Japanese language, Maynard (1997) states:
…Japanese tends to frame the event as (1) some-
thing existing rather than someone possessing
something, and (2) something becoming or hap-
pening, often beyond the agent’s control, and not
as something that an agent who has full control
38 A. Masuda
“initiates and causes to happen.”The Japanese are
more likely to interpret an event as a situation that
becomes and comes to be on its own, while
Americans tend to perceive an event resulting from
an agent doing something and causing things to
happen…Incorporating the concept of centrality
of scene, we can conclude that one of the ways that
Japanese are characteristically encouraged to see
things is as the scene becoming, whereas from the
American perspective it is the agent doing. The
world that becomes is also a world where elements
are held in balance, located in mutual interrelation.
Here, instead of recognizing an agent acting on an
object, multiple elements constructing the entire
scene find themselves in a relational balance
(p. 176).
In sum, a verbal community shapes the way
its members think and feel (Maynard 1997;
Skinner 1957,1974). The Japanese verbal com-
munity seems to socially encourage Japanese
people to pay closer attention to the context
where their experience unfolds without empha-
sizing the agent, including themselves. Rein-
forcing this form of linguistic practice may
facilitate one’s sense of self as being harmonious
with the context and hone his or her sensitivity to
the changes unfolding in that context. The
Japanese verbal community also seems to punish
or at least not encourage linguistic expressions
which emphasize the agent (e.g., “I”).
Self, Others, and Japanese Culture
A Japanese perspective of others can be under-
stood through the Japanese perspective of self.
As noted extensively elsewhere (Hamaguchi
1985; Markus and Kitayama 2010), the per-
ceived sense of self among Japanese people is
often referred to as the interdependent perspec-
tive of self (Markus and Kitayama 1991).
According to Hamaguchi (1985), in Japanese
culture, the self is not as constant as the Western
notion of ego. It is a fluid and flexible concept
that can change through time and situations.
Additionally, the sense of identification with
others pre-exists prior to the sense of self, and
selfness is experienced only through interper-
sonal relations.
The self as a relational being is also expressed
in characters used in Japanese language (Ham-
aguchi 1985). One of the most commonly used
words for self is Jibun (自分). In fact, jibun lit-
erally means “one’s share”of something between
oneself and another. Furthermore, in some parts
of Japan, jibun also refers to “you,”to whom one
feels close: “I”means “you.”Hamaguchi (1985)
explained this Japanese sense of self as follows:
…jibun as the Japanese consciousness of the self
is not an abstract quality which lies within the
actor himself, “but rather a reality which is dis-
covered from time to time outside of himself, or
more specifically, between oneself and another. In
other words, the jibun denotes in any given situa-
tion the share that is distributed to oneself derived
from the life space which is commonly shared by
both oneself and other actors…In Japan, who is
“I”and who is “you”is not defined absolutely, but
is always being redefined according to the nature
of “I”and “you”relations (pp. 302–303).
These relational nuances of self are expressed by
other idioms. For example, Hito (人) in Japanese
means both self and others, and English words of
“human being”and “mankind”are expressed as
ningen (人間), which literally means
“in-between people.”In sum, for Japanese peo-
ple, the interdependent perspective of self is not a
patchwork of multiple individuals. Rather, the
self is a contextually navigated interdependence.
Once again, we can see the wisdom of Zen
within this Japanese perspective of self and
others.
Zen, Nature, and Japanese Aesthetic
Japan is an island country located along the
Pacific coast of East Asia. Surrounded by the
oceans, over 70% of Japan is forested and
mountainous. Most regions of Japan are tem-
perate and characterized by four distinct seasons.
Because of its wide range of latitude, seasonal
winds, and different types of ocean currents, the
climate in Japan varies from a cool, humid, and
continental climate in the north to warm, tropical,
and rainforest climate in the south. Japan is also
Zen and Japanese Culture 39
known for a range of natural disasters. Typhoons
occur annually, causing floods and landslides.
Due to its location in the Pacific Ring of Fire
with over 100 active volcanos, Japan is prone to
earthquakes and tsunami, having the highest
natural disaster risk in the developed world. The
earthquake and tsunami of 2011 are still fresh in
recent memory (Normile 2011).
Japanese culture is often characterized by the
“love of nature”(Watanabe 1974). However, this
love is not what we usually refer to as love. For
the Japanese, love is the acceptance, embrace-
ment, and even appreciation of whatever nature
reveals: that is, the nature is both sweet and sour.
More specifically, it teaches us the dharma of
impermanence as well as that of dependent
origination (Japan Buddhist Federation 1978),
two central teachings of Buddhism, which are
also followed closely by Zen (Bobrow 2010).
Suzuki (1996) stated:
Nature never deliberates; it acts directly out of its
own heart, whatever this may mean. In this respect
Nature is divine. Its “irrationality”transcends
human doubts or ambiguities, and in our submit-
ting to it, or rather accepting it, we transcend
ourselves. This acceptance and transcendence is a
human prerogative. We accept Nature’s“irra-
tionality”or its “must”deliberately, quietly, and
whole-heartedly. It is not a deed of blind and
slavish submission to the inevitable. It is an active
acceptance, a personal willingness with no thought
of resistance. In this there is no force implied, no
resignation, but rather participation, assimilation,
and perhaps in some cases even identification
(p. 234).
The embracement of nature alluded to above
also points to the Japanese aesthetic (Suzuki
2010). Simply put, the Japanese aesthetic is the
embracement of the transience unfolding
here-and-now (i.e., the dharma of imperma-
nence), which is heavily influenced by the
worldview of Zen (Varley 2000). As many Zen
teachings go, Japanese aesthetics is a subjective
and relational experience of a person blending
into the whole, including nature and some more
formal characteristics of arts such as simplicity,
harmony, space, and subtlety. In fact, Davies and
Ikeno (2002) stated that there are no absolute
criteria as to what constitutes the Japanese
aesthetic. For Japanese people, aesthetics are
subjectively and deeply felt and are experienced
as transient. The Japanese aesthetic is considered
relational because the experience of transience is
said to unfold in the relation between the per-
ceiver (e.g., self as an observer) and the per-
ceived (e.g., cherry blossoms).
Zen, Personal Characteristics, Gender
Roles, and Japanese Culture
Zen is sometimes associated with certain
gender-specific as well as egalitarian character-
istics, such as masculinity and altruism. As noted
above, these images are often attributable to
personal characteristics of influential Zen teach-
ers in the past, such as Sogen Omori of Rinzai as
well as Shunryu Suzuki of Soto. Unlike these
images of Zen, Zen training is not designed to
shape people into particular personal character-
istics. Through Zen practice, one turns out to be
however she or he turns out to be. Kosho
Uchiyama (Uchiyama and Okumura 2014)
described this point very nicely in the context of
reflecting on his teacher, Kodo Sawaki, who was
known for his dynamic, fearless, and unconven-
tional characteristics. Uchiyama stated:
Throughout his life, Sawaki Roshi said, “Zen is
good for nothing.”In 1941, I was ordained and
became one of his disciples. Soon after, while
walking with him, I asked, “I am such a timid
person. If I study under your guidance and practice
zazen with you for many years until you pass
away, can I become even a little bit stronger?”He
immediately replied, “No you can’t. No matter
how hard and how long you practice, zazen is
good for nothing. I didn’t become who I am as a
result of zazen. By nature I was this kind of person.
On this point, I haven’t changed at all.”As you
know, Sawaki Roshi was bighearted, freespirited,
and witty, and yet careful and focused. He
embodied the image of the ancient Zen master.
When I heard his response I thought, “Although
Roshi says so with his mouth, if I continue to
practice zazen, I must be able to become a better
person.”With such an expectation, I served him
and continued zazen practice until he died. He
passed away on December 21 last year. We’ll mark
the first anniversary of his death soon. Lately I’ve
been reflecting on my past, and I now understand
40 A. Masuda
that zazen is really good for nothing. I’m still a
coward and never became even a little bit like
Sawaki Roshi. Finally I came to a conclusion.
A violet blooms as a violet and a rose blooms as a
rose. For violets, there’s no need to desire to
become roses (pp. 138–139).
Reflecting on this standpoint within Zen is
helpful for understanding gender roles in Japa-
nese culture. Although Japan is known as a
patriarchal society, it was originally matriarchal
(Reischauer and Craig 1973). Japanese society
evolved into a patriarchal culture when the
influence of Confucianism permeated into its
political and sociocultural practices in the sev-
enth century. As sited in Sugihara and Katsurada
(2000), according to Reischauer and Craig
(1973), one of the main features of Confucianism
is its focus on a hierarchical society whereby
strong male dominance is an assumption. Addi-
tionally, the establishment of i.e., (house) system
in the twelfth century institutionalized gender
division of labor and power imbalance between
women and men. Following the i.e., system,
social and political power and status were given
to men on multiple levels (e.g., family, commu-
nity, and state). The inception of the i.e., system
occurred concurrently at a time when Zen was
introduced to Japan.
According to Tanahashi and Levitt (2013),
Zen is egalitarian in principle. For example,
through his writings, Dogen, the founder of
Japanese Soto Zen, expressed his attitudes that
men and women behave inclusively and avoid
discrimination. For example, in Raihai Tokuzui
(礼拝得髄; Receiving the Marrow by Bowing)
of Shobogenzo, Dogen stated:
Why are men special? Emptiness is emptiness.
Four great elements are four great elements. Five
Skandhas are five skandhas. Women are just like
that. Both men and women attain the way. You
should honor attainment of the way. Do not dis-
criminate between men and women. This is the
most wondrous principle of the Buddha way (cited
in Dogen and Tanahashi 2010, p. 77).
The reality for women in Japan is actually quite
different than Dogen’s vision above. For women,
especially Zen nuns, difficulties exist in recon-
ciling religious ideals with their social reality.
For example, even today, Soto Zen nuns in Japan
face discrimination in the patriarchal institutional
hierarchy that continuously considers them to be
novices while committing to the Buddha Way
(Arai 1999). As is the case in Japanese society,
issues related to gender roles and sex inequality
are an important, ongoing agenda for those who
seek progress in Japan’s Zen community.
Zen, Cruelty, and Japanese Culture
While Zen is often associated with the wisdom of
peace and compassion, it is also associated with
some episodes of cruelty described in koans. The
following is one such koan, called “Gutei Raises
a Finger,”in the Gateless Barrier, a collection of
Chan (Zen) koans compiled in the early thir-
teenth century by the Chinese Zen master
Wumen Huikai (Shibayama 2000).
Master Gutei, whenever he was questioned, just
stuck up one finger. At one time he had a young
attendant, whom a visitor asked, “What is the Zen
your Master is teaching?”The boy also stuck up
one finger. Hearing of this, Gutei cut off the boy’s
finger with a knife. As the boy ran out screaming
with pain, Gutei called to him. When the boy
turned his head, Gutei stuck up his finger. The boy
was suddenly enlightened (p. 42).
Many of us who read this koan are disturbed by
the boy’sfinger and the apparent cruelty inflicted
upon the boy. I do not intend to justify Gutei’s
action here or episodes of cruelty in other koans.
However, what seems to be crucial in these
koans is the embodiment of bodymind (e.g., the
original wholeness) through these harsh experi-
ences. It is important to note that the embodiment
of the original wholeness is experienced without
going through cruelty, but for some people, an
episode of cruelty serves as a breakthrough as if
it is a “chicken ready to break open the eggshell
and its mother hen pecking at it to help the
chicken out”(Shibayama 2000, p. 45). Whether
Gutei’s action is cruel or unethical is up to the
boy, depending on how he perceived that
experience.
Similarly, Japanese culture is also said to have
two sides: one side is politeness and sincerity,
Zen and Japanese Culture 41
and the other side is cruelty. Regarding the latter,
Japan is one of the few industrialized nations that
still maintain the death penalty. More recently,
Japan was identified for its practice of killing
whales and dolphins despite bans on commercial
whaling and trading of whale products. It is
unclear the extent to which Zen contributes to
these “cruel”Japanese cultural practices. Even if
those who engage in these activities are known to
practice Zen, Zen itself should not be used to
justify these actions. Rather, Zen should be used
as an ethical blueprint for determining whether or
not these activities reflect the Buddha nature. As
noted above, the fundamental aim of Zen is
self-enlightenment (e.g., embodiment of true self
or nature) or the perfection of self through the
self with an earnest endeavor for the benefitof
humankind and all sentient beings.
Greeting, Gratitude, and Appreciation
Politeness and compassion are commonly
observed in Japanese culture. In fact, Westerners
often describe Japanese people as being “very
polite.”However, the politeness of Japanese goes
beyond simply being well mannered. One of the
most valued attitudes in Japanese culture is
“kannsha no kimochi (感謝のきもち),”a deep
feeling of gratitude and appreciation toward
others and their surrounding environments. The
cultural importance of gratitude also reflects the
interdependent worldview infused in Japanese
culture as well as that of Zen. For many, grati-
tude and appreciation are not particular attitudes
of isolated beings directed toward other inde-
pendent beings or objects. Rather, it is the
acknowledgment of shared relatedness unfolding
in a given moment. And it is this sharedness to
which gratitude is directed. I recently came
across a quote from His Holiness the Dalai Lama
(2001). Reflecting the Dharma of Interdepen-
dence, His Holiness states:
We humans are social beings. We come into the
worlds as the results of others’action. We survive
here in dependence of others. Whether we like it or
not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we
do not benefit for others’activities. For this reason,
it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness
arises in the context of our relationships with
others.
He then continues:
…Here I am not suggesting that the individual
whose actions are motivated by the wish to bring
others’happiness necessarily meet with less mis-
fortune than the one who does not. Sickness, old
age, and mishaps of one sort or another are the
same for us all. But the sufferings which under-
mine our internal peace—anxiety, frustration, dis-
appointment—are definitely less. In our concern
for others, we worry less about ourselves. When
we worry less about ourselves, the experience of
our own suffering is less intense (p. 62).
Once again, the kindness, gratitude, and appreci-
ation that Japanese people express is often directed
toward this interrelatedness, which unfolds in a
given moment of one’s life. It is expressed not for
others lessening one’s own suffering or for any
gain from others in a materialistic or utilitarian
sense. It is gratitude toward the Dharma.
Expanding this point, Dogen presented the
Bodhisattva’s Four Methods of Guidance in
Shobogenzo. These are giving, kind speech,
beneficial action, and identity action (cited in
Dogen and Tanahashi 2010, p. 473). Of those,
kind speech is the most relevant to this section.
Dogen stated this:
“Kind speech”means that when you see sentient
beings, you arouse the heart of compassion and
offer words of living care…If kind speech is
offered, little by little kind speech expands. Thus,
even kind speech that is not ordinarily known or
seen comes into being. Be willing to practice it for
this entire present life; do not give up, world after
world, life after life. Kind speech is the basis for
reconciling rules and subduing enemies. Those
who hear kind speech from you have a delighted
expression and a joyful mind. Those who hear of
your kind speech will be deeply touched; they will
always remember it (cited in Dogen and Tanahashi
2010, p. 475).
Conclusions
As noted above, many scholars, both in Japan
and in the West, point out the interwoven relation
between Zen and Japanese culture. The purpose
42 A. Masuda
of this chapter is to highlight some, but certainly
not all, features of Japanese cultural context that
seem to promote or support the wholehearted
way of living. Although the influence of Western
ideologies has permeated into Japanese cultural
practice, Japanese people seem to continue to
value the way of living that Zen delineates.
Living in this modernized world, we cannot help
feeling isolated from others and our surround-
ings. Visiting the wholehearted way of living and
Japanese cultural practice that support such a
way of living may illuminate the possibility for
nurturing the sense of wholeness shared by
many.
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44 A. Masuda
Part I
Zen: Overview and Foundations
What Is Zen?: The Path of Just Sitting
Shohaku Okumura
Keywords
Zen Buddhism Zazen Meditation Behavioral health
I was asked to write a big topic: What is Zen?
The word “Zen”is used so vaguely that it is not
possible to write an article in a way that fulfills
all people’s expectations. Zen teaching, in my
experience, is what I studied from my teacher,
Kosho Uchiyama Roshi (1912–1998). Zen
practice is just sitting (shikantaza), and this is
what I practice. I am going to talk about the
particular teaching of my own teacher and the
particular practice I have been continuing for
more than forty-five years. I hope that my per-
sonal path of just sitting will be meaningful for
the audience of this book.
Life Is a Koan: My Questions
About Life
I was born in Osaka 1948, three years after
World War II. My family had been living in the
city of Osaka, the second largest city in Japan,
working as merchants for more than 200 years
and six generations. In March 1945, my family
lost all of the wealth they accumulated across
generations after an air raid by the U.S. Air
Force. My family moved to the countryside in
Osaka Prefecture, transitioning briefly into
farming until 1952. The family then moved to
Ibaraki, a small town between Osaka and Kyoto,
where I lived from age 4 through 18.
During and after World War II, Japanese
society changed dramatically. More specifically,
the people in my parents’generation altered their
value systems to incorporate completely different
perspectives from what they had been taught.
When the war ended, my father was twenty-five
years old, and my mother was a few years
younger. They were raised in the traditional
Japanese culture where family is valued as the
most important aspect of one’s world. During the
war, they were also influenced by the national-
istic ideology of the military government, in
which the emperor was worshiped as a god, and
the greatest honor achievable for any Japanese
man was working hard and dying on the battle-
field for the sake of the nation.
After the war, democracy and individualism
influenced by the USA became a new foundation
for social morality and education in Japan. Given
the drastic change in society, my parents’gen-
eration lost confidence in how they think,
S. Okumura (&)
Sanshin Zen Community, Bloomington, USA
e-mail: jiyushohaku@hotmail.com
©Springer International Publishing AG 2017
A. Masuda and W.T. O’Donohue (eds.), Handbook of Zen, Mindfulness, and Behavioral Health,
Mindfulness in Behavioral Health, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54595-0_4
47
behave, and what they value. Consequently, my
generation, the “baby boomers,”did not inherit
the pre-war way of thinking and behaving from
our parents’generation. Not having the role
models for the new standards, our generation had
to acquire our own way of thinking and behav-
ing. To do so, we became skeptical of almost
everything, including the ways Japan used to be
and how Japanese people lived after the war. To
recover prosperity, Japanese people worked
extremely hard. Because Japan had to give up
military power, economy became the country’s
priority.
When I was a high school student, I had many
questions about life. As Japan was in a drastic
transition, I felt pressure to make many decisions
about my future. To do so, I also thought that I
needed to understand the basic meaning of life
(e.g., “what is my life for?”). Without knowing
the true meaning of human life, I felt that I could
not make any “right”decision for myself. To find
the meaning of life, I often escaped from class
and read in the library. I read many books,
including those on philosophy, religions, litera-
ture, history, science, and many others.
The more I read books, the deeper my ques-
tion became. I started to see that Japanese society
at the time had become one huge
money-generating machine. I also began to
notice that school systems were serving as fac-
tories, manufacturing the components of the
machine rather than serving as a place for the
young to explore and cultivate the true meaning
of life. My parents and teachers, as well as
Japanese society, expected me to study hard,
attend a prestigious university, have a
well-respected job, work hard, and earn money.
I could not find any meaning in such a way of
life, that is, as being part of the machine.
I wanted to escape from this materialistic society,
but at the same time, I was not yet aware of
alternatives.
I later found out that similar processes
occurred in the USA and Europe during 1960s
and 1970s. Young people wanted to examine the
status quo system of values and escape from the
limitations and boundaries of the established
society. Some became political advocates while
others developed ideas in spirituality. During
these periods, many people who were called
hippies in the USA and Europe came to Kyoto,
Japan, and practiced Zen. Some of them became
close friends of mine, and we have remained
friends since.
Encountering Zen Teaching
In the process of searching for the meaning of
living, I found a classmate who had the same
kind of questions. We became very close. He
knew someone who went to Antaiji-temple to
practice with Kodo Sawaki Roshi (1880–1965)
and Kosho Uchiyama Roshi (1912–1998).
Antaiji was a small Soto Zen temple. Unlike
many other Soto Zen temples and other Buddhist
temples, Antaiji did not have community sup-
porters who offer financial contributions in
exchange of receiving Buddhist ceremonies (e.g.,
funeral, celebration for family ancestry). Sawaki
Roshi originally borrowed the temple to allow
his disciples, including Uchiyama Roshi, to stay
and practice. Later, he was asked to be the abbot
of the temple. He accepted the role, but he was
the abbot in name only. He returned to Antaiji
once a month to lead a sesshin, a period of
intensive meditation (zazen). Otherwise, Sawaki
Roshi traveled all over Japan to teach. Because
he did not have his own temple, he was called
“Homeless Kodo.”In 1963, when he was
83 years old, Uchiyama Roshi took care of his
master until his death. In 1965, during a summer
vacation, my friend visited Antaiji and practiced
with Uchiyama Roshi for a few weeks. That was
the time when Uchiyama Roshi published his
first book entitled, “Jiko (Self).”Uchiyama Roshi
gave a copy to my friend, and he lent it to me.
After reading his book, I felt that I wanted to
live like Uchiyama Roshi and become his disci-
ple. I knew nothing about Buddhism or Zen.
However, I found that he struggled with the same
questions about meaning when he was a teen-
ager. Uchiyama Roshi wanted to live the truth of
human life. To find his answer, he studied
Western philosophy at Waseda University, a
prestigious private university located in Tokyo.
48 S. Okumura
He primarily studied German philosophy. After
completing his master’s degree, he became a
teacher at a Catholic seminary in Kyushu, in the
southeastern region of Japan, and taught philos-
ophy and mathematics there. At the seminary,
Uchiyama Roshi also studied Catholic theology.
After six months, he found that he could not
become a Catholic because of the institutionalism
he observed and studied about. He left the sem-
inary shortly after.
Uchiyama Roshi married a woman while he
was a university student, but she died after con-
tracting tuberculosis (TB) a few years into their
marriage. He, too, contracted TB, living with it
for the rest of his life. After leaving seminary and
returning to Tokyo, he re-married, but his second
wife also died suddenly while she was pregnant.
According to Uchiyama Roshi, these tragic
experiences led him to pursue his life as a Zen
Buddhist monk. He was ordained by Kodo
Sawaki Roshi on December 8th in 1941
(December 7th in the USA). He was 29 years
old. Coincidentally, the day he was ordained was
Pearl Harbor Day.
During and after the World War II, Uchiyama
Roshi practiced Zen under very difficult condi-
tions. Going through difficult times within him-
self and Japanese society at large for almost
10 years, he began to find the answers that
he was looking for. Continuing his practice, he
wrote books and shared the answers that he
found with others. I had read many books about
great individuals in history, but Uchiyama Roshi
was the first living teacher whom I encountered
in my life.
When I read the book (i.e., “Self”), the pri-
mary thing I understood was his devotion to
searching and his tireless efforts to share wisdom
with others. I was not, however, able to discern
the answer he had discovered. After reading the
book, I began to study Buddhism and Zen more
deeply. In 1968, I went to Komazawa University,
a well-known Soto Zen Buddhist University
located in Tokyo, Japan, where Sawaki Roshi
taught as a professor. I studied basic Buddhist
teachings and delved more deeply into the
teachings of Dogen Zenji, the originator of
Japanese Soto Zen. After visiting Antaiji for the
first time in 1969 to sit for a five-day sesshin, I
was ordained in December 1970. I graduated
from Komazawa University in March 1972 and
entered Antaiji.
From 1965 to 1971, Uchiyama Roshi pub-
lished seven books. I read all of them before I
entered Antaiji and practiced under his mentor-
ship. Together with what I studied at Komazawa
University, Uchiyama Roshi’s teachings became
the foundation of my practice and understanding
of Dharma.
The main points of Uchiyama Roshi’s teach-
ings are as follows:
1. What is the self in its true meaning?
2. What is the meaning of Zazen practice?
3. How to live daily lives and the life as a whole
as the practice based on the understanding of
the true self and zazen practice.
What I read in Uchiyama Roshi’s books
during that period of time was the actual Zen
Buddhist teachings that I received, and it has also
become the foundation of my life moving for-
ward. Thus, it is important to elaborate on the
main points of his teachings to understand this
practice and way of living.
Self
Uchiyama Roshi’s search for the way started
with inquiring the truth of the self. He wanted to
find what the self is and how one lives based on
the truth of the self. He found that, from the time
of Shakyamuni Buddha, the fundamental point of
Buddhism is to inquire about the self and find a
peace of mind in settling within the self.
Uchiyama Roshi often quotes from old Buddhist
scriptures such as follows:
Sutta-Nipata: Walk in the world depending on the
self.
Dhammapada: The foundation of the self is only
the self.
What Is Zen?: The Path of just Sitting 49
Mahaparinibbana Sutta: Take refuge in the self;
do not take refuge in anything else.
1
This basic attitude is directly continued in
Dogen Zenji’s teaching: To study the Buddha Way
is to study the self (Shobogenzo Genjokoan).
2
In his book, Jiko (Self), Uchiyama Roshi
defined the Buddha-dharma as follows:
Buddha-dharma is, in short, “the self is being in
peace reaching the inner most truth of the self,”
and “within the peace, the self lives and works.”
According to Uchiyama Roshi, the self has
these two layers. Ultimately, the self is one with all
beings without any separation. When we see this
interconnectedness, we naturally think of others
with a compassionate heart, enacting kindness, and
consideration toward others. He also stated that we
must have a parental heart toward all beings,
seeing everything we encounter as our self, con-
necting our hearts with the universe.
The self is not a fixed, permanent entity that
does not change. It is as if we are collections of
billions of elements moving and changing within
time and space. From the time of our birth, our
bodies and minds constantly transition, their
shapes and qualities shifting like a flame of the
candle. Uchiyama Roshi asked us to see life as
the flux of interdependence. It is actually one
with everything, and at the same time, each of us
has uniqueness distinct from others. Viewing our
self from these seemingly conflicting perspec-
tives is important.
Although we are a collection of different ele-
ments, we tend to view ourselves as a fixed entity
that can exist independently from the rest of the
world. This fabricated fixed entity is what we
usually recognize as “I,”“my,”“me,”and with-
out a clear reasoning, we attach ourselves to it.
Uchiyama Roshi called engagement in this pro-
cess being “self produced by ignorance.”He also
stated that this “self produced by ignorance”is
not the true self that is interconnected with all
things in the universe.
According to a Buddhist teaching, we are a
collection of five aggregates (i.e., skandha: matter,
sensation, perception, mental formations, and
consciousness). However, when these five aggre-
gates work together, it somehow produces “I.”We
consider the “I”as the owner and operator of the
five aggregates. In Sanskrit, this is called panca
upadana skandha (five aggregates of clinging). In
other words, this is the karmic self, the self created
by various elements and experiences we had in the
past. Our psychology works based upon our
clinging to the “I,”and desires for satisfying this
“I”are called karmic consciousness.
When Dogen Zenji says “to study the Buddha
Way is to study the self,”he does not mean to
study the self that is produced by illusory thoughts
(i.e., self as the owner and operator). Rather our
“true”self is revealed when we deconstruct and
become released from such clinging to the karmic
self by letting go of the self-centered thoughts that
are produced by the karmic consciousness. To
study the true self is to study the Buddha way.
Zazen
The transformation of self from the karmic self to
the true self is not achieved through thinking.
According to a Zen teaching, thinking is the very
process of dividing the our experience into pie-
ces. In unison with the desires for satisfaction, it
is this “discriminative thinking”that is the core
of the problem. Zazen is the posture of forgetting
the self that is hardened by illusory conceptual
thinking. It is important to let go of the thoughts
1
In Sutta-Nipata the Buddha said, “They are islands unto
themselves. They have nothing. They go from place to
place and in every way they are free.”(translation by H.
Saddhatissa, The Sutta-Nipata, Curzon Press, Richmond,
England, 1994) p. 57.
In The Dhammapada the Buddha said, “Only a man
himself can be the master of himself: who else from
outside could be his master?”(translation by Juan
Mascaro, The Dammapada: The Path of Perfection,
Penguin Books, London, 1973) p. 58.
In the Mahaparinibbana Sutta, the Buddha said,
“Ananda, you should live as islands unto yourselves,
being your own refuge, with no one else as your refuge.”
(translation by Maurice Walshe, The Long Discourse of
the Buddha: A Translation of the Digha Nikaya, Wisdom
Publications, Boston, 1995) p. 245.
2
Translation by Okumura (Realizing Genjokoan: The Key
to Dogen’s shobogenzo, Wisdom Publications, Somer-
ville, 2010) p. 2.
50 S. Okumura
that come from the karmic self without making
new karma (please see additional discussion
below). In zazen, the five aggregates are simply
five aggregates without clinging; therefore, we
are released from panca upadana skandha.In
Dogen’s expression, this is called dropping off
body and mind (shinjin-datsuraku). Dogen says
in Fukanzazengi (Universal Recommendation for
Zazen):
Let go of all associations, and put all affairs aside.
Do not think of either good or evil.
Do not be concerned with either right or wrong.
Put aside the operation of your intellect, volition,
and consciousness.
Stop considering things with your memory,
imagination, and contemplation.
Do not seek to become Buddha.
3
When we practice zazen, we let go of every-
thing. We let go of what we studied, what we
memorized, and what we thought including any
aspiration to become a Buddha. To express what
is happening in zazen, Uchiyama Roshi coined
the expression “opening the hand of thought.”
Even when we sit in an upright posture, all dif-
ferent kinds of thoughts come and go. We simply
let them come and let them go; we do not pursue
them; we do not fight against them; we do not
make efforts to eliminate them. We focus on
keeping the upright posture as well as deep and
quiet abdominal breathing, not through thinking
but through our bones and muscles. We entrust
everything to this posture. This unique expres-
sion later became the title of the book that is the
collection of English translations of his several
writings.
Zazen is “just sitting.”But we can do two
more things in addition to just sitting when we
are on the cushion in front of the wall: thinking
and sleeping. Zazen is neither thinking nor
sleeping. Even if we sit in upright posture, if we
think, it is the same with thinking at a desk or in
front of a computer. If we are sleeping, it is not
different from sleeping in a bed. Both are not
zazen of just sitting. Whenever we aware we
deviate from just sitting, we return to just sitting,
by waking up from sleep or letting go of
thoughts.
There are important distinctions between
“thinking”and “thoughts are coming and going.”
Even when we sit facing the wall, our stomach
continues to digest what we ate and the heart
continues to beat and pumps blood. Every organ
is still working. There is no reason that only our
brain should stop functioning in zazen.
Metaphorically speaking, the function of our
brain is to produce thoughts. It is as if thoughts
are secreted from our brain in exactly the same
way as the stomach secretes gastric acid. But as
we sit and let go of thoughts, thoughts exist
without thinking. When we think, our mind is
divided into two parts. One part becomes the
subject, and the thoughts that come and go
become the objects of thinking. These two parts
interact with each other. When we are aware that
our mind has such separation and interaction, we
return to just sitting, upright posture, deep and
smooth breathing. This is what letting go of
thought actually means. In zazen, we focus our
efforts to just sit, whenever we aware that we are
deviating from just sitting and engaging in
thinking or sleeping, we return to just sitting.
Within this upright posture and letting go of
thoughts, true original self manifests itself. Zazen
is experiencing the serene self without being
deceived by any kind of karmic thoughts. Dogen
says in Shobogenzo Zuimonki:
Sitting itself is the practice of the Buddha. Sitting
itself is non-doing. It is nothing but the true form
of the Self. Apart from sitting, there is nothing to
seek as the Buddha-dharma.
4
In Shobogenzo Zanmai-o-zanmai (The
Samadhi that is the king of Samadhis), he also
said:
Now, we must know clearly that kekkafuza (full
lotus sitting) itself is the king of samadhis.
Kekkafuza itself is realizing and entering this
samadhi. All other samadhis are the attendants of
this king of samadhis. Kekkafuza is a straight body,
straight mind, straight body and mind, the buddhas
and ancestors themselves, practice-enlightenment
3
This is Okumura’s unpublished translation.
4
Okumura’s translation in Shobogenzo-zuimonki: Say-
ings of Eihei Dogen Zenji recorded by Koun Ejo (Sotoshu
Shumucho, Tokyo, 1988) p. 101.
What Is Zen?: The Path of just Sitting 51
itself, the essence of buddha-dharma, and Life
itself. We sit in kekkafuza with this human skin,
flesh, bones, and marrow, actualizing the king of
samadhis. Shakyamuni Buddha always upheld and
maintained kekkafuza. He intimately transmitted
kekkafuza to his disciples, and taught it to lay
people. …. This is the essence of the teaching of
his whole life. It is lacking nothing. Kekkafuza is
the essence of all of the sutras. This is when the
Buddha sees the buddha. At the very time of sit-
ting, sentient beings attain buddhahood.
5
For Dogen, zazen is not a method or means to
attain some desirable effects, such as awakening,
enlightenment, and discovery of one’s true nat-
ure; zazen is itself true self, true Dharma. In
zazen, we gain nothing. We practice without
gaining mind. Sawaki Roshi, Uchiyama Roshi’s
teacher, said that zazen is good for nothing.
Attitude Toward Our Life: Three Minds,
Vow, and Repentance
Uchiyama Roshi wrote that there are two paths
for human lives. One is to pursue the fulfillment
of our desires for satisfaction by working hard
and competing with others. We are always dis-
satisfied with who we are and the conditions we
are in. We feel as if there is something lacking
and believe that if we gain or accomplish
something to fill the empty space, we must
become happy. We make efforts to reach it.
However, once we obtain it, we know that we are
not fulfilled, and we set another goal to fill the
next space. The consequence is that our desires
grow larger and larger. It is as if we are hungry
ghosts. We naturally become competitive with
others because what we want to gain is pretty
much the same thing other people who have the
same kinds of desires want to get. This is how
our lives become samsara. Even when we
become successful and feel we have more power,
wealth, fame, social status than others, we are not
free from fear of losing them. When we die,
everything we have accomplished and gained
will be left behind.
The other path is what Shakyamuni Buddha
walked. Even though he was born as a prince, he
left his father’s palace to pursue the path of lib-
eration. He gave up all of the privileges he had as
a young, healthy, strong, and wise prince. In the
worldly sense, he became a beggar. After he had
awakened, he taught about what he awakened to
and gave others the guidance on how to live a
wholesome life without being pulled by dissat-
isfaction and competitive thinking. As the leader
of the community of monks and lay followers, he
lived the wholesome way through practicing the
eightfold correct path as the middle-way for the
rest of his life.
The two paths are the opposite ways of
approaching life. When we discover the true
reality of our self that is connected with all other
beings, we cannot avoid aspiring to live harmo-
niously with all beings. Because we are sup-
ported by all beings, we need to support all
beings, too. Dogen Zenji described the three
minds in Tenzokyokun that highlights the mental
attitude that we need to maintain if we are
aspiring to walk the latter path. The three minds
are the magnanimous mind, nurturing mind, and
joyful mind. Uchiyama Roshi also often
emphasized that we maintain the same attitude in
our daily lives based on zazen practice.
6
Daishin (Magnanimous Mind)
Magnanimous mind is the mind of
non-discrimination such as great mountains or
the great ocean. Mountains are immovable and
embrace different living beings such as tall trees,
short trees, grasses, flowers, big and small ani-
mals, insects, bacteria, and many others without
making discrimination. The great ocean accepts
water from different rivers and simply becomes
one ocean. As a bodhisattva, we need to embrace
all people and living beings, and we need to be
free from comparison and evaluations of what is
valuable or worthless, what is wonderful or
5
Okumura’s unpublished translation.
6
About the three minds, see Dogen’s Pure Standards for
the Zen Community: a translation of Eihei Shingi (Taigen
Dan Leighton and Shohaku Okumura, State University of
New York Press, Albany, 1996), and How to Cook Your
Life: From the Zen Kitchen to enlightenment (translated
by Thomas Wright, Weatherhill, Tokyo, 1993).
52 S. Okumura
difficult. We should see various conditions with a
single eye without the worldly system of values
and judgment.
Roshin (Nurturing Mind)
Dogen stated that a nurturing mind is the mind of
parents. Even if they are poor, they protect their
children under any circumstances. Childish peo-
ple want to be taken care of, crying and com-
plaining if they are not. However, matured
people find a meaning of life in working hard to
protect their children and others. As a bod-
hisattva, we should consider the three treasures
of Buddhism (i.e., Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha)
as our children, protecting and nurturing them.
Kishin (Joyful Mind)
Joyful mind is the attitude that finds a joy within
working to take care of others. When we are in
favorable conditions, we do not need joyful mind
because the circumstances are already joyful. We
can simply enjoy our life. When we are in diffi-
cult situations and cannot find any reason to
enjoy them, we need joyful mind for not being
overwhelmed by the difficulties and our negative
thoughts and emotions influenced by these
difficulties.
Vow and Repentance
Another thing Uchiyama Roshi emphasized was
that we must take bodhisattva vows and practice
repentance. In Mahayana Buddhism, all bod-
hisattvas have to take four general vows:
(1) Beings are numberless, I vow to free them;
(2) Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to end
them, (3) Dharma gates are boundless, I vow to
enter them; (4) The Buddha way is unsurpass-
able, I vow to realize it. These are endless vows
under the direction of the bodhisattva practice.
We must walk toward the direction even one step
at a time, but it is not possible to completely
accomplish them. Our practice is always
incomplete; therefore, as we take these vows we
need to make repentance. Repentance in the
bodhisattva practice is not simply saying “Iam
sorry; I will try not to make the same mistake
again.”Rather, repentance in this context is the
awareness of the incompleteness of our practice.
This awareness encourages us to take another
step forward on the journey.
Specific, concrete, and attainable vows are
necessary for each of us. Uchiyama Roshi always
said that he had two vows: one was to produce
determined zazen practitioners; the other was to
write texts of zazen practice for the modern
practitioners.
When I began to practice at Antaiji in 1972, I
understood that I needed to take the bodhisattva
vows, but I had some difficulties in finding my
own strong motivation to help all beings.
Because my question regarding life originally
came from my own desire of escaping from the
busy, noisy materialistic society, I was not so
much interested in working toward helping
others.
Practice at Antaiji
My First Five-Day Sesshin
As mentioned above, I first visited Antaiji in
January 1969 to sit for the five-day sesshin, a
period of intense meditation (zazen). I was a
20-year-old college student. I had only about half
a year of experience practicing zazen after I
entered Komazawa University in Tokyo in the
previous year. During the sesshin at Antaiji, we
sat fourteen 50-min periods of zazen a day. We
woke up at 4 a.m., washed our face, brushed our
teeth, and went to the zendo (i.e., meditation hall)
by 4:10 a.m. We sat two periods before break-
fast, which was scheduled at 6:00 a.m. Between
the periods of zazen, we had 10 min kinhin
(walking meditation). After breakfast, we had a
short break then sat again from 7:10 a.m. to
12:00 p.m., five consecutive periods. We then
had lunch and a short break until 1:10 p.m. We
sat five more periods in the afternoon until
6:00 p.m., followed by supper and a short break.
Then, we sat from 7:10 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. This
extremely simple schedule repeated for five days.
On the last day of the sesshin, we sat until
5:00 p.m. instead of 9:00 p.m.
What Is Zen?: The Path of just Sitting 53
During my first experience of a five-day sesshin,
I experienced pain in my feet, ankles, knees, and
lower back. To sit in a cross-legged posture was to
sit with pain. In Tokyo, I read books until early
morning, slept until late morning, and then went to
school. I had to wake up around the time I usually
went to bed. I was constantly sleepy as if I had jet
lag. The zendo at Antaiji was not in good condition.
There were spaces between pillars and walls such
that cold air entered in freely. We only had two
small kerosene stoves. The sesshin was painful,
exhausting, and a cold experience. When the ses-
shin completed, I thought that it would be my last
sesshin. Onlything I could enjoy were meals. Even
though we had to sit in seiza, one of the traditional
ways of sitting in Japan, and were required to eat
quickly, I was happy to have wholesome, albeit
simple foods, as I was a starving student. Several
months later, somehow and someway, I returned to
Antaiji. To this date, Antaiji style of sesshin has
been my main Zen practice.
Antaiji Practice Under Uchiyama
Roshi’s Guidance
Immediately after I graduated from Komazawa
University in 1972, I entered Antaiji. This felt
like a natural decision after having spent my
years in college constantly reading books and
thinking; I was tired of it. I put all of my books in
the closet and tried not to read them except for
the texts which Uchiyama Roshi gave lectures
on, and Dogen Zenji’sShobogenzo Zuimonki.
Zuimonki is a collection of Dogen’s short
informal talks recorded by his successor, Ejo.
Uchiyama Roshi gave two 90-min lectures on a
bimonthly meeting, called Sunday Zazen-kai. He
spoke on various texts written by Dogen. I read
the entire Zuimonki so many times that I almost
memorized the talks.
Sesshin
We had ten sesshin each year except February
and August when it was too cold and too hot in
Kyoto. June and September sesshin were three
days because of humidity and heat. Having a
five-day sesshin each month was difficult for me
but I was happy to devote myself fully to it.
Daily Practice
For the rest of the month, we sat three periods in the
early morning from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m., and
two periods in the evening from 6:00 p.m. to
8:00 p.m. During daytime, we did various neces-
sary work called samu (community work), such as
cleaning the temple, taking care of the vegetable
garden, and chopping firewood. Because we
cooked and created warm water with firewood,
preparing firewood all year round was one of the
most important tasks. Especially at a temple like
Antaiji, which was located in a city, collecting
firewood was sometimes quite challenging. We
had a small garden where we grew vegetables,
such as various kinds of greens, cucumbers, egg-
plants, and tomatoes. We ate them during the
summer. From the summer to the fall, we also grew
daikon radishes and Chinese cabbages to pickle
for the winter and the following year. Cleaning the
temple and weeding the temple ground were also
important duties. When we did not have commu-
nity work, I often took a walk in the mountains
near the temple while others self-studied.
Takuhatsu
As Antaiji had no family members or particular
patrons, monks there had to support their practice
by takuhatsu (begging), a traditional form of
alms common among Zen Buddhist monks in
Japan. We went out to do takuhatsu two or three
times a month to support our practice and pur-
chase foods for the sesshin. Sesshin was also
open to the community members. Uchiyama
Roshi never required sesshin participants to pay a
fee or make donations. He simply asked them to
bring one cup of rice for each meal they wanted
to have during the sesshin. There were, of course,
people who made donations; however, it was
never requested of them.
Takuhatsu was a powerful practice. When we
walked on the streets wearing traditional
54 S. Okumura
Buddhist robes, bamboo hats, and straw sandals,
people bowed to us with gassho (both hands
putting together) so politely as if they were
worshiping the Buddha. Other people insulted us
or even shouted at us. Some people simply
ignored us. Toward all people who treated us in
various ways, we maintained the same sincere
and polite attitude. For me, takuhatsu was not
simply to receive donation; it was also a practice
to be free from our discrimination toward all
people regardless of their attitudes toward us.
No Ceremony, No Chanting
One of the most unique aspects of Antaiji,
compared to other Zen temples, was that we
conducted almost no ceremonies. We had no
morning, noon, or evening service except the
ones during the two weeks of summer special
period in August, which were offered to college
students for learning Zen. For the rest of the year,
the only time we chanted was when we went to
takuhatsu and when we came back from taku-
hatsu. We chanted the Heart Sutra, a famous
sutra in Mahayana Buddhism, and Shosaimyo-
kichijo-darani.
7
We had meals in the dining
room using oryoki, but we did not chant the meal
verses. We, Antaiji monks, had a bad reputation
when we went to other monasteries for practice
because we could not chant even the Heart Sutra
without seeing a sutra book.
Antaiji was originally established in 1921 as
the study monastery for the selected monks who
graduated from Komazawa University and
wished to continue to study Dogen’s teachings.
That was why it did not have family members,
and therefore, it was not necessary to do funeral
ceremonies or memorial services for lay people.
Uchiyama Roshi decided not to have even daily
morning, noon, and evening services to make it
clear that Antaiji focused on the practice of zazen
alone.
Cooking
All monks took turns cooking every three days.
Our meals were very simple. In the morning, we
usually had rice gruel made from the leftover rice
from the day before and pickled daikon or other
vegetables. For lunch, we had brown rice,
miso-soup, and some pickled vegetables. For
supper, we had either brown rice or white rice,
miso-soup, one side dish, and pickled vegetables.
Cooking is the actual practice of what Dogen
taught in Tenzokyokun (Instruction to Cook).
8
Uchiyama Roshi wrote a commentary on the text
entitled How to Cook Your Life and described
how we should work in the kitchen as an
important practice as zazen in the zendo. Because
we did not have a gas or electric stove, we
cooked with firewood. Cooking with firewood
was completely different from cooking with gas
or electricity. It was a practice of concentration
and attentiveness. We had to take care of three or
four fires simultaneously to cook rice, make
soup, a side dish, and boil water for tea. If the fire
was too strong, we burned everything; if it was
not strong enough, half cooked food was not
eatable.
No Bait
As Antaiji was a small temple, we were not
qualified to be teachers of Soto Zen School
despite having a strict zazen practice. We needed
to go to other official monasteries to get qualifi-
cation to become a temple priest. Uchiyama
Roshi stated that the practice at Antaiji had no
bait. What he meant was that we needed to just
practice for the sake of practice without any
expectation of desired outcomes, such as getting
the license to become a teacher. In Uchiyama
Roshi’s teachings, this practice without any
expectation, but just practice, was very
7
Dharani is the mystic syllables like a mantra. Indian
people thoughts the words themselves had the power even
to move heavenly gods to bestow them some benefits,
therefore dharani and mantra were not translated. We
chanted in transliteration of the Sanskrit words. This
particular dharani is to praise the blessing of the Buddha
to save all beings from suffering.
8
See footnote 6.
What Is Zen?: The Path of just Sitting 55
important. We maintained the same attitude with
in zazen in our daily lives without gaining mind.
English
During the monthly five-day sesshin, we usually
had about 50–60 people. One-third of the par-
ticipants were the resident practitioners like
myself, another one-third were Japanese from
outside Antaiji, and the final one-third were those
from the USA, Germany, England, France,
Australia, and other countries. Many of them
lived in various parts of Kyoto, and they came to
sit sesshin regularly. Some of them lived in a
neighborhood of Antaiji and came to sit every
morning and evening.
In 1960s and early 70s, many Zen centers
were established in the USA and Europe. So
called “hippies”became very interested in East-
ern spirituality including Zen. Many of them
came to Kyoto to study Japanese cultures, such
as martial arts, tea ceremonies, Noh theater,
sumie painting, haiku poetry, Japanese traditional
carpentry, and vegetarian cooking. They thought
that Zen was the spiritual origin of these Japa-
nese arts. Some of them came from Zen centers
to practice in a Japanese traditional monastic
setting. At that time, there were few Zen Bud-
dhist temples in Japan that were open to the
westerners. Uchiyama Roshi accepted and wel-
comed those young people and allowed them to
stay at Antaiji until they found a place to live.
Several of them lived at Antaiji and became
ordained monks.
Although there were many westerners who
regularly came to sit at Antaiji, Uchiyama Roshi
himself did not speak any foreign languages. He
wanted to teach the true meaning of zazen
practice as the Buddha-dharma to those young
westerners. He always had a vast perspective of
the history of human spirituality, and he thought
that the twenty-first century must be the age of
spirituality. And he often stated that the world
needed people who had thorough experience of
zazen practice in order to convey the significance
of zazen to other cultures in various languages.
I was very much influenced by the depth and
breadth of his vision.
When I started to practice at Antaiji, Uhiyama
Roshi asked me if I wanted to study English.
Even though I was not interested in English,
somehow, I could not say “No.”My half-hearted
“Yes,”ultimately changed the rest of my life.
After I started studying English, I became one of
the “English-speaking”Japanese monks. Many
westerners became my friends. Practicing zazen
with westerners became very natural to me. My
current activity in the USA is a tiny fruit of
Uchiyama Roshi’s boundless vision. My life
would have been quite different had I not met
him.
My Practice After Leaving Antaiji
Pioneer Valley Zendo
I practiced in this way until 1975, the year in
which Uchiyama Roshi retired. Three of
Uchiyama Roshis’disciples who studied English
went to Massachusetts in 1975 to establish a
small Zen Community, called Pioneer Valley
Zendo. I was one of the three disciples.
The purpose of establishing the Pioneer Val-
ley Zendo was to transplant Uchiyama Roshi’s
style of Zen (i.e., just sitting) in USA soil. We
bought roughly six acres of woodland in western
Massachusetts. We had nothing but trees, and we
built a small house. Three Japanese monks lived
together, sat, and worked hard to make the place
livable. We still continued the five-day sesshin
every month with the same schedule as the one at
Antaiji. We cleared the land, made vegetable
gardens, and dug a well. Our days consisted
completely of sitting and working tirelessly.
Because I was raised in a city (i.e., Osaka,
Japan), I enjoyed living in the quiet and peaceful
woods in western Massachusetts, practicing
zazen, and working tirelessly to establish the
zendo. I had almost no access to information
about what was happening in the rest of the
world for about five years. We did not watch
T.V., listen to radio, or read newspapers. I felt
56 S. Okumura
that my desire to escape from a busy, noisy
society was finally fulfilled.
One day in 1978 or 1979, I had a sesshin at a
Zen center in Yew York City. After the sesshin, I
had a half-day off before returning to Mas-
sachusetts. I took a walk in Manhattan heading
south, finally reaching a park where I could see
the Statue of Liberty. I did not bring any money,
I did not have an ID, neither did I have my dri-
ver’s license or passport. I simply had robes in
my bag and a ticket for a bus ride to return. It
occurred to me that if I was hit by a car and killed
right in that moment, no one would know who I
was. At that very moment, I felt that I did not
need to and should not escape any more. From
that moment, I felt that I could return to the
society not for becoming a part of the
money-making machine, but for dedicating
myself to the Dharma.
During my earlier days in Massachusetts, I
felt the harder I worked, the stronger my body
became. It worked really well when I was in my
twenties. However, after I turned thirty, my body
began to break down from the hard labor of
building Pioneer Valley. Because I did not have
income to receive medical care, I was forced to
return to Japan in the winter of 1981.
Returning to Kyoto: Truly
Good-for-Nothing Zazen
Right after returning to Japan, I stayed in my
brother’s apartment in Osaka. He was traveling
to the USA for about six months. I felt that I did
not have a place to practice, I had no sangha, I
had no money, no job, and my body felt half
broken. Given my physical conditions, I could
not practice in the way I had previously for the
last ten years at Antaiji and Pioneer Valley
Zendo. It was difficult for me to live by myself
without practice or sangha. In my twenties, I had
devoted my life entirely to practice and to
working for the Dharma. I did not know what to
do.
I was confused and even depressed for a
while. I felt that my life was a failure. It was not
because I felt that I was in such a miserable
situation; I clearly recognized the conditions that
I was in and the cause of it. My struggles stem-
med from the question of why I was in great
agony if I knew that zazen was good for nothing
and that I practiced without any expectations.
I was very fortunate that, from the beginning of
my study and practice of Zen, I encountered
Sawaki Roshi and Uchiyama Roshi’s teachings.
Sawaki Roshi clearly stated that zazen is good
for nothing. I thought that I understood it and
dedicated myself to the “good-for-nothing”
practice. Yet I continued to ask myself why not
practicing zazen is a problem if it was in fact
good for nothing. This great confusion continued
for a while.
One day in a great struggle, I realized that my
practice in my twenties was not actually good for
nothing. I recognized that I had felt that, because
of my zazen practice, my life was good, or per-
haps better than others’who worked hard in
society to make money. I realized that I actually
relied on zazen practice to justify my way of
living. I saw that my practice had not been really
for the sake of Dharma, but rather for my own
self-satisfaction. I felt that I could not continue to
practice this way. I also could not stop practicing
and go back to an ordinary life in the mundane
world. I was stuck at the dead end.
I also realized that, in a deeper part of my
karmic self, which was much deeper than my
rational thinking, my desire to be a “good”boy
had been a strong drive since my childhood.
I was a “good”boy until I became a high
school student. It was not easy to keep up with
this impression; I always wanted to find out what
parents, teachers, friends, and others wanted me
to do before doing anything, then I tried to do
things in the way I thought they would have liked
me to do them. When I became a teenager, I felt
this way of choosing my actions was not honest
or genuine. When I observed my friends, some of
them did things simply because they wanted to
do so without considering others. Some of them
were considered “bad”boys, and I thought that
they were more genuine and honest to them-
selves than I had been. I remembered having the
feeling that I really wanted to change myself.
That was one of the major reasons why I wanted
What Is Zen?: The Path of just Sitting 57
to become a Zen monk; I wanted to escape from
the influence of society. In a sense, being a Zen
monk, I successfully betrayed and rejected all of
the expectations I had internalized from my
parents, teachers, and the entire Japanese society.
In the midst of this great struggle, I also had
the realization that, even after I became a monk, I
was controlled by my desire to be a good boy.
I wanted to be a good student of the Buddha and
a good disciple of my teacher. I had a desire to be
a better practitioner than others even though I
tried not to express such desires explicitly. The
fact was that this realization did not take me to a
state of awakening. Rather, it led me to greater
disappointment. I felt that I could not continue to
live in this way; I could not actually be a good
boy as the son of my parents or as a disciple of
my teacher. I began to feel that I was really good
for nothing, in its worst meaning, not in the
meaning of Sawaki Roshi’s teaching.
Then, one day, something prompted me to sit
on a cushion in my apartment. I had no desire, no
reason, and no need to sit, but I found myself
sitting by myself. It was very peaceful. I did not
sit because of the Buddha’s teaching, or my
teacher’s. No one watched me and saw if I was a
good boy or not. I did not need a reason to sit; I
simply sat. There existed no need to compare or
compete with others or with myself. It was the
first time that I felt that I was really doing the
“good for nothing”zazen.
It is important to recognize that it was difficult
to practice good for nothing zazen. It took me
more than ten years of continuous practice. I do
not think that I have stopped wanting to be a
good boy. However, since I recognized my desire
for being a good boy as a disruption, I am less
controlled by it. Rather, I can make fun of myself
when I behave in ways that focus on pleasing
others and being a good boy.
Kyoto Soto Zen Center
In the summer of 1981, I moved to a small
temple in Kyoto, called Seitai-an where my
friend was the abbot. He graciously allowed me
to live there as a caretaker. That was about
6 months after I returned from Massachusetts.
Uchiyama Roshi encouraged me to work on the
English translation of Dogen’s and his writings
with one of my American dharma brothers,
Daitsu Tom Wright. He also suggested that I
establish a place where I could do the translation
work and practice mainly with the people from
other countries. At that time, there were many
people who visited Kyoto to study and practice
Zen, but there were not many Soto Zen temples,
which accepted them.
In 1983, while I stayed at Seitai-an, I married
Yuko. Her father practiced zazen at his family
temple. The abbot of the temple practiced with
Sawaki Roshi, while he was a student at Koma-
zawa University. Yuko had practiced zazen since
she was 16 years old. Later, she went to Koma-
zawa University. Yuko, however, withdrew from
Komazawa University before graduation, and
then went to the USA to study English and visit
Dainin Katagiri Roshi at Minnesota Zen Medi-
tation Center. Minnesota Zen Meditation Center
was formed in 1972 by Katagiri Roshi when he
was invited to come from California.
After coming back to Japan, Yuko visited
Seitai-an with a female disciple of Katagiri
Roshi. Three weeks after we married, she went to
Antaiji to learn sewing Buddhist robes called
okesa. She remained there for one year. At Kyoto
Soto Zen Center, she did tenzo (cooked) during
sesshin until we had children. Our daughter
Yoko was born in 1987, and our son Masaki was
born in 1991.
In 1984, I started Kyoto Soto Zen Center with
the support from Rev. Yuho Hosokawa. He
allowed me to live in a temple as a caretaker that
he owned outside Kyoto. I decided to take over
Uchiyama Roshi’s two vows and made them my
own: practice zazen with western practitioners
and translate the texts of zazen practice to be
available for non-Japanese practitioners.
I planned to translate several early writings of
Dogen Zenji and Uchiyama Roshi’s books with
Daitsu Tom Wright and other American practi-
tioners. Five translation books were published
from Kyoto Soto Zen Center. I continued to
practice five-day sesshin ten times a year.
I practiced with many students from other
58 S. Okumura
countries there until 1992. Unfortunately, Rev.
Hosokawa passed away, and I felt that it was
time for me to leave the temple. At the time, our
daughter Yoko was four years old and our son
Masaki was one year old.
Minnesota Zen Meditation Center
After living with my family in a small house,
which belonged to a Catholic convent in Kyoto, I
moved to Minneapolis to serve as the interim
head teacher at Minnesota Zen Meditation Center
(MZMC) in 1993. As mentioned above, MZMC
was founded by Dainin Katagiri Roshi in 1972,
but he passed away in 1990. They were without a
teacher for three years. I taught there for three
years as the head teacher and another year as a
part time teacher until 1997.
Katagiri Roshi practiced with Eko Hashimoto
Roshi at Eiheiji, one of two main temples of Soto
Zen in Japan. Hashinoto Roshi was a close friend
of Sawaki Rosh, but their styles of practice were
quite different. As Hashimoto Roshi emphasized
detailed formal practice derived from Dogen
Zenji, Katagiri Roshi’s style of practice was quite
different from what I learned from Uchiyama
Roshi.
I then decided to follow Katagiri Roshi’s style
at MZMC because I was the “interim”teacher for
filling in his role. Quite honestly, that was a
challenge for me. However, that experience
helped me broaden my understanding of practice.
Through my experiences at MZMC, I learned
many things about Soto Zen practice in the USA.
North America Education Center
In 1996, I was asked to work as the director of
North America Soto Zen Education Center that
was planned to establish in 1997 in Los Angeles,
CA, by Japanese Sotoshu Shumucho (The
Administrative Headquarters of Japanese Soto
Zen). Then, I moved to Los Angeles from Min-
neapolis in July, 1997 to work for the Education
Center. The center moved to San Francisco in
1999, changing names into Soto Zen Buddhism
International Center in 2003. It was founded to
bridge Japanese Soto Zen tradition and American
Soto Zen centers. Another task of this center was to
promote the sense of a larger Soto Zen community
in America. Many of the Soto Zen centers were
established in 1960s and 1970s by various Soto
Zen teachers. However, since then, there have not
been many communications and exchanges
among the lineages. The director position allowed
me to travel frequently between the USA and
Japan as well as visit various Zen centers in the
USA. I had opportunities to meet many Soto Zen
teachers in the USA and practiced together with a
number of American practitioners in the various
sangha. Once again, these experiences allowed me
to have broader perspective about Zen in America.
I worked as the full time director of the center for
the following five years until 2003.
Sanshin Zen Community
In 1996, I founded Sanshin Zen Community after
completing my term as the interim head teacher
of MZMC. This was the precursor of Sanshinji
temple, where I have served as the founder and
guiding teacher since 2003. Sanshin means the
three minds that I mentioned above. Because I
had to move to California to work at the Edu-
cation Center, I could not be actively involved in
establishing a new Zen center. People worked
together even though I was not always with
them, establishing Sanshinji in Bloomington
Indiana in 2003. My family and I moved there in
June of that year. I continued to be the half-time
director of the International Center until 2010.
One of the reasons why I decided to relocate
Sanshinji in Bloomington was that there had
previously been no Soto Zen practice center in
the entire state of Indiana. There were many Zen
centers and Zen teachers, however, in the West
Coast. My teacher, Uchiyama roshi, always
encouraged us to pioneer. I found that Indiana
was a potential frontier for Soto Zen in America,
and I was ready to establish a sangha from
scratch. To my surprise, as soon as I moved to
Bloomington, several practitioners, including a
few priests, came to practice with me. Because
What Is Zen?: The Path of just Sitting 59
Soto Zen was very new in the area and Bloom-
ington is a small university town, we did not
have substantial support from the local commu-
nity. It must have been challenging for the priests
to support their practice, but they still practiced
diligently. I deeply appreciated their sincerity.
About 20 people became my disciples. Some of
them have received transmission and became
Zen teachers.
Now I am 66-year old, living in Bloomington
with my family and practicing with a small
number of dedicated practitioners. We have five
Uchiyama Roshi style of sesshin a year. Even
though I cannot sit in cross-legged posture any-
more because of my knees, I continue to sit the
sesshin in the way I practiced with my teacher
since I was 20 years old. We have two Genzo-e
retreats. Genzo-e is a study retreat to focus on a
fascicle of Dogen’sShobogenzo each time. We
also have the Precepts Retreat once a year in July
to study various aspects of the bodhisattva pre-
cepts we receive in Soto Zen tradition. Each year,
several people receive the precepts at the end of
the retreat. More than 70 people have received
the precepts and became lay Buddhists.
Yuko, my wife, has been an active member of
the sangha as a sewing teacher of rakusu and
okesa, the traditional Buddhist robe and the
cooking coordinator of sesshin/retreats. Because
we never forced them practice or become Bud-
dhists, our children are not practitioners but they
support our practice. Yoko became a filmmaker
and has filmed my teaching activities. My son,
Masaki, had a difficult time transitioning after the
move to Bloomington. However, he recently has
been involved in the community as a volunteer
cooking meals for sesshin and retreats. My
family have been supported by the three Jewel,
Buddha, Dharma (i.e., teachings of Buddha), and
Sangha (i.e., Zen community).
When I lived at Valley Zendo in western
Massachusetts, I hitch hiked to New York once.
The driver who gave me a ride was a university
student. For some reason, he took me to his
apartment. I found an embroidery made by his
mother. On the embroidery, there were trees and
the words saying, “To love is to give a space to
grow.”I deeply appreciated this saying. That was
why I named our children Yoko (child of leaves)
and Masaki (tree of truth) with the hope that they
would find something they really want to devote
themselves to as I did to my path; my hope is that
I gave enough space for them to grow.
I have been working on translation and writ-
ing my own books. Because of my limited skill
in English, I have been working together with
various American writers for each book project.
The books published with my name are not only
my books. All of them are the fruits of collabo-
rative efforts with my American friends and
colleagues who love the Dharma and practice.
Several books have been published after I started
to practice at Sanshinji.
I have been walking a narrow path of just
sitting since I first encountered Uchiyama
Roshi’s teaching. I was a 17-year-old high school
student, and it was more than 45 years ago.
I have not done anything else. I have been seeing
my life from zazen. In just sitting, we let go of
thoughts, meaning that we let them come and go.
We try not to prevent any thoughts from coming.
Letting go of thoughts is the complete negation
of all thoughts either being good or bad, positive
or negative. And yet letting go is to embrace all
thoughts. We do not pick or choose any thoughts,
but we simply let them come and go without
judgment. In this way, we can be intimate with
all different aspects of our mental activities, in
different mental and physical conditions and
external situations. We cannot lie to ourselves.
Zazen has been the anchor of my life. Without
ongoing zazen practice, I would have gone
somewhere else, being pulled by my thoughts,
desires, ambitions, or hopes of each stages of my
life. Zazen practice allows me to walk stably on
the path of vow and repentance.
This is a narrow path, but I have been prac-
ticing with many people both in Japan and
America. Through my translation work and book
writing, I have friends not only in the USA, but
also various parts of the world. I am deeply
grateful to my teacher, Kosho Uchiyama, and the
tradition of Shakyamuni Buddha, Mahayana
Buddhism, and Dogen’s Soto Zen.
One thing that has become increasingly clear
to me by walking this narrow path is that I am
60 S. Okumura
connected with all people and beings throughout
time and space. I can live only within the relation
with all beings and support from them. I should
say, instead, there is no such thing called “I”
beside the relation and interconnectedness.
Bodhisattva Way and Therapy
Because this book is primarily for various pro-
fessionals and students in the fled of behavioral
healthcare, I would like to say one thing. I do not
think that my practice of just sitting as a
Mahayana Buddhist or bodhisattva practice is a
therapy. In my understanding, a therapy is a
method for enabling those who are not able to
function well to function in a normal, healthy
way. I acknowledge that Buddhism is often
considered therapeutic as the teachings of Four
Noble Truths are understood as the diagnosis and
prescription for the ill by the doctor, Buddha.
I would say that such an understanding of
Buddhist teaching is not incorrect. However, it is
based on a limited view, I think. At least, for
Shakyamuni himself, the practice of the eightfold
correct path, which is the fourth of the Four
Noble Truths, is not a method for reaching the
cessation of suffering. He did not practice the
eightfold correct path as the preparation for
attaining awakening. He discovered the eightfold
correct path as the Middle Way between two
extremes, self-indulgence and self-mortification
within his awakening. Then, he practiced the
eightfold correct path for the rest of his life.
When he taught the five monks at the Deer
Park, he taught the same eightfold correct path as
the path leading to the cessation of suffering for
the people who are in the middle of suffering.
Then, the eightfold correct path began to be
viewed as a method or a means to be released
from suffering. There are two different meanings
of the path of practice; one is the meaning for
Shakyamuni himself, and the other is for the
people transmigrating within samsara.
When Dogen talked about the practice of
zazen, he meant his zazen practice in the former
meaning of the eightfold correct path. The model
of his zazen was Shakyamuni’s zazen after he
became the Buddha. The Buddha did not practice
zazen as a means to attain enlightenment because
he was already enlightened. That was why
Dogen said that zazen itself is buddhas’practice,
not a method to make deluded human beings into
enlightened buddhas. To me, this is the differ-
ence between the endless bodhisattva practice
following the Buddha’s way and a therapy that is
used to alleviate suffering for those with mental
illnesses.
It is fine with the idea that any methods of
meditation practice developed in Buddhist tradi-
tions can be useful as a therapy to help people
who are mentally and physically in trouble to
restore a healthy condition. However, if that is
the only meaning, then as those people restore
their wholesome condition, they have no reason
to continue to practice. I believe that Zen practice
should be continuous and ongoing.
My practice of zazen is not a temporary
“method”to restore mental or physical health.
When we are sick, the healthy way of life can be
a medicine. But, when we restore health, we still
need to continue to practice the same thing as
Shakyamuni practiced after he became a buddha
until the end of his life. The Bodhisattva way is
not simply a method to restore health, but it is a
healthy way of life.
Conclusion
To sit 50-min a period 14 times a day may not be
possible for most of the clients. However, this
practice might be meaningful for the therapists
who wish to experience thoroughly who we are
as humans and what we are here and now for.
I hope that behavioral health professionals and
students are also bodhisattvas who take the vow
to save all beings, even if they are not
“Buddhists.”
What Is Zen?: The Path of just Sitting 61
A Brief Note on Zazen
Tairyu Tsunoda, Akihiko Masuda and Kayla Sargent
Keywords
Zen Zazen Buddhism Meditation Behavioral health
Today, many think that the posture of zazen (i.e.,
sitting meditation of Zen) is designed to delib-
erately produce pain, so that one can become
strong by transcending it. For many of us, zazen
posture is quite uncomfortable; however, our
relative experiences in this form of cross-legged
sitting may be the result of lifestyle or culture.
Regardless, the assumption that zazen is intended
to be painful for the sake of overcoming pain is
misguided. The posture of zazen originated in
India, supposedly selected because it was actu-
ally the most comfortable sitting position for the
people of India at that time. More specifically,
sitting tranquilly under a big tree was thought of
with reverence as a practice associated with
ancient wisdom. Many Zen scholars and practi-
tioners believe that zazen posture must have
enhanced their survival in the severe climate of
India (e.g., heat). During the daytime, the posture
of zazen would have been a position in which
people could comfortably remain for extended
periods of time, saving energy meanwhile.
In Fukanzazengi (普勧坐禅儀; Universally
Recommended Instructions for Zazen), Dogen
Zenji (道元禅師; 1200–1253), the founder of
Soto Zen in Japan, stated that Zen is not for
enlightenment, but it is simply the dharma gate of
joyful ease. Although there are distinctions
between Dogen’s Zen and a meditative practice
native to Indian religions called dhyana, these
nevertheless overlap at a fundamental level.
Zazen utilizes its specific posture for the purpose
of settling the self to the here and now; it is by no
means intended as a stoic practice of deliberately
exposing its participants to pain. Zazen is the
posture of tranquility (i.e., joyful ease). As noted
elsewhere in this volume, Zen meditation is
found to be efficacious for promoting various
aspects of well-being (see Chiesa 2009 for a
comprehensive empirical review of Zen
meditation).
Doing zazen wholeheartedly is the Buddha
Way. Gautama Buddha attained the dharma of
dependent arising, the Middle Way, and the Four
Edited and translated by Akihiko Masuda and Kayla
Sargent
T. Tsunoda (&)
Komazawa University, Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan
e-mail: tsunoda@joen-ji.jp
A. Masuda (&)K. Sargent
University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA
e-mail: amasuda4@hawaii.edu
K. Sargent
e-mail: kaylansargent@gmail.com
©Springer International Publishing AG 2017
A. Masuda and W.T. O’Donohue (eds.), Handbook of Zen, Mindfulness, and Behavioral Health,
Mindfulness in Behavioral Health, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54595-0_5
63
Noble Truths through zazen under the Bodhi
tree. Later in China, the Tiantai school of Bud-
dhism (天台宗; Tendai shu in Japanese) intro-
duced zazen as a practice of adjusting or
correcting one’s body and mind, and it was
called shikan (止観in Japanese). Shi in shikan
means the stillness or calming of the mind (i.e.,
samatha), and kan means seeing something
before you correctly or insight into the true nat-
ure of reality. Together, shikan means to remain
tranquil in response to various external stimuli as
well as to see these stimuli openly and correctly
from the standpoint of one’s wisdom (i.e., true
self).
The Tiantai school also established its own
meditation based on the principles of shikan (i.e.,
samatha and vipassana). The Tiantai meditation
treatises, such as the Concise samatha-vipasyana
(小止観) and Maha-samatha-vipassana (摩訶止
観), influenced the development of Chinese Zen
and its Zen meditation. These two documents
were written by Zhiyi (Chinese: 智顗, 538–597),
and they also influenced the development of Zen
and Zen practice later in Japan.
During the Song Dynasty (960–1279), Chi-
nese Zen was divided into Kanna-zen (看話禅in
Japanese; koan-introspecting Zen), which was
formalized by Dahui Zonggao (1089–1163; 大慧
宗杲; Daie Soko in Japanese) and Mokusho-zen
(黙照禅in Japanese; Silent Illumination Zen)
was matured by Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091–1157;
宏智正覺; Wanshi Shogaku in Japanese). In
general, Kanna-zen is a koan-based method of
Zen Buddhism. A koan (公案in Japanese) is a
story, dialogue, question, or statement made by
ancient Zen masters that is used in Zen practice
to provoke “great doubt”and subsequently the
breakthrough into the enlightenment.
The Rinzai school of Zen in Japan is traced
back to Kanna-zen in the Song Dynasty. In
Rinzai Zen training, student monks meet their
teachers individually and learn the Buddha Way
in part through dialogues on a given koan.As
they continue working through koans, students
learn the Buddha Way unfolding in everyday
living and eventually become true Zen monks.
Conversely, Mokusho-zen is characterized by
the practice of just sitting with silence. That is, it
is simply the practice of just sitting. This practice
of sitting was transmitted from Tiantong Rujing
of the Caodong school of Zen (1162–1228; 天童
如淨; Tendo Nyojo in Japanese) to Dogen. The
zazen of the Soto School, founded by Dogen, is
known as shikantaza (只管打座), which is to sit
single-mindedly. Within Soto Zen, zazen is not a
means to achieve a specific end or goal, includ-
ing the experience or goal of enlightenment. The
form of zazen itself is thought to be the form of
Buddha, the form of enlightenment. Therefore,
zazen in Soto Zen is called just sitting.
According to Dogen, certain personal char-
acteristics and ways of relating to the world can
prevent people from attaining enlightenment,
namely those with a strong sense of self as a
unique being (e.g., ego) or a conventionally
Western and analytic perspective will likely
experience difficulty integrating zazen into their
lives without the concept of the “self”interfering.
Because of this, he recommended that we must
let go and let ourselves immerse fully into the
practice of just sitting. In the practice of whole-
hearted sitting, one gains everything and loses
everything simultaneously. Within such a prac-
tice, the Buddha nature naturally unfolds as if a
light illuminates naturally in darkness. In Gen-
jokoan (現成公案; sometimes translated as
Actualization of Reality), Dogen stated as fol-
lows:
To study the Buddha way is to study the self. To
study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self
is to be verified by all things. To be verified by all
things is to let the body and mind of the self and
the body and mind of others drop off. There is a
trace of realization that cannot be grasped. We
endlessly express this ungraspable trace of real-
ization (see Okumura 2010, p. 2).
Furthermore, Dogen stated the significance of
shikantaza as follows:
When we sit zazen, what precept is not observed,
what merit is not actualized? The ways of practice
carried on by the ancient masters have a profound
meaning. Without holding on to personal
64 T. Tsunoda et al.
preferences, we should go along with the assembly
and practice in accordance with those ways (see
Dogen et al. 1988, p. 22).
Sitting itself is the practice of the buddha. Sitting
itself is non-doing. It is nothing but the true form
of the Self. Apart from sitting, there is nothing to
seek as the buddha-dharma (see Dogen et al. 1988,
p. 103).
Finally, throughout his life, Dogen emphasized
the depth of zazen practice. In Bendowa (弁道
話; Talk on Wholehearted Practice of the Way),
he stated the following:
You should know that even if all the buddhas in
the ten directions, as numerous as the sands of the
Ganges River, together engage the full power of
their Buddha wisdom, they could never reach the
limit, or measure or comprehend the virtue of one
person’s zazen (Dogen et al. 1997, p. 24).
References
Chiesa, A. (2009). Zen meditation: An integration of
current evidence. Journal of Alternative and Comple-
mentary Medicine, 15(5), 585–592. doi:10.1089/acm.
2008.0416
Dogen, E., Ejo, K., Okumura, S., & Wright, D. T. (1988).
Shobogenzo-zuimonki: Sayings of Eihei Dogen Zenji.
Tokyo, Japan: Soto-shu Shumucho.
Dogen, E., Uchiyama, K., Okumura, S., & Leighton, T. D.
(1997). The wholehearted way: A tranlation of Eihei
Dogen’s Bendowa with commentary by Kosho
Uchiyama Roshi. North Clarendon, VT, US: Tuttle
Publications.
Okumura, S. (2010). Realizing Genjokoan: The key to
Dogen’s Shobogenzo. Boston MA, US: Wisdom
Publications.
A Brief Note on Zazen 65
The Role and the Present
Significance of Koans
Daiko Matsuyama
Keywords
Rinzai Zen Koans Buddhism Behavioral health Metaphors
What Is a Koan?
In the Rinzai school of Japanese Zen Buddhism,
the term “koan (公案)”refers to a question or
succinct paradoxical statement posed to a student
to help him or her seek the truth. A Zen master
gives koans to his or her disciples, and they are
expected to dedicate themselves to concentrating
on these ideas and finding answers. The koans
are drawn from collections of ancient masters
and have long been considered a fundamental
part of training in a Rinzai Buddhist monastery.
Generally speaking, Soto Zen Buddhism, the
other major school of Japanese Zen Buddhism,
emphasizes koan practice less so than Rinzai Zen
and emphasizes more on zazen (zen mediation)
in training.
The History of Koans
Zen Buddhism originated in India and was
thereafter transmitted to China by Bodhidharma
(菩提達磨; Bodai Daruma in Japanese; Also see
Dumoulin 2005a for the detailed history of
Chinese Zen Buddhism). The practice of Zen
already existed, however, before the arrival of
Bodhidharma. In the early sixth century, Bod-
hidharma traveled to China and practiced seated
meditation facing a wall for nine years. He later
settled in the Shaolin Monastery. A hundred
years passed, and a Chinese Zen master, Hongren
(601–674; 弘忍; Gunin in Japanese), the fifth
Patriarch of Chinese Zen Buddhism, appeared in
the late seventh century.
The collective monastacism of Buddhists
practicing asceticism began under Hongren.
Then, Zen Buddhism became divided into a
northern sect, Hokushu-Zen, and a southern sect,
Nanshu-Zen, when the sixth Patriarch, Huineng
(慧能; Eno in Japanese; 638–713), appeared.
Zen began to change dramatically when Zen
master Mazu Doyi (709–788; 馬祖道—; Baso
Doitsu in Japanese) emerged in the eighth cen-
tury. He emphasized the importance of daily
work and life at the monastery (Poceski 2015).
D. Matsuyama (&)
Taizoin Zen Buddhist Temple, Kyoto, Japan
e-mail: info@talaoin.com
©Springer International Publishing AG 2017
A. Masuda and W.T. O’Donohue (eds.), Handbook of Zen, Mindfulness, and Behavioral Health,
Mindfulness in Behavioral Health, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54595-0_6
67
Another Zen master, Baizhang Huaihai (百丈懷
海; Hyakujo Ekai in Japanese; 720–814),
emerged soon thereafter. He wrote the basic rules
of monastic discipline, known as the Pure Rules
of Baizhang (百丈清規;Hyakujo Shingi in
Japanese). Baizhang is also known for the
famous quote, “A man who does not work for a
day shall not eat for a day.”Most certainly, this
period gave rise to increasing numbers of Zen
masters. Baizhang was followed by many unique
disciples during the Tang dynasty, including
Huangbo Xiyun (–850; 黄檗希運; Obaku Kiun
in Japanese) of the Hung cho sect and Linjin
Yixuan (–866; 臨済義玄, Rinzai Gigen in
Japanese) of Linji sect.
As the ideology and culture of Zen Buddhism
began to spread widely, its influence spread to
poets and artists like Li Bai and Bai Juyi. The
conversations of masters, such as Zhaozhou
(778–897; 趙州; Joshu in Japanese), Linji, and
Dongshan (807–869; 洞山; Tozan in Japanese)
of the Dongshan sect, have been transmitted as
Zengoroku—the analects of Zen—from genera-
tion to generation.
During the Northern Song dynasty in the
eleventh century, the Linji sect, the Yunmen sect,
and the Fayan sect gathered strength. Buddhist
laymen interested in the memoirs of Zen masters
also played an important role in expanding Zen
Buddhism. Chinese scholar-bureaucrats in par-
ticular acted as receptors and communicators to
disseminate Zen culture.
During the Song Dynasty in the twelfth cen-
tury, Zen Buddhism continued to divide into
additional sects, called the Five Houses and
Seven Schools of Zen (五家七宗), culminating
in the creation of 5 sects and 7 schools derived
from the original Zen Buddhism, including the
Yang-chi (楊岐; Yogi in Japanese) and Huang-
lung (黄龍; Oryo in Japanese) schools. By that
time, the lifestyle of Zen monks at monasteries
had been fully established. It varied depending
on the religious school or denomination; how-
ever, certain aspects remained stable. For exam-
ple, a Zen master typically divided his students
into two groups, such as east and west, in order
to assign tasks and organize a schedule for
annual functions and Buddhist ceremonies. As
the system developed, the structure for admission
to a Zen monastery and training also began to
take shape. In the case of a typical Buddhist
temple, a person seeking admission to the
priesthood was first assigned miscellaneous
duties. Later, he would proceed to ordainment by
receiving the commandments of Buddhism in
order to officially become a monk.
At a Zen Buddhist temple, once a student
received the Buddhist commandments, he
became an Unsui (雲水), a student who under-
takes training by visiting notable Zen masters.
Such a pilgrimage is called Kou Un Ryu Sui
(行雲流水), which metaphorically means
“floating with the tide.”The word Unsui is
derived from this Zen phrase.
Kou Un Ryu Sui led Zen students to record
every encounter and conversation with their
masters. This process involves meeting with the
master and eventually receiving Inka (印可), the
authoritative acknowledgement as one of his
spiritual heirs. Some students transcribed their
conversations and refined the koans they
received from their Zen masters in order to
compile them as Zengoroku (禅語録; analects
about Zen). As the number of such encounters
increased, the records of the conversations also
expanded. That enabled students to refer to the
past use of the koans. Zen masters also began
polishing collections of koans rather than devis-
ing new ones. Thereafter, Koan-shu (公案集), a
booklet of koans, became available.
As time passed, the number of Chinese
scholar bureaucrats visiting Zen masters
increased. However, the Jingkang Incident in
1126 destroyed the Northern Song dynasty,
pushing, Chinese traditional culture forcefully
into the South. From the end of the twelfth
century to the thirteenth century, a movement
arose in the southern Song dynasty to re-establish
aspects of Chinese thought.
Zen Buddhism was no exception as reforma-
tion of Chinese culture and traditions began in
the South. It, too, saw a return to the classics and
basics as it rebuilt denominations in the South.
Interacting with the Chinese scholar-bureaucrats
who traveled to that part of the country, Dahui
Zonggao (大慧宗杲; Daie Soko in Japanese;
68 D. Matsuyama
1089–1163) settled in Zhejiang province. He
attracted a thousand students and helped revive
the Linji School.
Dahui Zonggao cherished the Zengoroku and
decided to complete Koan-zen, a method to learn
the secrets of Zen by providing questions to
seekers. This led to the emergence of Zen mas-
ters, such as Gottan Funei (兀庵普寧; 1197–
1276), Muqi Fachang (牧溪法常; 1210–1269),
and Mugaku Sogen (無学祖元; 1226–1286),
who eventually became well known among Zen
Buddhist temples in Japan. As the Mongolian
army marched southward under Khubilai Khan,
the Zen Buddhists in China began making their
way to Japan, as if propelled by the crest of a
great wave.
Slightly earlier, Wumen Huikai (無門慧開;
1183–1260) complied a text-based collection of
koans called Mumonkan (無門関; The Gateless
Gate). The Zen Buddhism introduced to Japan
during the Kamakura (or Muromachi) era is
often described as that of 46 biographies. Disci-
ples inherited the Dharma and established 24
schools of Zen Buddhism. To this date, there are
two major styles of Zen practice in Japan,
Kanna-zen (看話禅) and Mokushou-Zen (黙照
禅). Kanna-zen is a koan-based method of Zen
Buddhism that requires a text. By contrast,
Mokushou-zen utilizes silence without text.
Hakuin Ekaku (白隠慧鶴; 1685–1768) is said
to be the founder of what is now the Rinzai
school of Zen Buddhism in Japan (see Dumoulin
2005b). During the Edo era, he referred to a koan
as a catalyst to lead his disciples to attain
enlightenment. Hakuin also produced his own
koans.Sekishu Onjo (隻手音声), the sound of
one hand clapping, is perhaps his most famous
(see Yampolsky 1971, pp. 163–164).
Gasan Jido (峨山慈棹; 1727–1979) suc-
ceeded Hakuin, and he was followed by Inzan
Ien (隠山惟琰;1751–1811) and Takuju Kosen
(卓洲胡僊; 1760–1833). The current Rinzai
Schools of Zen in Japan descended from one or
the other of these Zen masters. That explains why
Hakuin is regarded as the founder of the Rinzai
school.
If Hakuin’s teaching can be put in one phrase,
it would be what he wrote in Zazen Wasan (坐禅
和讃; Sutra of Zazen): “This self is immediately
the Buddha nature.”The thought relates to Zen
master Rinzai’s teaching involving realization of
the Buddha nature of one’s self. In that sense, it
also is in line with the Buddha’s teachings, such
as Shobou Genzo (正法眼蔵) and Nehan
Myoshin (涅槃妙心). Shobou Genzo means
treasured Buddhism, which is understood
through the eyes of the wisdom that see into the
truth. Nehan Myoshin reveals a calm state of
mind by which one emancipates himself from
desire and delusion. This is the kind of mind that
has attained Buddhist enlightenment. The pur-
pose of the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism is to
reach ultimate realization through practicing
meditation, koans, and engaging in physical
activities, such as moving meditation.
The Classic Koans
Rinzairoku (The Record of Linji; see Sasaki
2009), Hekiganroku (Blue Cliff Record; see
Cleary 2002), and Mumonkan (The Gateless
Gate or Gateless Barrier; see Shibayama 2000)
are said to be the three classic koan collec-
tions. The Gateless Gate consists of 48 koans,
each accompanied by a commentary and verse.
The introduction states, “Those who boldly
challenge the 48 koans might just as well be able
to conquest a demon with three faces and eight
arms.”
The first koan in The Gateless Gate is the
most famous, “Joshu’sMu”(see Shibayama
2000,pp.19–31). In this koan, a student asks his
Zen master, Joshu, “Does a dog have Bussho (the
Buddha nature)?”Joshu replies, “Mu”(Nothing).
That’s it. Despite the brevity, this is thought to be
one of the most difficult of all koans. Wumen
Huikai named it Mumonkan (the gateless gate) of
Zen Buddhism, meaning that this first koan acts
as the entryway to Zen Buddhism. What, then,
does “Joshu’sMu”imply?
The basic understanding of this koan involves
a student applying the most significant and
intrinsic aspect or quality of Buddhism, Bussho
(仏性), to a dog by asking his Zen master whe-
ther the two are associated. However, this kind of
The Role and the Present Significance of Koans 69
understanding is completely wrong. Rather, it
should be interpreted as the student asking: If a
dog has Bussho,might a person like me one day
come to his senses and achieve enlightenment?
However, Joshu simply says, “Nothing.”
This reply makes the koan even more intense,
and a spiral of speculation begins. Does it mean a
dog has no Bussho? Or does the meaning of Mu
imply that there is nothing between Joshu and the
student? Why does Joshu say, “Nothing?”Or is
the question too ridiculous to warrant an answer?
Which is it? Even if any of these thoughts leads
to an answer, what does it have to do with a dog?
The more one thinks, the less one understands.
Nevertheless, that pondering process is an
integral part of Zen. It is important to have no
idea of how to cope with the problem and
therefore set logic aside. Zen challenges us to
eradicate discrimination, and this generalizes to
important aspects of our lives in obvious ways. If
one makes a distinction against others based
upon his or her ego, how can one be unified with
the others?
In Joshu’sMu, Wumen first leads us to
stumble, focusing on the one word, “Mu”
(nothing), thinking of it all day long, and perse-
vering with it. Wumen also says Mu should be
associated with neither the presence nor the
absence of nothingness. Rather, it can be thought
of as a hot iron ball. It is as if one cannot swallow
it or remove it completely even if she or he tries
to do so. Eventually, the hot iron ball would
eradicate logic and dualism as it ultimately
explodes and disappears into the whole.
This is rather a dangerous koan; it helps
renounce the distinction that separates subjec-
tivity and objectivity. In that space, one breaks
out of his shell, surrenders logic and experience,
and even breaks free of confining circumstances
eventually, as Joshu’sMu opens the first gate.
This is not nihilism. It is not telling one to be
selfless or to empty the mind. Rather, it points to
something that unites what is within and without,
causing everything to explode. In order to
apprehend it, one must roar and repeat “Mu”
over and over for a year or two.
Next, I will discuss the 14th koan, “Nansen
Zanmyo”(see Shibayama 2000, pp. 107–113),
which at first glance may appear to be extremely
cruel. The koan begins with a fight over a cat
between eastern and western groups of Buddhist
students. Nansen picks up the cat and says, “If
you can speak up, this cat will be saved. If you
can’t, I will kill it.”Neither group has any idea
what to say. Nansen then completes his threat.
The koan may sound brutal, but it begs the
important question of why the students are
fighting over the cat; what purpose did that
quarrel have? Surely, it is not something so
mundane as to who will keep the cat, or where.
Whatever the reason, the problem remains. One
must first realize that for Nansen, the cat is not
the primary issue. If so, you may think that
Nansen need not actually kill the cat. However,
this idea arises from taking his words literally.
Moreover, Nansen does not have to kill the cat if
the students had not been sparring over the cat.
Perhaps the point is that the students were so
influenced by the thought that the cat might be
killed that they did not make time to accomplish
what was presumably more important. The cat,
therefore, was sacrificed in the end.
Stories like this may leave the impression that
Zen is rather cruel and unreasonable. Yes, Zen is
unreasonable and is intentionally so. Returning
to the example of Joshu Mu, even if the students
are arguing whether a cat has Bussho, Joshu
would only reply “Mu,”“nothing.”
Be it a cat, dog, or bamboo stick, this koan
implies that Zen challenges one to depart from
the matter, to come back to it all at once, and to
quickly become selfless at that moment. In Zen
Buddhism, this is called Koji Kyumei (己事究
明), meaning the process of examining the self.
In this moment, one must let go of unnecessary
concerns; otherwise, they stand in the way and
block him in surpassing the superficial. He will
continue to keep company with worthless things,
ideas, or desires. “Stop it,”Nansen threatens, or
else “the cat will be killed.”
What Nansen means by this is that he would
eliminate the problematic self that the students
hold on to as they sit on the cushion doing zazen.
If not, they may never succeed in the process of
examining themselves. Nansen uses a cat as a
metaphor to refer to the self that students hold
70 D. Matsuyama
onto and as an approach to purposefully confront
them. Wumen thinks that something meaningful
may arise once practicing this koan has erased
everything.
The story is not over, though. Joshu comes
back at night. As Nansen relates what happened,
Joshu puts his sandals on his head and departs.
Nansen mumbles, “If Joshu had been there, the
cat would still be alive.”
This is how The Gateless Gate is presented.
Unsui will not necessarily encounter koans in the
sequence listed in the Zengoroku. Each Zen
master decides which koan to offer, based upon
the student’s level. This is called Taiki-seppo, the
most suitable expression of the teaching for the
particular student.
Koans for Zen Training
at the Monastery
Working with koans is the most important part of
Zen training at a Rinzai monastery. The training
would not be complete without it. In order to
gain permission to enter a monastery, one must
endure three days with his or her forehead low-
ered to the floor of the entrance. The applicant
then proceeds to spend another four days medi-
tating in a dark room with no sunlight at all. This
room is called Tangaryo (旦過寮). The purpose
of this process is to test the applicant’s determi-
nation. Once his or her intent has been con-
firmed, the applicant may be permitted to enter
the Zendo as a trainee monk, Unsui, and meet the
Zen master. That same day, he may be allowed to
take a lesson in the master’s room.
Once the new student enters that room, she or
he receives a koan. A bell signals to enter. The
bell is called Kansho (喚鐘) and is usually rung
in the hallway. When the bell is sounded, unsui
run to queue up. One by one, they ring the bell
twice before entering the master’s room. The
proper manners for entering begin with Gassho
Reihai (合掌礼拝), meaning joining hands in
prayer and bowing. The tatami mat near the
entrance door shines black, a somewhat intimi-
dating residue of the finger marks and sweat of
all those who have sought entry.
The rule at a monastery is that students must
engage in koan practice twice a day, morning and
evening. The term for this practice is Chosan-
boshin (朝参暮請). The master allows only one
student at a time to enter. The unsui (student)
offers his or her answer to the koan and asks for
the master’s judgment. The room is sometimes
described as a battlefield with no one else
around. Whether the unsui is a novice or a vet-
eran, he or she receives the same type of extreme
challenge. Those who persevere through this
training are often described as metal that has
been thrown into a fireplace, had its impurities
removed to become 100% pure iron, and then
forged by hammering. In this way, the pure
human nature of the student is said to be
revealed.
Koans are the means for coming in contact
with the doctrines of Zen Buddhism as well as
understanding that the Buddha represents a
purified human being. They are a ladder to climb
in order to reach the rooftop of enlightenment.
Once one has reached the destination, he or she
must come down. The training at the monastery
seeks supreme enlightenment and helps achieve
self-realization; this realization, however, is not
for the purpose of self-satisfaction. The truth
attained by risking one’s own life at the mon-
astery will only become meaningful once it is
used to bring salvation to mankind.
Koans transcend common sense. For example,
one koan asks, “Listen to the sound of one hand
clapping.”As a matter of physics, clapping with
one hand to create a sound is impossible. How-
ever, an old saying posits that it is possible to
listen to the sound of one hand clapping, which is
described as the voice of a student whose heart
has been purified. When such an enlightened
voice is heard, she or he has realized and
accomplished the koan of “one hand clapping.”
But then, another koan will follow.
The Role and Purpose of Koans
Akoan is often described as a finger pointing at
the moon. If the full moon could represent
enlightenment, the finger pointing at the full
The Role and the Present Significance of Koans 71
moon is said to be the koan. Looking at the finger
itself does not help see the moon. What counts is
the direction of the finger. This approach may be
similar to treatment goals in behavioral health
care in that often the knowledge of a diagnosis or
a particular treatment is not the mechanism of
change for people who are suffering. Alterna-
tively, it is the process by which the treatment
unfolds, the journey that unfolds in the direction
of the full moon, that results in meaningful
change.
There are pros and cons for both Kanna-zen,
the type of meditation that utilizes koans, and
Mokusho-zen, another type that does not. A koan
merely turns into knowledge instead of experi-
ence if a student is swayed too much by the koan
itself. Describing the taste of tea, for example,
requires expressions such as bitter, mild, and hot.
However, no expression can help another person
understand the taste unless the person tries it
herself or himself. The same goes for Zen.
Even if one has extensive knowledge of tea,
discussing it is rather dangerous without having
actually tried it. A painter in Japan once set out to
draw a picture of a tiger. However, he had never
seen one. Relying solely on what he had heard
from the experiences of others, he ended up
producing a picture of a cat. If koans become
nothing more than concrete and impersonal
knowledge, they may lead to results that are
equally misguided. On the other hand, the koan-
less practice of Mokusho-zen also has its down-
sides. If one becomes too caught up in the
meditation itself, he or she may become isolated
from the world in which enlightenment exists. A
person who tells about the taste of the tea without
trying it is actually causing harm due to lack of
actual experience and firsthand knowledge.
The 30th koan in The Gateless Gate is called
Sokushin Sokubutsu, meaning “The self is
immediately the Buddha nature”(see Shibayama
2000, pp. 214–222). Nanyue Huairang asked his
student, Basho, “What is the purpose of your
daily meditation?”Basho answered, “I meditate
in order to become Buddha.”Nanyue Huairang
picked up a tile from the ground, placed it on a
rock and began polishing it. Basho asked him,
“Master, what are you doing?”Nanyue Huairang
replied, “I am trying to make it into a mirror.”
Basho replies him, “That is impossible. Polishing
a tile will not help to make it turn into a mirror.”
Nanyue Huairang says, “Having known that,
why are you trying to become Buddha through
meditation? Meditation will not help you become
Buddha.”
Basho asked, “Then what can I do?”Nanyue
Huairang countered with another question,
“When a cart does not move, is it right to hit the
cart or the cow?”Basho could not come up with
an answer, so Nanyue Huairang continued,
“Your approach to daily meditation is basically
to learn about Buddha conceptually. But if
Buddha could be conceptually learned, Buddha
would have no truth. You are not meant to
become Buddha. You are Buddha yourself, and
the self is immediately the Buddha nature. Do
not think that mediation and Buddha are two
separate things. Meditation means to forget about
Buddha and to forget about your own self. You
must realize that you have to renounce such
duality.”
Simply meditating will not enable one to
attain realization. Meditation and koans are just
methods to help bring about realization. If a
student becomes too caught up in doing medi-
tation or solving koans, he may be unable to
move toward enlightenment itself. Similarly,
meditating for the purpose of becoming aware of
the Buddha nature will not enable one to attain
the realization as long as he or she is caught up
with the dualism, such as treating meditation and
Buddha nature as two separate events.
In Mokusho-zen, checking whether the student
has achieved realization is difficult, even if he
believes he has. Koan-zen on the other hand,
provides a means for a Zen master to evaluate the
progress of his or her student frequently as they
work through the koans together. This is the
major difference between the two approaches.
Akoan acts as a catalyst to attain realization,
helping the master to confirm the student’s pro-
gress. A catalyst is a catalyst, nothing more. It
should not be the main purpose; it is not the goal.
Therefore, since ancient times, students have
72 D. Matsuyama
been prohibited from sharing information about
the koan they are working on or their answers for
it. This rule reduces the likelihood of koans being
reduced to nothing more than knowledge.
The Present Significance of Koans
The prevalence of western ideas and philosophy
in the modern world has not diminished the value
of Zen and the role of koans in Zen practice.
Koans help a person to transcend logic and
commonsense mental habits (e.g., judgment of
right and wrong, worldview, and preconception)
and unfold the Buddha nature as it is within the
person. This transcendence is the key, and
practice without it falls short no matter how
authentic and genuine it seems.
In recent years, various meditation and
mindfulness practices have attracted attention in
western countries, becoming part of the main-
stream culture. While some of these practices
parallel Zen, many of them do not. Nevertheless,
many people often misunderstand these practices
with Zen. This is not intended to criticize these
practices, as the path that Zen takes is not
superior to the path of others. However, what
Zen seeks is not what we usually want from a
mediation and mindfulness practice. It is simply
a choice, and koans serve as a guiding light on
the path, navigating one to the heart of Zen.
Many mediation and mindfulness practices in
the West are often bound to utilitarianism, a
commonsense mental habit. Even though some
of them advocate the transcendence of utilitari-
anism, they seem to do so while remaining in this
utilitarian mindset. In these practices, mindful-
ness is the goal to be achieved, or a means to a
particular end. In other words, people practice
with the expectation of gaining something
although it is not stated explicitly. For example,
in the field of behavioral health, some pursue
mindfulness as the ultimate state of psychologi-
cal well-being, and others practice it for saving
their marriage or alleviating suffering. Note that
utilitarian-like desire never runs out, and there is
nothing wrong with having such a desire; we
cannot help having utilitarian-like desires which
reflect one’s clinging to a narrowly defined self
(e.g., self as a distinct and essential entity sepa-
rated from the surrounding) and desire to protect
it. However, once we begin to cling to and act on
it excessively, efforts to fulfill it become quite
detrimental.
Transcending common sense and preconcep-
tion, Zen does not seek any gain in this
utilitarian-like sense. Nor does Zen service as an
antidote for logic and common sense. Zen is
“doing”without knowing whether it leads to
anything. This position is rooted in the original
wisdom of Buddhism. Zen is to do whatever one
does in a given moment seriously and whole-
heartedly, and this doing itself is the gain.
It is difficult for us, modern people, to grasp
this “doing Zen”as we are caught up with
common sense and preconception of what is
valuable. For some of us, “doing”is almost too
trivial to devote our time and energy into it. For
others, this “doing”of Zen seems very discour-
aging in the absence of a mystical element. And
yet others believe that there are hidden wisdoms
behind this “doing”and wish to find them (e.g.,
“Once I am enlightened, I can find the true
meaning of doing”). These reactions stem from
our shared worldview (i.e., common sense) that
there is something absolute and unchanged. For
example, many of us are monotheists who
believe in the existence of one God. According to
this view, God is an absolute who transcends the
human reality, and people seek salvation from
her. Similarly, many of us assume that there are
aspects of ourselves that are absolute and
unchanged. For example, many of us believe that
there exists a “soul”and “true self”within us that
is distinct and perpetual, while things around us
are constantly changing. Holding this worldview,
we naturally differentiate the self from others and
view it as something each of us owns (e.g., “this
is my body”,“this is my life”). As the sense of
ownership becomes excessive, we become sati-
ated with it and are driven to protect it. As such,
for many of us, practicing mindfulness and
meditation for a utilitarian-like purpose is a
result.
The Role and the Present Significance of Koans 73
By contrast, through transcending logic and
common sense, Buddhism does not divide the
world. It does not posit the absolute existence or
absolute rightness of God, self, or even Buddha.
Buddha was simply a person who engaged in
reflection and attained enlightenment. Anyone
with a strong will may be able to do the same.
What Buddhists believe is neither a miracle nor
salvation from the absolute. Rather, Buddhists
believe that Buddha achieved enlightenment, and
enlightenment is the path that they choose to
take. No one can prove that the Buddha actually
was enlightened. For Buddhists, it does have to
be proved. Buddhists simply believe that those
who reach enlightenment will discover the heart
of his realization. The mathematical expression
for realization would be an X. X is intangible,
and Buddhists believe in intangibility. The
Buddha nature does not demand any particular
form of existence or any substance to be added to
or removed from living.
The same goes for enlightenment. Enlighten-
ment is often viewed as the absolute truth in Zen
and meditation as a means to achieve this sense
of realization. However, according to Zen,
meditation offers no guarantee for it. It is like
polishing the tile that cannot turn into a mirror no
matter how well it is buffed. Realization is not
something one aims to achieve; it is more likely a
natural consequence of one’s devotion.
Relevant to seeing Zen as intangibility,
another major difference I find is that the recent
mindfulness movement in the West is perhaps
too logical, linear, and reductionistic. The world
overflows with absurdity and contradiction, and
it is far more complicated than one can imagine.
Consider love as an example. Scientists and
scholars have studied love for centuries, and yet
we cannot grasp it simply by logic. Unfortu-
nately, logic falls short at the most critical
moment. Zen is rather unreasonable and illogical,
intentionally. Thus, it is necessary to transcend
the mental habit of logical reasoning so that one
can be versatile, taking the most natural and
original actions without being caught up with
preconception. This is often called Hataraki in
Rinzai tradition.
Aflexible mind is more versatile and works
better at any time and in any situation. This is
Zen. Modern society celebrates logic and scien-
tific theory, but we slow down and closely see
the reality of our life, we find it not that linear.
For this reason, the Zen approach has much to
offer. Confronting problems with logical thinking
may not lead us to the answers that truly reflect
the reality of our life. Once again, Koans help a
person to become more versatile, grasping the
nature of a problem and leading him or her to
enlightenment.
I came across an example of this versatility just
the other day in the temple where I serve as a
priest. Zen priests often receive requests for cal-
ligraphy. One day, a master called his student and
told him, “The writing brush is worn out because
I have used it quite a bit.”The student asked,
“Should I go get a new one?”The Zen master
then said, “Don’t be silly. Untie the writing brush,
pick up the long strands, and make a new brush
with them.”The dialogue between the master and
his student captures Zen quite nicely. The com-
monsense solution in this circumstance would be
to purchase a new brush as the student asked,
because it is easier and more time-efficient to do
so. It was likely that the student had never
experienced making a writing brush.
Zen transcends logic and commonsense pre-
conceptions. Logical reasoning has advanced
societies over time, resolving barriers to pro-
gress. Zen, however, says that the dominance of
logical thinking and attachment to preconception
often obscures the moment of living fully
here-and-now. Through Koans and Koan-like
practice, Zen tests deliberately whether a person
is only capable of solving a problem using logic,
or whether he or she is flexible enough to will-
ingly take an action under unconventional cir-
cumstances. In the example above, the student
was told to get involved in a seemingly absurd
task. However, he complied with the longer and
more complex task and created a writing brush
74 D. Matsuyama
himself in the end. I will not forget the accom-
plishment and vitality he expressed. Through this
task, the student had gotten in touch with the
reality he otherwise missed and expanded a new
possibility.
Conclusion
At the dawn of Western Zen, Suzuki (1994,
1996) highlighted the importance of transcending
logical thinking and preconceptions pervasive in
our cultures (e.g., dualism, essentialism, and
reductionism). This transcendent quality is at the
heart of Zen, and koans have played a crucial
role for elucidating it. The application of koans
or koan-like practice is not limited to Zen prac-
tice because there are logic and preconceptions
no matter where humans go. The field of
behavioral health is no exception. I believe that
Koans practice may shed the light of transcen-
dence in behavioral health professionals and
patients, allowing them move more freely in the
flux of human conditioning.
References
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Wisdom.
Dumoulin, H. (2005b). Zen Buddhism: A history volume
2: Japan. Bloomington, Indiana US: World Wisdom.
Poceski, M. (2015). The records of Mazu and the making
of classical Chan literature. New York, USA: Oxford
University Press.
Sasaki, R. F. (2009). The record of Linji In T. Y. Kirchner,
x16b, & x14d (Eds.), University of Hawaii Press.
Shibayama, Z. (2000). The gateless barrier: Zen com-
ments on the mumonkan Boston, MA: Shambhala
Publication (originally published in 1974).
Suzuki, D. T. (1994). Esseys in Zen Buddhism. New
York, US: Grove Press (original work published in
1949).
Suzuki, D. T. (1996). Zen Buddhism: Selected writings of
D. T. Suzuki. New York, US: An Image Book.
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sity Press.
The Role and the Present Significance of Koans 75
Zen and Body
Kenshu Sugawara, Akihiko Masuda and Kayla Sargent
Keywords
Zen Body Behavioral health Zazen Koan
The body plays a central role in Zen (Dogen et al.
2010). In this chapter, three major themes
regarding Zen and body will be presented.
Briefly, these themes are (a) the relation between
mind and body in Zen, (b) the significance and
implications of body in Zen, and (c) proper
conduct in Zen training and sangha, a monastic
community of ordained Zen practitioners.
Relations Between Mind and Body
in Zen
Etymologically, the term “Zen (禅)”in Japanese
seems to refer to a particular mental state or
mental activity (e.g., a focused mind), not
necessarily the body. The term was originated
from the Chinese term Chan (禪), an abbreviated
form of Channa (禪那). Channa was derived
from Sanskrit dhyāna, meaning “meditation”or
“cultivated states of mind.”Likewise, some of
the original Zen teachings and scriptures, such as
the Four Sacred Verses of Bodhidharma (Fer-
guson 2011) and the Platform Sutra of the Sixth
Patriarch (see Buddhist Text Translation Society
2001) used the term referring to mind but not the
body. For example, the Four Sacred Verses of
Bodhidharma say:
A special transmission outside the scriptures
Not founded upon words and letters;
By pointing directly to one’s mind
It lets one see into one’s own true nature and thus
attain Buddhahood
Taken together, it is not surprising that Zen
Buddhism is sometimes viewed as a sect of
Buddhism in which the primary focus is the
training of mind.
Nevertheless, in Zen (at least in the Japanese
sects of Rinzai and Soto Zen), the body is con-
sidered essential for studying the Buddha Way
(Buddhahood; Dogen et al. 2010,2011). It is
important to note that what is referred to as body
in Zen is not limited to the body as a physical
entity. The body also means an act of a whole
Translated and Revised by Akihiko Masuda and Kayla
Sargent.
K. Sugawara (&)
Aichi Gakuin University, Aichi, Japan
e-mail: tenjin1975@gmail.com
A. Masuda (&)K. Sargent
University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, USA
e-mail: amasuda4@hawaii.edu
K. Sargent
e-mail: kaylansargent@gmail.com
©Springer International Publishing AG 2017
A. Masuda and W.T. O’Donohue (eds.), Handbook of Zen, Mindfulness, and Behavioral Health,
Mindfulness in Behavioral Health, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54595-0_7
77
person. This important understanding of how the
body is conceptualized in Zen is illustrated nicely
in the chapter How to Breathe in Zazen of Eihei
koroku (永平広録; The Extensive Record of
Teacher Dogen’s Sayings). Dogen (1200–1253),
the founder of the Soto school of Zen in Japan,
presented the following regarding the role of
body-action in regulating and correcting mind:
…first you should sit correctly with upright pos-
ture. Then regulate your breath and settle your
mind (Dogen et al. 2010, p. 348).
Keizan (1268–1325), the second great founder of
the Soto school of Zen in Japan, described the
link between body-action and mind in a similar
fashion in Zazen Yojinki (Points to Keep in Mind
when Practicing Zazen):
Put your right hand on your left heel and your left
hand on top of your right, thumbs together and
close to the body at the level of the navel. Sit
straight without leaning to left or right, front or
back. Ears and shoulders, nose and navel should be
aligned. Place the tongue on the palate and breathe
through the nose. The mouth should be closed. The
eyes should be open but not too wide nor too
slight. Harmonizing the body in this way, breathe
deeply with the mouth once or twice. Sitting
steadily, sway the torso seven or eight times in
decreasing movements. Sit straight and alert (re-
trieved from http://antaiji.org/en/classics/english-
zazen-yojinki/).
As such, the two founders of Soto Zen in Japan
explicitly emphasized the significance of
body-action for realizing tranquility (e.g., the
experience of original wholeness) through zazen
practice; that is, one must first correct
body-posture and breathing, and doing so natu-
rally corrects the mind.
Furthermore, ancient and contemporary Zen
literatures postulate that it is impossible to cor-
rect the mind through the mind (Dogen et al.
2010; Dogen and Tanahashi 2010; Uchiyama
et al. 2004). In studying the Buddha Way, one
must not consider his or her own mind as the
teacher; instead, one must become the teacher of
his or her own mind. According to Soto Zen in
Japan, through becoming a teacher of one’s own
mind, one can correctly practice Zen. In Shobo-
genzo Zuimonki (The Treasury of the True
Dharma Eye: Record of Things Heard; Dogen
et al. 1988), Dogen commented on how Zen is
experienced via and with the body:
Is the Way attained through mind or body? …it is
said that since body and mind are not separate, the
Way is attained through the body. Yet, it is not
clear that we attain the Way through the body,
because they say “since”body and mind are not
separate. In Zen, the Way is attained through both
body and mind. As long as we only think about the
Buddha-dharma with our minds, the Way will
never be grasped, even in a thousand lifetimes or a
myriad of eons. When we let go of our minds and
cast aside our views and understandings, the Way
will be actualized. One sage clarified True Mind
(Reality) when he saw peach blossoms, and
another realized the Way when he heard the sound
of a tile hitting bamboo. They attained the Way
through their bodies. Therefore, when we com-
pletely cast aside our thoughts and views and
practice shikantaza, we will become intimate with
the Way. For this reason, the Way is doubtlessly
attained through the body. This is why I encourage
you to practice zazen wholeheartedly (pp. 109–
110).
Shikantaza is simply sitting mediation in Soto
Zen in Japan. Dogen explained mind further by
stating that we cannot grasp the Buddha Way
through our mind (i.e., our analytic way of
thinking), and that we can realize the Buddha
Way only through transcending body–mind (see
Shaner 1985 for transcendence of body and
mind). Finally, Dogen stated:
Students of the way, let go of body and mind, and
enter completely into the Buddha-dharma. An
ancient said, “At the top of a hundred foot pole,
how do you advance one step further?”In such a
situation, we think that we would die if we were to
let go of the pole, and we cling firmly to it. Saying
“advance one step further”means that same as
having resolved that it would not be bad and so let
go of bodily life. We should give up worrying
about everything, from the art of living to our
livelihood. Unless we give up such things, it will
be impossible to attain the Way even if we seem to
be practicing earnestly as though trying to extin-
guish a fire evolving our heads. Just let go of body
and mind in a decisive manner (Dogen et al. 1988,
p. 111).
“At the top of a hundred foot pole, how do you
advance one step further?”means that one must
choose to jump as a leap of faith, metaphorically
speaking of course. As we can easily imagine,
doing so is quite difficult as the conception of life
78 K. Sugawara et al.
and death freezes our bodies. However, Zen
values precisely this level of commitment for
studying the Buddha Way (Dogen and Tanahashi
2010). Letting go of body and mind includes the
transcendence of a narrowly identified self (i.e.,
self as an independent and constant entity) as
well as the analytic preconception of right and
wrong. In the past, this degree of commitment
attracted many samurai as the way of letting go
of self-oriented doubts, crucial for the moment of
life and death within them (Suzuki 2010).
“Body and mind dropped away”is a phrase
that Dogen often used for his practice of Buddha
Way (see Dogen et al. 2011; Dogen and Tana-
hashi 2010). For Dogen, the Buddha Way is
simply dropping off body and mind, transcending
the distinction of body and mind as well as let-
ting go of body and mind. As noted extensively
elsewhere in ancient and contemporary Zen lit-
eratures (Dogen and Tanahashi 2010; Suzuki
1970; Uchiyama et al. 2004), we cling to many
different things such as profit, fame, physical
appearance, and financial security. According to
Zen, this tendency is due to our attachment to the
narrowly defined sense of self (i.e., self as a
unique and independent entity). If our mind is
rooted within this sense of self, we cannot escape
clinging no matter how much we practice Zen.
Dogen stated that arriving at a state of freedom
from the body and mind naturally requires that
we must first correct our body through proper
conduct (see Dogen and Tanahashi 2010 for
English Translation of Shobogenzo). Therefore,
“advancing one step further at the top of a hun-
dred foot pole”points to the practice of Dogen’s
body and mind dropping away.
According to Zen, a perceived sense of self as
a unique and separate entity is a confused self
(Dogen et al. 2011; Suzuki 1964,1970). The
confused self is referred to as a state of mumyo
(ignorance in English; avidyāin Sanskrit), which
is also known for a lack of grasping the transient
nature of life, excessive pursuit of happiness, and
belief that everything goes one’s own way. Zen
states that we must let go of this confused sense
of self for studying the Buddha way. Dogen
elaborated in Gakudo Yojin-Shu (Guideline for
Studying the Way):
…when you understand discontinuity the notion
of self does not come into being, ideas of name and
gain do not arise…Just forget yourself for now
and practice inwardly—this is one with the thought
of enlightenment (Dogen and Tanahashi 1985,
pp. 31–32).
Discontinuity in this passage refers to the tran-
sient and interdependent nature of life (Uchiyama
et al. 2004), and name and gain refers to the
fames and profits that we often seek throughout
our lives. According to Zen, when an individual
fully realizes impermanence, he or she naturally
becomes detached from the egocentric self,
embodying nirvana. The dropping off body and
mind is also the standpoint of practice from
which the individual experiences nirvana.
Significance of Body
in the Worldview of Zen
Buddhism and Zen state that we live exceedingly
short lives; during our short lives in this world,
we are tossed back and forth by the concepts of
life and death (Japan Buddhist Federation 1978).
According to Dogen, the body is the best teacher
to direct us to mujo (impermanence). For exam-
ple, he stated in Shobogenzo that paying attention
to one’s body, such as seeing a gray hair, helps
us realize that our life is not perpetual (see Dogen
and Tanahashi 2010, p. 801 for experiencing the
impermanence through pay attention to one’s
own body). Such realizations may also help us
see an alternative perspective that the body does
not have to an object to which we cling exces-
sively (Uchiyama and Okumura 2014).
Our bodies are transient, and they simply
unfold in the here and now due to the principle of
interdependence (e.g., the dharma of interde-
pendent co-arising). From this perspective, there
is nothing concrete or unchanging about our
bodies; realizing this fact of life ceases our
excessive clinging. Dogen described the impor-
tance of realizing the transient nature of the body
in Gakudo Yojin-Shu (Guidelines for Studying
the Way):
Just forget yourself for now and practice inwardly
—this is one with the thought of enlightenment…
Zen and Body 79
Is there a real basis inside or outside body now?
Your body with hair and skin is just inherited from
your father and mother. From beginning to end a
drop of blood or lymph is empty. So none of these
are the self…How could you be attached to any of
them. Deluded people are attached to them.
Enlightened people are free from them (Dogen and
Tanahashi 1985, pp. 32–33).
Rinzai Zen and Body
In Record of Linji (臨済語録;Rinzai Goroku in
Japanese), an essential text of Chinese and
Japanese Zen Buddhism for nearly a thousand
years, Linji Yixuan of China (–866; 臨済義玄,
Rinzai Gigen in Japanese) described the transient
nature of the body (i.e., body of the Buddha
Way) as follows:
Virtuous monks, the physical body [composed] of
the four great elements is impermanent; [every part
of it,] including the spleen, stomach, liver, and
gallbladder, the hair, nails, and teeth as well, only
proves that all dharmas are empty appearances.
The place where your one thought comes to rest is
called the bodhi tree; the place where your one
thought cannot come to rest is called the avidyā
tree. Avidyāhas no dwelling place; avidyāhas no
beginning and no end. If your successive thoughts
cannot come to rest, you go up the avidyātree; you
enter the six paths of existence and the four modes
of birth, wear fur on your body and horns on your
head. If your successive thoughts can come to rest,
then this [very body] is the pure body (see
Kirchner and Sasaki 2008, p. 23).
In the passage just above, Linji contrasted the
pure body (the body of Buddha Way) with a
conventional perception of body, also empha-
sizing the importance of letting go of the con-
ventional sense of body through considering a
transient being. Finally, in the passage above,
Linji implied that he could see his disciples
achieving enlightenment by seeing whether they
let go of their bodies and regulated their minds
accordingly. The pure body above refers to the
body that is boundless and whole.
Linji stated that if we cling to the body, we
cannot grasp the pure body that reflects the
dharma of impermanence (see Kirchner and
Sasaki 2008). He also stated that realizing the
pure body is possible if we open the hand of
thought (e.g., the transcendence of verbal cate-
gorization), doing so for one thought at a time.
Physical Body and Dharma Body
Discussion on the distinction between the phys-
ical body and pure body (i.e., Dharma body,
body of Buddha Way) is traced back to the dia-
logue between Master Huineng of China (638–
713), the Sixth and Last Patriarch of Chan
Buddhism, and one of his students, Bhikshu Chih
Tao. This dialogue is cited in The Sixth Patri-
arch’s Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra (Buddhist
Text Translation Society 2001). This is how it
goes:
Bhikshu Chih Tao, a native of Nan Hai in Kuang
Chou, asked a favor: “Since leaving home, your
student has studied the Nirvana Sutra for over ten
years and has still not understood its great purport.
I hope that the High Master will bestow his
instruction.”
The Master said, “What point haven’t you
understood?”
Chih Tao replied, “All activities are imperma-
nent, characterized by production and extinction;
when production and extinction are extinguished,
that still extinction is bliss. My doubts are with
respect to this passage.”
…
The Master said, “What are your doubts?”
“All living beings have two bodies,”Chih Tao
replied, “the physical body and the Dharma-body.
The physical body is impermanent and is produced
and destroyed. The Dharma-body is permanent and
is without knowing or awareness. The Sutra says
that the extinction of production and extinction is
bliss, but I do not know which body is in tranquil
extinction and which receives the bliss.
“How could it be the physical body which
receives the bliss? When this physical body is
extinguished, the four elements scatter. That is
total suffering and suffering cannot be called bliss.
If the Dharma-body were extinguished it would
become like grass, trees, tiles, or stones; then what
would receive the bliss?”(pp. 299–302)
According to Huineng, the perspective that the
pure body exists as a unique entity distinct from
the physical body is an ill-advised one. Such a
way of understanding and experiencing the body
is analytic and intellectual. He also stated that
one must transcend the distinction between
80 K. Sugawara et al.
physical body and Dharma body, impermanence
and permanence, life and death, and happiness
and sorrow if the body and the Buddha Way are
to converge as one.
Xuansha Shibei of China (玄沙師備;
835–908) highlighted pure body, Dharma body,
world, the Buddha Way, and emptiness as one. In
the following passage, he used the Buddhist term
emptiness to refer to an undivided wholeness or
oneness that cannot be described formally and
topographically. He also cautioned his students
not to get caught up with the idea of
transcendence.
Buddha’s way is vast and serene. There is no path
on which to travel there. There is no gate of lib-
eration. There are no thoughts about a person of
the Way. There are no “three worlds.”Therefore,
one cannot transcend or “fall into.”Setting some-
thing up runs counter to the truth. Negation is a
formation. Movement gives rise to the root of birth
and death. Stillness is the province of falling into
delusion. When movement and stillness are
extinguished, one falls into empty negation. When
movement and stillness are both accepted, Buddha
nature is concealed. With respect to worldly affairs
of states of mind, you should be like a cold dead
tree. Then you will realize that great function and
not forfeit its grace. All forms will be illuminated
as if in a mirror. Brightness or obscurity will not
confuse you. The bird will fly into emptiness, and
it will not be apart from empty form. Then in the
ten directions there will be no form and in the three
words, there will be no trace (see Ferguson 2011,
p. 298).
Dogen described a similar process in the chapter
of Shinjin gakudo (身心学道; Body and Mind
Study of the Way) of Shobogenzo (正法眼蔵):
To study the way with body means to study the
way with your own body. It is the study of the way
using this lump of red flesh. The body comes forth
from the study of the way. Everything that comes
forth from the study of the way is the true human
body. The entire world of the ten directions is
nothing but the true human body. The coming and
going of birth and death is the true human body.
To turn this body around, abandoning the ten
unwholesome actions, keeping the eight precepts,
taking refuge in the three treasures, and leaving
home and entering the homeless life is the true
study of the way. For this reason it is called the
true human body. Those who follow this must not
be like outsiders who hold the view of spontaneous
enlightenment (Dogen and Tanahashi 2010,
pp. 426–427).
In the passage just above, consistent with the
teaching of Xuansha Shibei, Dogen stated that
the true body and the Buddha Way are essentially
indistinguishable. The students of the Buddha
Way practice the Buddha Way through the body
(Dogen and Tanahashi 1985). Studying the
Buddha Way in this way actualizes the true body.
Through the practice of Buddha Way, one’s body
becomes the true body, and this is the body that
is not dictated by the sense of self as a unique,
independent, and perpetual being (Uchiyama
et al. 2004). Therefore, the true body realized
through the study of Buddha Way is no longer
one’s possession. It is part of all myriad beings
with no boundary, and it is the Buddha Way. The
Buddha Way is realized through continuous
practice (Dogen et al. 2010).
The Association Between Body
and Zen Training
As described above, Dogen pointed to the sig-
nificance of the physical body in Zen practice.
According to Dogen, the physical body, Zen
practice, and the Buddha Way are inseparable
from one another. However, Zen also seems to
caution the students of Zen not to cling to the
teaching of physical body, Zen practice, and the
Buddha Way as one literally and excessively.
Zen does so by presenting contradicting
statements. For example, in the dialogue
between Yunyan Tansheng of China (780–841;
雲巖曇晟, Ungan Donjōin Japanese) and
Dongshan Liangjie (807–869; 洞山良价,Tōzan
Ryōkai in Japanese), Yunyan stated that sitting
(i.e., zazen) is the Buddha Way, and that not
sitting is not Buddha Way. Conversely, Dong-
shan stated that not sitting is the Buddha Way,
and that sitting is not the Buddha Way. The point
of the dialogue is not to decide which form of
practice is right. Rather, it points to the importance
of going beyond conventional problem-solving
Zen and Body 81
processes such as classification, analysis, and
judgment in order to practice the Buddha Way.
Similarly, Dogen also cautioned his students
not to become caught up with the idea of
becoming a Buddha by correcting the physical
body through zazen. Clarifying this point, he also
used the dialogue between Nanyue Huairang
(677–744; 南嶽懐譲, Nangaku Ejo in Japanese)
and Mazu Daoyi (709–788; 馬祖道一, Baso
Dōitsu in Japan) as an example. In Eihei Koroku
he stated:
Nanyue asked Mazu, “Great worthy, what is your
intention in seated meditation (zazen)?”
Mazu said, “I intend to become a Buddha.”
Nayue picked up a tile and, in front of Mzu’s
hermitage, began to polish it with a rock.
Mazu asked, “What are you doing, teacher?”
Nanyue said, “I’m polishing it to make a mirror.”
Mazu said, “How can you make a mirror by pol-
ishing a tile?”
Nanyue said, “How can you become a buddha
though zazen?”
Mazu said, “What shall I do?”
Nanyue said, “Like someone riding a cart that
won’t go, which is right, to hit the cart or to hit the
ox?”
Mazu did not reply. [Nanyue] further gave
instruction saying, “Do you study sitting medita-
tion, or study sitting Buddha? If you study sitting
meditation, meditation has nothing to do with sit-
ting or lying down. If you study sitting Buddha,
Buddha has no fixed form. Within the Dharma of
non-abiding, you should not pick or choose. If you
do sitting Buddha, this is simply killing Buddha. If
you cling to the form of sitting, you will never
reach the truth.”(Dogen et al. 2010, p. 561)
Through the dialogue of Nanyue and Mazu,
Dogen taught his students not to become caught
up in the idea of equating the Buddha Way to
zazen. Such way of understanding the Buddha
Way paradoxically squeezes the formless and
boundaryless (the Buddha Way) into a form.
Nanyue’s emphasis on non-clinging to forms and
ideas is seen in the dialogue with his teacher,
Huineng, the Sixth and Last Patriarch of Chan
Buddhism.
Huineg said to Nanyue, “Where did you come
from?”
Nanyue said, “From Mt. Song.”
Huineng said, “What is it that thus comes?”
Nanyue couldn’t answer.
After eight years, Nanyue suddenly attained
enlightenment. He informed the Six Ancestors of
this, saying “I have an understanding.”
The Sixth Ancestor said, “What is it?”
Nanyue said, “To say it’s a thing misses the mark.”
The Sixth Ancestor said, “Then can it be made
evident or not?”
Nanyue said, “I don’t say it can’t be made evident,
but it can’tbedefiled.”
The Sixth Ancestor said, “Just this that is undefiled
is what is upheld and sustained by all buddhas.
You are thus, and I also am thus.”(Ferguson 2011,
p. 53)
Another implication of Nanyue’s approach to
Zen is that Zen goes beyond formal sitting
meditation. That is, the Buddha Way is practiced
in every single moment of our everyday
activities.
To date, there are two major styles of Zen
practice in Japan, Kanna-Zen (看話禅) and
Mokusho-Zen (黙照禅). Kanna-Zen is a koan-
based method of Zen Buddhism that requires a
text. By contrast, Mokusho-Zen utilizes silence
without text. The former style of practice is
emphasized in Rinzai Zen, more so than Dogen’s
Soto Zen. Although Rinzai and Soto sects of Zen
do not negate the significance of zazen, the
Rinzai school of Zen in Japan makes use of
koans (a Zen question or succinct paradoxical
statement posed to a student) methodologically
to help students seek the truth more so than
Dogen’sSōtōZen. Conversely, SōtōZen
emphasizes zazen as the act of Buddha Way,
calling it Shikantaza (只管打坐in Japanese).
Shikandaza is often translated as “just sitting,”
“nothing but precisely sitting,”and “doing only
zazen wholeheartedly.”Although the difference
between Kanna-Zen and Mokusho-Zen has been
discussed somewhat emotionally in terms of the
extent to which the practice emphasizes the act of
body or mind, the difference is simply the matter
of style and preference.
Additionally, as described below, Dogen’s
Zen focuses on gyo (行; the act of body) more so
than Buddhist texts. Dogen and Keizan, two
founders of SōtōZen in Japan, established a
series of Shingi (清規). Shingi are the precepts or
regulations that students should observe when
practicing in Zen monasteries. Eihei Shingi
82 K. Sugawara et al.
(永平清規; Pure Standards for the Zen Com-
munity), which was written by Dogen, is an
example of this precept (Dogen et al. 1995).
Zen and Body: Summary
In Zen practice, the body is often viewed
dialectically. Whereas the body and its signifi-
cance are fully acknowledged and centralized in
practice, students of the Buddha Way are
encouraged to be free from the idea of their
bodies. While acknowledging the importance of
the latter, the present chapter has focused pri-
marily on the former. In the former, it is the body
through which one can become fully settled to
the present moment (i.e., unfolding the Buddha
Way). More specifically, correcting the act of
one’s physical body (i.e., the function of behav-
ior as a whole person) corrects the mind. To
promote correct conduct, Dogen et al. (1995)
wrote Eihei Shingi that contains Dogen’s prin-
cipal guidelines and instructions for everyday life
and rituals in the monastic training centers (i.e.,
Eihei-ji Temple) that he established.
Dogen’s thoughts on the role of shingi in
practice are also described in Shobogenzo Zui-
monki (正法眼蔵隨聞記; The Treasury of the
True Dharma Eye: Record of Things Heard).
Shobogenzo Zuimonki (Dogen et al. 1988)isa
collection of informal Dharma talks given by
Dogen, recorded by his primary disciple Koun
Ejo. In one of his teachings, Dogen said:
You should maintain the precepts and eating reg-
ulations (one meal a day before noon, etc.). Still, it
is wrong to insist upon them as essential, establish
them as a practice and expect to be able to gain the
Way by observing them. We follow them just
because they are the activities of Zen monks and
the life style of Buddha’s children. Although
keeping them is good, we should not take them as
the primary practice. I don’t mean to say, however,
that you should break the precepts and become
self-indulgent. Clinging to such an attitude is an
evil view and not that of a Buddhist practitioner.
We follow the precepts or regulations simply
because they form the standard for a Buddhist and
are the tradition of Zen monasteries. While I was
staying at Chinese monasteries, I met no one who
took them as the primary concern.
For true attainment of the Way, devoting all effort
to zazen alone has been transmitted among the
buddhas and patriarchs. For this reason, I taught a
fellow student of mine, Gogenbo, a disciple of
Zen-Master Eisai, to abandon his strict adherence
of keeping the precepts and reciting the Precept
Sutra day and night.
Ejo asked, “When we practice and learn the Way in a
Zen monastery, we should keep the pure regulations
made by Zen Master Hyakujo (Baizhang), shouldn’t
we? In the beginning of the Regulations
(Haykujo-Shingi), it says that receiving and main-
taining the precepts is prerequisite. In this tradition,
the Fundamental Precept has also been handed
down. In the oral and face-to-face transmission of
this lineage, the students are given the precepts
transmitted from the West (India). These are the
Bodhisattva Precepts. Also, it says in the Precept
Sutra that people must recite the Sutra day and night.
Why do you have us discontinue this practice?”
Dogen replied, “You’re right. Practitioners of the
Way certainly ought to maintain Hyakujo’s regu-
lations. The form of maintaining the regulations is
receiving and observing the precepts and practic-
ing zazen, etc. The meaning of reciting the Precept
Sutra day and night and observing the precepts
single-mindedly is nothing other than practicing
shikantaza, following the activities of the ancient
masters. When we sit zazen, what precept is not
observed, what merit is not actualized? The ways
of practice carried on by the ancient masters have a
profound meaning. Without holding on to personal
preferences, we should go along with the assembly
and practice in accordance with those ways
(Dogen et al. 1988, pp. 21–22).
Dogen encouraged his disciples and the practi-
tioners in the way to model proper conduct out-
lined in a shingi. This is mainly because, according
to Dogen, such behavior would facilitate the
practice of Buddha Way while minimizing the
intrusion of egocentric desires and because the true
students of Zen had practiced Zen in this way.
Focusing on the conduct of the body also
undermines the categorical and analytic world-
view derived from our minds. Not being caught
up with our mind means letting go of catego-
rization, differentiation, or evaluation, including
the differentiation between physical body and
Dharma body. In the chapter of Katto (葛藤;
Twining Vines) of Shobogenzo, Dogen exem-
plified the significance of body that goes beyond
the ideas of body in practice:
Zen and Body 83
Bodhidharma once said to his students, “The time
has come. Can you express your understanding?”
Once of the students, Daofu, said, “My present
view is that we should neither be attached to letters
nor be apart from letters, and allow the way to
function freely.”
Bodhidharma said, “You have attained my
skin.”
The nun, Zongchi, said, “My view is that it is like
the joy of seeing Akshobhya Buddha’s land just
once and not again.”
Bodhidharma said, “You have attained my
flesh.”
Daoyu said, “The four great elements are origi-
nally empty, and the five skandhas do not exist.
Therefore I see nothing to be attained.”
Bodhidharma said, “You have attained my
bones.”
Finally, Huike bowed three times, and stood up,
and returned to where he was.
Bodhidharma said, “You have attained my
marrow.”Thus, he confirmed Huike as the Second
Ancestor and transmitted dharma and the robe to
him. (see Dogen and Tanahashi 2010, p. 479)
The passage above really delineates the sig-
nificance of body in the Buddha Way. In the
passage, Bodhidharma, the transmitter of Chan
Buddhism to China, and regarded as its first
Chinese patriarch, highlighted his students’
awakening by pointing to his bodily parts
metaphorically. His teachings on the practice
through the body also highlight that the Buddha
Way cannot be described wholly in words. From
this standpoint, the body is the standpoint of no
discrimination and differentiation (Suzuki 1996),
where the Buddha Way can unfold. This is the
significance of body in Zen.
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Zen and Language: Zen Mondo
and Koan
Takashi Ogawa, Akihiko Masuda and Kayla Sargent
Keywords
Zen Buddhism Behavioral health Koan Mondo
A common definition of Zen Buddhism found in
Japanese dictionaries is “a religion that seeks
enlightenment through zazen (Zen meditation).”
Although zazen is a crucial component of Zen
Buddhism, it is misleading to imply that Zen
Buddhism consists of nothing but meditation
practice. Although zazen is often associated
exclusively with Zen Buddhism, other schools of
Buddhism emphasize zazen as a crucial part of
their practices and teachings. In Mahayana
Buddhism, to which Zen Buddhism belongs,
zazen is one of the Six Perfections (e.g., culmi-
nation of certain virtues). Furthermore, it is
important to note that zazen actually predated
Buddhism. As noted elsewhere, zazen existed
prior to the birth of Gautama Buddha, and
Buddhism is said to have begun when Gautama
Buddha attained enlightenment through zazen.
This sentiment regarding the dawn of
Buddhism can be misleading, too, as its precise
origin varies. Recently, a Rinzai Zen master said
to me that Buddhism did not begin when the
Gautama Buddha attained enlightenment;
instead, it began when he got up from zazen and
began teaching the Way to others. Buddhism
would not have existed if Gautama Buddha had
not shared his wisdom and compassion of the
Way with others.
For Buddhism to be Buddhism, it must involve
two processes: the teachings themselves as well as
the people who are committed to those teachings.
Furthermore, there must be a language that
connects Buddhism’s teachings with its followers.
Gautama Buddha’s enlightenment would not have
become what is known as Buddhism today if there
had been no followers, and these followers would
not have existed without language to transmit his
teachings. This position is congruent with D.T.
Suzuki’s perspective on the history of Buddhism
and Zen Buddhism. In his writings, Suzuki
repeatedly stated that wisdom and compassion are
at the core of Buddhism and that there is no
Buddhism without them (e.g., Suzuki 1994).
According to Suzuki, wisdom is the Buddha Way
Translated and Edited by Akihiko Masuda and Kayla
Sargent
T. Ogawa (&)
Komazawa University, Tokyo, Japan
e-mail: ogawat@komazawa-u.ac.jp
A. Masuda (&)K. Sargent
University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, USA
e-mail: amasuda4@hawaii.edu
K. Sargent
e-mail: kaylansargent@gmail.com
©Springer International Publishing AG 2017
A. Masuda and W.T. O’Donohue (eds.), Handbook of Zen, Mindfulness, and Behavioral Health,
Mindfulness in Behavioral Health, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54595-0_8
85
that one can direct toward or find within him or
herself, and compassion is the Buddha Way that
one directs toward others.
Like any other cultural or spiritual human
activities, Zen Buddhism is interpersonal and
social in nature. If a person merely enlightens
through zazen alone, the practices of zazen and
Zen teachings do not have to be established as a
religious system. As is the case for other schools
of Buddhism, language (e.g., discourse) plays a
crucial role in learning and transmitting the Way
in Zen Buddhism.
What may be unique to Zen language are its
styles (e.g., mondo and koan) and its purpose.
Amondo (問答) refers to a verbal exchange
between a disciple and his or her master, and a
koan (公案) is a paradoxical anecdote or riddle,
used in Zen Buddhism to demonstrate the short-
fall of logical and analytic reasoning and to pro-
voke enlightenment. Discourse between a teacher
and a disciple is generally literal and linear in
other religions and other schools of Buddhism.
That is, when a speaker asks a listener a question
(e.g., “Where do we go after we die?”), the lis-
tener responds to the speaker by answering the
question the speaker asks in a logically consistent
and direct manner (e.g., “We all will go to hea-
ven”). Similarly, many religious systems use this
structure of discourse to exchange, learn, and
teach information (i.e., teachings, attitudes, and
beliefs) in a literally and logically coherent
manner. On the other hand, Zen mondos appear
relatively illogical or disorganized in content and
structure. For example, in some mondos, a master
does not respond to a student’s question but asks
the student a seemingly irrelevant question
instead. Other times, Zen discourse abandons the
purpose of uncovering unknown truths alto-
gether. In these cases, the purpose of the teacher–
student dyadic conversation is left to the listener
or reader to interpret.
Tetsuharu Kawakami (川上哲治; 1920–
2013) is known as Japanese baseball’sfirst Zen
master; he presented the nature and purpose of
Zen dialogue eloquently. Kawakami was a pro-
fessional baseball legend in Japan, known for his
exceptional batting skills and later, his legendary
coaching skills which led the Tokyo Giants to
nine consecutive championships, the longest
streak in Japanese pro-sports history. In his book
Zen to Nihon Yakyu (Zen and Japanese Baseball),
Kawakami described the nature of Zen as
follows:
[Baseball] skills are not simple “things”that are
taught by others. Rather, these skills require per-
sonal discipline and must be seized by the people
who seek to develop them. This is also the case
with Zen. Zen mondo is not a practice that seeks to
merely hand enlightenment over students. For an
enlightened master, it is actually a process of
guiding his or her students to a state of enlight-
enment without directly pointing to where it can be
found. Although the master may help the student
attain enlightenment, he or she never teaches the
student what enlightenment is directly. Rather than
being taught by others, enlightenment must be
grasped by students on their own. That is Zen (the
translation is made by the translators).
Zen dialogues, such as mondo and koan,
appear illogical and disorganized. However, they
do so deliberately so that the student learns the
Buddha Nature personally and experientially.In
this sense, Zen dialogue is intentionally incon-
venient. It is used not for expedience or comfort
but so that students may attain enlightenment
through themselves. In Zen, we are not able to
simply receive enlightenment directly from oth-
ers as a gift. Through discourse, a master delib-
erately prohibits him- or herself from directly
revealing what enlightenment is for his or her
student. “Enlightenment”taught by others is
better conceptualized as attaining knowledge as
opposed to the full and whole experience that is
enlightenment.
Zen Dialogues in the Tang Dynasty
(750–1000 AD)
Zen Buddhism grew as an independent religious
organization in China during the Tang Dynasty
(750–1000 AD). During that time, many dia-
logues among Zen monks and students were
recorded and assembled as a collection. These
collections were further edited with the additions
of commentaries by Zen masters during the Song
86 T. Ogawa et al.
Dynasty (960–1279). Many of the popular Zen
dialogues of our current times were actually
compiled during the Song period. One example
of such a dialogue is the one between Mazu
Daoyi (709–788; 馬祖道一; Baso Doitsu in
Japanese) and another monk. Mazu is the dharma
heir of the sixth patriarch of Zen Buddhism,
Huineng (慧能; Eno in Japanese; 638–713), and
together they are the most famous of the ancient
Chinese Zen masters. This mondo is cited in the
Records of the Transmission of the Lamp (景德
傳燈錄; Keitoku Dento-roku in Japanese), a
voluminous work consisting of biographies of
the Zen patriarchs and other prominent Buddhist
monks. The mondo goes:
A monk asked, “What is the essential meaning of
Buddhism?”
Mazu said, “What is the meaning of this moment?”
(see Ferguson 2011, p. 76)
This dialogue can be described as disorganized
and illogical as Mazu responded to the monk’s
question by asking him another question rather
than answering the monk’s original question.
Responding to a question by asking a question
occurs in our daily discourse as well. Between
life partners, a routine conversation may include
responses in the form of questions; for example,
a wife may respond “What do you wanna eat for
dinner?”to her husband asking “Where is the TV
remote?”This dialogue between the wife and the
husband is illogical if its aim is to exchange the
concrete information implied by the original
questions. In response to the husband’s question,
the wife changes the topic. As such for the hus-
band, the goal of asking the question (i.e., finding
the remote controller) is not achieved. If the
purpose of the dialogue between Mazu and a
monk is similar to that of the discourse between
the couples, it is also extremely incoherent.
However, would it be the case? Let’s try another
discourse of everyday life.
Person A: Do you like Yankees?
Person B: Where do you think I’m from?
In reading the dialogue, it is unclear whether the
person B is from and what the person B means by
“Where do you think I’m from?”However, B’s
intension seems very clear to person A. If the
person B is from the Bronx, New York, his answer
“Where do you think I’m from?”means “Yes, I
like the Yankees.”If the person B is from else-
where, let’s say Boston, his response means “no,”
as there are many die-hard Boston Red Sox fans in
Boston, and this cultural link would imply that
Person B’s question is in reference to being a Red
Sox fan. Unlike the dialogue of the couple above,
the exchange between the person A and person B
in this second scenario is established as a com-
plete dialogue, despite person B responding to
person A’s question by asking another question.
The conversation between person A and per-
son B is established as a complete dialogue if the
two participants share the implied knowledge
(i.e., where person B is from). In this symbolic
exchange, person B is able to respond with a
question so that person A can understand the
answer himself. The answer that person A seeks
emerges naturally within her by the prompt
response question. Psychologists often call this
an “aha moment”or insight learning.
Similarly, we can apply our understanding of
this type of learning to mondo and koan practice.
The dialogue between the monk and Mazu above
embodies the same sense of nuance. Mazu asked
the question from the standpoint of the first Zen
patriarch’s (Bodhidharma) teaching. Mazu
described the core of Bodhidharma’s teaching as
follows:
Each one of you, you should believe that your own
mind is the Buddha, and that this mind is identical
with the Buddha. The great master Bodhidharma
came from India to China and transmitted the One
mind teaching of the supreme vehicle in order to
cause you to realize awakening (see Poceski 2015,
p. 83).
Mazu asked the monk the question from the
standpoint of the One mind teaching (i.e., one’s
own mind is the Buddha). Mazu’s intention was
to direct the monk’s focus to the present moment,
where the monk’s mind could unfold as the
Buddha. This was the teaching that Bodhidharma
brought from India.
Zen and Language: Zen Mondo and Koan 87
The dialogue between Mazu and the monk is
said to be complete if that question from Mazu
prompted him to become fully aware of the One
mind teaching of Bodhidharma. If the monk did
not have an “aha moment”of realization, the
dialogue is illogical and disorganized such that
its purpose is not yet realized. For the monk, it
was crucial to find out the teaching of Buddha on
his own, the teaching from which Mazu asked
him that question. Mazu has another episode:
A monk asked (Mazu): “What is the meaning of
(Bodhidharma’s) coming from the West?”
Mazu then hit him. Thereafter he said, “If I did not
hit you, (people) everywhere would laugh at me”
(see Poceski 2015, p. 290).
Mazu hit the monk in response to his question
(i.e., “What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s
coming from the West?”). If teachers or physi-
cians of the present time in Japan or the USA do
the same thing to their own students or patients,
it will be an extremely serious problem. So what
would be his intention? Mazu’s intention comes
from the standpoint of wisdom and compassion.
He hit the monk in the hope that the monk would
feel his Buddha mind (i.e., the body-mind) fully.
Unfortunately, despite Mazu’s intention, the
monk did not find the Buddha mind in his
experience.
However, another episode of Mazu presented
that the same action yielded the awakening of a
monk, named Shuilao (水老). The mondo in this
episode goes as follows:
Reverend Shuiliao of Hongzhou came to see Mazu
for the first time. He asked, “What is the true
meaning of (patriarch Bodhidharma’s) coming
from the west?”
Mazu said, “Bow down!”
Just as Shuilao was bowing down, Mazu gave him
a kick. Thereupon Shuilao had great awakening.
He rose up, clapping his hands and laughing
heartily.
Shuilao exclaimed, “How wonderful! How won-
derful! The source of myriad samadhis and limit-
less subtle meanings: they can all be realized on
the tip of single hair.”He then paid his respects to
Mazu and went away.
Later, Shuilao told the assembly (at his mon-
astery), “Ever since the day Master Ma kicked me,
I had not yet stopped laughing.”(Poceski 2015,
p. 54–55)
It is important to highlight that not all Zen
mondos include hitting or responding to ques-
tions with questions. There are, in fact, many
gentle Zen mondos.Amondo of Zhaozhou (趙州
從諗; Joshu Jushin in Japanese; 778–897) is an
example. The mondo goes:
A monk asked Zhaozhou, “The ten thousand
things return to the one. Where does the one
return?”
Zhaozhou said, “When I lived in Qingzhou I made
a cotton shirt weighing seven pounds.”(Dogen
et al. 2010, p. 331)
This is a well-known mondo, cited in some of the
well-known Zen texts, such as the Records of the
Transmission of the Lamp, the Blue Cliff Record
(碧巌録; Hekiganroku in Japanese), and Eihei
Koroku (永平広録; The Extensive Record of
Teacher Dōgen’s Sayings). Similar to other
mondos mentioned above, the mondo of Zhaoz-
hou appears illogical and incoherent. However, if
the monk knew the background of Zhaozhou as
well as the teachings of Mazu, Zhaozhou’s
master, the intention of Zhaozhou from his
answer might make sense.
Zhaozhou was from Qingzhou. A cotton shirt
was a cloth that people at the time of Zhaozhou
wore every day. There was nothing formal or
special about it, and it symbolized the ordinary
way of living. Seven pound in the Chinese metric
system is about the weight of a new born baby.
“A cotton shirt made in Qingzhou”symbolized
Zhaozhou himself. For Zhaozhou, all myriad
dharmas return to him, and for the monk, all
myriad dharmas return to the monk himself.
Zhaozhou’s intention was to have the monk
realize the importance of the monk himself in
that very moment.
The mondo of Zhaozhou is similar to that of
Fuxi (福谿; Fukukei in Japanese). This dialogue
is also cited in the Records of the Transmission
of the Lamp.
A monk asked, “Karma scatters and returns to
emptiness, but where does emptiness return to?”
88 T. Ogawa et al.
“Fellow!”shouted the master.
“Yes,”answered the monk.
“Where is emptiness?”
“May the master please tell!”replied the monk.
“The Persians eat spices,”said the master. (see
Daoyuan and Whitfield 2015, p. 244–245)
A focal point of the discourse is the monk’s
“Yes.”More specifically, it is within the monk
that emptiness (i.e., the Buddha Way) returns in
the very moment when he wholeheartedly said
“Yes.”Fuxi then asked him “where is empti-
ness?”in the hope that the monk might realize
that the emptiness returns to the monk himself.
Unfortunately, the monk did not realize that the
emptiness was in him in the moment he said yes.
Perhaps, being slightly disappointed, Fuxi said,
“The Persians eat spices.”During the time of
Zhaozhou and Fuxi, spices were imported from
Persia to China through the Silk Roads, and they
were as valuable as golds. “The Persians eat
spices”implies that the monk did not realize
himself as the locus of emptiness, as if the Per-
sians waste their own spices by eating them.
Although the entire dialogue presents Fuxi as
somewhat sarcastic, he showed the monk where
the emptiness goes.
Zen Koans During the Song Dynasty
(960–1279)
As shown above, Zen mondos during the Tang
Dynasty appear illogical, but they include the
event to be realized (e.g., self as the locus of
emptiness in the mondo of Fuxi). In other words,
all of these mondos point to the very person who
asked a question as the locus of what he was
looking for.
Conversely, when Zen Buddhism entered into
the Song Dynasty, Zen dialogues became inher-
ently illogical and unsolvable. These were called
koans (gong’an). Koans strip all meanings from
words, disrupt logical flows, and transform a
conversation into mere chunks of sounds. They
were used to remove all analytic and logical
mindsets from the practitioners and have them
leap into the realization of enlightenment. In
Muchu mondoshu (夢中問答集; the Dialogues
in a Dream), Muso Soseki (夢窓疎石; 1275–
1351), a great Japanese Rinzai Zen master,
described the development of koan-based prac-
tice within the history of Zen Buddhism as
follows:
Students in former times were not shallow in their
desire for the Way. Unconcerned with physical
discomfort and prepared to travel any distance,
they sought far and wide for good teachers. Zen
masters, in their compassion, would utter a word or
two to help them. These words were intended only
as direct pointers to Original Nature—the meaning
was not in the words themselves. Superior students
were able to perceive this meaning apart from the
actual statements. What need, then, was there to
engage in further discussions regarding other
words and phrases?
Even those slower students who got caught up in
the master’s utterances soon saw that the words
were like iron spikes, impenetrable to ordinary
thought. However, their aspiration for the Way
being strong, their hearts were filled with deep
questioning. Forgetting to eat and sleep, they
pursued this questioning until, after one or two
days, or after one or two months, or, in some cases,
after ten or twenty years, they finally broke
through. Although the time required depended on
their karmic propensities from previous lives, none
of them failed to breakthrough within the span of
their lifetimes. This is what an ancient master
meant when he said, “Where there is great doubt,
there is great enlightenment.”
In this way, no one was even told by the ancient
masters to take their words and use them as koans
to contemplate upon. Nor did the ancient masters
ever advise anyone either to doubt or not to doubt
what they said. However, people nowadays lack
strong karmic propensities for practice and their
aspiration for the Way is shallow. Hearing a
master’s words, they contrive intellectual inter-
pretations and then quit Zen, convinced that they
have already attained enlightenment. Others, too
dull-witted to devise such explanations, simply
lose interest. It is out of compassion for such
people that Zen masters from the time of Yuanwu
Keqin and Dahui Zonggao developed koan prac-
tice as an expedient means (Muso and Kirchner
2015, p. 237–238).
“Former times”in the passage above refers to the
times of famous Zen masters during the Tang
Dynasty, such as Huineng and Mazu. Yuanwu
Zen and Language: Zen Mondo and Koan 89
Keqin (圜悟克勤; Engo Kokugon in Japanese;
1063–1135) was a Chinese Zen monk, who was
best known as the compiler of the Blue Cliff
Record, a collection of one hundred famous Zen
koans in their present form. Dahui Zonggao (大
慧宗杲; Daie Soko in Japanese; 1089–1163) was
a student of Yuanwu. He was best known for his
contribution to systematizing Kanna-Zen (看話
禅), a koan-based Zen practice. Muso placed a
great emphasis on koans in his Rinzai Zen
practice. He explained a koan as follows:
Koans are not assigned so that one may be born in
the Pure Land or realize Buddhahood and the Way.
Nor is a koan some kind of strange puzzle or an
expression of Zen doctrine. It is simply that which
cannot be grasped by the ordinary mind—that is
the nature a koan. It can be likened to a dumpling
made of iron. Faced with that which the “tongue”
of ordinary consciousness cannot taste, you chew
away and chew away, and finally you chew right
through. Then, for the first time, you realize that
this iron dumpling has nothing to do with the five
tastes and six flavors of the world. Nor is it the
flavor of the Dharma or the taste of the doctrine
(Muso and Kirchner 2015, p. 169).
Ordinary mind in the passage above refers to our
conventional analytic and logical ways of
thinking. Muso stated that one cannot make
sense of a koan through a careful analysis or
logic. Instead, one must stay focused on the
koan, and doing so inevitably removes his or her
own thoughts and feelings from it, eventually
yielding the great enlightenment. As mentioned
above, this koan-based practice was systematized
as Kanna-Zen by Dahui. The koan that Dahui
used the most was Zhaozhou’s Wu. It goes:
A monk asked Zhaozhou, “Does a dog have
Buddha nature?”
Zhaozhou answered, “Wu! [in Japanese, ‘Mu’]”
Although Zhaozhou was a Zen master of the
Tang Dynasty, this mondo of Zhaozhou was
used as a well-known koan during the Song
Dynasty. Dahui stated that one must focus on this
koan, while letting go of all logical and analytic
ways of thinking and continue to leap into it.
Gaofeng Yuanmiao (高峰原妙; Koho Gen-
myo in Japanese; 1238–1295) is also well known
for his koan-based teaching. His disciple,
Zhongfeng Mingben (中峰明本; Chuho
Myohon; 1263–1323) described his teaching as
follows:
Looking back, my master Gaofeng Yuanmiao
lived deep in the mountains for thirty years.
Throughout these periods, he only used the koan of
“all myriad things returns to the original one, and
then where the original one returns to”for teaching
his disciples. He left his disciples to face it quietly
and yet dynamically, study it continuously without
being caught up by external affairs or various
karmas (e.g., like-dislike, joy-sorrow). He then
said that as one continued to focus on the koan in
every single moment, one reached the point where
no thought could intrude, and then break-through
unfolds. Then one for the first time feels the
Buddha Way.
The koan practice by Gaofeng Yuanmiao was
identical with that of Dahui. Both Dahui and
Gaofeng told their disciples to chew away and
chew away a koan until they finally chewed right
through. By focusing wholeheartedly on the
koan, they could reach the great breakthrough.
This is the experience of enlightenment through
Kanna-Zen practice systematized during the
Song Dynasty, and this Kanna-Zen practice has
continued to this date.
Finally, it may be worthwhile to recapitulate
the theme of this chapter. I think that Ruth
Benedict (1887–1948), an American anthropol-
ogist and folklorist, eloquently summarized koan
practice in her the Chrysanthemum and the
Sword. This book was originally published in
1946 as an anthropological study of Japanese
cultural practices, including Zen Buddhism, and
it remains influential to this date. Benedict (2005)
stated:
The most favored technique for inducing the
novice’s desperate attempt “to know”were the
koan, literally “the problems.”There are said to be
seventeen hundred of these problems, and the
anecdote books make nothing of a man’s devoting
seven years to the solution of one of them. They
are not meant to have rational solutions. One is “to
conceive the clapping of one hand.”Another is “to
feel the yearning for one’s mother before one’s
own conception.”Others are, “Who is carrying
one’s lifeless body?,”“Who is it who is walking
toward me?,”“All things return into One; where
does this last return?”Such Zen problems as these
were used in China before the twelfth or thirteenth
century, and Japan adopted these techniques along
with the cult. On the continent, however, they did
90 T. Ogawa et al.
not survive. In Japan they are a most important part
of training in “expertness.”Zen handbooks treat
them with extreme seriousness. “Koan enshrines
the dilemma of life.”A man who is pondering one,
they say, reaches an impasse like “a pursued rat
that has run up a blind tunnel,”he is like a “man
with a ball of red-hot iron stuck in his throat,”he is
“a mosquito trying to bite a lump of iron,”he is
beside himself and redoubles his efforts. Finally
the screen of his “observing self”between his
mind and his problem falls aside; with the swift-
ness of a flash of lightening the two—mind
and problem—come to terms. He “knows.”
(p. 245–246)
As noted by Benedict, Koan is crucial in
Kanna-Zen, which was formalized by Dahui
Zonggao of China during the Song Dynasty
(1089–1163; 大慧宗杲; Daie Soko in Japanese).
This koan-based method of Zen was transmitted
to Japan in the twelfth or thirteenth century, and
it was further systematized by Hakuin (白隠;
1686–1768) during the Edo period. In his koan
practice, Hakuin encouraged his students to
interact with multiple koans, one after another,
along with additional questions attached to each
koan. Today, Kanna-Zen practiced by Rinzai Zen
is that of Hakuin.
Zazen, or Zen meditation, is crucial in Zen
Buddhism. However, Zazen itself is not Zen
Buddhism. It is inevitable for the students of Zen
as well as Zen masters to awaken on their own
through Zen mondos and koans, a set of language
practice unique to Zen Buddhism. The heart of
Zen is not in a single person. Zen is interper-
sonal, and it is in a communication between two
individuals. Whereas Zen Buddhism does not
worship its founder or sutras, it cherishes the
records of over thousands dialogues between a
Zen master and a student. This fact may sym-
bolize the interpersonal nature of Zen Buddhism
and its acknowledgment of the significance of
language.
References
Benedict, R. (2005). The chrysanthemum and the sword.
New York; US: Marinar Books (original work pub-
lished in 1946).
Daoyuan, S., & Whitfield, R. S. (2015). Records of the
transmission of the lamp: Volume II The early
masters. New York: Books on Demand.
Dogen, E., Leighton, T. D., & Okumura, S. (2010).
Dogen’s extensive record: A translation of the Eihei
Koroku. Somerville, MA, US: Widsom Publications.
Ferguson, A. (2011). Zen’s Chinese heritage: The masters
and their teachings. Somerville MA, US: Wisdom
Publications.
Muso, S., & Kirchner, T. Y. (2015). Dialogues in a
dream: The life and Zen teachings of Muso Soseki.
Somerville, MA, US: Wisdom Publications.
Poceski, M. (2015). The records of Mazu and the making
of classical Chan literature. New York, USA: Oxford
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1949).
Zen and Language: Zen Mondo and Koan 91
Part II
Zen: Everyday Living and Current
Evidence
Zen and Desire
Kiyozumi Seijun Ishii, Akihiko Masuda and Kayla Sargent
Keywords
Zen Buddhism Behavioral health Desire Bonno
Zen offers a unique account of desire, discussing
desire itself as well as attachment to specific
desires (煩悩;bonno in Japanese), sometimes
referred to as earthly desire. Zen is based upon
the absolute validation or affirmation of the self
and reality, fostering a fundamental assumption
that desires are not a separate entity, and they do
not inherently prevent people from becoming a
Buddha. From a Zen perspective, individuals are
essentially pure, and the Buddha Nature exists in
every sentient being.
Before going into more detail about Zen’s
account of human desires, let us present the story
of Tanzan Hara (原坦山; 1819–1892), which
was said to have happened in Japan in late
nineteenth century:
Tanzan Hara was a famous Zen monk of the Meiji
Period (1868–1912). He was also a Buddhist
scholar who became the first lecturer of Indian
philosophy at Tokyo University. When Tanzan
was a young pilgrim monk, he traveled country
roads with a close friend. One day, the two of them
came to a shallow and narrow river. However,
there was no bridge, and they were going to have
to wade across. They saw a beautiful young
woman who was hesitating to wade through the
stream. Tanzan said to her, “Here, I’ll carry you
across. Hold on to my shoulders tightly. All right?”
and lightly held her and carried her across.
The girl blushingly thanked Tanzan, but he, in his
haste to catch up with his friend, did not hear her.
The two monks walked about a mile in silence, and
Tanzan’s friend appeared to be displeased. Sud-
denly the friend could contain himself no longer
and bluntly said, “You’re a disgrace. Do you think
monks should embrace girls?”He looked angry.
Tanzan, pretending not to understand, looked round
about him and said, “What? Where is a girl?”
Don’t go on pretending. You held a beautiful girl
just a short while ago.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha—you mean that girl. I carried
her across the river and put her down. Have you
been carrying her in your mind all this way?
Hearing this, the friend was at a loss for words.
Historically, it is unclear whether this episode
actually happened as very similar episodes are
cited in other Zen Buddhism records. Neverthe-
less, Hara’s behavior in this episode captures the
ideal conduct of a Zen monk, and his choice to
Translated and edited by Akihiko Masuda and Kayla
Sargent
K.S. Ishii (&)
Komazawa University, Tokyo, Japan
e-mail: seijun@komazawa-u.ac.jp
A. Masuda K. Sargent
University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, USA
©Springer International Publishing AG 2017
A. Masuda and W.T. O’Donohue (eds.), Handbook of Zen, Mindfulness, and Behavioral Health,
Mindfulness in Behavioral Health, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54595-0_9
95
carry the woman can be analyzed from many
perspectives. At the time, physical contact with
the opposite sex was prohibited in Zen Buddhism
as doing so might have inflamed sexual desires.
Instead, however, it was the fellow monk who
was corrected for his rigid adherence to the rule
of conduct that advises monks to refrain from
touching women. The wisdom within this epi-
sode is that we should choose the best, within the
context, freely and flexibly, and then move for-
ward. A choice that is deemed to be inappropriate
in one context may not be inappropriate in
another.
Furthermore, it is also unclear whether Tanzan
actually experienced an egocentric desire during the
encounter with the woman. Perhaps his friend
reacted strongly to this incidence because of this
lack of clarity. However, Tanzan had already let go
of the encounter with the woman when he was
disrupted by his friend. Regardless of whether he
felt an egocentric desire or not, he refrained from
forming an attachment to the potential desire and
the choice, whereas his friend remained attached to
both. The way Tanzan acted in this episode captures
the heart of Zen and the Zen way of responding to
human desire (Uchiyama et al. 2004).
The significance of flexibility and adaptation
to one’s circumstances is traced back to the
precept of formlessness taught by the Huineng
(惠能; 638–713), the sixth patriarch of Zen
Buddhism. The precept of formlessness is also
known as the precept of Buddha Nature. Form-
lessness does not include statements of what not
to do. This is because there is no need for listing
such statements if there were nothing funda-
mentally tainted in us.
Huineng also stated that precepts are aspira-
tional; they are striving for and expressing the
Buddha Nature in us rather than punishing us for
wrong doings. Once we become fully connected
to the Buddha Nature, we naturally direct our
behavior along with the Buddha Nature. Once we
become cognizant of how the Buddha Nature
manifests in us in every awaking moment, that
itself becomes the precept of Buddha Nature.
Hara’s decision to carry a woman was not criti-
cized by the Zen community mainly because of
the way in which he manifested the Buddha
Nature (e.g., compassion) according to the pre-
cept of formlessness, transcending the rigid
attachment to the “rules”of Zen at the time.
Teachings of Huineng
Many Zen Buddhist monks and scholars consider
Huineng a preeminent figure of Chinese Zen her-
itage (see Dumoulin 2005a;Ferguson2011). All of
the five traditional schools of Chinese Zen during
the Tang Dynasty (750–1000 AD) trace their ori-
gins through Huineng. Ferguson (2011) stated that:
The traditional story of Huineng’s life reveals an
iconoclastic personality whose defiance of reli-
gious convention sharpened the unique cultural
flavor of Chinese Zen (p. 43).
The teachings of Huineng are summarized
eloquently by his famous verse cited in the
Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch (see McRae
2000). The verse goes:
Bodhi is fundamentally without any tree;
The bright mirror is also not a stand.
Fundamentally there is not a single thing—
Where could any dust be attracted? (McRae 2000,
p. 22).
Huineng was said to make this verse in
response to a verse made by Shenxiu (神秀;
Jinshu in Japanese; unknown–706). Shenxiu was
Huineng’s fellow disciple, and they studied Zen
under the fifth patriarch, Hongren (弘忍; Konin
in Japanese; 601–674). At that time, many con-
sidered Shenxiu to be the Dharma heir of Hon-
gren, not Huineng. Shenxiu’s poem (McRae
2000, p. 20) goes:
The body is the bodhi tree;
The mind is like a bright mirror’s stand.
Be always diligent in rubbing it—
Do not let it attract any dust.
The bodhi tree and the mirror in Shenxiu’s
verse symbolize the experience of enlightenment,
and for Shenxiu, the body and mind are like the
tree and the stand that hold the experience of
enlightenment. Finally, dust represents worldly,
egocentric desires. As such, Shenxiu’s verse
96 K.S. Ishii et al.
implies that we must strive to remove egocentric
desires in order to unfold the experience of
enlightenment in us.
When Huineng heard the verse, he found it
incomplete and presented his own verse that was
mentioned above. As shown above, his verse
completely negates the Shenxiu’s verse. The first
two lines of Huineng’s verse state that the body
and mind are not the tree or a mirror stand that
holds bodhi. The third line of Huineng’s states
the Buddha Nature is a whole, and there is no
separation of self from the things that one should
react to or act upon, including the Buddha Nature
or human desires. The fourth Huineng then
concludes that in the realm of wholeness, there is
no particular place where a speck of dust lands;
that is, there is no worldly desire as a separate
entity. In sum, the fundamental teaching of
Huineng is that our body and mind are essentially
pure, encompassing the Buddha Nature already,
and even egocentric desires are not to be
eliminated.
As described extensively elsewhere (Dumou-
lin 2005a), Shenxiu’s teachings became popular
and dominant after Hongen’s passing. That is, a
belief persisted that one must get rid of worldly
desires in order to pursue a state of enlighten-
ment. In the history of Chinese Zen, P’u-chi (普
寂; Fujaku in Japanese; 651–739), Shexiu’s
disciple, flourished Shenxiu’s teaching further
and established the Northern School of Zen.
Conversely, Huineng’s Zen is now known as
the Southern School of Zen. The shift in power
occurred when the An Lushan Rebellion
(755–763) devastated northern China in an
attempt to weaken the Tang Dynasty where the
Northern School of Zen based. Shenxui and the
Northern School’sinfluence was also signifi-
cantly weakened accordingly. Around the same
time, Shenhui (荷沢神会; Kataku Jinne in
Japanese, 684–758), a disciple of Huineng,
expanded the Southern School of Zen as the
dominant religious organization and thrived since
then. Zen Buddhism transmitted to Japan during
the Kamakura period has its root in the Southern
School of Zen, and this Zen is the Zen Buddhism
transmitted to the West from Japan in the early
and mid-twentieth century.
Guifeng Zongmi’s Classification
of Zen Buddhism
Various schools of Zen Buddhism today can
trace their origins to those branched out from the
Zen Buddhism of the Sixth Patriarch Huineng,
and the practice of zazen itself predated Bud-
dhism. As such, the understanding of zazen
(dhyana) varies greatly across different spiritual
traditions as well as various schools of Bud-
dhism. Simply put, this diversity is attributable to
different perspectives in practice, enlightenment,
and both. Within the context of a practice–en-
lightenment relationship, different forms of
worldly desires are identified.
In response to the diverse ideas of zazen
(dhyana), Guifeng Zongmi (圭峰宗密; Keiho
Shumitsu in Japanese; 780–841), a Buddhist
scholar-monk of the Tang Dynasty, categorized a
range of Zen practices into five groups in his
Collection of Expressions of the Principle and
Practice of Dhyana (禅源諸詮集都序). Guifeng
stated:
The true nature is neither stained nor pure, neither
common nor noble. Within dhyana, however, there
are different grades, ranging from the shallow to
the deep. To hold deviant views and practice
because one joyfully anticipates rebirth in a heaven
and is weary of the present world is outsider
dhyana. Correctly to have confidence in karmic
cause and effect and likewise practice because one
joyfully anticipates rebirth into a heaven and is
weary of the present world is common-person
dhyana. To awaken to the incomplete truth of
voidness of self and then practice is
inferior-vehicle dhyana. To awaken to the true
principle of the dual voidness of self and dharmas
and then to practice is great vehicle dhyana. [All
four of the above types show such distinctions as
the four (dhyanas of the realm of) form and the
four (concentrations of the) formless (realm).]. If
one’s practice is based on having all-at-once
awakened to the realization that one’s own mind
is from the outset pure, that the depravities have
never existed, that the nature of the wisdom
without outflows is from the outset complete, that
this mind is buddha, that they are ultimately
without difference, then it is dhyana of the highest
vehicle. This type is also known by such names as
tathagata-purity dhyana, the one-practice concen-
tration, and the thusness concentration. It is the
basis of all concentrations. If one can practice it
from moment to moment, one will naturally and
Zen and Desire 97
gradually attain the myriad concentrations. This is
precisely the dhyana that has been transmitted
down from Bodhidharma. Before Bodhidharma
arrived, all of the scholars from early times had
understood only the four dhyanas (of the realm of
form) and the eight concentrations (that is, those
four plus the four formless concentrations of the
formless realm). Various illustrious monks had
effectively practiced them, and they had all
obtained results (see Broughton 2009, p. 103).
In sum, as presented above, Guifeng Zongmi
classified zazen (dhyana) practices into five cat-
egories based on the presence of particular
desires and awareness. These are as follows:
1. Outsider Dhyana (外道禅;gedo zen in Japa-
nese): Zazen while holding deviant views and
practicing, because one joyfully anticipates
rebirth in a heaven and is weary of the present
world.
2. Common-person Dhyana (凡夫禅;bonpu zen
in Japanese): Zazen practice while correctly
having confidence in karmic cause and effect,
and doing so because one joyfully anticipates
rebirth into a heaven and is weary of the
present world.
3. Inferior-vehicle Dhyana (小乗禅;shojo zen
in Japanese): Zazen practice while awakening
to the incomplete truth of voidness of self
(e.g., the self as a transient being).
4. Great-vehicle Dhyana (小乗禅;daijo zen in
Japanese): Zazen practice while awakening to
the true principle of the dual voidness of self
and dharmas.
5. Dhyana of the Highest Vehicle (最上乗禅;
saijojo zen in Japanese): Zazen practice with
awareness that one’s own mind is from the
outset pure and that this mind is Buddha.
In Guifeng’s classification, the dhyana of
highest vehicle is that of Zen Buddhism sys-
tematized by the Sixth Patriarch Huineng.
According to many Zen Buddhists, it was the
authentic Zen practice transmitted from the
founder of Zen Buddhism, Bodhidharma (菩提
達磨;Bodai Daruma in Japanese). Once again,
Huineng’s Zen is based on the standpoint that all
sentient beings are from the outset pure; there-
fore, there would be no “dust”(i.e., no worldly
desire) in need of elimination. Mazu Daoyi
(709–788; 馬祖道一; Baso Doitsu in Japanese),
a well-known Chinese Zen monk of Huineng’s
lineage, then later summarized the teaching of
Huineng as “mind is Buddha”(Poceski 2015).
Following Guifeng’s classification, Zen and
mindfulness practices incorporated into Western
behavioral health can be considered the
common-person dhyana or bonpu zen.As
described elsewhere, there is nothing wrong with
considering and practicing mindfulness and Zen
as a remedy for personal gains, such as the
alleviation of pain and suffering (Uchiyama et al.
2004). Kosho Uchiyama (1912–1998), one of the
most influential Japanese Soto Zen monks in
disseminating Zen to the West, used the term
bonpu zen (i.e., utilitarian Zen) to refer to such
Zen-like practice. However, Uchiyama also made
a clear distinction between practicing Zen
unconditionally for unfolding the Buddha Way
(e.g., practicing Zen with an attitude of letting go
of all thoughts of how Zen could benefit“self”)
and Zen that is practiced for utilitarian purposes.
Dahui’s Kanna Zen
Zen Buddhism bases its practice on the assump-
tion that the self is at the outset pure, and there is no
problematic worldly desire to be ceased from the
self. It is important to note that the complete val-
idation and affirmation of the self as a Buddha does
not mean that one should relax and do nothing. It
also does not mean that one can do whatever he or
she likes to do by following one’s egocentric
desire. These are common misunderstandings of
Zen Buddhism pervasive throughout time and
place. In fact, Zen Buddhism became the practice
of passivity during the Tang and Song dynasties.
The “Seven Perfecta”(七去;shichikyo in
Japanese) is an example of a Zen teaching at that
time that might have unintentionally encouraged
passivity in Zen practice. The Seven Perfecta is a
verse composed by Shishuang Qingzhu (石霜慶
諸; Sekiso Keisho in Japanese; 807–888), and it
was said to capture the ideal image of a Zen
monk. The verse goes:
98 K.S. Ishii et al.
Have been totally ceased;
Have been totally extinguished;
Have become a cool land of desolation;
Have had only one awareness for ten thousand
years;
Have become cold ashes and a withered tree;
Have become a fragrant censer in an ancient
shrine;
Have become a vertical stripe of white silk.
As shown just above, this verse gives the
impression that the ideal state of Zen is passivity.
Dahui Zonggao (大慧宗杲; Daie Soko in Japa-
nese; 1089–1163) of Linji school, the founder of
Kanna Zen (koan-based Zen; see below), was
extremely concerned about the perceived pas-
sivity and the absence of efforts to attain
enlightenment in Zen practice at that time. Dahui
also believed the misunderstood tranquility was
encouraged further by Mokusho Zen (黙照禅;
Silent Illumination Zen). Dahui stated as follows:
In recent years, heretical teachers sprang up within
the sangha like wild weeds, and blinded the eyes of
numerous sentient beings. When one does not use
the koans of the ancients in meditation, he will be
like a blind man without a walking stick and
cannot advance even one step…. [Some people]
think that Buddha Dharma and Ch’an cultivation
are not dependent upon written words. Therefore
they denigrated all koans as ready-made. They just
sit in a ghostly cave on a dark mountain after their
meals. They call this practice “silent illumination,”
“dying the great death,”“the state before the birth
of one’s parents.”They sit there until calluses
appear on their bottoms, yet they still do not dare
to move. On the contrary, they regard this as the
gradual maturation of their effort.
On the other hand, there were also other types of
heretical teachers who only had an intellectual
understanding of koans.
Nowadays there are people who have never per-
sonally experienced enlightenment, but only know
how to play intellectual tricks. Before they ascend
the high seat in the morning, they would stay up all
night, memorizing two phrases from this pamphlet
[koan collection] and two phrases from that one.
After pasting them together they present the end
product like a bouquet. They can talk with great
fluency, but people with clear eyesight know this is a
ridiculous parody (cited in Yu 1979, pp. 225–226).
In order to correct these misunderstandings,
Dahui established and systematized his own style
of teaching, called Kanna Zen (看話禅). Kanna
Zen is a koan-based practice (Yu 1979). A koan
(公案) is a story, dialogue, question, or state-
ment, which is used in Zen practice to provoke
enlightenment. Kan (看) in Kanna (看話) means
“see and think wholeheartedly,”and na (話)in
Kanna refers to a “story”(i.e., koan).
It is also important to note that the use of
koans in Zen practice predated Dahui. Never-
theless, his Kanna Zen practice was considered
unique as it placed a great emphasis on the
assumption of a “confused self”as the outset of
practice. According to Dahui, all sentient beings
are confused, so those who pursue the Buddha
Way must practice thoroughly and persistently.
Dahui believed that in order to benefit from a
koan practice, a person must be willing to make a
sincere commitment and let it penetrate into
every part of his or her life. This attitude starkly
contrasted the approach of passivity, which had
been associated with Zen Buddhism at that time.
In his Kanna Zen practice, Dahui used
ready-made koans of famous Tang masters. One
of the most frequently recommended koans was
Zhaozhou’s“Wu”(“Joshu’sMu”in Japanese).
The koan was cited in the Mumonkan (無門関;
Gateless Barrier), a collection of koans complied
in the Song Dynasty. The koan goes:
A monk once asked Master Joshu, “Has a dog the
Buddha Nature or not?”Joshu said, “Mu!”(see
Shibayama 2000, p. 19)
Dahui told his followers to concentrate on this
“Wu”(“Mu”) all the time. He encouraged them
to concentrate on this koan perpetually, even
while eating and drinking, while carrying out
official duties or fulfilling social obligations. All
these activities could be treated as the proper
occasions for concentrating on “Wu.”They were
taught to focus on all of these tasks as ideal
opportunities “to work on the koan, to dwell
constantly on it and finally to gain an awakening
from it”(Yu 1979, p. 227). In order to do so,
Dahui stated that one must be willing to make a
sincere commitment and let it penetrate into
every part of his or her life. Dahui stated:
Please concentrate on the feeling of doubt and do
not give it up whether walking, standing, sitting or
lying down. This one word “Wu”is no other than
the knife which can clear away this great doubt of
Zen and Desire 99
life and death. The handle of this knife is right in
your own hand. No one else can take hold of it for
you, but you must do it yourself. If you are willing
to lay down your life, you will be able to begin the
task. However, if you are not willing to lay down
your life, you should concentrate on the feeling of
doubt and do not let it slip by (Yu 1979, p. 227).
In sum, Dahui’s teaching still has its base in
the fundamental assumption of Zen Buddhism,
that all sentient beings have Buddha Nature.
However, in response to the misguided passivity
pervasive in Zen practice during his time, Dahui
placed the “confused self”at the outset of prac-
tice to revitalize the active and dynamic nature of
Zen practice. Worldly desires were part of this
“confused self,”and Dahui encouraged his fol-
lowers to break into the state of enlightenment
from the state of “confused self.”
Zen Buddhism in Japan
Zen Buddhism in the Song Dynasty of China was
brought to Japan during the Kamakura (鎌倉時
代; 1185–1333) and Muromatchi (室町時代;
1336–1573) periods. The majority of Zen
teachings transmitted to Japan at that time were
those of Dahui and his Linji School lineages.
Dogen Zenji (道元禅師; 1200–1253) was one of
many Zen monks who contributed to the trans-
mission of Zen to Japan during the Kamakura
period. However, he did not bring Dahui’s
Kanna Zen. Instead, he brought the Caodong
School of Zen (曹洞宗; Soto Zen in Japanese)
and transformed it into his unique form of Zen,
which is often called Dogen Zen.
Dogen is one of the most influential figures in
Japanese Buddhism and Japanese philosophy.
Dumoulin (2005b) described Dogen and his
contribution to Japanese Buddhism as follows:
No other religious personality in the history of
Japan has so stirred contemporary interest and
admiration as the Zen Master Dogen Kigen (1200–
1253). Buddhists-members of the Soto school and
numerous members from the various other Bud-
dhists schools alike—hold him in reverence.
Philosophers are attracted to “the depth and
precision of his thought…which early on per-
ceived and penetrated what is the starting point for
the systematic thought of contemporary philoso-
phy.”They regard Dogen as a “religious person.”
During the first half of this century in Japan this
unique blend of lofty religious achievement and
uncommon intellectual gifts awakened a strong
interest in the Zen master, whom not a few Japa-
nese take to be one of their strongest and most
spirited intellectual figures. At the same time,
Dogen is not without his critics. Researchers are
turning up new data that makes a definitive judg-
ment impossible at this time. Yet the two main
components of his personality—a religious
expression inspired by genuine inner experience
and his early contribution to a Japanese philosophy
grounded in Mahayana Buddhism—assure him an
important place in the religious and intellectual
history of his country (p. 51).
Similar to the Sixth Patriarch Huineng, Dogen’s
Zen is out of the assumption that all sentient beings
are pure and that they all have the Buddha Nature.
His core teaching, which is distinguished from that
of Dahui’s Kanna Zen, is shikantaza (只管打坐;
just doing zazen wholeheartedly, nothing but pre-
cisely sitting). For Dogen, there is no distinction
between practice and enlightenment, and practice
(i.e., just doing zazen wholeheartedly) is enlight-
enment. As such, instead of prioritizing the “con-
fused self”in order to motivate student monks in the
case of Dahui’s Kanna Zen, Dogen highlighted the
importance of practice by equating it to the state of
enlightenment.
For Dogen, a given person does not unfold as
a Buddha if he or she remains stagnant. Dogen
stated that despite the innate nature of being a
Buddha, one must actively engage in practice to
reveal the Buddha Nature as the true self. For
Dogen, practice is not merely a method of
attaining enlightenment that exists in some other
distinct place. Rather, it is the expression of the
true self residing in the here and now. Instead of
trying to cease worldly desires, Dogen’s Zen
places active practices on the standpoint of
Buddha Nature. Below is the dialogue between
Dogen and his teacher Tiantong Rujìng (天童如
淨; Japanese: Tendo Nyojo; 1162–1228). This
dialogue seems to capture Dogen’s thoughts on
zazen and its association with worldly desires.
100 K.S. Ishii et al.
Rujìng said “Zazen is to drop off body and mind. It
is to sit wholeheartedly with burning incense,
following rituals, or chanting sutras.”
Dogen asked, “What is dropping off body and
mind?”
Rujing answered, “Dropping off body and mind is
zazen. When you sit, you remove yourself from
hindrances”(e.g., confusion, greed, and aversion).
Dogen continued to ask Rujing, “If it is to remove
these hindrances, your zazen is no different from
methods practiced by other sutra-based schools of
Buddhism. Would this mean that I am a practi-
tioner of both Mahayana and Theravada schools of
Buddhism?”
Ruijin answered, “The follower of the Gautama
Buddha (the original Buddha) should not dis-
criminate the Mahayana from Theravada. If you
are against sutras, how could you call yourself the
student of Buddha?”
Dogen continued to ask, “Recently, I heard pseudo
Buddhists saying that the three unwholesome roots
(i.e., confusion, desire, and hatred) are the Buddha
Way, and that if one is trying to end them, that is
the sign of discrimination and differentiation, and
such act is no different from Theravada
Buddhism.”
Ruijin then answered, “If you are possessed by
these unwholesome roots, you’re no different from
savages in ancient India. For the student of Bud-
dha, it would be beneficial if one could remove one
or two of these. When you are able to do so, that is
the time you meet the Gautama Buddha.”(trans-
lated by the translators of this chapter)
The dialogue above was recorded by Dogen in
Hokyoki (宝慶記). Hokyoki was the collection of
Dogen’s journals during his study in China,
including the teachings of his conversation with
Ruijin. As such, Ruijin’s statements in Hokyoki
were Dogen’s account of Ruijin’s teachings, and
these are slightly different from Ruijin’s actual
perspectives. That being said, the dialogue itself
is extremely interesting from a Zen perspective
as it includes the topics of desire and defilement,
which are not common or central themes in Zen
Buddhism. In the dialogue above, Ruijin sug-
gests that we are able to remove desires and
defilements. Yet, Zen practice for the purpose of
ceasing desires and defilements is in the direct
contrast with the heart of Zen practice. Therefore,
Dogen questioned Ruijin further by asking if
such a way of practice is no different from a
sutra-based practice, which emphasizes the
removal of desires. It was not surprising that
Dogen asked Ruijin this question as he based his
practice on the assumption that there is no desire
to remove because all sentient beings are born to
be pure.
In response to Dogen’s question, Ruijin’s
cautioned Dogen not to become caught up with
arbitrary differentiation of Mahayana and Ther-
avada Schools of Buddhism. But this response by
Ruijin did not answer Dogen’s question directly;
Ruijin neglected the association between Zen
practice and the cessation of desires. As a result,
Dogen asked him a more direct question about
the three unwholesome roots and five defile-
ments. His intention behind this question was
that if desires and defilements are, in and of
themselves, the manifestation of Buddha Nature,
making a effort to cease them becomes hakarai
(e.g., acting on desires), and this very act is in
direct contrast to Zen teaching. This way of Zen
practice can be considered bonpu Zen or utili-
tarian Zen (Broughton 2009; Uchiyama et al.
2004). According to Dogen, utilitarian Zen was
quite pervasive in Chinese Zen during his stay in
the Song Dynasty, and Dogen strongly opposed
this form of Zen practice (Dumoulin 2005a,
2005b).
The final response in the dialogue may not
actually be from Reijin, but from Dogen’s real-
ization of the Way. The goal of Zen is not to
eliminate desires or defilement; however, there is
nothing wrong with the cessation of desire
through Zen practice, and perhaps this cessation
can be a good thing. Either way, it is simply the
way it is. Adhering to the complete affirmation of
the self as being pure does not mean that we still
ignore or act in service of desires and defilements
when they occur. Instead, we must learn to relate
them wisely.
Whereas some schools of Buddhism consider
desires and defilements to be poisons that must
be eliminated, Dogen Zen considers them to be
part of our everyday lives. Because there is
nothing inherently wrong with desires or defile-
ments, these aspects of our experiences should
not be ignored; rather, they should be whole-
heartedly experienced. Experiencing them, how-
ever, does not always entail acting upon them. In
Zen and Desire 101
sum, the core of Dogen’s teaching is that “all
sentient beings are Buddha from birth; therefore,
all of us practice the Buddha Way.”This per-
spective of Dogen is not seen in the recorded
teachings of Ruijin, yet it appears that Dogen
reached this perspective though his discourse
with Ruijin.
Hakuin and Zazenwasan
Hakuin Ekaku (白隠慧鶴; 1686–1768) is
another influential figure in Japanese Buddhism.
Dumoulin (2005b) described his significant
contribution below:
Hakuin (1685–1768) is one of the greatest figures
of Japanese Buddhism. His significance is most
evident in the impact he had on subsequent history.
After him, nearly all Japanese Rinzai masters
belonged to his line and practiced what may be
called “Hakuin Zen.”His achievements represent a
turning point in the history of Japanese Zen as
inasmuch as he put an end to the decline that had
set in the Zen movement since the end of the
medieval period. He also laid new foundations for
the Rinzai school. He was the first to develop a
system for applying the practice of koan to
enlightenment, a system that his disciples would
bring to perfection. At the same time, he invigo-
rated and consummated the work that Bankei and
Munan had begun in expanding Rinzai Zen among
the common people (p. 367).
Hakuin Zen is a koan-based Zen. As men-
tioned above, Kanna Zen was brought to Japan
by many monks prior to Hakuin. Nevertheless,
Hakiin’s koan-based Zen is considered unique in
that it differs from that of Dahui. More specifi-
cally, its core assumption is that all sentient
beings are pure from the birth, which was a
similar perspective to that of Dogen. However,
unlike Dogen, Hakuin emphasized the systematic
use of koan. “Listen to the Sound of the Single
Hand”is Hakuin’s most well-known koan.He
presented it to his students as the first koan in his
particular method of Zen training. In Sekishu no
Onjo (隻手の音声), Hakuin commented on the
role of this koan in his Zen training as follows:
Five or six years ago I made up my mind to
instruct everyone by saying, “Listen to the Sound
of the Single Hand.”I have to come to realize that
this koan is infinitely more effective in instructing
people than any of the methods I had used before.
It seems to raise the ball of doubt in people much
more easily and the readiness with which progress
in meditation is made has been as different as the
clouds are from the earth. Thus I have come to
encourage the meditation on the Single Hand
exclusively.
What is the Sound of the Single Hand? When you
clap together both hands a sharp sounds is heard:
when you raise the one hand there is neither sound
nor smell…This is something that can by no
means be heard with the ear. If conceptions and
discriminations are not mixed within it and it is
quite apart from seeing, hearing, perceiving, and
knowing, and if, while walking, standing, sitting,
and reclining, you proceed straightforwardly
without interpretation in the study of this koan,
then in the place where reason is exhausted and
words are ended, you will suddenly plunk out the
karmic root of birth and death and break through
the cave of ignorance (see Yampolsky 1971,
pp. 163–164).
As such, Hakuin established his teaching
method in hopes that his disciples would grasp
the original self (i.e., true self) that goes beyond
conventional logic and analysis. Fully experi-
encing “Listen to the Sound of One Hand”is
intended to elicit an experience equivalent to
what Dahui called the state of enlightenment.
Hakuin taught his disciples to continue practicing
even after their first experiences of enlighten-
ment, subsequently going through other koans
one by one while maintaining complete affirma-
tion of the self as being as pure as a Buddha. For
Hakuin, the self, who does not have bonno,
practices to realize his or her true nature, and the
self does so through koan practice. Finally,
another notable teaching of Hakuin is his
emphasis on zazen, summarized below in Zazen
Wasan (坐禅和讃):
All sentient beings are essentially Buddhas. As
with water and ice, there is no ice without water;
apart from sentient beings, there are no Buddhas.
Not knowing how close the truth is we seek it far
away—what a pity! We are like one who in the
midst of water cries out desperately in thirst. We
are like the son of a rich man who wandered away
among the poor. The reason we transmigrate
through the Six Realms is because we are lost in
the darkness of ignorance. Going further and fur-
ther astray in the darkness, how can we ever be
free from birth-and-death? As for the Samadhi
(zazen) of the Mahayana, there are no words to
102 K.S. Ishii et al.
praise it fully; the six paramitas, such as giving,
maintaining the precepts, and various other good
deeds like invoking the Buddha’s name, repen-
tance, and spiritual training, all finally return to
this. Even those who have experienced it for only a
single sitting will see all karma erased. Nowhere
will they find evil paths, and the Pure Land will not
be far away. If we listen even once with open heart
to this truth, then praise it and gladly embrace it,
how much more so then if on reflecting within
ourselves we directly realize Self-nature, giving
proof to the truth that Self-nature is no nature. We
will have gone far beyond idle speculation. The
gate of the oneness of cause and effect is thereby
opened, and not-two, not-three, straight ahead runs
the Way. Realizing the form of no-form as form,
whether going or returning we cannot be any place
else. Realizing the thought of no-thought as
thought, whether singing or dancing, we are the
voice of the Dharma. How vast and wide the
unobstructed sky of samadhi! How bright and clear
the perfect moonlight of the Fourfold Wisdom! At
this moment what more need we seek? As the
eternal tranquility of Truth reveals itself to us, this
very place is the Land of Lotuses and this very
body is the body of the Buddha.
Conclusion
In sum, bonno (煩悩; worldly desires) is signif-
icant in various forms of Zen teachings. Fol-
lowing the Mahayana tradition, Zen Buddhism
does not reject worldly desires. For Zen Bud-
dhism, worldly desires are not events to be
eliminated deliberately. Instead, they are the
internal events to which one must learn to relate
to wisely. To unfold the Buddha Nature, one
must continue to practice.
References
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Columbia University Press.
Dumoulin, H. (2005a). Zen Buddhism: A history volume
1: India and China. Bloomington, Indiana US: World
Wisdom.
Dumoulin, H. (2005b). Zen Buddhism: A history volume
2: Japan. Bloomington, Indiana US: World Wisdom.
Ferguson, A. (2011). Zen’s Chinese heritage: The masters
and their teachings. Somerville MA, US: Wisdom
Publications.
McRae, J. R. (2000). The platform Sutra of the sixty
Patriarch. Berkeley, CA USA: Murata Center for
Buddhist Translation and Research.
Poceski, M. (2015). The records of Mazu and the making
of classical Chan literature. New York, USA: Oxford
University Press.
Shibayama, Z. (2000). The gateless barrier: Zen com-
ments on the mumonkan Boston, MA, US: Shambhala
Publication (originally published in 1974).
Uchiyama, K., Wright, T., Warner, J., & Okumura, S.
(2004). Opening the hand of thought: Foundations of
Zen Buddhism practice. Somerville MA, US: Wisdom
Publications.
Yampolsky, P. B. (1971). The Zen Master Hakuin:
Selected writing. New York, USA: Columbia Univer-
sity Press.
Yu, C. F. (1979). Ta-hui Tsung-Kao and Kung-an Chan.
Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 6(2), 211–235. doi:10.
1111/j.1540-6253.1979.tb00084.x.
Zen and Desire 103
Zen, Self, and Personality
Hidetaka Shuryu Okajima, Akihiko Masuda
and Kayla Sargent
Keywords
Zen Self Personality Jiko Humanity
Personality and Present Era
Self is one of many English terms that have dif-
ferent meanings across scholars and literatures.
Translating the term self into Japanese is also
challenging. For example, jiko (自己) usually
refers to self (e.g., “I”), and jiga (自我), another
term relevant to the concept of self, can be
translated as the perceived sense of self. Jinkaku
(人格) is yet another word relevant to the con-
cept of self, referring to the concept of one’s
personality. According to many psychological
theories (e.g., Messer and Gurman 2011), it is
jinkaku (personality) that is said to determine
who a person “is”; that is, what one does or says
and how one behaves. Finally, ningensei
(人間性), which can be roughly translated as
humanity and human beingness (Lebra 1976), is
particularly relevant to the concept of self in
Japanese culture. Ningensei is considered an
esteemed quality of character valued by many
Japanese people. Typically, it includes empathic
interaction, reciprocity, commitment to the
betterment of common goal, and emotional
expression aligned with these three characteris-
tics (Goldman 1994; Lebra 1976).
Whereas traditional values and practices (e.g.,
religion, culture) have historically played a sig-
nificant role in forming and shaping individual
character, we now are in an era in which tradi-
tional social processes and practices are increas-
ingly devalued as formative determinants of
individual character. Consider that in the past,
identifying individuals as having “good”per-
sonal characteristics was made simple by linking
them with the socially agreed-upon characteris-
tics associated with their particular sociocultural
groups. These characteristics were often
informed by religious practices or cultural myths,
and behaviors reflecting these characteristics
were maintained and transmitted through gener-
ations (Skinner 1974). However, it is
Translated and Edited by Akihiko Masuda and Kayla
Sargent, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
H.S. Okajima (&)
Aichigakuin University, Aichi, Japan
e-mail: okajimah@dpc.agu.ac.jp
A. Masuda (&)K. Sargent
University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, USA
e-mail: amasuda4@hawaii.edu
K. Sargent
e-mail: kaylansargent@gmail.com
©Springer International Publishing AG 2017
A. Masuda and W.T. O’Donohue (eds.), Handbook of Zen, Mindfulness, and Behavioral Health,
Mindfulness in Behavioral Health, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54595-0_10
105
increasingly difficult to accurately identify such
personal characteristics today, which is likely the
result of globalization. This begs the question of
whether or not such characteristics even exist
anymore. Whereas we have achieved freedom
and equality unthinkable to our ancestors, we are
at ground zero for identifying and establishing
who we are in character. It is as if we must start
from the beginning again with a clean slate.
Although disparities in the distribution of
wealth are pervasive issues in many parts of the
world, most contemporary societies have
achieved material wealth greater than ever
before. In developed countries across the globe,
multiple options are often available for aspects of
living that were once quite limited in terms of
personal choices (e.g., things to eat for dinner
and places to live). Whether this change in cir-
cumstance is beneficial or not, we now live in an
era of materialism, utilitarianism, and individu-
alism where basic human rights are more or less
protected in developed countries.
Also important are the associations among
personal characteristics, ideal personal charac-
teristics (e.g., humanity), and culture (e.g., his-
torical and situational context). Personal
characteristics are said to be developed through
the will, values, and preferences shared by the
members of the sociocultural group where one
belongs. Thus, it is plausible that the develop-
ment of personal characteristics functions as an
interaction between the two (i.e., the interaction
of ones’will and his or her sociocultural con-
text). As such, we must consider the extent to
which these two factors contribute to the devel-
opment of personal characteristics.
The Place Where the Self Abides
Kodo Sawaki (沢木興道; 1889–1965), a
prominent Japanese SōtōZen teacher of the
twentieth century, stated that Zen is “the self
selfing the self”(Uchiyama and Okumura 2014).
According to Sawaki, the self selfing the self is to
seek the self wholeheartedly, and it is often
called kojikyume (己事究明) in Japanese Zen.
The practice of kojikyume includes the various
Japanese senses of self mentioned above (i.e.,
jiko, the self; jinkaku, personal characteristics;
and ningensei, humanity). Furthermore, in the
search for true self, Zen emphasizes the signifi-
cance of action that one persistently takes
(Dogen and Tanahashi 2010). Through the pro-
cess of seeking the true self, one becomes aware
of his or her own preconceptions as well as
beliefs derived from a narrowly defined sense of
self, thereby learning to let go without attach-
ment. According to Zen, we cannot grasp the true
self until we first let go of the conventional sense
of self as a unique and perpetual being. Just as
Jesus of Nazareth explained to John the Baptist’s
disciples in the Book of Matthew, new wine
cannot be put into old wineskins; similarly, one
cannot absorb new teachings fully if he or she
maintains outdated perspectives or preconcep-
tions of self.
In Buddhist practice and training, letting go of
the self is an essential process for embodying the
Buddha Way (Uchiyama et al. 2004). Through a
continuous, often lifelong Zen practice, a student
of Zen learns to let go of preconceptions,
including that of self. Zen practice in this context
includes, but is not limited to, henzan (遍参;
trainings under different Zen teachers over years)
and haju (把住; an intense training from a Zen
teacher for break through one’s preconceptions).
Dogen Zenji (道元禅師; 1200–1253), the
founder of the Sōtōschool of Zen in Japan,
described the process of letting go of the self in
the chapter of Shoji (Birth and Death) in
Shobogenzo (Treasury of the True Dharma Eye)
as follows:
This life-and-death is the life of a buddha. If you
try to exclude it, you will lose the life of a buddha.
If you cling to it, trying to remain in it, you will
also lose the life of a buddha, and what remains
will be the mere form of a buddha. Only when you
don’t avoid birth-and-death or long for it do you
enter a buddha’s mind.
However, do not analyze or speak about it. Just set
aside your body and mind, forget about them, and
throw them into the house of the buddha; then all
is done by the buddha. When you follow this, you
are free from birth and death and become a buddha
106 H.S. Okajima et al.
without effort or scheme. Who, then remains in the
mind? (see Dogen and Tanahashi 2010, p. 885)
The part of the quote above “… set aside your
body and mind, forget about them, and throw
them into the house of the buddha”is particularly
relevant to the present chapter. It is equivalent to
“let go of the self.”According to Dogen et al.
(2011), once we let go of the preconception of
self, we become fully open to the teachings of
Buddha Way without defense. As compassion
and earnest endeavoring for the benefit of man-
kind and all myriad beings (the Buddha Way)
reside within the Buddha Way, letting go of the
self itself is naturally transformed to the dedica-
tion to humanity.
In practice, the students of Buddha Way
continue to ask themselves who they are and
what their heart (e.g., mind) is. There is an
interesting koan (e.g., a paradoxical anecdote or
riddle used in Zen Buddhism for learning the
Buddha Way), niso anjin (二祖安心; Pacifying
the Mind of the Second Patriarch), which reflects
this questioning:
Huike, the Second Patriarch, said to Bodhidharma,
“My mind is not yet at rest. Master, I implore you,
set my mind to rest.”
The Master (Bodhidharma) replied, “Bring your
mind here, and I’ll set it rest for you.”
Huike said, “I’ve searched for my mind, but am
unable to find it.”
“There,”said the master, “I’ve set your mind to
rest”(see Kirchner 2013, p. 33)
In this koan, Huike (487–493; 慧可; Eka in
Japanese), the Second Patriarch of Chinese Chán
(Zen), asked his master Bodhidharma (菩提達
磨), the original transmitter of Chan Buddhism to
China, to ease his mind. However, as the koan
goes, it is unclear where the mind resides and
what the mind actually is; our mind may not be
what we think it is. We often perceive our mind
to be a concrete entity residing inside our body,
but what if understanding the mind as an
organ-like feature of our bodies is incomplete?
Rather, it could be like a word with nothing
solid, distinct, or concrete about it.
The body is emphasized in Zen training.
Dogen stated that the whole universe is the
Buddha Body and that through embodying the
true body, a person becomes one with the uni-
verse. In the chapter Shinjingakudo (身心学道;
Body-and-Mind Study of the Way) in Shobo-
genzo, Dogen wrote the following passage for
the students of Buddha Way:
…the moment the dharma wheel is turned, the
true human body covers the whole universe and
extends throughout all time. It is not that the true
human body is unlimited; true human body is just
true human body. At this moment, it is you, at this
moment, it is I, that is the true human body, the
entire world of the ten directions. Study the way
without missing this point (see Dogen and Tana-
hashi 2010, p. 428).
Once again, embodying the true body is the
commitment to letting go of the self. This
standpoint is also consistent with what William
James referred to as self-surrender. In the Vari-
eties of Religious Experience, William James
(1902) argued that an individual cannot make a
radical change (eshin;回心, conversion) unless
he or she lets go of himself or herself (i.e.,
self-surrender); once the person is able to let go
of the old self, the new self or new universe
naturally unfolds and the self and the world
become one.
The Significance of Others in Seeking
the True Self
Although Zen is often associated with the
importance of self-discipline, others in Zen
training, such as teachers and fellow students,
play crucial roles in studying the Buddha Way.
For example, Baizhang Huaihai (720–814; 百丈
懷海; HyakujōEkai in Japanese) emphasized the
influence of our teachers by saying “my father
and my mother gave birth to me, and that my
fellows in training have made me who I am.”
Dogen and Tanahashi (2010) in his teaching
stated that it is extremely important to meet the
right teacher and fellow students in training.
In Zen training, teachers and fellow students
often help an individual student to face the world
from a new perspective that is free from his or
her own biased assumptions. These biased
assumptions include the complete cessation of
Zen, Self, and Personality 107
personal suffering or becoming a superior being
once embodying the true self. The following is a
story of Qingyuan Xingsi (660–740; 青原行思;
Seigen Gyōshi in Japanese) that captures the
importance of others in studying the Buddha
Way. Qingyuan was an eminent student of Hui-
neng, the Sixth Patriarch of Chinese Chan (Zen),
and he was known for many vivid episodes of his
encounters with his students and other teachers.
This brief story goes:
A monk asked Qingyuan, “What is the great
meaning of the Buddha dharma?”
Qingyuan said, “What is the price of rice in Lul-
ing?”(see Ferguson 2011, p. 58)
In this dialog, the monk asked Qingyuann the
above question while holding a particular view or
assumption about the nature of the Buddha
dharma. That is, there was something mystical
about the Buddha Way, and the monk wanted to
ask Qingyuan about the secret of Buddha dharma.
Despite the monk’s expectation that he would
provide a profound or unprecedented answer,
Qingyuan asked the monk a question instead.
Furthermore, the question appeared to be irrele-
vant to the question the monk posed. From a
perspective of conventional discourse, the
exchange between Qingyuan and the monk was
disorganized and illogical. However, from a Zen
perspective, presenting an unexpected (and
seemingly irrelevant) answer was quite signifi-
cant. That is, Qingyuan’s answer allowed the
monk to experience a radical shift in perspective
and helped him realize the preconceptions that the
he had toward the Buddha Way. Through this
narrative, that monk witnessed the depth of Qin-
gyuan who embodied the universal self (i.e., the
self who becomes one with the whole universe
without boundaries). If the monk also experienced
wholeness (e.g., enlightenment) in the interaction,
true dialog is said to have been established.
The experience of wholeness can unfold in a
relational context. The following is an example
of enlightenment in an interaction with a Zen
teacher, described in a koan known as Gutei’s
finger. Gutei Isshi (俱胝一指; Jinshua Juzhi in
Chinese) was a ninth century Chinese Chan
(Zen) master. The story of Gutei’sfinger goes:
…
Master Gutei, whenever he was questioned, just
stuck up one finger. At one time he had a young
attendant, whom a visitor asked, “What is the Zen
your master is teaching?”The boy also stuck up
one finger. Hearing of this, Gutei cut off the boy’s
finger with a knife. As the boy ran out screaming
with pain, Gutei called to him. When the body
turned his head, Gutei stuck up his finger. The boy
was suddenly enlightened (Shibayama 2000,
p. 42).
Generally speaking, a superficial conceptualiza-
tion may not be encouraging. However, imitation
may be useful and justifiable especially for ded-
icated beginning students, such as the boy in the
story. Additionally, many of us who read this
koan are disturbed by the boy’sfinger and the
apparent cruelty inflicted upon the boy. Without
justifying Gutei’s actions, we can evaluate the
important meaning within the narrative, particu-
larly in its later portions. What would be Gutei’s
true intention in cutting off the boy’sfinger? One
possibility was Gutei’s greater compassion
toward the boy, although his actions appeared
extremely cruel. It was possible that for Gutei,
the boy was a precious disciple, and that by
cutting his finger, Gustei was willing to share the
pain with the boy fully for the service of the boy
learning the Buddha Way. In fact, the boy was
said to be enlightened through the experience, as
Gutei might have hoped.
The significance of others in Zen practice
(e.g., the practice of true self) parallels that of
others in the process of self-introspection for
personal growth. When we do not find an answer
ourselves, we seek others for their perspectives.
We do so because we may find an answer (or a
hint that helps us along in our search) through
this process, thus giving us the ability to integrate
the new wisdom from this process into our own.
As such, introspection, which is usually consid-
ered an act of a single person, is also quite
relational and interpersonal.
So far, I have discussed the significance of
others in seeking the true self (i.e., the Buddha
Way). Similarly, Dogen (Dogen et al. 2011;
Okumura 2010) stated that one’s entire sur-
roundings (e.g., historical and situation environ-
ment) play crucial roles in studying the Buddha
108 H.S. Okajima et al.
Way. In Genjokoan,(現成公案), which is
sometimes translated as Actualizing the Funda-
mental Point, Dogen stated the following:
To practice and learn about the Buddha Way is to
practice and learn about jiko. To practice and learn
about jiko is to forget jiko. Forgetting about jiko,
one is affirmed by all things, all phenomena (all
dharmas). To be affirmed by all things means to be
made to let go of all concepts and artificial divi-
sions of one’s body and mind, as well as the body
and mind of others, by those very things that affirm
us (see Uchiyama et al. 2004, p. xxiv).
Nishiari Bokusan (1821–1910), the father of the
modern SōtōSect, described enlightenment in his
commentary by relating to the above passage in
Dogen’sGenjokoan as follows:
We normally talk about enlightenment this and
enlightenment that, but what do we actually regard
as enlightenment? I want you to fully understand
this point (the immovable principle of enlighten-
ment). To regard one person’s one-time experience
of realization, or an insight leading to a prediction
of the future, as enlightenment is absolutely
demonic. When we have a true enlightenment
there is not even a speck of what you thought was
enlightenment (see Dogen et al. 2011, p. 51 for
Nishiari’s comment).
He then states:
…to be enlightened is no other than fully expe-
riencing the self and fully experiencing myriad
dharma. The self and myriad dharmas are origi-
nally one thusness. There is no self apart from
myriad dharmas. There is no myriad dharmas apart
from the self. Therefore, when dharma is actual-
ized, the ten directions are comprehended. It is
essential in the practice to “fully experience one
dharma.”In whichever practice, it is good to
solidly master one dharma. When we fully expe-
rience the self, it is not betrayed by myriad dhar-
mas. When we fully experience myriad dharmas,
the self drops off spontaneously (Dogen et al.
2011, p. 55).
What Nishiari referred to as myriad dharmas
above is what is meant by one’s entire sur-
rounding as well as what Suzuki (1996) referred
to as Nature, “all that constitutes what is com-
monly known as Man’s objective world”
(p. 231). Fully experiencing the self and fully
experiencing myriad dharma is to become one
with what shows up as an experience as if the
whole self is melted into the experience.
When we read books and communicate with
others, we may catch ourselves wondering who
we really are and where the self as a solid and
actual entity exists. By facing the events (e.g.,
knowledge and books) and others, we may feel
disappointed by the sense of self that feels frag-
ile, ambiguous, or non-existing. Studying koans
as well as studying Zen with teachers and fellow
students elucidates the transient nature of self
that is formless and interdependent without
boundaries. Buddhism teaches us to let go of self.
This necessitates that we must let go of ego, a
narrowly perceived version of the self, as a
unique and essential entity. In Zen, a koan
practice serves as a mirror that reflects our extant
sense of self and gives an opportunity to expe-
rience the one thusness (i.e., true self).
Features of Human Mind
No-self is one of the most challenging teachings
of Zen Buddhism (Mathers et al. 2009). No-self
can also be referred to as a state of no-mind.
Suzuki (1996,1997,1998) sometimes described
no-self as the act of taking a leap. It is to let go of
all of the experiences and wisdom that one has
already established. The koan, which is often
called “The peak of great valor,”is said to cap-
ture the experience of no-mind. Baizhang Huai-
hai (百丈懷海; Hyakujo Ekai in Japanese) was a
Chinese Zen master of the eighth century. The
koan goes:
A monk asked Hyakujo, “What is a matter of
extraordinary wonder?”Hyakujo said, “Sitting
along on the Peak of Great Valor.”The monk
bowed, whereupon. Hyakujo hit him (see Cleary
2002, p. 80).
According to D.T. Suzuki, the exquisiteness
and the crucial point of the story is found in the
transition from the bow of the monk following
Hyakujo’s answer and Hyakujo subsequently
hitting him. If the story ended with Hyakujo’s
answer (i.e., “Sitting along on the Peak of Great
Valor”), the monk could only experience a
fragment of the original wholeness. However,
with the body being brought into the interaction
Zen, Self, and Personality 109
(i.e., the act of hitting), the monk was able to see
the contrast between the conceptualized world
and the undivided world and experienced the
latter fully.
Life is never free of contradictions, and the
experience of no-mind resides in this contra-
dicting world. We human beings put one foot
into the divided world (i.e., divided and catego-
rized experiences) and the other into the undi-
vided (e.g., whole experiences). Similarly, our
mind can be linked to both the conscious world
and the unconscious world. Perhaps, this is the
very nature of human existence. This perspective
is similar to the concept of anamnesis in Plato’s
epistemological and psychological theory, which
states that humans are constantly in a state of
re-learning and discovering knowledge gained
from previous lives.
The unconscious layer of human mind may be
experienced as something ambiguous existing
behind our consciousness. However, there is a
deliberate effort to form a personality via grasp-
ing the interaction of consciousness and uncon-
sciousness. For Zen Buddhism, it is the act of a
whole person (gyo;行) that is thought to inte-
grate and adjust the two layers of human mind to
form the true self. In other words, focusing on
practice as the act of a whole person is the very
attempt to integrate the unconsciousness into the
development of spiritual and universal self.
Development of Personality and Act
of a Whole Person
From a Zen perspective, Buddhism is a religion of
action, and the action that one takes plays a cru-
cial role in forming and developing her or his
personality. For example, in the chapter of
Shoakumakusa (Not Doing Wrongs) of Shobo-
genzo, Dogen stressed the importance of action in
practice and morality (see Dogen et al. 1994,
p. 81). More specifically, the chapter started with:
The eternal Buddha says,
Not to commit wrongs,
To practice the many kinds of right,
Naturally purifies the mind,
This is the teaching of the buddhas
Following this passage, Dogen elaborated on
the importance of refraining from wrong doings
as part of the Seven Buddhas’Universal Precept.
The Seven Buddhas here refer to the Original
Buddha (Shakyamuni Buddha) and six legendary
buddhas who preceded him. Dogen then suggests
a shift in practice from refraining from doing
wrongs as a rule-following endeavor to refraining
from doing wrong as a product of having inter-
nalized the Way. More specifically, at the
beginning of training, students of the Way refrain
from doing wrong because they are told to do so.
However, as the practice continues, the precept
becomes one with the body-and-mind of stu-
dents, and they simply let go of wrongs and
engage in many kinds of rights instead.
From his own personal experience, Dogen
also stated that practice is the Buddha Way itself:
When one does zazen (i.e., zen mediation),
washes the face, or engages in daily activities
wholeheartedly, the students of the Way become
one with the Buddha Way. Furthermore, the
action itself is critical because it also connects the
disciples of the Way with their teachers, fellow
practitioners, and ancient buddhas.
Zen and Indiscriminating Mind
In many religions, a person is well-regarded if
the person devotes himself or herself to one
religion or one true teaching. On the other hand,
Eastern religions, especially Zen, seem to be
open to the existence of diverse ideas and prac-
tices, including different religions. Zen even
values a stance of acknowledging the perspec-
tives of others openly and allowing them to be
what they are, without being pushed around by
them. In Zen, this stance is often called Samadhi.
The chapter of Bodhidharma in China in the
Records of Transmission of the Lamp exempli-
fies this point:
After nine years the master already wished to
return to the Western Land of India, so he said to
his disciples, “The time has come, so why should
not each of you show what you have understood?”
At this time, there was a disciple called Daofu who
said, “According to my understanding, it is neither
110 H.S. Okajima et al.
to hold on to words nor abandon words; this is the
Way’s functioning.”
The master replied, “You get my skin.”
The nun Zongchi said, “What I understand now is
that it’s like Ananda seeing the Realm of
Akshobhya Buddha—once seen, never seen
again.”
The master said, “You get my flesh.”
A certain Daoyu said, “The four great elements are
originally empty, the five aggregates without
existence and according to my understanding there
is not a single Dharma which can be obtained.”
The master said, “You get my bones.”
Finally Hike bowed reverently, and then remained
standing.
The master said to Huike, “You inherit my mar-
row,”and turning to him he addressed him thus,
“In days gone by the Tathagata transmitted the eye
of the True Dharma to the Great Master Mahaka-
syapa and from him it was repeatedly passed down
until it reached me. I now hand it over to you. You
should guard and nurture it. Furthermore, I give
you the Robe as the faith in the Dharma. Each has
a significance which it is proper to know of.”
(Daoyuan and Whitfield 2015, pp. 151–152)
A general interpretation of this story is that Huike
received the marrow, the center of the body,
because of his answer superior to other three.
However, according to Dogen, Bodhidharma did
not discriminate these four answers and valued
them equally. His open attitudes toward different
answers from the four disciples demonstrated his
indiscriminating mind for diversity.
Individuality in Personality
Zen encourages personality that is free from
egocentric views and preconceptions. As noted
elsewhere (Uchiyama et al. 2004), this does not
mean that Zen pursues the complete elimination
of egocentric views and preconceptions. Rather,
being free from egocentric views means not
being affected by them. According to Buddhism,
egocentric views and preconceptions are closely
linked to one’s preferences, which determine the
event to which desire is directed. In Buddhism,
the egocentric views and preconceptions are
often considered the source of sufferings that are
unique to humans. The Original Buddha sought
freedom of all myriad beings from these ego-
centric perspectives.
Similarly, in practice, the students of the
Buddha Way are taught to let go of their con-
ventional ideas of self. Once again, this is the
perceived sense of self as a unique, independent,
and autonomous being (Markus and Kitayama
1991,2010), and this self is said to be an
entangled self, which is restrained by traditional
or status-quo cultural practices. Just as Jesus of
Nazareth taught that new wine must be put into
fresh wineskins, one cannot become open to new
teachings and new perspectives unless he or she
opens the hand of the old preconceptions.
Nevertheless, many of us think that our per-
sonality consists primarily of elements that make
us unique and autonomous beings (e.g., ego). For
many of us, it appears that if our egos are
removed from our personalities, nothing is left in
us. However, Zen states that rich personality and
individuality remain after egos become less
dominant. This rich personality, according to
Zen, is the true self as a transient and interde-
pendent being without boundaries.
The heart of the teacher–student relationship in
Zen is the mutual wholehearted understanding and
transmission. For a student, the transmission is to
find her or his original path (rather than replication
of the teacher’s path) and to surpass the teacher.
Whereas the student and teacher share the funda-
mental wholeness (Dogen et al. 2011), the student
must learn to express and embody the original self
that is free from their teacher. Surpassing the tea-
cher and receiving the transmission means that the
student awakens to this individuality. An old koan
attributed to Linji exemplifies this point:
Followers of the Way (of Chan), if you want to get
the kind of understanding that accords with the
Dharma, never be misled by others. Whether
you’re facing inward or facing outward, whatever
you meet up with, just kill it! If you meet a bud-
dha, kill the buddha. If you meet a patriarch, kill
the patriarch. If you meet an arhat, kill the arhat. If
you meet your parents, kill your parents. If you
meet your kinfolk, kill your kinfolk. Then for the
first time you will gain emancipation, will not be
entangled with things, will pass freely anywhere
you wish to go (see Watson 1999, p. 52).
Zen, Self, and Personality 111
It is important to clarify that we should not take
this koan literally. The Buddha, parents, and
others in the koan are symbolic, pointing to
various preconceptions, including that of Buddha
Way. What Linji said in the koan is that, to study
the Buddha Way, one must become free from
preconceptions and teachings, including those of
Buddha or enlightenment. It is crucially impor-
tant for the student of the Way to become settled
in the here-and-now fully. If the student desires
enlightenment, he or she is not in the moment of
here-and-now. Reflecting this koan by Linji,
Shunryu Suzuki (1970) highlighted the impor-
tance of being in the present moment, the man-
ifestation of true individuality. He said:
When you try to attain something, your mind starts
to wander about somewhere else. When you do not
try to attain anything, you have your own body and
mind right here. A Zen master would say, “Kill the
Buddha!”Kill the Buddha if the Buddha exists
somewhere else. Kill the Buddha, because you
should resume your own Buddha nature
(pp. 26–27).
Another point to be clarified is the role of others
in honing the individuality in Zen practice. In the
Koan, Linji did not say that students of Buddha
Way should isolate themselves from others. As
mentioned above, the student of the Buddha Way
learns the Buddha Way through the relationship
her or she has with teachers and fellow students.
Linji and Suzuki simply stated that one must be
present fully and that being present wholeheart-
edly is itself the embodiment of Buddha nature.
Compassion and Humanity:
A Conclusion
For Buddhism, the most important individual
characteristics include humanity, benevolence,
and compassion. The act of humanity, benevo-
lence, and compassion as core values has been
transmitted to the Mahayana tradition, and from
the Mahayana tradition to Zen Buddhism. As
mentioned above, Zen, like other sects in
Mahayana Buddhism, seeks complete enlighten-
ment for the benefit of all sentient beings, and
these core values are reflected within everyday
activities of Zen practitioners (Dogen et al. 1995).
In this final section, worth noting are three sets of
behaviors that reflect humanity. These are fuse
(布施; giving), rigyo (利行; beneficial action or
helpful conduct), and doji (同事; identity-action,
sharing the same aim). Fuse is to give. Rigyo is an
act for the wellness of others without expecting
return. Finally, doji is to identify oneself with
others without seeking benefit or rewards for
doing so. Dogen in the chapter of Bodaisat-
tashishobo (菩提薩埵四摂法; the Bodhisattva’s
Four Methods of Guidance) of Shobogenzo
explains fuse,rigyo, and doji as follows:
“Giving”means nongreed. Nongreed means not to
covet. Not to covet means not to curry favor. Even
if you govern the Four Continents, you should
always convey the authentic path with nongreed. It
is like giving away unneeded belonging to some-
one you don’t know, offering flowers blooming on
a distant mountain to the Tathagata, or, again,
offering treasures you had in your former life to
sentient beings…
“Beneficial action”is skillfully to benefit all clas-
ses of sentient beings; that is, to care about their
distant and near future, and to help them by using
skillful means. In ancient times, someone helped a
caged tortoise; another took care of a sick sparrow.
They did not expect a reward; they were moved to
do so only for the sake of beneficial action.
Foolish people think that if they help others first,
their own benefit will be lost, but this is not so.
Beneficial action is an act of openness, benefiting
self and others together.
…Thus, benefit friends and enemy equally. Ben-
efit self and others alike. If you have this heart,
even beneficial action for the sake of grass, trees,
wind, and water is spontaneous and unremitting.
This being so, make a wholehearted effort to help
the ignorant.
“Identity action”means nondifference. It is non-
difference from self, nondifference from others…”
“Action”means right form, dignity, correct man-
ner. This means that you cause yourself to be in
identity with others after causing others to be in
identity with you. However, the relationship of self
and others varies limitlessly according to the cir-
cumstance (Dogen and Tanahashi 2010, pp. 473–
476).
These are at the heart of Buddha Way, and
even to this date, benefiting others and compas-
sion are included in the standards of conduct in
112 H.S. Okajima et al.
various Zen communities (e.g., Dogen et al.
1995). Furthermore, benevolence, compassion,
and humanity as core values are not limited to
Zen or Buddhism. These seem to be the universal
values shared by many sociocultural groups,
including other religions.
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Zen, Self, and Personality 113
Every Day is a Fine Day
A Zen Take on Problems
Mike K. Sayama
Keywords
Zen Attachment Behavioral health Desire
“Every day is a fine day.”Omori Sogen, a
leading Zen master, Kendo (fencing) teacher, and
calligrapher of modern Japan, used this saying to
describe how someone, matured through long
and hard training in Zen, experiences life. After
Japan’s defeat in World War II, Omori Roshi
(title for Zen Master, literally old teacher) and his
family, like many others, were impoverished and
had little to eat. In his words, “We were some-
times so poor that even if we looked all over the
house, we could not find one penny. That is how
poor a life I caused my wife to have. At the
longest we went five days to one week without
food, but we did not starve. If we drank only
water, we could live”(Hosokawa 1999,61–62).
His three-year-old daughter got sick with tuber-
culin meningitis and might have been cured with
penicillin, but the cost was beyond reach. Omori
Roshi recounted, “In the end, the only thing that
we could do was to watch our own child suffer
and die before our eyes. After that child died, my
wife cried by herself every night for three years.
For a parent, there is no sadder thing than to have
your own child die before you”(Hosokawa 1999,
67). In the face of such sadness, what could
Omori Roshi mean that every day is a fine day?
What could he mean in the face of the tragedy
and terror so routinely seen on the evening news,
which at the time of this writing were the Syrian
refugees and the massacre in Paris?
“Every day is a fine day”is not a Pollyannaish
perspective that denies all this suffering. “Exis-
tence is suffering”is often portrayed as Buddha’s
First Noble Truth. “Every day is a fine day”must
mean that the human spirit can transcend existence
as suffering. To Omori Roshi, a person who has
realized the True Self through long and hard
training in Zen will be able to express the bright-
ness of the original nature even in the midst of
suffering. For such a person, every day is a fine day.
Fudoshin: The Immovable Mind
If you took “Everyday is a fine day”as a koan (a
problem impenetrable to rational solution, such
as “What is the sound of one hand clapping? Or
what is the meaning of life?”), you could ask
yourself every night, “Was today a fine day?”To
answer, you might consider wasted moments,
M.K. Sayama (&)
Chozen-ji, International Zen Dojo, Honolulu,
HI, USA
e-mail: msayama@communityfirst.co
©Springer International Publishing AG 2017
A. Masuda and W.T. O’Donohue (eds.), Handbook of Zen, Mindfulness, and Behavioral Health,
Mindfulness in Behavioral Health, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54595-0_11
115
moments of pride and regret, moments of joy and
sadness, moments of anxiety and ease, moments
of loss and gain, and so on and on. From the Zen
perspective, if it was not a fine day, your mind
must have stopped; your flow of consciousness
must have gotten stuck on an attachment; and
your thoughts became delusions that caused you
to suffer. During the day, you must have abided
in what Takuan Soho (1573–1645) called “the
dwelling place of ignorance and its affective
disturbance.”To experience everyday as a fine
day is to experience the mind that does not move
because it does not stop moment by moment with
whatever it encounters, not even pain. More to
the point, if today is not a fine day, at this very
moment your mind is stopped.
Takuan was teacher to the Shogun Tokugawa
Iemitsu, the ruler of Japan from 1623 to 1651,
and to the great swordsman Yagyu Tajima
Munenori (1568–1646). He wrote letters to
Yagyu instructing him on the Immovable Mind
in the context of sword fighting. These letters
were compiled into a collection called Fudochi
Shimmyo-roku (The Records of the Wondrous
Mind of Immovable Wisdom), which is studied
as a fundamental text at Chozen-ji, a Rinzai Zen
temple founded by Omori Roshi and his student
Tanouye Tenshin (1938–2003) in Hawaii.
Tanouye Roshi was a genius in the martial way,
expert in arts such as Kendo,Judo,Karate,Iaido
(the art of drawing the sword), and Jojitsu (the art
of the staff). Tanouye Roshi was also an advisor
to many of the political, business, and commu-
nity leaders in Hawaii. The interpretation of Zen
in this chapter is based mainly on his teachings.
If we take sword fighting as a metaphor for
living, Takuan’s instructions on the Immovable
Mind tell us to encounter the problems in our
lives without stopping to make every day a fine
day. The central teaching follows:
Not to move means not to stop with an object that
is encountered. Not to move means not to stop
with an object that is seen. Because if the mind
stops on any object, the mind will be disturbed
with thoughts and emotions. This will lead to
movement in the heart and mind. The stopping
inevitably leads to the moving that is disturbance;
therefore, there will be no freedom of movement.
For example, suppose ten men are opposing you,
each in succession ready to strike you down with a
sword. Ukenagasu (deflect, parry, but literally,
receive and let flow away) the first one without
your mind stopping. Forget that man and
encounter the next and in this way, although there
are ten men, all will be dealt with successively and
successfully (Tanouye 1989, 10).
In the case of your swordsmanship, for instance,
when the opponent tries to strike you and your
eyes at once catch the movement of his sword and
you may strive to follow it, but as soon as this
takes place your mind stops on the opponent’s
sword. Your movements will lose their freedom,
and you will be killed by your opponent. This is
what I mean by stopping (Tanouye 1989, 6).
In Buddhism, this “stopping”mind is called mayoi
(delusion); hence, “the dwelling place of ignorance
and its affective disturbance”(Tanouye 1989, 7).
When the mind stops, deluded thoughts are
created, and emotions are agitated. From the Zen
perspective, this mind stopping is the problem,
not anything external to yourself. The mind stops
because of attachments. The samurai’s problem
was to free himself from even the instinctual
attachment to life, so that his mind would not
stop in a fight to the death. If he were attached to
life and feared death, his mind would be moved
and stopped on the opponent’s sword. In the
critical moment, when swords are crossed, he
will freeze and be killed.
In life, not moving means not stopping with
whatever problems come your way. The prob-
lems in life differ from sword fighting in two
critical ways, however. The natural action that
flows from the mind not stopping may in fact
require thinking, in the sense of rational
problem-solving and may not require dramatic
physical movement. The “thinking”that is
deplored in Zen is empty speculation, regretting
the past, and worrying about the future not
rationality. This thinking results in “the anguish
of thoughts feeding on thoughts.”Rational
problem-solving is a technique necessary to
modern life, but when a person limits cognition
to this technique, he can only understand reality
dualistically and reduces the True Self to an ego.
The actions of his life will not be wondrous, and
he will not be able to transcend the existential
116 M.K. Sayama
problems of life. Wondrous does not necessarily
mean miraculous. Ordinary behavior and rational
thought happening naturally without the mind
stopping are wondrous.
To offer a mundane example of the difference
between rational problem-solving and mind
stopping, let us take doing taxes. Doing taxes
with the mind not stopping means not procras-
tinating, being focused and rational when sorting
out income and expenses, and accepting the civic
obligation and legal requirement without emo-
tional disturbance. If the mind stops while doing
taxes, there is avoidance of the task, unproduc-
tive speculation about paying too much or too
little, and anxiety about an outcome that you
cannot change. Doing taxes will be an inefficient
and unnecessarily stressful process. If a swords-
man fought like that, he would be killed.
Attachments as Fixations
If your mind stops and you get stuck in a situa-
tion, it means you have an attachment that you
must let go. Attachments may be considered
fixations, the freezing of the sentient energy that
is the essence of consciousness. We can imagine
three different levels of attachments: emotional,
psychological, and karmic.
At the emotional level, they lead us to cling to
people, things, ideologies, situations, abilities,
and so on; these are all “objects”that can cause
the mind to stop when there is an attachment.
This stopping leads to delusive thoughts or
ignorance. Delusions and ignorance leads to
affective disturbance or suffering. When attach-
ments are threatened, the mind stops, and we
experience anxiety or at the extreme, fear and
panic. We become defensive and psychologically
regress to less mature coping mechanisms.
Physiologically the fight/flight reflex is triggered,
and we suffer the negative effects of being
aroused to take dramatic physical action when
none is appropriate. Emotional attachments
untainted by unconscious fixations are rational or
“normal.”These are the attachments we must
resolve as we pass through the stages of life
given our society and times.
At the psychological level, an attachment is an
unconscious complex, a fixation of conscious-
ness in a pattern of behavior, feeling, and thought
assimilated as a child or adopted as a once nec-
essary attempt to cope with trauma or over-
whelming stressors but which is eventually
self-defeating. These fixations draw a person
into situations, relationships, and so on that are
associated with the unconscious complex. Out of
the many possibilities we have, we create the
reality which forces us to address our repressed
trauma and other issues. If we succeed, we free
consciousness and energy for growth. If we fail,
we face another round of suffering.
At a karmic level, an attachment is vasana,
habit-energy, a pattern in the universal mind
reflecting the course of individual consciousness
from time immemorial. It is a memory in the
storehouse unconscious. Daisetz Suzuki explains
as follows:
Psychologically vasana is a memory, for it is
something left after a deed is done, mental or
physical, and it is retained and stored up in the
storehouse unconscious as a sort of latent energy
ready to be set in motion. This memory or
habit-energy, or habitual perfuming is not neces-
sarily individual; the storehouse unconscious being
super-individual holds in it not only individual
memory but all that has been experienced by sen-
tient beings. When the Sutra [Lankavatara Sutra]
says that in the storehouse unconscious is found all
that has been going on since beginningless time
systematically stored up as a kind of seed, this does
not refer to individual experiences, but to something
general, beyond the individual, making up in a way
the background on which all individual psychic
activities are reflected. (Suzuki 1975,184)
In the beginning there was the memory amassed in
the storehouse unconscious since the beginningless
past as a latent cause, in which the whole universe
of individual objects lies with its eyes closed; here
enters the ego with its discriminating intelligence,
and subject is distinguished from object; the
intellect reflects on the duality, and from it issues a
whole train of judgments with their consequent
prejudices and attachments, while the five other
senses force them to become more and more
complicated not only intellectually, but affectively
and conatively? All the results of these activities in
turn perfume the storehouse unconscious, stimu-
lating the old memory to wake while the new one
finds its affinities among the old. (Suzuki 1975,
191–192)
Every Day is a Fine Day 117
To summarize: The immovable mind is the
mind that does not stop with whatever object it
encounters. The mind stops because of attach-
ments. Our emotional, psychological, and karmic
attachments lead us to create our reality and our
problems, but these problems are essentially
opportunities for personal growth. Tanouye
Roshi used to say, “If you don’t have problems,
you better go buy some.”
The Marvelously Illuminating
Dynamic Function of the Buddha
Mind and the Screen of Many
Possibilities
We are born with our karma, our metaphysical/
psychological genetics from beginningless time.
Our karma includes not only our DNA, but the
vasana, the latent habit-energy or “memories”
embedded in the line of consciousness that has
become a human being in you. You are the
culmination of a line of consciousness originat-
ing in the depths of the storehouse unconscious.
In Buddhist metapsychology, the storehouse
unconscious is a level of mind deeper than Jung’s
collective unconscious, containing within it not
only the archetypes of the human species but the
habit-energy, the memories of all sentient beings.
Given our karma and the circumstances of our
birth, our karma plays out as we move through
the stages of life.
In psychoanalysis in the process of free
association, the patient projects thoughts and
feelings associated with repressed memories onto
the blank screen of the analytic situation. These
projections come from unconscious, emotionally
charged memories seeking expression. Through
analysis, the repressed trauma is made conscious,
and behavior is freed from the neurotic complex.
In life, we are presented with a screen of many
possibilities from which we “choose”depending
on our karma. Imagine life flowing toward us, the
possibilities continually shifting according to
choices we make as well as conditions beyond
our control. Whether by choice or destiny, we
find ourselves in situations where we have
something to learn, an attachment to let go. If not
for our attachments, we would not get stuck in
suffering. We would move along in our lives like
a round ball in a swiftly flowing stream, turning
and turning as it slips past rocks. Existence is
impermanent and ever changing. When things
stay the same, we are clinging to something that
prevents it from changing. We are suffering from
delusions arising from the stopping of the mind.
Bankei Yotaku (1622–1693) was an icono-
clastic Zen master whose teaching was to abide
in the Unborn Buddha Mind. Tanouye Roshi was
surprised at how much the spirit and energy of
Bankei’s calligraphy matched his own. Below
Bankei explains how we create our delusions by
attaching to the traces of our karma.
All delusions, without exception, are created as a
result of self-centeredness. When you’re free from
self-centeredness, delusions won’t be produced.
For example, suppose your neighbors are having a
quarrel: if you’re not personally involved, you just
hear what’s going on and don’t get angry. Not only
do you not get angry, but you can plainly tell the
rights and wrongs of the case—it’s clear to you as
you listen who’s right and wrong. But let it be
something that concerns you personally, and you
find yourself getting involved with what the other
party [says or does], attaching to it and obscuring
the marvelously illuminating [function of the
Buddha Mind]. Before, you could clearly tell
wrong from right; but now, led by self-
centeredness, you insist that your own idea of
what’s right is right, whether it is or not. Becoming
angry, you thoughtlessly switch your Buddha
Mind for a fighting demon, and everyone takes to
arguing bitterly with each other.
Because the Buddha Mind is marvelously illumi-
nating, the traces of everything you’ve done are
[spontaneously] reflected. It’s when you attach to
these reflected traces that you produce delusion.
Thoughts don’t actually exist in the place where
the traces are reflected, and then arise. We retain
the things we saw and heard in the past, and when
these things come up, they appear as traces and are
reflected. Originally, thoughts have no real sub-
stance. So if they’re reflected, just let them be
reflected; if they arise, just let them arise; if they
stop, just let them stop. As long as you’re not at-
taching to these reflected traces, delusions won’t
be produced. So long as you’re not attaching to
them, you won’t be deluded, and then, no matter
how many traces are reflected, it will be just as
they weren’treflected at all. (Haskel 1984,24–25)
118 M.K. Sayama
Because the Buddha Mind is marvelously illumi-
nating, mental impressions from the past are
reflected, and you make the mistake of labeling as
‘delusions’things that aren’t delusions at all.
Delusions mean the anguish of thought feeding on
thought. What foolishness it is to create the
anguish of delusion by changing the precious
Buddha Mind, pondering over this and that, mul-
ling over things of no worth! If there were anyone
who actually succeeded at something by pondering
it all the way through, it might be all right to do
things that way; but I’ve never heard of anyone
who, in the end, was able to accomplish anything
like this! (Haskel 1984,68–69)
Bankei’s“marvelously illuminating dynamic
function of the Buddha Mind”spontaneously
reflects the traces of everything we have done.
We cannot escape everything being revealed to
us, and where there is unfinished business, we
attach to these reflected traces. The mind stops on
them, and we produce thoughts upon thoughts
regretting the past and worrying about the future.
We create a self-centered reality and suffer “the
anguish of thought feeding on thought.”To use
psychoanalytic terms, we project our emotionally
charged, self-centered karmic and repressed
memories onto the screen of the many possibil-
ities of our lives to create the reality we need to
become enlightened of our attachments.
The Immovable Body
Although Takuan’s teaching of the Immovable
Mind and Bankei’s teaching of the Unborn
Buddha Mind are pointing at an actual state of
being which must be directly experienced, we are
likely to try to grasp them conceptually. A Zen
saying warns this is like washing blood with
blood. A more accessible, practical approach is
entering Zen through the body. Takuan says
Fudoshin, the Immovable Mind must also be
Fudotai, the Immovable Body (Tanouye 1989,
p. 10). This is the approach emphasized at
Chozen-ji. Omori Roshi goes so far as to say in
the canon of Chozen-ji, “Zen is a mind, body,
and spiritual discipline to transcend life and death
(all dualism) and to thoroughly (truly) realize that
the entire universe is the “True Human Body.”
Omori Roshi details the mechanics of breath,
posture, and energy in his instructions for zazen
in An Introduction to Zen Buddhism (Omori
1996,35–63). Generally the practice is to breathe
from the hara which is the lower abdomen, hips,
and buttocks functioning as a unit with the center
at the tanden. The tanden, an area two inches
below the navel, is considered the psychophysi-
cal center of the human being and body. By
breathing from the hara, energy radiates
throughout the body. When exhaling, it feels that
the tension in the body sinks into the lower
abdomen as the breath is directed to the tanden.
As the tension sinks down, the top of the head
goes up, and the body stands taller. In the
beginning of training a long, slow conscious
exhalation is emphasized. We approximate this
naturally when we sigh, drop the tension in our
neck and shoulders, and clear our minds. When
we sigh, however, there may be a tendency to
collapse the body into an expression of despair
rather than to expand the body into a feeling of
spaciousness.
When inhaling, the lower abdomen is relaxed,
like releasing the head of an eye dropper,
allowing air to fill the vacuum in the lungs cre-
ated by deep exhalation. Exhalation is more
conscious exertion while inhalation is a con-
trolled letting go. In both exhalation and inhala-
tion, the breath is directed to the tanden, and the
tension in the body set in the hara. Needless to
say actual practice and face-to-face instruction
would be far more effective than these words on
paper, and even still, in the end refinement of our
breathing can only occur by becoming increas-
ingly sensitive to our own bodies.
When the body is centered at the tanden,itis
immovable. The body is immovable because it is
centered, balanced, and thus capable of move-
ment in any direction. In the school of Aikido
founded by Koichi Tohei, “the unliftable body”
is practiced and demonstrated by a student first
tightening his body up. In this state, he is easily
lifted by two students standing at either side.
When he centers himself, it is much more diffi-
cult to lift him. Paradoxically, this state of being
centered and harder to move leads to the ability
Every Day is a Fine Day 119
to move in any direction. From martial arts, both
agility of action and power to throw or strike
depend on movement from the hara. The
immovable body is the immovable mind.
Entering Zen through the body does not mean
only the use of its musculature. One can enter
through the senses as described below by
Tanouye Roshi in a talk given to students training
at a sesshin (literally meaning to collect the mind
and referring to a week-long retreat of intensive
training) in Chicago in October of 1984.
The mind would be helped with the eyes if you can
look at things 180 degrees, always 180 degrees.Look
forward as though looking at a distant mountain.
Look as though you are not looking. Take a panora-
mic view. With the same panoramic view, just drop
your eyes. As you sit here with this view, a funny
phenomenon may happen. Your vision may become
round as though there is only one eye. That is what
they call the Third Eye. Instead of two eyes, there is
just one big eye looking. Do not get attached to that.
That is just a part of the samadhi (state of con-
sciousness developed in training, a state of relaxed
concentration in which the mind is fully present
without thought). So look 180 degrees and lower
your eyes. If you try to close your eyes halfway, like
the books tell you, your focal awareness comes to
your eyes which is not good. Some people stare, but
staring is not looking 180 degrees which is a relaxed
state where you can see more. Hold your two fingers
out like this (armsextended to sides), seeboth fingers.
The best is this: Listen to all the sounds that you
hear. Let the total sound come to you. I’m talking
to you, but you all can hear a buzzing. You can
hear that buzzing because that’s part of samadhi.
You can hear everything. So you do zazen, hear all
the sounds but don’t identify any. Let all the
sounds come to you and you’ll hear a ringing in
your ears. It’s a high pitched ringing.
Another way to do this, the book Mumonkan (The
Gateless Barrier) says let the 84,000 pores in your
body breathe. Feel your body totally. Imagine
there’s 84,000 hairs on your body. Feel every hair
on your arms, legs, and on your body. You’ll go
into samadhi.
Smell every smell in this room. Smell, try to smell
every smell. You just have to let your body go.
Gradually doing these things will put you into
samadhi.
So the very senses that cause delusions, you can
turn it around and use them as a means to enter
samadhi.
The direction to see 180° also means to hear,
feel, and smell everything as well. It means to
come back to your senses and be fully present.
Ukenagasu: To Receive and Let Flow
Away
Returning to sword fighting as a metaphor for
living, imagine problems in life as opponents we
must face to realize our True Self. These oppo-
nents may be as trivial as cold water or dis-
tasteful food. If you think, “I do not want to wash
my face, or I do not want to eat it,”your mind
has stopped, and the water and the food has taken
a point on you in Kendo terms. Or the challenges
may be as major as milestones in self-
development as we go through the stages of
life from being a baby, to an adolescent, to an
adult, to a mature adult, and ultimately to realize
the True Self. In Buddhist metapsychology, each
of these stages can be associated with the emer-
gence of specific structures of mind and related
cognitive and motivational functions. I attempted
to sketch such a developmental theory based on
the metapsychology found in the Lankavatara
Sutra (Sayama 1986,91–98). Whether trivial or
major, Takuan’s teaching of the Immovable
Mind instructs us to ukenagasu the opponent, to
receive and to let flow away.
Let us imagine the flow of life. You are in the
present, the past is behind you, and the future is
coming. Each day brings challenges, opponents
ranging from the mundane to the existential.
How can you ukenagasu whatever problem you
encounter so that even in a day filled with
problems each is successively and successfully
dealt with? What does it mean “to receive and let
flow away”? To receive means to experience
fully, not flinching, not turning away, and not
repressing. It means facing your problems with
your belly button forward and letting all the
feelings and ramifications related to the problem
come to you while you see 180°.
To let flow away means to cut your thoughts,
let go of your attachments, and let things take
care of themselves. In swordsmanship, it means
120 M.K. Sayama
to proceed just as you are when facing the
opponent. Takuan explains as follows:
Although you see the sword about to strike you, do
not let your mind stop there. Do not intend to strike
him by according his rhythm. Cherish no calcu-
lating thought whatsoever. You perceive the
opponent’s move, but do not let your mind to stop
with it. You move on sonomama (just as you are),
entering, and upon reaching the enemy’s sword,
wrench it away. Then the enemy’s sword meant to
strike you will instead become the sword which
will strike the enemy. (Tanouye 1989,6)
It must be remembered, however, that Takuan
was instructing a master swordsman who has
trained to the point of being able to throw away
technique. Similarly, letting things take care of
themselves is only good instruction for a mature
person who is skilled in the technique of the ego.
In this context, the ego is a technique for living in
a civilized manner to be able to delay gratifica-
tion, to learn forms, and to dualistically and
rationally understand reality. A mature person in
the modern world has mastered the ego and must
throw it away to follow what Takuan advises and
move on sonomama, just as you are.
In a sermon titled, “Letting things take care of
themselves,”Bankei said to a visiting monk:
Your wanting to realize Buddhahood as quickly as
you can is useless to begin with. Since the Buddha
Mind you have from your parents is unborn and
marvelously illuminating, before even a single
thought is produced, all things are recognized and
distinguished without resorting to any cleverness.
Without attaching to [notions of] ‘enlightened’or
‘deluded,’just remain in the state where all things
are recognized and distinguished. Let things take
care of themselves, and whatever comes along will
be smoothly managed—whether you like it or not!
That’s the [working of the] Buddha Mind and its
marvelously illuminating dynamic function. Like a
mirror that’s been perfectly polished, without
producing a single thought, with no awareness on
your part, without even realizing it, each and
everything is smoothly dealt with as it comes from
outside. (Haskel 1984, 86)
Let me use myself as a bad example. I am in my
early 60s facing my mortality and the diminution
of possibilities and physical capabilities. My left
knee is creaky; my right shoulder has limited
mobility and often pain; yardwork which I could
do in a day now takes four. I wonder about
retirement, but I have twins just starting college.
I live in Honolulu on a ridge overlooking Diamond
Head in a small, old house for 20 years, but it has a
tea room in which my wife passionately pursues
her Way of Tea. The backyard borders the woods
of a conservation area. We have a beagle which is
an escape artist and can do all kinds of tricks.
I really have nothing to complain about.
This year was one of transitions for our family
with my twin sons going off to New York and
Shanghai for college and my wife going to Kyoto
to train in the Way of Tea for a year. It is just me
and the dog holding the fort. My friends joke that
I am a bachelor. That would not be bad, but I am
a bachelor with a house, yard and plants, bonsai
which are older than me, and a dog to take care
of. I feel I am always busy with something to do.
I meditate at least once a day for 30 min, often
twice. Most mornings I start with zazen, set my
mind, and try to face the day in samadhi.
A week ago my son came home from New York
where he is studying dance. He has had a stressful
but in the end exhilarating first semester struggling
with roommates and a dance program which was
not what he expected. After serious discussions
over the phone and getting our approval to take a
leave of absence from college, he changed room-
mates and talked to his teachers who helped him
find new meaning in his classes. He really wanted to
come home during the winter break.
For the first night back home his happiness
sincerely showed through, but then he broke up
with his high school girlfriend and failed the test for
his driver’s license. We had to adapt to living at
home, just the two of us. My routine, busy as it was,
and the clean, clear space I had created for myself
was disrupted. Life was a lot more stressful having
to drive him around, having him leave his stuff
around, having to let him practice driving for his
road test again and again, and having to endure
teenage attitude. He was stoppingmy mind, butin a
moment of irritation I realized I was acting like my
father when the two of us lived together some
30 years ago. With that insight life with my son
became more amusing and less irritating, not that
there are not still moments.
Every Day is a Fine Day 121
Several days ago, I had to take the family van
in for repairs. The hope was my son would have
his license and he could drive the van. Since he
failed, I asked a neighborhood friend to pick me
up from the service station. Since the service
station was close to our houses, my friend told
me to call him after I checked the car in. The
service station was short-staffed, and the owner
who has been servicing my cars for 20 years was
running around keeping things going. It took him
some time to get to me, and when he did, he told
me that one of the mechanics had called in sick
and the valve cover gasket replacement I needed
was a big job so we would have to reschedule.
He assured me we could drive the car without
problems, so based on my son’s next driving test
in several days, we settled on the next week.
I called my friend to tell him he did not have to
pick me up, but there was no answer. I called
again a little later, but still no answer. I drove
home, and when I got home, my son told me my
friend just called and was looking for me at the
service station. We did not have his cell, so I
called the service station and had to explain the
situation to an attendant. This took several
attempts. I was on hold. Meanwhile, my friend
called, so I told him what happened. He said he
saw my car was gone so came down despite our
agreement.
Next, as my son and I were about to leave for
his dance studio, a college student, rooming at
my house, walked out to catch the bus. I offered
her a ride, and since my son told me it would not
matter if we were a little late, I decided to drop
her off first. I had forgotten that we also had to
pick up his friend which meant backtracking and
being later. My son was practicing driving and
almost made a left turn into oncoming trafficata
somewhat complicated intersection. His cell
phone rang. I answered and told his friend that
we were on the way. His friend thought I was my
son and said that he was just wondering if I was
awake. Next a text came in. My son picked the
phone up, but I told him just drive. He protested
saying that it was a text from his friends waiting
at the studio. He then ran a yellow light turning
red after I told him to stop. I ordered him to pull
over and took over driving. We are both pissed.
I dropped him and his friend off and went to
work out at the gym. The fire alarm went off at
the gym, but happily I am almost finished, so I
went to the car to leave. The parking structure is
narrow with weird angles. As I turned to go
down the ramp, a fire engine pulled up at the
bottom with sirens going. My mind stopped on
that, and I made the turn onto the ramp too
sharply and scraped the right rear of the van. The
side of the building had hit me on the head. The
next day, my son was backing out of the garage.
I told him watch out for the left front of the van,
but he continued and hit the wall. The good thing
was that it was hard to get mad since I put a
bigger dent in the car the previous day.
Clearly in one morning, despite 40 years of
Zen practice, my mind stopped several times on
trivial matters. It is often one thing after another,
the eternal recurrence of the small that gets us
because with each small thing part of our mind
gets stuck and we end up being out of touch with
the present reality.
A more serious matter which stops my mind is
the cost of college education for my children.
Both are going to private universities, one in
New York and one in Shanghai. I am financing it
with a home equity line of credit. I make a good
living but nothing that can handle the cost of
their tuitions. I am on a project with only a year
to go with the audacious goal of making struc-
tural changes in the healthcare system, focusing
on payment reform, information integration, care
coordination, and community engagement. The
goal is a sustainable healthcare system in East
Hawaii on the Island of Hawaii. It feels like
climbing Mt. Everest. Our team of four has made
great progress, but the summit does not look
closer. When I dwell on the future, my mind
stops on the financial uncertainty because I still
have an attachment to die in my house.
It is embarrassing to admit the things my mind
stops on given the major problems we have in
America and the world. I take some consolation
in knowing that Omori Roshi, when he was in his
seventies, once told his attendant that he would
die a happy man if he could have the right con-
centration for one day. Endless refinement is
possible. As a matter of practice, we should
122 M.K. Sayama
strive to prevent mind stopping from turning into
anxiety. Though the mind may stop when an
attachment is threatened, with mind/body train-
ing, we can short circuit the fight/flight reflex that
triggers anxiety and instead center ourselves
through breathing from the hara and opening our
senses to the present moment. Then in samadhi,
we move on just as we are, illuminating the sit-
uation with the Buddha mind and let things take
care of themselves.
If we can ukenagasu the existential problem
of death, the small problems fall away. Life is the
blink of an eye. Our time is short. What should
we do with it? What is meaningful? What gives
joy? What is worth caring about? Is caring the
same as attaching, once again giving reality to
reflected traces of unfinished business? Although
these questions can only be answered by going
deeply within, once we truly realize the immi-
nence of our death, our perspective becomes
existential. The petty problems drop away.
When I was the vice president of customer
relations at an insurance company, I once told
Gladys, a supervisor of customer relations rep-
resentatives who was bent out of shape by all the
problems of the day, “Gladys, I know the secret
about how not to get stressed. Do you want to
know?”Of course, she said, “Yes.”And I told
her, “Gladys, you’re going to die.”Her eyes
rolled, and she cracked up.
Let me share the story of Paul Nishimura who
died in 2001 as an example of someone whose
mind did not stop in the face of death. Paul was a
big man who owned an auto body shop and who
was a high ranking teacher of Aikido. He was the
first president of Chozen-ji. He was diagnosed
with cancer in July of 1999 and refused treat-
ment, choosing to live fully as long as he could.
He told me, “I’m not clinging to life. Life is
clinging to me.”In May of 2000 he wrote, “CT
Scan-Liver almost half gone. Into left hip bone.
Maybe a year left.”In fact Paul had 13 months,
and they were not easy for him or Junko, his wife
of 29 years. Some nights when Paul could not
sleep because of the pain, he would express his
regret about hurting people’s feelings with his
manner and strong words. Junko said he limited
his use of painkillers so he would not do that
again. Paul considered his pain “bachi”(pun-
ishment) for hurting so many people.
In his last year, Paul found talking to Tanouye
Roshi especially meaningful. He told me
“Tanouye’s showing me all kinds of things.”and
taking a stance with a bamboo sword, he said,
“This is the Unborn Mind.”Tanouye Roshi
would tell him to ask questions, but Paul said, “I
do not have any more questions. I answered them
all by myself already. Next time I hope I train
harder so I can ask questions I can not answer by
myself.”On one occasion, Paul and Tanouye
Roshi were sitting on the lanai at the temple, and
Tanouye Roshi was feeding birds. One dove
landed on the lanai, cocked its head back and
forth, hopped into Paul’s lap, and stayed there for
several minutes. Paul said, “Now I can make the
Kannon (the Goddess of Compassion.)
The time came, however, when Paul felt he
was only existing. Although he had Bankei’s
book on the Unborn Mind on his bed stand, he
could not read because his eyes could not focus
well enough. He had to fight through the stupor
of pain medication to be alert and laid in bed
most of the time. He found some comfort in
incense and Japanese and classical music.
Around the end of May, Paul decided it was time
to go and stopped eating and drinking, figuring it
would take 7–10 days to die. But he was afraid
he might die on Junko’s birthday on June 1, so he
resolved to strengthen himself to celebrate her
birthday. He told me, “I never knew a papaya
could taste so good.”
On Monday June 4 Paul walked into the
hospice at the hospital on his own using his
bamboo sword as a cane. He predicted he would
die on the 10th. He had figured out his insurance
policies would cover hospice expenses com-
pletely for one week. When I saw him the next
day, he asked me to get cards and addresses for
the people who had visited him. From memory,
he dictated at list of these people. He wanted to
write thank you notes and “clear the decks.”I
asked him when he was planning to do this, and
he said “Within the next 12 hours.”
He was still bright and playful when visitors
came. Once he was describing how his mouth
felt stuck together with super glue and that this
Every Day is a Fine Day 123
was his punishment for talking so much before.
When a visitor said that he was looking good, he
responded, “You must be kidding. I look like a
ghost. I scare myself when I look in the mirror.”
Another visitor encouraged him to at least drink
juice because he had loss so much weight. Paul
responded, “I’m trying to be like Mahatma
Gandhi.”On Friday Junko said Paul laughingly
told her this would be his last day. He said, “I did
one thing right in my life. I married you. Arigato
(Thank you.)”
Paul expended his remaining strength to go to
the bathroom that night. He climbed from his bed
to a chair, rested, climbed from the chair to the
bed closest to the bathroom, rested, and then
entered the bathroom. After using the bathroom,
he finally opened the door and collapsed. His
sons carried him back to bed. From then through
Saturday, it seemed that his consciousness had
left and we were simply waiting for his body to
follow. But around 2:15 in the afternoon, he gave
a distinct order, “Pull me up.”I pulled him up,
and he tried to sit on his own but collapsed. We
raised the hospital bed, so he was in a sitting
position. He would gradually slip down and
would reach for the guardrail on the bed, so we
helped him straighten up. At 4:30 he died qui-
etly. The periods between breaths became longer
and longer till finally he just never took another
breath. Paul died sitting up, one day ahead of
schedule. Particularly toward the end of his life,
despite his physical weakness, his energy was
clear and bright, and being around him made my
anxieties and pettiness disappear.
Facing fearlessly whatever happens from the
eternal recurrence of the small to life and death
issues, fully present moment by moment with the
immovable mind, receiving and letting flow
away everything enables one to say, “Every day
is a fine day.”Tanouye Roshi when asked about
how to live, once said, “Row, row, row your boat
gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, mer-
rily, life is but a dream.”
References
Haskel, P. (1984). Bankei Zen, Translations from the
Record of Bankei. New York: Grove Press.
Hosokawa, D. (1999). Omori Sogen, the art of a Zen
master. London: Kegan Paul International.
Omori, S. (1996). An introduction to Zen Buddhism.
London: Kegan Paul International.
Sayama, M. (1986). Samadhi, self-development in Zen,
swordsmanship, and psychotherapy. Albany: State
University of New York Press.
Suzuki, D. T. (1975). Studies in the Lankavatara Sutra.
London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Tanouye, T., tr. (1989) Takuan Soho’s, Fudochi Shimmyo
Roku Honolulu: Daihonzan Chozen-ji/ International
Zen Dojo.
124 M.K. Sayama
Zen and Forgiveness
Shoryu Bradley
Keywords
Zen practice Zazen Buddhism Forgiveness Eihei Dogen Three
Minds Angulimala
I am grateful to have this opportunity to share
some thoughts on the topic of Zen and forgive-
ness. First, however, I will share a bit about my
past and current Zen practice. I began practicing
in the Soto Zen tradition in the late 1990s, and I
was ordained as a Zen monk in 2002. During the
course of my Zen training, I have lived at various
Zen centers and monasteries. It was at my tea-
cher’s temple, Sanshinji, in Bloomington, Indi-
ana, where I inherited the style of practice I
currently follow at my monastery, Gyobutsuji,
located in the Ozark Mountains of Northwest
Arkansas. Zazen, or zen meditation practice, is
the primary activity of the monastic day at
Gyobutsuji, but we engage in study, chanting,
and work practice as well. We also do a monthly
sesshin, or meditation retreat, every month, and
during these retreats, we focus almost solely on
zazen practice for either five or seven days.
Forgiveness realized through Zen practice has
had a powerful effect on my life, and I have seen
its healing power working in the lives of others.
I hope this essay will in some small way helps
those who read it to deepen their connection with
forgiveness’s restorative influence.
Most of us likely do not normally associate
the word forgiveness with Zen practice, but I do
think they are genuinely linked. Seeing this link,
I believe, is mostly dependent upon having a
clear understanding of what forgiveness actually
is, and we must also keep in mind certain points
that allow Zen practice to be genuine.
I believe there are two aspects involved in
realizing the healing power of forgiveness: the
forgiveness we offer individually to one another
and to ourselves, and the absolute forgiveness we
receive or realize as the reality of our lives
beyond individuality. In my understanding, Zen
teaching shows us that these two types of for-
giveness are actually inseparable. One type can-
not be complete without the other; they are, in
fact, one and the same.
Forgiveness of Others and Ourselves
To begin, let’s examine conventional forgive-
ness, the forgiveness we offer to others and to
ourselves. Are there differences in this form of
S. Bradley (&)
Gyobutsuji Zen Monastery, Kingston, USA
e-mail: shoryu@gyobutsuji.org
©Springer International Publishing AG 2017
A. Masuda and W.T. O’Donohue (eds.), Handbook of Zen, Mindfulness, and Behavioral Health,
Mindfulness in Behavioral Health, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54595-0_12
125
forgiveness as it is encountered in our general
culture and in the way it is presented in Zen
teachings? I actually believe we encounter gen-
uine forgiveness quite rarely because its true
meaning is not well understood, or at least it is
not understood on its deepest level. To illustrate
what in my view this misunderstanding is, I
would like to offer two entries for the word for-
give as they appear in two different dictionaries.
First, here is an entry from Collins English
Dictionary:
1. to cease to blame or hold resentment against
(someone or something)
2. to grant pardon for (a mistake, wrongdoing,
etc.)
3. (transitive) to free or pardon (someone) from
penalty
4. (transitive) to free from the obligation of (a
debt, payment, etc.)
1
Next follows an entry from Webster’s New
World College Dictionary:
1. to give up resentment against or the desire to
punish; stop being angry with; pardon
2. to give up all claim to punish or exact penalty
for (an offense); overlook
3. to cancel or remit (a debt)
2
Both entries include all the basic definitions of
forgiveness we usually associate with the word,
yet notice there is a subtle but important differ-
ence between the two listings. The first entry
offers four clear, distinct definitions, while in the
second, there are only three. Webster’s New
World College Dictionary combines meanings of
the word that appear as separate meanings in the
Collins Dictionary.
3
To my mind, this combina-
tion presents a confused understanding of the
meaning of forgiveness, and it gives us a hint as
to why the deepest levels of forgiveness’s healing
power are not commonly encountered.
Definition 1 of Webster’s New World Dic-
tionary implies that our emotional attitude toward
someone we believe has wronged us is insepa-
rably linked to our ability to pardon or forgive
them. In our society, it is the norm to feel one
who has been wronged is “owed”an apology
before a pardon or forgiveness can be given to
the perpetrator. One cannot stop being angry
with someone unless the person we are angry
with shows remorse and apologizes, and we
cannot forgive or pardon until our anger is
assuaged. Yet what can we do with our anger if
we receive no apology, if the person we are
angry with, for example, feels neither remorse
nor a need to apologize? What becomes of our
anger if the person who has harmed us remains
unknown to us, as in the case of an unsolved
crime against us? Further, what if the object of
our anger is not a person at all? We might find
ourselves becoming resentful due to some mis-
fortune caused by a natural disaster, for instance.
Many of us probably know people who have
seemingly become angry and resentful with life
itself, having found no way to reconcile with
some great pain or loss.
The definition also seems to subtly equate our
emotional attitude toward someone with our
right to pardon them. This is problematic
because to pardon someone one must in some
way hold legal or moral power over that person.
As a recipient of some wrongdoing, we might
consciously or unconsciously feel as if the prin-
ciple of justice itself elevates us to a higher moral
or ethical status than the person who hurt us. If
we are not careful, this kind of judgment can
become confused–even to the point of thinking
the mere fact we are angry or annoyed with
someone gives us moral or ethical superiority
over them. In such a case, our emotions alone
seem to make us “right,”“justified,”“innocent,”
etc., while the other person becomes “wrong,”
1
“Forgive.”Collins English Dictionary, n.d. Web.
25 September 2015. http://www.collinsdictionary.com/
dictionary/english/forgive.
2
“Forgive.”YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 25 September
2015. http://www.yourdictionary.com/forgive.
3
This is the dictionary’s entry for British English.
Interestingly, the American English entry for the Collin’s
Dictionary was the same as the Webster’s New World
(Footnote 3 continued)
College Dictionary. This leads me to believe the slight
difference in definitions is cultural.
126 S. Bradley
“unethical,”“blameworthy,”etc. It is as if that
person is unworthy of forgiveness until they
adopt our own point of view.
The primary problem is, of course, we cannot
always trust the accuracy of our thoughts and
feelings concerning people and things. Accord-
ing to Zen, our observations are always colored
by the particular circumstances of our individual
lives. Most all of us have “emotional baggage,”
for example, that triggers emotions in certain
circumstances that would not arise in most other
people. Yet we tend to truly believe in what we
think and feel as “truth”itself. And even if we do
doubt some of our emotions and thoughts, it is
nonetheless very difficult for most of us to loosen
the influence they have on our behaviors and
general attitudes.
Realizing there is no separate, unchanging,
fundamental “truth”underlying our own
thoughts and emotions is a key practice and
teaching of Zen. Since all aspects of our expe-
rience are always changing and are influenced by
other things, we cannot grasp our experience as
“the truth”in an ultimate sense. Applied on a
practical level, we can say this simply means we
can be pretty certain there is another perspective
from which to view most any situation we
encounter. When we first hear this teaching, it
can seem absurd, frightening, or even nihilistic.
But this teaching is actually the foundation for
freedom, growth, and joy in our lives. It is the
key to practicing with a flexible mind and an
open heart. In other words, it is the key to
forgiveness.
Taking Responsibility
Embracing this magnanimity of the flexible mind
and open heart is a primary teaching and practice
in Buddhism. Shakyamuni, the founder of Bud-
dhism, taught that clinging to our own particular
views and investing in beliefs based on com-
parisons between ourselves and others is a fun-
damental source of suffering. When we feel we
have been wronged, we might also feel we are
entitled to judge the moral character of the
offender, and we are often quite sure and
unwavering in such judgments. Yet if we stop
and think about this for a moment, we can see
that such certainty about the moral status of
others and our right to judge them is actually
dangerous to everyone involved. It is just this
sort of certainty, in fact, adopted on a broad
scale, that underlies many of our world’s most
serious problems, including prejudice, discrimi-
nation, and war.
Shakyamuni, however, advised us to give up
interpersonal comparisons altogether, seeing
ourselves as neither superior, inferior, nor equal
to others.
4
Consider these words of the founder
of Buddhism:
Focus, not on the rudeness of others,
not on what they’ve done
or left undone,
but on what on what you
have and haven’t done
yourself.
5
Here the Buddha tells us coming to terms with
the perceived offenses of others is our responsi-
bility. When it comes down to it, we cannot
really change the behavior or thoughts of others;
we can only genuinely, on a deep level, affect our
own minds and actions. So the responsibility for
forgiveness is ours.
This teaching might strike us as quite sensible,
even obvious. Yet in all probably many, if not
most of us, feel receiving some indication that
our “offender”is remorseful is a prerequisite for
forgiving that person. Yet, as I mentioned above,
this prerequisite is not always met. What then? If
we make our forgiveness dependent upon certain
conditions, we limit it severely. Sooner or later,
lack of forgiveness or partial forgiveness gives
rise to lingering anger and resentment, two poi-
sons that can gradually darken our hearts and
minds and drain our life energy.
I feel the need to note here that with this
teaching the Buddha in no way intended to
morally or ethically absolve wrongdoing or
4
See, for example, H. Sasshatissa, trans., The Sutta-Nipata
(Richmond Surry 1994, p. 94).
5
Thanissaro Bhikkhu, trans., “The Dhammapada: A
Translation,”Access to Insight (Legacy Edition),30
November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/
kn/dhp/dhp.intro.than.html, p. 36.
Zen and Forgiveness 127
release criminal offenders from social responsi-
bility. Shakyamuni taught that cause and effect is
also a fundamental aspect of human life, so all of
us, both those of us who have been wronged and
those who have behaved wrongly, must accept
responsibility for our actions.
In the case of a woman who is married to an
abusive husband, for example, does forgiveness
demand that she repeatedly “forgive and forget”
and stay in the relationship, even if the abuse
continues?
6
Here, it becomes important to
remember that we are discussing what I feel is
the deepest, most genuine type of forgiveness,
and this forgiveness is not synonymous with
granting a pardon. As I stated above, I believe if
we forgive only when we are able (or seemingly
able) to pardon those who have wronged us, we
limit our capacity to express and receive the
genuine healing and compassionate power of
forgiveness.
For this reason, the practice of forgiveness
would not necessitate a woman pardoning her
abuser and releasing him from responsibility. In
fact, true forgiveness, I believe, would help give
this woman the clarity and strength to more
wisely deal with the abusive situation, seek
suitable help, and even leave her marriage if
needed. From what I understand, complex and
contradictory emotions can make it very difficult
for a woman to leave an abusive relation-
ship. She might intellectually realize that she
should extricate herself from a harmful situation,
but difficult emotions such as fear, anger, shame,
anxiety, despair, and helplessness can seem par-
alyzing to anyone suffering from abuse. As I will
further discuss below, forgiveness on a deep
level means letting go of our clinging to our
mental and emotional experience. It neither
rejects nor negates this experience, but on the
contrary, it holds all experience magnanimously
and without bias. It is this lack of clinging and
bias that can allow one in a difficult emotional
situation, such as an abusive relationship, to
make decisions with more clarity and to seek
help. This deep forgiveness does not pardon
unwholesome behavior, rather it sees more
clearly how to deal with it wisely and compas-
sionately, and it impels us to act accordingly.
Forgiveness Is a Practice
But of course truly taking responsibility for for-
giving others and holding our experience mag-
nanimously and unbiasedly is all too often easier
said than done. Sometimes we just cannot seem
to find an opening in our hearts to begin letting in
forgiveness, even in situations far less provoca-
tive than abusive relationships. In such cases,
what can be done? I remember one such time in
my life. It happened many years ago, not long
after I first began practicing Buddhism. I felt that
I had been wronged by a close friend, and the
incident affected me in a very deep emotional
way. The pain was so intense and blinding that it
was quite some time before I even wanted to
forgive. The events precipitating my pain could
not be undone, and I had not received the sincere,
remorseful apology I felt I deserved.
Eventually I realized I had to give up the pain
and resentment. At that point they had been
plaguing me for quite some time, and it became
apparent that they were a hindrance to my prac-
tice and well-being. I realized they had been
serving me in a way, giving me a sort of ground
to stand on, a way to deal with what I perceived
as the humiliation and injustice of the situation.
In my mind I had been standing on morally and
ethically higher ground than my friend, since I
was a “victim”and my friend was a “perpetra-
tor.”It felt rather good to cling to this subtle
sense of superiority. It allowed me a defense
against my feelings of inferiority and a means to
be “in the right.”But eventually I began to
realize this ground I stood on was becoming
sodden with judgment and self-righteousness. It
seemed that it would soon become a deep
quagmire, eventually engulfing my entire being.
At that point I finally found the true desire to let
go of the judgments and anger that I feared might
continue to pull me down ever deeper into
resentment.
6
I would like to thank Dr. Masuda and Dr. O’Donohue for
suggesting to me that I discuss this hypothetical example.
128 S. Bradley
So I tried to let go of the “victim and perpe-
trator”narrative. I reasoned with myself and told
myself how I “should”feel‚and I told myself
that the narrative was wrong. Sometimes the
narrative did abate for short periods, but sooner
or later it returned. I wanted to be magnanimous
and understanding, and I tried to cultivate these
qualities. I thought if all else failed, at least the
“time heals all wounds”principle would even-
tually take care of the situation. But it just did not
seem to be happening. Would I end up a bitter
old man in later life?
Eventually, I began to think I was approach-
ing the situation from a misguided direction.
I had been emphasizing how I felt about the
situation rather than how I practiced with it. In
Soto Zen (the type of Zen I practice), expressing
awakening is emphasized as opposed to having
the feeling or knowledge one has awakened.
Perhaps the important point was to express
magnanimity, regardless of whether I felt mag-
nanimous or not.
At some point I decided to try practicing with
my resentment by doing prostrations. In Bud-
dhism bowing practice is seen as an expression
of veneration and humility, two qualities I defi-
nitely wanted to express in my life. For me, the
practice of bowing to a Buddha statue, for
instance, is a way to honor practice itself. The
statue is not an idol of worship, but rather an
expression carved in wood or cast in metal,
plaster, etc., of awakening in practice. Practice
has produced the statue, and we continue that
practice by honoring the stature. Bows are
offered regardless of our mental or emotional
attitude, and we are not asking for anything when
we bow. When it is time to bow, we just bow.
So, somewhat out of desperation at first, I
began a bowing practice. Each morning I offered
incense to a Buddha image and bowed. While I
did so, I offered wishes of well-being to my
friend. I tried to offer these wishes rather than
make them a request. I felt that was important. At
first this practice was almost painful; I noticed a
lot of resistance coming up. But within a short
period I began to enjoy the practice. This was
one of the few times during my day I could let go
of my difficult feelings, but the practice also
became joyful in itself. It was as if the act of
bowing allowed a mind of magnanimity and joy
to arise.
Eventually, I felt the grip of anger and
resentment easing in my heart and mind. Later I
hardly felt the pain at all. That is not to say angry
or resentful thoughts of the painful situation
never arose, but rather when they came up, they
could naturally fade away without my believing
them or taking them too seriously. The change
seemed almost miraculous, and it was such a
relief!
Absolute Forgiveness: Letting Go
At this point I would like to begin speaking more
explicitly about the second type of forgiveness
that I previously mentioned: the absolute for-
giveness we can receive or realize. But what does
bowing have to do with that? Well, after my
bowing practice experience I got to wondering
how simply doing prostrations could be so
powerful, and I came to the conclusion that it
could be considered a form of zazen, or Zen
meditation.
Strictly speaking, it would not be appropriate
to call bowing practice a type of zazen since that
Japanese word means “sitting meditation”. And
even the word meditation itself can be considered
a misnomer when taken in the context of the
teachings of Eihei Dogen (1200–1252), the
founder of Japanese Soto Zen. Dogen wrote in
his Shōbōgenzō-Zazengi:
Zazen is not learning [step-by-step] meditation.
Rather zazen itself is the Dharma-gate of great
peace and joy (nirvana). It is undefiled practice-
enlightenment.
7
“Dharma gate”is a teaching of the Buddha
that allows us to express nirvana, which in
Dogen’s teaching refers to awakening/practice,
i.e., reality or “truth”itself. The important point
here is that genuine Zen meditation in Dogen’s
tradition is not actually meditation in the way we
7
Shohaku Okumura, trans., The Heart of Zen: Practice
Without Gaining-mind (Tokyo, Sotoshu Shumucho,
2006), p. 76.
Zen and Forgiveness 129
normally think of it. Commonly, meditation is
considered a practice of cultivation or
self-improvement. One might do it to gain spir-
itual insight, calm the mind, or relieve stress, for
example, and of course all of these things are fine
and good. Yet Dogen’s zazen holds none of these
things, or anything else, as its goal. We practice
zazen just for the sake of zazen.
When we first encounter this teaching, it may
seem strange or even absurd. Why would we
want to do anything that has no goal or benefit?
One way we could answer this question is to say
that such an attitude is a necessary aspect of the
absolute forgiveness we receive in practice.
To really understand this, we need to under-
stand how to do zazen, and then actually do it. In
zazen, one simply sits upright in the zazen pos-
ture, allowing the body, mind, and breath to
naturally harmonize. When thoughts, sensations,
feelings, emotions, etc., enter the mind, the zazen
practitioner neither entertains nor rejects them. In
explaining this aspect of the practice, Zen Master
Shunryu Suzuki Roshi (1904–1971) said in
zazen you should “leave your front door [of the
mind] and back door open. Let thoughts come
and go. Just don’t serve them tea.”
8
Kosho Uchiyama Roshi called this “opening
the hand of thought.”The original Japanese word
he used, omoi, here translated as “thought,”
actually includes all ideas, thoughts, emotions,
and feelings.
9
Usually we grasp and cling to our
sensations, emotions, thoughts, and ideas as real
and belonging to “me.”We invest ourselves in
them completely. But Uchiyama Roshi said that
in zazen we loosen our “grip”on all of our
experience and let thoughts, feelings, sensations,
etc., simply arise, change, and fade away as they
will. We do not grasp them as real or unreal; we
just let them be. But why would we want to do
such a thing?
Shakyamuni Buddha taught that we create
suffering for ourselves and others when we cling
to our views as fixed truths. We usually identify
deeply with our views of who we and others
seem to be. Yet any person’s view is limited;
none of us is omniscient. Still, all too often we
feel our perspective is “the truth.”When I
thought about my friend, for example, I defined
that person in terms of one event; I saw that
person only as a person who harmed me. In
doing so, I disregarded all of the times I expe-
rienced my friend as kind, sincere and loving.
The mind likes to latch onto one aspect of its
experience and label it as the truth. Yet reality
does not fit so neatly into categories. This is an
extremely important point, I believe.
And even when we do intellectually under-
stand that a view we hold is limited or mistaken,
if the emotions we experience in association with
that view are very deep, intellectual understand-
ing alone will not be enough to truly change or
broaden the view. Eventually I came to see
intellectually, for example, that my judgmental
views of my friend were useful to no one. Yet
even though I wanted to let go of these judg-
ments, I just could not do it solely with my
willpower and intellectual reasoning.
Of course it is necessary for us to think, feel,
conceptualize and judge in this life in order to
live as human beings. Yet we create problems
when our thoughts and feelings become our
“idols,”when we live in service of them. In that
case, they drag us here and there in an aimless
cycle of suffering. However, when we encounter
our sensations, feelings, thoughts and concepts
with wisdom, letting go of our clinging and
holding them with care, they become of great
service to us and allow us to express a whole-
some way of life.
When we allow our zazen practice to be our
life foundation, our ever-changing thoughts and
emotions can begin to fall into perspective since
we “step back”from them. This is a primary
reason zazen practice is foundational for the
practitioner of Dogen’s style of Zen. It is the only
time during our busy lives when we can com-
pletely let go of all views, judgments, sensations,
feelings, concepts etc. We sit in the zazen posture
and allow all of the various aspects of our
experience to simply arise and subside, without
8
David Chadwick, Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Zen
Teachings of Shunryu Suzuki (New York, Broadway
Books, 1999), p. 301.
9
See Opening the Hand of Thought by Kosho Uchiyama
(Somerville, Wisdom Publications, 2004), p. 179, n. 22.
130 S. Bradley
“having tea with them.”We completely let go of
our grip on views and emotions. Of course we
will eventually notice that we are having tea with
some thought or emotion. Perhaps we suddenly
notice we are planning our vacation or refining
the details of tomorrow’s presentation at work.
That is OK. There’s no need for judging or
fretting. When we notice our engagement in
thoughts, we simply return to the here and now
of the zazen posture, letting go again of our little
“tea party.”We do this over and over again in
zazen.
Zazen can be considered absolute forgiveness
because in it we truly forgive every person,
place, thing, event, situation, etc., of our lives;
we completely let go of the views and emotions
we usually associate with them. This is an
unconditional forgiveness void of stipulations or
demands. It is in this act of forgiveness that we
are forgiven. We are forgiven of all things that
define and limit us, regardless of whether we
usually judge these things as positive or negative.
In zazen we let go of memories of the past and
concerns for the future, settling down into the
here and now. So in a way we are “born again”in
the freshness of the present. We are forgiven in
an ultimate sense.
10
In today’s complex and competitive world,
most of us expend a tremendous amount of
energy trying to live up to some societal or per-
sonal expectation. But in zazen, we can settle
down into the simplicity of the here and now, in
the refuge of the body and mind simply being
rather than striving. When we come to truly
realize and embrace this force of forgiveness in
our lives, our minds become more flexible and
our hearts begin to open.
When we allow this zazen practice to be our
refuge and our life guide, our grip on views and
emotions in our daily lives beyond the meditation
cushion can become less tight. We can begin to
see things from a broader perspective, and we
begin to take our fluctuating emotions less seri-
ously. Then we have the opportunity to let go of
the judgments of people and situations we
encounter, as well as judgments of ourselves.
Receiving the healing, absolute forgiveness of
practice allows us to practice forgiveness toward
others.
Yet at this point I feel the need to add a
caveat. It is important that we do not sit zazen for
the sake of broadening our views or becoming
more emotionally healthy. Why is that? If we do
so, we are doing zazen under the subtle influence
of our views or desires, so we are not truly letting
go of everything. This is why we are told over
and over again by Zen teachers to sit zazen only
for zazen’s sake. It seems like a contradiction,
but it is actually the only way we can let down
the heaviest burdens of our lives. It is the only
time in our waking lives neither we nor our
performance is subject to anyone’s judgment. We
just sit. What a relief!
In terms of my bowing, I think it was
important that I made an effort to avoid
approaching it as a means of easing my mental
state. I realized that if I was focused on myself
when making that offering, it was not really an
offering. I remember my attitude at the outset
was actually closer to one of exasperation, to tell
you the truth. It was as if I had become so tired of
fighting myself that I essentially just gave up and
began bowing; I could not think of anything else
to do. Later when I realized some joy and
lightness was actually arising during my practice,
I discovered quickly that if I held on to any
thought of doing something “good”or “noble”
while bowing, the real joy of the practice dis-
appeared. It was as if it became tainted, in a
manner of speaking, with self-centeredness.
In order to practice sincerely, we must let go
of acquisitive thoughts and emotions when they
arise and simply return to our practice. It is
essential to practice for the sake of practice,
rather than for the sake of our own agendas. That
is the only way we can release our grip on views
that limit us and bind us to our suffering. When
acquisitive thoughts come up while sitting zazen,
10
One might ask just who is offering this forgiveness in
zazen, since Buddhism, unlike most other religious
traditions, recognizes no supreme creator/deity as an
object of worship and bestower of forgiveness. But I think
the point is that letting go of such concerns (and all
others) is how forgiveness is realized in zazen. In
accordance with the Zen Master’s exclamation of “zazen
does zazen!,”we might just say “forgiveness forgives.”
Zen and Forgiveness 131
we just return to sitting, and when they come up
while bowing, we just return to bowing. We
simply keep doing this over and over again.
Absolute Forgiveness Beyond
the Meditation Cushion: Dogen’s
Three Minds
Yet the refuge and guidance that zazen offers us
is not limited to meditation and bowing practice.
If we wish to live a life guided by the compas-
sion and forgiveness of zazen, we must endeavor
to express zazen in all of our activities. In fact,
Dogen wrote of how we can actively allow zazen
to guide our lives in our daily routines. In his
Instructions For The Cook (Tenzokyokun)
11
,he
used the practice of cooking in a Zen monastery
to illustrate how we can adopt the sincere atti-
tudes that allow our activities beyond the medi-
tation cushion to be expressions of zazen, of true
practice. There Dogen said embracing the Three
Minds (Sanshin in Japanese), Joyful Mind,
Nurturing Mind, and Magnanimous Mind, are
essential to this endeavor. Since the Japanese
word shin (心) carries meanings associated with
the English word “heart”as well as “mind,”we
might say Dogen’s teaching of the Three Minds
describes both mental and emotional attitudes
one can embrace in order to sincerely and
actively express the wisdom of practice. The first
of these, Magnanimous Mind, is the mind that
welcomes all experience with neither clinging
nor aversion. In his commentary on the Ten-
zokyokun, Uchiyama Roshi said this is the mind
that recognizes “everything I encounter is my
life.”Nurturing Mind, the mind that impels us to
actively care for ourselves and others, arises in
conjunction with Magnanimous Mind, according
to Uchiyama Roshi, as well as Joyful Mind, the
mind that finds joy and gratitude for the oppor-
tunity to support others. So in my view, these
Three Minds are inseparable and can actually be
seen simply as different perspectives from which
we can invite sincere practice into our daily lives.
Although Dogen does not explicitly mention
forgiveness in Tenzokyokun, I believe that we can
see a deep connection between the Three Minds
and the mind of forgiveness. I first began to
realize this as I considered the powerful effect of
my bowing practice. I came to the conclusion
bowing practice can be an activity that invites the
expression of the Three Minds. Actually, I
believe any wholesome activity can be such an
expression, and like the relationship between
zazen and our sitting posture, we cannot really
separate the Three Minds from the activity that
invites them. We cannot just think to ourselves
“now I will adopt the Three Minds”and then
expect they will appear in our lives. We need a
way to express zazen, or forgiveness, just as a
musician needs an instrument in order to make
music.
12
According to Dogen, Magnanimous Mind is
the mind like a mountain or a great ocean, void
of bias or contention. Because it is as vast and
unshaken as a mountain, the mind of forgiveness
tolerates whatever it encounters, just as our zazen
practice tolerates any thought, sensation, or
emotion. It is the mind of just here and just now.
To express Magnanimous Mind when we cook,
we just focus our entire being on cooking. When
bowing, we focus on just bowing. This mind is
not biased or judgmental because it clings neither
to past experiences nor future expectations.
Resentment is an emotion that toys with the
past, but it cannot take hold of us when we focus
on an activity in the present moment. My bowing
practice did not erase my feelings of anger and
resentment, but when they came up, I just kept
returning to my bows. Then, the negative feel-
ings could simply run their course. No feeling or
emotion lasts forever, and they linger even less if
we do not grasp them. Even if thoughts and
emotions rage torrentially like a flooding river,
Magnanimous Mind, the mind of forgiveness,
can absorb them like a great calm ocean. It is vast
and powerful, yet fluid and accepting.
11
For a translation and excellent commentary on this text
see How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to
Enlightenment by Kosho Uchiyama (Boston, Shambala
Publications, 2005).
12
Of course the instrument can be the human body itself,
as in the case of singing.
132 S. Bradley
Nurturing Mind is the mind that cares for and
nurtures all it encounters in the way parents care
for and nurture their children. It is also like a
mountain or ocean since it supports all life it
meets, yet we might consider Nurturing Mind as
the active aspect of genuine practice. It is the
mind of offering.
A resentful and wounded mind is focused on
itself. Its world is restricted, dark and
self-absorbed. Nurturing Mind asks what it can do
to help, and it takes into consideration the per-
spectives of others. When we feel we are wron-
ged, do we consider the position of those who
wronged us? Do we ask ourselves what part we
might have played in creating the harmful action?
It is very difficult to do these things unless we
have a practice that helps to loosen our grip on
our own pain and judgment. When we give sin-
cerely, we offer ourselves up, so to speak, to the
act of giving in the here and now. In this way our
world can shift from a prison of self-absorption to
a boundless mountain or ocean of offering.
When I consider Nurturing Mind in relation to
my bowing practice, I see that the acts of bowing
and offering good wishes for my friend
helped direct my attention away from my own
self-absorption and brooding. Shifting our focus
from our own emotions to the well-being of
others can end up being a powerful balm for our
own suffering.
I saw this especially clearly on one occasion
quite a few years ago when I was practicing at
Tassajara Zen Monastery, the oldest Japanese
Buddhist Soto Zen monastery in the USA,
founded in 1966. There the practice schedule is
divided into three distinct kinds of periods: two
traditional, formal 90-day practice periods, two
multi–week work periods, and a summer guest
season. The practice environment at the mon-
astery shifts quite dramatically during the tran-
sition from the focused quiet of practice period to
the productivity-oriented work period. Some
students who had enjoyed the six months of the
cloistered, contemplative environment of practice
period found it a challenge to deal with all the
new guests and the relatively boisterous activity
of the work period. This was the case for me
during my first year at Tassajara.
At the end of one long day during a work
period, I found myself tired and irritable as I
walked toward the meditation hall to participate
in evening zazen. I had worked very hard that
day and was really not so excited, to tell the truth,
about sitting zazen. I would have much preferred
going to my bed. The tiredness seemed to fill my
entire world and grumpiness colored all my
thoughts and perceptions. At that time I saw there
was a long line of people waiting to enter the
meditation hall as the person in charge assigned
seats. All resident students at Tassajara received
longer-term seat assignments, usually for the
entire work period, but sometimes the seat would
be given away by mistake, especially if the zendo
was very full. At that time I was quite attached to
my particular seat because it was home to a
special set of cushions I could arrange in a way
that helped me sit in a comfortable and stable
meditation posture. I remember grumbling to
myself, “I sure hope my seat hasn’t been given
away this evening, I don’t want to deal with a
flat, spongy cushion and aching legs tonight!”
As I came closer to the meditation hall door, I
could see that indeed my seat had been given to
someone else. I felt my mind sink and my heart
shrivel as I walked through the doors to get my
seat assignment. My bleak little world was defi-
nitely limited to my own suffering in that
moment.
When I met the meditation hall manager, she
looked at me with a hint of distress in her eye and
said, “Can you help?”In that moment, my view
of my entire world changed. I looked around.
A second before I had seen a room full of people
who were crowding our meditation hall and
preventing me from sitting on my special cush-
ions. Now I saw with wonder that close to 90
people (in a room build to accommodate around
60) were there to engage in the way of practice;
what a wonderful and joyful occasion to have the
fortune to encounter! In one instant my world
changed from a dark sky of self-focused suffering
to the clear joyful sky of offering. I got busy
setting out cushions on the floor and showing
visitors where they could sit.
This occasion also illustrates to me how
Joyful Mind, another of the Three Minds, can
Zen and Forgiveness 133
influence our lives. Dogen said this is the mind
that recognizes the good fortune of having the
opportunity to make an offering, to practice. It is
the mind of gratitude. Forgiveness comes easily
when we recognize we are fortunate, as does joy.
How foolish I was to be so upset at being
deprived for one meditation period of my special
cushions, when I actually had so much support in
so many ways during that time! I had the rare
opportunity to focus full-time on Zen practice
with a large community of like-minded people.
I was instructed, cooked for, advised, befriended,
and sustained in innumerable ways by those
around me and by those who had practiced there
before me. I was indeed fortunate, and it was a
privilege to encounter the opportunity to in some
small way support the 90 people who had come
to sit zazen that evening; it was a chance to return
at least a tiny portion of the immense support I
had received at Tassajara and beyond.
If we settle down and reflect in most any sit-
uation, we can see through the eyes of Joyful
Mind and allow forgiveness to enter our lives.
We are always being supported in innumerable
ways, and we can almost always, I believe, with
sincere practice, find the mind of gratitude. This
Joyful Mind prompts us to offer ourselves in
service, and an act of offering in turn promotes
even more deeply the mind of offering.
It is important to stress that the forgiveness
arising in zazen and in practicing with the Three
Minds is not only forgiveness of “others.”It is
also fundamentally forgiveness of the self, and it
therefore leads us to absolute forgiveness. When
we let go of our grudges, biases, and discontents
by focusing totally on bowing, cooking, sweep-
ing, or any wholesome activity in the here and
now, we can be released from the burdens of our
hearts and minds. In the immediate here and
now, we can be freed from our own expectations,
definitions, and judgments of ourselves. Dogen
wrote “to study the self is to forget the self,”
13
and perhaps, we can also say, “to study the self is
to forgive the self.”We might even say forgiving
the self on a deep level is simultaneously for-
giving others. According to Zen teaching, there is
no fundamental, unchanging difference between
ourselves and others since we are all intercon-
nected, sharing, essentially, the same life. True
forgiveness of self and forgiveness of others are
one and the same on this deep level.
Angulimala as a Story of Forgiveness
To end my discussion of forgiveness, I would
like to present an ancient story found in the early
texts of Buddhism. It is the story of Angulimala,
the ferocious murderer who is redeemed by the
power of practice and the compassionate insight
of Shakyamuni Buddha. For centuries it has been
used to illustrate that the healing power of for-
giveness is open to anyone, regardless of social
status or past actions. In conclusion, I will pre-
sent a few comments on the story that I hope will
help illustrate a few more points on the rela-
tionship between forgiveness and Zen.
But before proceeding, I would like to say a
few words about the seemingly “supernatural”
events that take place in the story. I believe it is
important to understand these events were not
necessarily recorded with the intent that they be
taken literally. In fact, I think we often find the
deepest “truths”of ancient stories embedded
within events of those stories that most likely did
not actually occur.
14
These events were often
added over time to historical incidents and were
passed down from generation to generation not
as records of historical happenings but rather as
parables or metaphors intended to transmit some
type of spiritual understanding or wisdom.
I think this is the case with the story of Anguli-
mala. Many if not most of the events occurring in
the story may indeed have actually taken place,
13
Shohaku Okumura, Realizing Genjokoan: The Key to
Dogen’s Shobogenzo (Somerville: Wisdom Publications,
2010), p. 2.
14
The first of the “Rules of Zen Studies”of the late
Buddhist Scholar John Macrae is “It’s not true, and
therefore it’s more important.”Dr. Macrae specialized in
the study of Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, but I
imagine his rule may apply to ancient religious stories in
general. See John R. Macrae, Seeing Through Zen
(Berkley and Los Angeles: University of California Press,
2003).
134 S. Bradley
but I believe we find the key teachings of the
story are emphasized and summed up by two
metaphorical events: the calmly walking Bud-
dha’s remaining beyond the reach of the running
Angulimala, and the transformed Angulimala’s
blessing helping a suffering woman. Of course
many modern people would have difficulty
believing these events actually happened, yet I
do believe they bring to light some very impor-
tant points of the Angulimala story.
What follows is an edited version of the story
of Angulimala as it appears in the Majhima
Nikaya, an early Buddhist scripture
15
:
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One
was staying near Savatthi at Jeta’s Grove, Ana-
thapindika’s monastery. And at that time in King
Pasenadi’s realm there was a bandit named
Angulimala: brutal, bloody-handed, devoted to
killing and slaying, showing no mercy to living
beings. He turned villages into non-villages, towns
into non-towns, settled countryside into unsettled
countryside. Having repeatedly killed human
beings, he wore a garland (mala) made of fingers
(anguli).
Then the Blessed One, early in the morning, hav-
ing put on his robes and carrying his outer robe &
bowl, went into Savatthi for alms. Having wan-
dered for alms in Savatthi and returning from his
alms round after his meal, he set his lodging in
order. Carrying his robes & bowl, he went along
the road to where Angulimala was staying. Cow-
herds, shepherds, and farmers saw him going along
the road to where Angulimala was staying, and on
seeing him said to him, “Don’t go along that road,
contemplative, for on that road is Angulimala:
brutal, bloody-handed, devoted to killing and
slaying, showing no mercy to living beings. He has
turned villages into non-villages, towns into
non-towns, settled countryside into unsettled
countryside. Having repeatedly killed human
beings, he wears a garland made of fingers. Groups
of ten, twenty, thirty, and forty men have gone
along that road, and even they have fallen into
Angulimala’s hands.”When this was said, the
Blessed One kept going in silence.
A second time…A third time, cowherds, shep-
herds, and farmers said to the Blessed One, “Don’t
go along that road, contemplative….”When this
was said, the Blessed One kept going in silence.
Then Angulimala saw the Blessed One coming
from afar and on seeing him, this thought occurred
to him: “Isn’t it amazing! Isn’t it astounding!
Groups of ten, twenty, thirty, and forty men have
gone along this road, and even they have fallen
into my hands, and yet now this contemplative
comes attacking, as it were, alone and without a
companion. Why don’t I kill him?”So Anguli-
mala, taking up his sword and shield, buckling on
his bow and quiver, followed right behind the
Blessed One.
Then the Blessed One willed a feat of psychic
power such that Angulimala, though running with
all his might, could not catch up with the Blessed
One walking at normal pace. Then the thought
occurred to Angulimala: “Isn’t it amazing! Isn’tit
astounding! In the past I’ve chased and seized
even a swift-running elephant, a swift-running
horse, a swift-running chariot, a swift-running
deer. But now, even though I’m running with all
my might, I can’t catch up with this contemplative
walking at normal pace.”So he stopped and called
out to the Blessed One, “Stop, contemplative!
Stop!”
“I have stopped, Angulimala. You stop.”
Then the thought occurred to Angulimala, “These
Sakyan
16
contemplatives are speakers of the truth,
asserters of the truths, and yet this contemplative,
even while walking, says, ‘I have stopped,
Angulimala. You stop.’Why don’t I question
him?”
So Angulimala the bandit addressed this verse to
the Blessed One:
“While walking, contemplative, you say, ‘I have
stopped.’
But when I have stopped you say I haven’t.
I ask you the meaning of this: How have you
stopped?
How haven’tI?”
[The Buddha:] “I have stopped, Angulimala, once
& for all, having cast off violence toward all living
beings. You, though, are unrestrained toward
beings. That’s how I’ve stopped and you haven’t.”
[Angulimala:] “At long last a greatly revered great
seer for my sake has come to the great forest.
Having heard your verse in line with the
15
Thanissaro Bhikkhu, trans., “Angulimala Sutta: About
Angulimala”(MN 86). Access to Insight (Legacy Edition),
30 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/
tipitaka/mn/mn.086.than.html. I have condensed the story
quite a bit in the interest of space. Brackets appear in the
original translation; double brackets indicate my own
editing.
16
A person of the Sakya clan, the Buddha’s clan.
Zen and Forgiveness 135
Dhamma,
17
I will go about having abandoned
evil.”So saying, the bandit hurled his sword &
weapons over a cliff into a chasm, a pit.
Then the bandit paid homage to the feet of the One
Well-gone, and right there requested the
Going-forth.
18
The Awakened One, the compassionate great seer,
the teacher of the world, along with its devas,
19
said to him then:
“Come, bhikkhu.
20
”That in itself was bhikkhu-
hood for him.
At this point, the story relates how Anguli-
mala, having accompanied the Buddha as his
attendant to Anathapindika’s monastery, receives
a reprieve from King Pasenadi. The king, having
come in search of the bandit with an army and
the aim to “stamp him out,”is so impressed that
Angulimala has become a monk under the Bud-
dha’s guidance that he offers Angulimala mate-
rial support.
Next, we hear how Angulimala, while on his
alms rounds, encounters a woman suffering a
breech birth. He is very moved, saying to him-
self, “How tormented are living beings!”After
his meal, he returns to the Buddha and reports
with distress what he saw. Their conversation
follows:
“In that case, Angulimala, go to that woman and
on arrival say to her, ‘Sister, since I was born I do
not recall intentionally killing a living being.
Through this truth may there be wellbeing for you,
wellbeing for your fetus.’”
“But, lord, wouldn’t that be a lie for me? For I
have intentionally killed many living beings.”
“Then in that case, Angulimala, go to that woman
and on arrival say to her, ‘Sister, since I was born
in the noble birth, I do not recall intentionally
killing a living being. Through this truth may there
be wellbeing for you, wellbeing for your fetus.’”
21
Responding, “As you say, lord,”to the Blessed
One, Angulimala went to that woman and on
arrival said to her, “Sister, since I was born in the
noble birth, I do not recall intentionally killing a
living being. Through this may there be wellbeing
for you, wellbeing for your fetus.”And there was
wellbeing for the woman, wellbeing for her fetus.
The story next relates how the monk
Angulimala, dwelling alone in resolution, attains
complete spiritual liberation. Later we find him
having gone into town to gather alms:
Now at that time a clod thrown by one person hit
Ven. Angulimala on the body, a stone thrown by
another person hit him on the body, and a potsherd
thrown by still another person hit him on the body.
So Ven. Angulimala —his head broken open and
dripping with blood, his bowl broken, and his
outer robe ripped to shreds —went to the Blessed
One. The Blessed One saw him coming from afar
and on seeing him said to him: “Bear with it,
brahman! Bear with it! The fruit of the kamma
22
that would have burned you in hell for many years,
many hundreds of years, many thousands of years,
you are now experiencing in the here-&-now!”
[[…]]
Some Teachings of the Angulimala
Story
In my view, we encounter the most important
point of this story with the initial meeting of the
Buddha and Angulimala. Here the horrible slayer
of hundreds of men and indiscriminate leveler of
towns and villages meets his match in the form of
a quiet contemplative. Although Angulimala,
who was said to have outrun deer, elephants, and
horses, runs with all his might, he is unable to
overtake the Buddha peacefully walking at a
normal pace. Up to this point, Angulimala had
been able through brute strength to destroy any
being or village he encountered. Though it once
seemed the world cowered at his feel, he is
thwarted by a single quiet, mendicant teacher,
finally facing a being he cannot overcome. In
keeping with a point I mentioned above, I believe
the fact that we modern readers might doubt the
historical veracity of this particular event is
actually an indication its teachings are very
17
The word “Damma”has multiple meanings; in this case
it means the teachings that lead to the end of suffering; i.e.
the teachings of Buddhism.
18
Becoming a Buddhist Monk or nun.
19
A being dwelling in a heavenly realm.
20
A Buddhist mendicant monk.
21
Translator’s note: This blessing is often chanted at
house blessings in Theravada countries.
22
Action. Kamma produces either wholesome or
unwholesome effects.
136 S. Bradley
important, so I’ll speak a bit more about
Angulimala’s“running.”
To me it is very interesting that in some ver-
sions of the story, Angulimala’s running has a
more complex and even more sinister motivation
beneath it. He intends to take the life and the
finger of the Buddha in order to fulfill a specific
goal: He has been sent on a quest by his spiritual
teacher to gather the fingers of 1000 victims.
When he finishes his collection, he has been told,
he will obtain the ultimate spiritual fulfillment.
The plot is a ruse concocted by his misguidedly
jealous teacher to get Angulimala out of the way,
but it turns out that Angulimala is so powerful
and committed that he almost achieves his
gruesome goal.
Unfortunately, Angulimala’s approach to life
in that version of the story is all too common in
our society, and if we are honest with ourselves,
we might reluctantly have to admit we can
identify with Angulimala’s motivation. No doubt
all of us have found ourselves deeply desiring
that very special something (it may actually have
been a desire for the removal of something) we
think will finally make us happy or content, yet
we just cannot get the thing we think we need.
Today more than ever, it seems human beings
generally believe that life fulfillment comes
through some form of acquisition; if one obtains
enough of something one desires, or perhaps
even just one very special thing, one will find
fulfillment. So we set out to get what it is we
think we need, pursuing or “running after”that
thing at all costs. We might be running after
material wealth, status, romance, fame, power, or
whatever, and the capture of our object of desire
becomes all important.
Consciously or unconsciously, we become
like Angulimala. Even when we do find success
in our pursuits, sooner or later we find the suc-
cess is not quite enough to completely fulfill us
after all. So, we continue to run. Of course we
don’t murder and pillage, yet we do adopt forms
of domination and manipulation much more
subtle than brute strength in our efforts to get
what we want. We might use wealth, intelli-
gence, artistic expression, wit, technological
savvy, or sexuality, to name just a few examples,
as tools to get what we think we need, usually at
the expense of others. “Looking out for number
one”becomes consciously or unconsciously “the
bottom line”in our lives.
The point is that we are always competing
with others and with ourselves, and we are
always running to stay ahead of the game, whe-
ther we realize it or not. It is true that a few of us
do seem to find success in most all of our
endeavors, seemingly conquering all obstacles,
as Angulimala did. Yet sooner or later everyone
encounters some person, event, or situation that
cannot be overcome, just as Angulimala could
not overcome the Buddha. Whether it be a bitter
divorce, the death of a loved one, or a serious
illness, sooner or later we all meet our match in
this life.
The Buddha taught that the relentless pursuit
of our desires only worsens our situation in the
long-run. Due to the principle of causality, the
more we blindly seek fulfillment in ego-centric
pursuits, the more suffering we create for our-
selves and others since our desires can never be
completely fulfilled. The wisdom to live well
eludes us since we are always moving. When we
run away from the truth of our lives unfolding in
the present, our activities create increasingly
unwholesome effects.
It’s important to note that if we, like Anguli-
mala, approach our spiritual practice as a quest
for attainments or some ultimate goal, our prac-
tice is no different than the “running”we have
undertaken in other aspects of our lives. We are
simply “gathering fingers”if we fail to settle
down in the here and now of sincere practice.
When we do stop running away from the past
and rushing toward the future, we can receive the
forgiveness of the present moment. We stop the
indiscriminate harm we cause ourselves and
others when we no longer allow the fulfillment of
our self-centered desires to be our ultimate
motivation.
The Buddha taught there is no fixed,
unchanging nature that ultimately defines a
human being. One becomes reborn in a sense in
every moment, since we and everything we
encounter are always changing. Fixed definitions
of who we are exist only as concepts in our
Zen and Forgiveness 137
minds, so when we truly let go of clinging to
those concepts, we become free of their limiting
boundaries. That is why in one instant Anguli-
mala was able to change from a horrible mur-
derer to a humble monk.
When we see the simple reality of imperma-
nence before us, we no longer have to dwell in
the past or run away from the past because we
realize on a deep level only the reality of now is
genuine; we can only come to terms with the past
by taking responsibility in the here and now. We
no longer need to run toward the future because
we realize it, too, is not our reality. T