Outline Lecture Sixteen—Living in the Zen Moment—Han Shan, Kamo no Chomei, and

Dogen

I) The Historical Development of Zen Buddhism

a) Origins of the tradition
i) “Zen” derivative of the Chinese term “Chan”
(1) Formerly established in China
ii) “Chan” derivative of the Sanskrit word Dhyana
(1) Meditation
(2) Mahayana Buddhist tradition and is different from the others because, while the
others all revolve around a Buddha, bhoddisatva or sutra, this is centered on the
practice of meditation
(3) Zen tradition rejects scriptural, devotional approaches and more in intuitional
b) Central Role of Lineage Transmission
i) To one who can best intuit the spirit of Zen
Master believes intuitively that this student can carry on the tradition and appreciate
the capacity of Zen
(1) E.g. The “flower” sermon to Mahakashyapa
(a) First was given by Buddha himself
On this day Buddha was to give a very important dharma talk and unusually
the Buddha was a bit late in arriving to the talk – shows up everyone is excited
and then the Buddha slowly, quietly assumes lotus pose, he lifts a flower and
holds it up for a minute or so.
(b) One student smiles and the Buddha smiles back and this was the first zen
transmission
(i) Transmitted by immediacy of a flower
(ii) Mahakashyapa takes on this zen transference
(2) E.g. The 5th Chinese Patriarch Hong Ren to lowly novice monk Hui Neng
(a) Die soon and needs to transmit the dharma and he picks novice to transmit to
(b) Not through scripture or seniority
ii) Impact of Bodhidharma in Zen tradition
(1) Introduced Zen to China in the early 6th century AD
(2) Established Shao-lin Monastery
(a) Known for martial arts
(b) A student couldn’t understand and told Bodhidharma as much and he left and
came back and said he still couldn’t
(3) “A special transmission outside the scriptures; no reliance on words and letters;
directly pointing to the very mind; seeing into one’s own nature”
(a) How Bodhidharma explained
(b) China already had Daoist tradition and some affinity with Confucian tradition
when Zen was introduced
(c) These things made Zen more attractive

II) Enlightenment through Zen

a) Emancipating the Mind
i) Similar to Zhuangzi’s “fasting of the mind
 (1) Idea of relativity of meaning and this notion of “fasting of the mind” –
knowledge, wisdom, understanding all assumed to be what is in your mind
(material quantity in mind) – Zhuangzi believed in the fluidity and emptiness of
the mind as being the most potent
(a) Why? Because the more formulas, preconceptions, and stuff we have in our
minds, the less room there is to gain wisdom and true knowledge
(b) Completely fluid is the goal
ii) How to break away from our habitual or formulaic mental circuitry
(1) Being “in the zone” is similar in that you are free of habits and preconceptions
and you deal with a situation in all of its intricacy
(2) Getting rid of old habits and fixed notions is the way to become fully enlightened
and knowledgeable
(3) Restrictive thought process – lack of creativity in completing processes
(a) We become enslaved and accustomed to the pattern of our thought process
(b) Zen gets us out of that
(c) We take processes for granted
(d) Manual labor to clear the mind
Going for a walk or hike: Clear the mind
Meditation itself to sharpen the mind
Haiku tradition come out of zen – stand out by capturing the scene in their
immediacy and ‘to the point’ address of the moment
iii) The “short-circuiting” function of gong-an (koan)
(1) Literally translates to “public cases” in Chinese
(a) Public cases of exchanges between zen master and zen disciple; often
paradoxical questions and answers; sometimes verbal or gesture
(b) Always paradoxical
(c) Purpose is to exhaust the mind towards self-exposure to what is controlling or
guiding the way we think about things (first step)
(d) Self-effacement after seeing how the mind is controlling you (step two)
(i) Fasting of the mind – getting rid of habitual ways we think about things
(e) Purpose is to ‘wake up’ the mind – self awareness and exposure; shock and
shake up and shake loose the crusted thoughts and preconceptions
(f) Shock therapy of the mind
(2) Examples of familiar koans
(a) Purpose of “short-circuiting” the thought process
(b) ‘Sound of one hand clapping’
(c) What is Buddha nature? Response of master: shit-stick (toilet paper of the
past)
(d) Form is precisely emptiness emptiness precisely form: Asks how it is given
(e) How can silence be expressed? Master: I will not express it here, I expressed
it last night when I lost three pennies by my bed
(f) Disciple asks: master I’ve been with you for so long what is the essence of
buddha nature? Mostly master says nothing or says shitstick and master
eventually shows him a pointer finger
 (i) Master asks later of the student and the student holds up finger and master
whips out machete and cuts off the finger (student looks at bloody stump
and goes ‘aaaaah I see’)
1. Student allowed the finger to become a concept or form that became
crusted in his mind
(ii) Lots of zen is not verbal but physical
(3) Purpose is to short-circuit us out of our typical thought process
b) Seizing the Moment—Carpé Diem Zen-style
i) Han Shan—Zen Hermit of Cold Mountain
(1) Hermit-poet from the Tang Dynasty
(a) Lived for 23 years (627-650 C.E.) or 80 (700-780 C.E.)?
(2) Madman or sage?
(a) Always laughing and talking to himself
(b) Like koan idea of preconceived notions of craziness etc
(3) Meaning of “Han Shan”
(a) Being “lost” in the mountain is to become one with the mountain
(i) By not being lost in the mountain you’re never in tune with the mountain
(ii) There’s always the distance of not just being on the mountain but being in
it
(b) “Losing” track of time is to meld with the pace of the cosmos
(i) Losing track of time in the mountains is being joined with pace of cosmos;
not about time or distance, about moving literally on mountain time and in
the moment; physically and mentally freed from the constraints of man-
made ideals and standards
(ii) Describes the mountain as a place
1. Attachment to permanent settlement is a form of enslavement to a life-
style or habit
ii) Kamo no Chomei’s “An Account of My Hut” (12th century Japan) similar to hermit
(1) Symbolism of his “temporary hut”
(a) Small and portable shows his freedom from permanence and attachment
(2) Resist the temptation to hoard, to accumulate, to cling because of lack of
attachment to hoarding
(3) The solitary pleasures of a hermit
Free of possessions
What pleasures can a hermit enjoy? By virtue of lifestyle a hermit is free from the
flaws of speech
In enjoying nature we can enjoy things that nobody owns
(a) “In the autumn the voice of the evening insects fills my ears with a sound of
the lamentations for the cracked husk of a world” (207)
(i) We serve our possessions instead of the other way around
(ii) We are liberated by being free of attachment and non-essential clutter
ii) Dogen’s Humanism of Self-empowerment
(1) Precisely because it is impermanent, life must be cherished even more
(a) Spirit of zen – impermanence inspires us to become more invested in life
(b) Like the Buddha going to various places before dying
 (c) Recognition of impermanence can lead to a dynamic sense of immediacy
(liberation)
(2) What is true liberation?
These masters’ liberation was not found in nihilism or escaping into the world or
nature, their liberation is found in cultivating a non-discriminating and
nonattached embrace of life
Dispassionate compassion (unbiased compassion for everything)
Less likely to take things and other people for granted because of our constant
awareness of the impermanence of things
(a) Living all life as a reverential bow
(i) Bowing to all things in life with equal reverence
(ii) With nature and all people around us
(iii) Dogen is influential because he fully captures the optimism and
sense of agency that comes through zen
(3) Zen’s optimistic approach to life
(a) Being human is a rare opportunity, not a curse
(i) Because as humans we have the ability to exit the cycle and achieving
higher knowledge – as a squirrel we cannot do this
(ii) As humans we are the lotus buds just below the surface of the pond
(iii) As humans we are endowed with the seed of enlightenment
1. Don’t waste the time of being born as a human
2. Zen Buddhism things this is a rare opportunity, not a curse
3. We are equipped with all the tools we need to achieve enlightenment
(b) Embrace life with a sense of immediacy and urgency
(4) Parting quotes
(a) “Time does not waste itself. It is people who waste it away” (141)
(i) Simple yet profound
(b) “Life is evanescent like a dew-drop, and time passes without waiting for us”
(i) Fleeting like a dew-drop and time passes without waiting for us – in the
grand scale of things