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Lecture Date Topic

1 Jan 18 Introduction
2 Jan 25 Origin and development of Zen Buddhism
Lunar New Year Feb 1 No Class
3 Feb 8 The acceptance and development of Zen in Japan
4 Feb 13 Japanese aesthetic values 1
5 Feb 22 Japanese aesthetic values 2
6 Mar 1 Traditional Japanese arts.
Reading Week Mar 8 No Class
7 Mar 15 Influence on arts and literature
8 Mar 22 Influence on architecture and landscaping (Short Essay Due)

9 Mar 29 Zen and design

Ching Ming Festival Apr 5 No Class
10 Apr 12 Zen and lifestyle
11 Apr 19 Influence across the globe
12 Apr 26 Zen and contemporary aesthetics

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 (1) Short Essay (800-1000 words )– 25 %
 Suggested topics (Due Mar 22, 2022)

 (2) Final Essay (2000 words) – 60 %

 Suggested topics / any approved topic (Due May 10, 2022).

 (3) Attendance / Participation – 15 %

 Zoom: sign in with your HKU account/ email with registered
name.
 F2F: Please sign in with your UID registered name.

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 Outstanding – shows critical / research/ reflective elements,
novelty, correct understanding and historicity.
 Excellent – shows some research elements, originality,
correct understanding and historicity.
 Good – correct understanding of what is mentioned in the
lecture.
 Satisfactory – try your best to hand in something...
 Please submit on time.
 No plagiarism.
 Turnitin <30%
 Cite everything properly (with page numbers).
 Originality.

 4 or more academic sources. (for short essay, from Moodle

reading list).
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 Due March 22.
 800-1000 words (exclude footnotes and bibliography).
 Examine a traditional Japanese art form in relation to the
aesthetic values influenced by Zen Buddhism.

 E.g. Wabi-sabi in Japanese Tea Ceremony.

Wabi-sabi of Sen no Rikyu’s Tea Bowls.
Mono-no-aware in Bonsai Arts.
Discuss the aesthetic elements in a specific Noh play.

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 1.Essential concepts, practices and historical background.
 2.Aesthetics of Zen:
 Philosophy and nature of beauty and taste.
 What is consider beauty? Why pleasing?
 Principles and concepts.

 3.Influences: (expression, inspiration, conveyed)

 Japanese traditional arts;
 Architecture and landscaping;
 Arts and literature;
 Spirituality;
 Design;
 Lifestyle.

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 Objective?
 Inborn?
 Pleasing to the eye?
 Shaped culturally?
 Collective interpretation?
 Cultural specific?
 Deeper meaning?
 Reflecting the viewers’ taste?
 What is it trying to convey?

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 Religions
Economic Factors Buddhism
Affordable vs Shinto
Luxurious Christian...

Socio-political
Foreign Cultures
Factors
Chinese
Social norms
Korean
e.g. Samurai,
Western
Meiji restoration Japanese
Aesthetics

 In this course we will focus on:

 The Influence of Zen Buddhism on Japanese Aesthetics

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 Buddhist tenet
 Suffering
 Four Noble Truths
 Impermanence
 Emptiness

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 Three Seals or Three Marks of
Existence: suffering, impermanence,
and no-self.
 Suffering
 Inherent condition of cyclic existence
(life).
 Impermanence
 All phenomena are conditioned.
Things are changing continuously.
 No-self
 If all things arise out of causes and
conditions (dependent origination),
there is nothing that has a fixed
nature, including “ourselves”.
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 Sometimes many of us are “perfectionist”.
 Searching for perfection in our life.
 Idealize this perfection as an ultimate goal.
 Human desire.

 Expressed in arts.
 E.g. Renaissance period.
 Ideal proportion (perfection).
 Last forever (permanence).
 Perfect symmetry.

 Very idealistic.
 But almost impossible to achieve.
 Leads to suffering.
 When things are out of our expectation.

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 Realise impermanence.
 Sickness, old age and death is unavoidable
and natural.
 Realise imperfection.
 There is nothing perfect in this world.

 Realising this is not pessimistic.

 But this is an objective truth.
 Applies to everyone.
 You’re not alone.

 Buddhist teaching and practices help us to

realise these.
 Expressed in aesthetics.
 Daily objects as focus of reflection
/meditation.

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 Everything is subject to change.
 Stay strong.
 Stand up again.
 Do not conceal your scar.
 But bravely accept them.
 Celebrate them.
 The “precious scar”.

 Everyone is different and unique.

 We should be proud of what we are.

 Free yourself from suffering.

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 The ego.
 “I” am superior.
 Arrogant.

 Aesthetics with humbleness/ modesty.

 To oneself.
 To others.
 To the nature.

 Respect for yourself and others.

 Not viewed as weak or submissive.
 But as a norm.

 Expressed in all aspect of life.

 Collectivist society.
 Prioritize the group over the individual.
 Perceive personal accomplishment to be
a means to benefit the group.
 Collectivism vs individualism.

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 Buddhism faded out in India

after the 12th century CE.
 Royal patronage...
 Support Hinduism

 Muslim invasion.
 But successfully proliferated
and continued to develop
outside of India.
 China, Korea, Japan, Tibet...
 Adaptation: integrated and
assimilated local cultures.

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 Traces to the historical Buddha.
 The Jingde Record of the Transmission of the
Lamp (景德傳燈錄).
 Composed in the Sung Dynasty, ~1004-1007.

 The Flower Sermon. (拈華微笑 nenge mishou)

 At Vulture Peak, the Buddha instead of
delivering his usual sermon in front of his
disciples by words, he simply held up a flower
and smiled.
 All of his disciples were puzzled, only
Mahākāśyapa understood the Buddha's
meaning and smiled also.
 Buddha proclaimed Mahākāśyapa as the one
who truly understood him and was worthy to be
the one receiving a special “mind-to-mind
transmission”.
 The lineage is maintained through a system
of direct master-to-disciple transmission that
continues to this day.
 Direct transmission beyond words. 20
21
1. Mahākāśyapa (c. 5th to 4th century BCE)
India
⁞
28. Bodhidharma (達摩) c. 440 – c. 528 CE (1st Patriarch)
29. Huike (慧可) 487–593 (2nd)
30. Sengcan (僧燦) ?–606 (3rd)
China
31. Daoxin (道信) 580–651 (4th)
32. Hongren (弘忍) 601–674 (5th)
33. Huineng (惠能) 638–713 (6th)

The Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp (景德傳燈錄).

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 Mahākāśyapa 摩訶迦葉
 One of the principal
disciples of Gautama
Buddha.
 Considered to be the
first patriarch in a
number of Buddhist
schools.
 Not only in Zen.

Block print by Shiko Munakata

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1. Mahākāśyapa (c. 5th to 4th century BCE)
India
⁞
28. Bodhidharma (達摩) c. 440 – c. 528 CE (1st Patriarch)
29. Huike (慧可) 487–593 (2nd) Sui dynasty

30. Sengcan (僧燦) ?–606 (3rd)

China
31. Daoxin (道信) 580–651 (4th) Tang dynasty
32. Hongren (弘忍) 601–674 (5th)
33. Huineng (惠能) 638–713 (6th)

The Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp (景德傳燈錄).

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 Buddhism reached China
in the 1st century CE
during the Han Dynasty.
 Probably as Theravada
Buddhism.
 Not Buddhism in the Zen
form (Mahayana
Buddhism).
 Zen Buddhism arrived/
started around 500 CE.
 Northern & Southern
dynasties南北朝/ Sui
dynasty 隋朝

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 26

 Buddhism further developed in

China.
 Chinese Buddhism.
 Many schools.

 Syncretism: interaction of
Chinese culture, Taoism,
Confucianism.
 Translation of a large body of
Indian Buddhist scriptures into
Chinese.
 Many works were composed in
China.
 Combined, the Chinese
Buddhist Canon was printed.
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 Chinese Buddhist Canon 漢傳大藏經 (many versions, ~13):
 E.g. Taishō Tripiṭaka, 大正新脩大藏經 85 Vols.

 http://tripitaka.cbeta.org
 Containing: (the “3 baskets”)
 Agama (Indian sutras)
 Vinaya (Rules of conduct)
 Abhidharma texts (Commentaries)
 Other Mahāyāna sutras.

 Many works were composed in China.

 Entangled with Chinese culture, Taoist, Confucian thoughts.

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 The printed Chinese canon
disseminated and influenced
throughout the East Asian
cultural sphere.
 Transmitted to Korea (Seon),
Vietnam (Thiền), Japan
(Zen)...
 Buddhist thoughts with
Chinese interpretation and
cultural element.

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 Printed their own version based on
the Chinese original.
 Korea
 Japan

 Tripiṭaka Koreana 高麗大藏經

 (47 volumes, 1514 texts)

 Taishō Tripiṭaka 大正新脩大藏經

 (popular, 85 volumes, 5320 texts).

 The Chinese Canon is shared

among all Mahayana Buddhist
schools.

Woodblocks printing for Chinese Canon

Haeinsa Temple Korea 29
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 Mahayana Buddhism
 Tiantai 天台宗 (Lotus Sutra)
 Three Treatises 三論宗 (Madhyamika)
 Vinaya 律宗 (Vinaya of the Dharmaguptaka)
 Consciousness Only 唯識宗 (法相宗, Yogacara)
 Hwayan 華嚴宗 (Avatamsaka Sutra)
 Tang Esoteric 唐密 (Tantric school)
 Pure land 淨土宗
 Zen School 禪宗
 and others...

 Zen Buddhism is just one of the many Buddhist schools.

 Successful and predominating.

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 31

 Chán, Ch’an, Chan, Zen.

 One of the predominate school in Chinese Buddhism (since Tang
dynasty).
 “Chan” (禪) transliterates the Sanskrit dhyāna 禪那 or “meditation”.
 Focus on meditation and direct insight.
 Reading and reasoning alone cannot lead to enlightenment.
 Not focus on supramundane sources, e.g. Celestial Buddhas as in
Pure land Buddhism.
 Does not require extensive philosophical / literal training or
studying.
 Enlightenment can be accomplished here and now.

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 A special transmission outside the scriptures (教外別傳);

 Not established upon words and letters (不立文字);
 Directly pointing to the mind (直指人心);
 Seeing nature and becoming a Buddha (見性成佛);
 Without-thinking (無念).

 Irony: Chinese Zen literature is perhaps the most

voluminous of any in Chinese Buddhism!
 but could be due to the most predominate school.

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1. Mahākāśyapa (c. 5th to 4th century BCE)
India
⁞
28. Bodhidharma (達摩) c. 440 – c. 528 CE (1st Patriarch)
29. Huike (慧可) 487–593 (2nd)
30. Sengcan (僧燦) ?–606 (3rd)
China
31. Daoxin (道信) 580–651 (4th)
32. Hongren (弘忍) 601–674 (5th)
33. Huineng (惠能) 638–713 (6th)

The Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp (景德傳燈錄).

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 “Semi-legendary” Buddhist monk who
lived during the 5th or 6th century.
 Came from the western region, Indian
subcontinent, or Central Asia (Persia)?
 Regarded as its first Chinese patriarch
of Zen Buddhism.
 Bodhidharma brought Zen from India
to China in about 500 C.E., more than
a thousand years after Shakyamuni
Buddha's death.
 Related to Shaolin Monastery,
established Shaolin kungfu (legend).
 Teachings and practice centered on
meditation and the Laṅkāvatāra
Sūtra.

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• Symbol of perseverance
• Shichiten hakki
• 七転八起 (Fall 7 times,
and get up 8 times).
• Engimono 縁起物 and good
luck
• Commercialized.

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 Buddhist teachings based on:

 Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra (楞伽經).

Taishō Tripiṭaka 670-672.

 Practice

 Meditative practice.

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 “Sutra of the Appearance of the Good
Doctrine in Lanka”
 Foundational sutra in Chinese, Korean,
and Japanese Zen.
 Bodhidharma told Huike (2nd patriarch)
everything he needed to know is in this
sutra.
 Yogācāra thoughts and the concept of
Buddha-nature.
 All the objects of the world, and the
names, concepts and forms of
experience, are manifestations of the
mind. (~ subjective idealism?)
 Because the world is seen as being
"mind-only" or "consciousness-only", all
phenomena are void, empty of self-
nature and illusory.
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All things are only manifestations of
the mind itself;
 One must recognise that this world is
nothing but a complex manifestation of
one's mental activities.
 Imagined as real.
 Habit-patterns by memory, false-
imagination, false-reasoning, and
attachments to the objects and
relationships.
 One must recognise and be convinced
that all things are to be regarded as forms
seen in a vision and a dream.
 Empty of substance, un-born and without
self-nature; that all things exist only by
reason of a complicated network of
causation...
 One must recognise and patiently accept
the fact that his own mind and
personality is also mind-constructed, that
it is empty of substance, unborn and
egoless.

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 Permanence and perfection are illusion of
the mind.
 This illusion drives us to suffering.
 Because we will never be satisfied
according to Buddhism.
 Endlessly thinking about this and that...
 Our mind want more (craving).
 Evolutionary biology process.
 Drives us to increase the change of
survival.
 Drawback: suffering.

 Realizing impermanence will transcend

us from suffering.
 Enlightenment, Buddha-nature.

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 Enlightenment cannot be
achieved by studying only.
 Experiencing is the key to
enlightenment.
 Gain experience by practice.
 Meditation is an important
practice.
 Not only sitting meditation.
 Engage “mindfully” in
anything.

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www.menti.com

Surprise Quiz!

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According to a legend:
 He took off he eyelids to
prevent him from falling
asleep during meditation.
 Hyperbole.
 Importance of meditation.

 He threw his eyelids on the

ground.
 His eyelids grew into tea
shrubs.
 Important role of tea in Zen
Buddhism.

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 An umbrella term for practices.
(Skt. dhyana)
 Difficult to define.

 A technique focusing the mind on a

particular object, thought, or
activity.
 To stop your mind form wondering.

 Spiritual aspect:
 To train attention and awareness,
 To achieve a mental clarity and
emotionally calm and stable state.
 Worldly aspect:
 Reducing stress, anxiety, depression,
and pain.
 Increasing peace, perception, self-
concept, and well-being.

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 Painting, calligraphy, poetry,
gardening, flower arrangement,
tea ceremony and others have
also been used as part of Zen /
mindful training and practice.
 Some monks specifically trained
as calligraphers, painter or
gardeners.
 Monks raised it to a new height
by applying the power of
concentration gained in
mediation.
 See through and step beyond
the phenomenal world.
 To communicate / convey their
teachings to the populace.

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 Impermanence and imperfection are
expressed within the aesthetics of
meditation practice.
 Tea-drinking as meditation in Tang
period.
 Calligraphy, painting.
 Floral arrangement.

 The purpose:
 Visual sermon.
 Self-reflection.
 Remind ourselves of the Zen ideal.
 Expressed in everyday life.

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By meditation practice:
 We become the master of our thought.
 Not the slave/ victim of our thought.

 Thought arise from the mind

 not only negative emotions,
 but also positive ones (not happiness but
excitement),
 Should not grasp on both,
 negative could be non-productive, self-
sabotaging.
 positive, over-estimation, false expectation,
leading to devastating results.
 Key point: suffering is just a concept.
 Anger, anxiety, sadness all arise from our
mind.
 And we can control it.

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1. Mahākāśyapa (c. 5th to 4th century BCE)
⁞
28. Bodhidharma (達摩) c. 440 – c. 528 CE (1st Patriarch)
29. Huike (慧可) 487–593 (2nd)
30. Sengcan (僧燦) ?–606 (3rd)
31. Daoxin (道信) 580–651 (4th)
32. Hongren (弘忍) 601–674 (5th)
33. Huineng (惠能) 638–713 or Shenxiu (神秀) 606-707 (6th)

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 Shenxiu (神秀 606-707) sixth Patriarch
(East Mountain School)
 Gradual enlightenment.

 Huineng (慧能 638-713) sixth Patriarch

(Southern School)
 Sudden enlightenment.

 2 stores/ legends.

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 Shenxiu (神秀) as the 6th Patriarch (East Mountain School).
 The head disciple.
 Legitimate transmission from the 5th Patriarch.
 Invited to the Imperial Court by Zhou Empress Wu Zetian (
武則天), who paid him due imperial reverence.
 Transmitter to Korea.
 Suppressed in China during anti-Buddhist campaign.

 The Gradual Enlightenment School.

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 Hongren (弘忍 601–674), the 5th Patriarch would like
to choose a successor.
 Shenxiu (神秀), knowledgeable senior disciple

The body is the bodhi tree.

The mind is like a bright mirror's stand.
At all times we must strive to polish it
and must not let dust collect.
身是菩提樹，心如明鏡臺。時時勤拂拭，勿使惹塵埃。

 Huineng (慧能), illiterate novice,

Bodhi originally has no tree.

The bright mirror also has no stand.
Fundamentally there is not a single thing.
Where could dust arise?
菩提本無樹，明鏡亦非臺。本來無一物，何處惹塵埃。
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 According to the Platform Sutra (六祖壇經):
 Huineng became the 6th Patriarch (Southern School)
 Hongren the 5th Patriarch secretly went to Huineng's room,
telling Huineng is more competent, but someone is going to
harm him. The robe and bowl (succession) were passed to
Huineng at night.
 “Take care of yourself, save as many sentient beings as you
can, and spread the teachings so they will not be lost in
the future.” Huineng escape the monastery.

The Sudden Enlightenment School.

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 Guiyang school (潙仰宗), named after masters Guishan
Lingyou (771–854) and Yangshan Huiji (813–890).
 Linji school (臨濟宗), named after master Linji Yixuan (died
866), whose lineage came to be traced to Mazu, establishing
him as the archetypal iconoclastic Chan-master. (Jp Rinzai)
 Caodong school (曹洞宗), named after masters Dongshan
Liangjie (807–869) and Caoshan Benji (840–901). (Jp Sōto)
 Yunmen school (雲門宗), named after master Yunmen
Wenyan (died 949), a student of Xuefeng Yicun (822–908),
whose lineage was traced to Shitou Xiqian.
 Fayan school (法眼宗), named after master Fayan Wenyi
(885–958), a "grand-student" of Xuefeng Yicun.

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 Daoxin, Hongren, Shenxiu, and Huineng
all lived during the early Tang Dynasty.
 The later period of the Tang Dynasty is
traditionally regarded as the “golden age”
of Chinese Zen.
 Royal support, favored by the imperial
court and ruling classes.
 Zen was a major religion among people.

 Heyday of Chinese culture, art, music,

architecture, literature were transmitted
to outer countries.
 Zen became predominated during Tang
and Sung period.
 Tang and Sung culture / aesthetics were
integrated and transmitted to Korea and
Japan together with Zen.

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 Indian Zen
Taoism Confucianism Local Culture
Buddhism (Chan)Buddhism

 Adaptation to Chinese culture and understanding.

 Under the influence of Taoism:
 Blended meditational techniques with Taoism.
 Taoist concept of naturalness with Buddha-nature.
 Taoist harmony with the nature.

 Under the influence of Confucianism:

 Moral ethics.
 Karma.

 Local cultures.

 Local folk belief.

 Resulting in a unique form of Buddhism with aesthetic values influenced by Chinese
culture and thoughts.

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• As Buddhism disseminates, it adapts to the needs and
understanding of local cultures.
• Easy to be accepted by locals.
55
 Taoist and Confucian teachings are
deep-rooted in Chinese culture.
 3-way “Interaction” Influencing
each other.
 Syncretism.

Buddhism

Confucianism Taoism

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 Guifeng Zongmi (圭峰 宗密, 780–841) was a
Tang dynasty Buddhist scholar and monk.
 Brought up in a Confucius background.
 A significant figure in Tang dynasty.
 Impact on the interpretation of Zen in China,
Korea and Japan.
 His work provided a dialogue between the
three religions of China: Confucianism,
Taoism and Buddhism.
 Important work: Origin of Humanity (原人論).
 He created a syncretic framework where
Confucian moral principles could be
integrated within the Buddhist teachings.

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 Zongmi's early training in
Confucianism never left him.
 He created a syncretic
framework where Confucian
moral principles could be
integrated within the Buddhist
teachings.
 Buddhist teaching of karma to
validate Confucian moral values.
 Confucius, Lao-tze and the
Buddha should be regarded as
equally enlightened.
 The Taoist and Confucian
integration made Zen valuable to
every people.

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 Naturalness, wu-wei (無爲), the nature
of the universe works harmoniously
according to its own ways.
 Ziran (自然) “self-such”, “self
organization”. The "primordial state" of
all things as well as a basic character of
the Tao. To attain naturalness, one has
to identify with the Tao, which involves
freeing oneself from selfishness and
desire, and appreciating simplicity.
 Spontaneity, unpretentious rather
than make-up.
 Distrust of scripture and text (rules,
concepts).
 Emphasis on embracing "this life" and
living in the "every-moment".

59
 Culture of the elite (Gentry class, cultured and
literate person, 文人 wenren, bunjin).
 Elite who held privileged status through passing
the Imperial exams.
 From Tang to Qing Dynasties.
 Tang, Sung cultures transmitted to Japan.

 Aesthetic, moral, and intellectual pursuits of

various things:
 Considered as elegant:
 Tea and its implements,
 Paintings and calligraphy (collection and practice),
 Poetry, (Li Bai, Bai Juyi, Wang Wei, Li Shangyin)
 Prized objects (both natural and man-made),
 Stones, penjing (bonsai), pottery.
 Garden design and architecture,
 Theater.

 Integrating philosophical ideals (Buddhist, Taoist,

Confucian).
 Not “professionals” but “amateurs”.
 Express personal feeling than skill.
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 A popular drink.
 Especially after The Classic of Tea was
written in the eighth century. (茶經
chajing)
 First known monograph on tea in the
world.
 By Chinese writer Lu Yu (陸羽) between
760 CE and 762 CE, during the Tang
dynasty.
 The treatise describes the mythological
origins and history of tea, aesthetics,
methods and tools used for cultivating,
preparing, and drinking tea, plus tea-
related poems, customs, recipes, and
more.

61
 Since the Ming dynasty.
 Lack of creative masters.
 Moral decadence and worldliness
with monastic.
 Sale of monastic certification and
titles.
 Neo-Confucian philosophy, critical
stance.
 Pure Land Buddhism (popular
religion; Zen, elite).
 The persecution of Buddhism in
China in the mid-9th century CE
led to the downfall.
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 Moral, ethical, and metaphysical
philosophy influenced by Confucianism.
(宋明理學)
 Originated in the Tang dynasty by Han
Yu (韓愈 768 – 824) and Li Ao (李翺 772–
841).
 Prominent during the Sung and Ming
dynasties under the formulations of Zhu
Xi (朱熹1130-1200).
 Rationalist ethical philosophy.
 Supported by the Imperial Court.

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 The rationalism of neo-Confucianism is in contrast to the
mysticism of Zen Buddhism.
 Humanistic and rationalistic, the universe could be
understood through human reasoning.
 Neo-Confucians believed that reality existed, and could be
understood by humankind.
 Zen insisted on the unreality of things, Neo-Confucianism
stressed their reality.
 Zen relied on meditation and insight to achieve supreme
reason; the Neo-Confucians chose to follow logical
reasoning and studying.

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 Zen Buddhism survived but it was never the same again in
Tang and Sung dynasties.
 Zen remained as the largest Buddhist school nowadays.
 Pure Land and Zen practice are often seen as being
mutually compatible, and no strong distinctions are made.
 Historically, many Buddhist teachers in China have also
taught both Zen and Pure Land together.
 In Hong Kong, the two teachings seem to be integrated.

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 Feb 8.
 Zen Buddhism arrived
Japan.
 Adapted to local culture
again.
 Japanese Zen Buddhism.
 Influencing Japanese
aesthetics.

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