buddhism final

kōan (gongan)

• Kōan literally translates to “public case,” record, log, etc. (precedent)

• Enigmatic or shocking verbal encounters (dialogues, anecdotes) between masters and students, embodies enlightenment experience

• tools to catalyze enlightenment and as actual expressions of enlightenment

• Pithy, epigrammatic, elusive utterances that seem to have a psychotherapeutic effect

• Contained in literary compendia for scrutiny and practice

zazen (zuochan)

• SITTING MEDITATION

• For Dōgen, zazen and Buddha Nature are fundamentally identicaL

• Zazen is not “gradual practice”: no causal connection between practice and enlightenment (practice and enlightenment are identical)

• In true sitting, body and mind are cast off — this is enlightenment itself

• Enlightenment does not constitute the end of the path, practice must be continued because practice is enlightenment

shikantaza

“just sitting” - to Dōgen, this is the quintessence of the Buddhist path

Buddha Nature (tathāgata-garbha)

Everything possesses the True/Buddha Nature: enlightenment is knowing that EVERYONE is enlightened/Buddhas

Shōbōgenzō

“Treasury of the True Dharma Eye”

• written by Master Dōgen

• Harkens back to legendary mythical episode when the Buddha raises the flower (non verbal, symbolic communication for mind-to-mind transmission)

bodhisattva

a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood + helps others attain

Linji/Rinzai school

• “Kill the Buddha”

• Taught by abrupt, harsh encounters with students to induce enlightenment

• most successful Chan school

• Buddha’s and patriarchs are dung heap coolies, the dharma is poopy

  • “The twelve divisions of the sacred teachings are only lists of ghosts, sheets of paper fit only for wiping the pus from your boils.”

Caodong/Sōtō School

• founded by Dongshan and Caoshan

• In the Song Dynasty (960-1279), Caodong School associated with Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091-1157)

  • Hongzhi known for “Silent Illumination” (mozhao) meditation teaching

satori

• Satori refers to a “deep” enlightenment, though it is transitory

• The state in which mind and body have been “cast off” is the enlightened state (ie, in which ego has disappeared from consciousness)

• Uninhibited, luminous consciousness

kenshō

refers to a brief glimpse of enlightenment, at any time (transitory)

“Southern School” & “Northern School”

• in public debates, Shenhui in attacks against what he called the “Northern School” of Shenxui- a term coined by Shenhui

• drew on an older Chinese distinction between sudden and gradual enlightenment, treating the latter as distinctly inferior approach to enlightenment

• The terms “sudden” and “gradual” (as well as “Southern” and “Northern”) were strictly polemical- no Chinese school ever claimed to be gradual (or Northern)

• such terms were only used to disparage others

“Sudden Enlightenment”

• instantaneous, non-intentional enlightenment

• insight into ultimate reality/truth

• counter to gradual practice, in which enlightenment was attained through a slow training process

“Gradual Enlightenment”

• slow, self cultivation leads to enlightenment

• disliked by Chan tradition

• Later Chan texts observed what McRae calls an unspoken “rule of rhetorical purity”/ taboo (don’t out yourself as a gradual enthusiast)

• Later texts avoid any direct discussion of specific mediation practices, since any method was by definition gradual

• “practice” and meditation considered gradual and therefore not mentioned in later texts

mind-to-mind transmission

• referenced in Flower Sermon (c. 11th century) and adopted as common view

  • Buddha (while lecturing), is silent and simply raises a flower, one monk understands: smiles and laughs, Buddha announces laughing monk is only one who understood his dharma, he transmits to him his enlightened experience (outside of scriptures) “mind-to-mind” and that he would inherit his essence

• Goes for 28 generations in India: uniquely qualified to bring the essence of the Buddhist enlightened experience (the beating heart)

• story of Zen, patriarchs/ancestors use mind to mind transmission

Tendai School

• Saichō (767-822) founds Tendai Buddhism (continues Chinese Tiantai School)

• Many Zen and Esoteric influences

• Emphasizes the doctrine of “Original Enlightenment” (hongaku)

• Dōgen studied at Mt. Hiei, seat of (powerful) Tendai School

• Higher up monks at monastery = very political, some even gov’t advisors

  • Presitgious religious insitution, son of elites would go there for political and economic power and connections

• Tendai monks do not like seated meditation/zazen and chase out Dōgen

hongaku theory

“Original enlightenment”: everyone is enlightened from the beginning (true nature)

• discover/recognize your true enlightenment rather than achieving it

Patriarch/Ancestor

Chan School Patriarchs (from Sākyamuni)

• Chinese concerned with ancestors (partriarchs), filial piety, etc

• Patriarchy is unique in Buddhism because the monks are celibate

• 28th monk: Bodhidharma (5th - 6th century)- FOUNDER OF CHAN, first patriach

• Legendary or Proto-Chan (c. 500-600)

  Six Patriarchs (Bodhidharma, et al.) (6th-8th cent)

Mahāyāna

“The Greater Vehicle” (Second Dharma Wheel)

• Originated in India between 150 BCE and 100 CE

• Doctrine of “emptiness” (no intrinsic existence/reality)

• Called “greater” (than original Buddhism) because:

  • Lead to goal of Buddhahood (not just nirvāna), bodhisattva

  • Cultivate compassion, help others attain Buddhahood

  • Requires profound insight (nature of reality, no self, suffering, impermanence)

  • Everything is empty of intrinsic existence: nothing exists eternally or without a cause (on its own, inherently)

• Did not reject older teachings, considered them preliminary, provisional → not necessarily TRUE, but pragmatic and useful in certain contexts

• BUDDHA NATURE contribution

ordinary Mind

MASTER MAZU: ORDINARY MIND IS THE WAY

• “No activity, no right or wrong, no grasping, no rejecting, neither terminable nor permanent, without worldly or holy”

• “The Buddha is not far away from each person, and he is to be realized within the mind. Truth is without any attachment, and all external objects are suchness. How could there be any forks in the path to enlightenment for students to get bogged down?”

• ordinary deluded mind is not inherently different from the Awakened Mind

  • A person’s impure mind is still pure beneath the afflictions (not 2 minds, but 2 aspects of the same mind)

  • Deluded persons think there are two minds

saṃsāra

cyclical existence, cycle of rebirth and death

mu/wu

When Chan followers apprehend Buddha Nature, they experience momentary awakening called wu or satori

Eihei-ji Temple

• 1243: Dōgen retires to mountains in northern prefecture of Echizen and founds Eihei-ji temple, center of the Sōto School to this day

  • Most important training center

• zazen, forest, nature, beautiful

Emptiness (śūnyatā)

everything is empty of inherent existence

Perfection of Wisdom (prajñāpāramitā)

EMPTINESS

• Verse: chanted, memorized oral texts

• 8000 verse Perf of Wis Sutra (c. 100 BCE - 100 CE)

• 100,000 verse Perf of Wis Sutra (c. 100-300 CE)

• Much praise for the texts themselves (worship without necessary understanding, texts have magical properties)

• Extensive use of negative/apoplectic language → doesn’t tell them what ___ is, but instead what ___ is not

• Refrains from philosophical language (no analysis)

• Makes assertions from perspective of Awakened mind (the Buddha)

Mind Only

• Fundamental teaching of the (Yogacara) MIND-ONLY SCHOOL: our mind creates the world around us

• Sense experience = only projections of mind (idealism)

huatou

• “critical phrase” of a kōan investigated in kanhua practice

• usually done in conjunction with sitting meditation (zuochan, zazen)

kanhua

• practice of investigating the kōan or its “critical phrase” (huatou)

• Dahui advocated practice of “contemplating sayings” (kanhua) – leads to direct, immediate experience of awakening

wuwei

• beinglessness, do nothing, non action, non INTENTIONAL action

• from Daoism

Dao

• determines all things and flows as “energy” (de) of universe

• not a creator god — has no will (impersonal absolute)

• to experience the Dao one must “let go” and “do nothing” (wuwei)

• beyond words; only experienced in silence

• “Do nothing, And nothing will remain undone.”

  • Do everything you would normally do, but minimize your ego involvement

Platform Sūtra

• Platform Sutra considered to be the teaching of Huineng (not the Buddha!) who delivered the sermon from a “precept platform”

  • Huineng is an illiterate woodcutter, delivered this sermon rather than write

• Only Chinese text considered a “sutra” to not be spoken by a buddha

• Likely dates to about 780, nearly a century after the events it purports to describe

• Origins = obscure, some scholars believe Shenhui to have composed it others assert it was created by the Ox-Head School

• “No Mind”, “No Thought”

ox-herding pictures

10 pictures framed in circles illustrating a journey towards enlightenment through the parable of finding a bull

1. Seeking the Ox

2. Finding the Tracks (finding the dharma)

3. Catching Sight of the Ox (experience of kenshō- fleeting glimpse of enlightenment)

4. Seizing the Ox

5. Taming the Ox

6. Riding the Ox Home

7. Ox forgotten, Person Remaining

8. Person and the Ox Both Forgotten

9. Returning to the Source

10. Entering the Marketplace with Arms Hanging Loose

sanzen/dokusan

Hakuin’s system of assigning kōans and testing students in interviews

• Believed kōan practice was most effective way to attain enlightenment

• Kōans give rise to “great doubt” that leads to Awakening

Silent Illumination (mozhao)

HONGZHI

• Traditional meditation focuses on objects like images, sounds, breath, concepts, stories, deities, etc.

• Silent Illumination withdraws focus from particular objects to apprehension of unified reality free from dualistic grasping that leads to alienation

• Ultimate goal of spiritual practice not separate from one's own being and immediate moment-to-moment awareness

  • Has no goal or aim

• Foundation is relaxation of body and mind through mindfulness of breath

• One’s awareness pervades entire body until one begins to feel body dissolve

• Even though the body disappears, external environment is still present

• Mind’s awareness → expansive (everything is mind, Mind is luminous and knowing)

• Hongzhi: “Silently and serenely, all words are forgotten. In clarity and luminosity, all things appear exactly as they are.”

uncarved block (pu)

• “nature; essence; intrinsic quality” “simple; plain; unadorned; unaffected” **negative language

  • Daoism: “Know honor, Yet keep humility. Be the valley of the universe! Being the valley of the universe, Ever true and resourceful, return to the state of the uncarved block.”

“Dharma Combat” (encounter dialogue)

aggressive/intense exchange between masters and students to challenge thought/doctrine and stimulate enlightenment

Bodhi Tree

tree under which Buddha was enlightened

no-mind (wuxin)

mental state of being open, free from attachment, and not preoccupied by thought or emotion

wall gazing (biguan)

Bodhidharma, Entrance of Principle: If one discards the false and takes refuge in the True, one rests in “wall contemplation,” (greater metaphor) in which self and other, ordinary person and sage, are one in the same

• Bodhidharma lived in cave for 9 years “wall-gazing” (bìguān), sitting meditating staring at the wall, never got up

• “Do nothing”: his meditation practice became sitting facing a wall

dhyāna

• Contemplative practices and bodily discipline

• Concentrations (trance, ascending dhyānas) and Insight Meditation

  • dhyāna (meditation, concentration) is the Sanskrit word for Chan

• Bodily postures (yoga)

• Breathing exercises

• Ascetic, monastic lifestyle

Dōgen

• Lost parents by age of 7 (lesson in impermanence)

• Dissatisfied with Tendai School, goes to Rinzai School(Eisai’s temple), goes to Caodong School, returns to study with Rujing, master of zazen

• Experienced "great enlightenment" under guidance of Rujing (struck student next to him shouted "cast of mind and body")

• Introduced Sōtō in Japan

• Authored Shōbōgenzō

• Teaches oneness of practice and enlightenment

  • Emphasized zazen and shikantaza

• Everyday activities are expression of buddha nature/ordinary mind

• Founded Kosho-ji to teach strict Zen practice, also founded Eihei-ji temple

Eisai

• Tendai monk, traveled to China, receiving teachings on Zen

• Founder of the Rinzai School and Kennin-Ji temple after studying in China

• Studied with Dōgen and Myōzen for 9 years

• Promoted Zen practices along with tea ceremony, integrating Zen principles into Japanese culture and daily life

Bodhidharma

• 1st patriarch/founder of Zen/Chan (though he’s Indian)

• Came from India to China in 5th/6th century

• Wall gazed for 9 years

• Attributed to Treatise on the 2 Entrances and 4 Practices

• Semi-legendary figure

• Credited with introducing the principles of Zen

• Teachings emphasize direct transmission of insight beyond scriptures, forming the basis of Chan/Zen's distinctive approach

Hakuin

• Reshaped Rinzai with an emphasis on deep koan practice and daily life activities for enlightenment

• Critic of silent illumination, obsessed with hell, created "Sound of One Hand" koan, taught ethics to common/rural people, artist that broke the rules of traditional zen art

• Reformed and systematized kōan practice in Rinzai Zen

• Developed system of assigning kōans and testing students in interviews (dokusan/sanzen)

• Believed kōan practice was most effective way to attain insight

• Dynamic teaching style, artwork, calligraphy

• Used art, poetry, and humor as teaching tool

Huineng

• 6th patriarch

• Wrote poem about sudden enlightenment (directly in response to Shenxiu, monk’s furious he was chosen as successor, chased out)

• Came from south, was an illiterate laborer/woodcutter

• Teachings on intrinsic Buddha Nature of all beings

• Credited with Platform Sutra (even though not a buddha); concepts of direct mind-to-mind transmission and non-duality of nature

  • Written 100 years after his death

• Had awakening experience hearing a man reciting Diamond Sutra

• Set out to study under Hongren

• Body mummified by disciples

• Evidence suggests he was relatively unknown during his lifetime

• 2 main disciples were Shitou and Mazu

Shenhui

• Fervently promoted Huineng's teachings, discredit Shenxiu as 6th successor, said Huineng was real 6th patriarch

• Speculated that he did this to be able to become the 7th patriarch, he didn’t become a patriarch, he’s kind of been written out of history

• Criticized northern school, gradual enlightenment inferior

• Drew line between northern and southern schools, propaganda

• Started a tradition of painting the first 6 Zen patriarchs

Śākyamuni

• The historical Buddha (Siddartha Gautama)

• "Awakened One"; Buddha

• Was a real historical figure; religious influence

• Gave flower sermon (c. 11th century); held up flower in silence

Mahākāśyapa

• Buddha passed him the robe and bowl

• First in the Indian lineage from Sakyamuni

Hongren

• 5th patriarch

• Exclusively taught meditation and cultivating the mind

• Passed patriarch duties to Huineng (despite initial judgement of him being from the south “barbarian”) instead of Shenxiu

• Assigned poetry to choose successor

• Known for teachings that emphasized the inherent Buddha nature in all sentient beings

• Treatise on the essentials for cultivating the mind compiled by his students and taught by them when they left the school

• Metaphor of Buddha nature as sun covered by clouds (5 aggregates)

Linji

• Abrupt, harsh teaching with students to bring instant enlightenment (shouting and hitting)

• Founder of Linji school, became most successful chan school

• Huangbo's student

• Said "kill the Buddha!"

• Teachings emphasized sudden awakening and direct encounter with one's true nature, influencing later Chan and Zen practice

• "The miracle is not to walk on water but to walk on the Earth"

Mazu

• Nanquan’s master

• Known for hitting, shouting, and twisting student's noses- tried to shock disciples into enlightenment (shock therapy) + fearsome appearance

• Established Hongzhou school, which became the first empire-wide chan tradition

• Meditation should be completely abandoned

• Sudden enlightenment, no cultivation

• “Ordinary mind is the way,” do not withdraw from normal life, live spontaneously

• attained enlightenment when his master, Huairang, said can't make a mirror by polishing a brick/can't make a buddha by meditating

• 2 main students were Nanquan and Baizhang

• Teachings deeply influenced Linji/Rinzai school

• “Mind is buddha” he is to be realized within the mind, no external buddha

• A person’s impure mind is still pure beneath the afflictions

• 2 aspects 1 mind

• Deluded persons think there are two minds, awakened persons know they are the same

Dahui

• Biggest critic of silent illumination, believed Linji teachings were better, advocated for Kanhua leading to direct awakening

• Critic of Hongzhi, became his successor

• Leader of Linji school

• Advocated practice of "contemplative sayings," leading to direct, immediate experience of awakening

• Pioneered use of huatou as meditation tool, shaping Linji/Rinzai practice

Hongzhi

• Silent Illumination (form of meditation and a spiritual perspective)

• Formed an non-dual objectless meditation rather than yogic postures or ritual - Monk for 11 years and studied with dead wood (kumu)

• Known for subtle teachings and generosity - Invited his biggest critic (Dahui) to be his successor

• Echo/synthesize the teachings of Caodong school: numerous references to Dongshan & Shitou

• Heavily-influenced by Shitou and the Caodong School

Shitou

• retired to a hermit's life on the mountain top for meditation, composed of famous poems, “the song of the Grass Roof Hut”

• Chan Patriarch, allegedly Huineng’s student who Studied with Huineng’s disciple Jingyuan

• Mt. Heng Southern Peak was a revered pilgrimage spot. Shitou (“Stone Head”) possibly got his name from living here

Shenxiu

• Main figure of the “Northern School”

• Believed in gradual enlightenment; Emphasized ethical conduct, scripture study, and disciplined meditation, making his school more structured and accessible

• Had a poetry contest against Huineng but lost (to determine 6th patriarch)

Huangbo

• “One Mind” - Student of Baizhang 

• Influenced by doctrine of “mind-only”

• All buddha/beings are nothing but ONE mind, besides which nothing exists

Zhaozhou

• Student of Nanquan

• Alleged to have lived 120 years

• Favored verbal debate over striking his students (says crazy things that made no sense on the surface

• Known for asceticism (severe self-discipline and avoidance of all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons)

• Was student who “would have saved” Nanquan’s cat**

Rujing

• teacher of Dogen; Chan master of the Caodong (Sōtō) school in Song Dynasty China

• Emphasized zazen as complete practice-enlightenment—not a means to an end, but awakening itself.

• Famously told Dōgen during zazen: "Cast off body and mind!" (shinjin datsuraku) This became a turning point in Dōgen's awakening and a core phrase in his teachings.

Dongshan

• one of the 2 founders of the Caodong school, contemporary of Linji,  also studied with Nanquan, concerned with the Buddha nature of inanimate objects 

• Early Linji & Caodong

Ikkyū

• Practiced non-mainstream Zen

• Renounced all wealth and comforts

• Trouble maker 

• Said love and sex is part of enlightenment

Huike

• The 2nd Patriarch of Chan Buddhism and the direct disciple of Bodhidharma

• Received Dharma transmission directly from Bodhidharma

• Mind is already Buddha; nothing to attain 

• direct, mind-to-mind transmission beyond words

• Cut off his own arm

Sengcan

• 3rd Patriarch of chan buddhism

• Credited as the author of the “Xinxin Ming” (Faith in Mind): Attaining the Way is not difficult, Just avoid picking and choosing. If you have neither aversion nor desire, You’ll thoroughly understand. Faith and mind are undivided, Non-duality is both faith and mind. The way of words is cut off, Leaving no past, no future, no present.

Nanquan

• Nanquan kills the cat

• Nanquans teacher is Mazu

• Was known for using shocking actions or statements to cut through dualistic thinking and verbal attachment

Laozi

• “The Old Master”- Founder of Daoism (legendary/mythical figure)

• Teachings become the Daodejing (foundational text of Daoism)

• Advocated for spontaneity and return to nature/natural human state

Zhuangzi

• Had the butterfly dream

• 2nd great Daoist text is Zhuangzi, attributed to and named after a sage

• Lively parables and paradoxes, explores mysterious Dao in everyday ordinary human life → characters are everyday people, not sages

• “Sit quietly and do nothing” - technique: sit and be silent (in mind and body)

Emperor Wu (Liang Wudi)

Bodhidharma is invited to the palance by Emperor Wu, EW asks BD about Buddhist history and morality/karma. BD answers no/nothing to every question, frustrates the emperor. The Emperor asks who BD thinks he is, he replies “I have no idea.” Illustrates the illusion of knowledge and the falseness of language, reflecting the ultimate emptiness of reality.