The Practice of Zen

·期刊原文
The Practice of Zen
Reviewed by Paul Wienpahl
Philosophy East & West
V. 12 No. 4 (1963)
pp. 343-356
Copyright 1963 by University of Hawaii Press

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p.343

Robert Powell, Zen and Reality. New York: Taplinger Publishing Co., Inc., 1962. Pp. 140.

Bernard Phillips, ed., with Introduction, The Essentials of Zen Buddhism: Selected from the Writings of D. T. Suzuki. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1962. Pp. 491.

Chisan Koho, Soto Zen. Yokohama: Soji-ji Temple, 1960. Pp. 105 + Appendix.

Trevor Leggett, comp. and trans. A First Zen Reader. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1960. Pp. 236.

Ruth Fuller Sasaki. Zen, a Religion. New York: The First Zen Institute of America, Inc., 1958. Pp. 21.

Robert Linssen, Living Zen. D. Abrahams-Curiel, trans. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1956. Pp. 344.

Nyogen Senzaki and Ruth Stout McCandless. Buddhism and Zen. New York: Philosophical Library, 1953. Pp. 85.

H. Dumoulin, S. J., The Development of Chinese Zen. Translated from the German with Additional Notes and Appendices by Ruth Fuller Sasaki. New York: The First Zen Institute of America, Inc., 1953. Pp. 132.

D. T. Suzuki, Essais sur le Bouddhisme Zen, premiere serie, deuxieme serie, troisieme serie. Translated from the Japanese under the direction of Jean Herbert. Paris: Editions Albin Michel, 1954, 1954, 1957.

Westerners who have studied Zen Buddhism in a temple instead of a library find themselves dissatisfied with most of what is said about Zen in the Occident. They see that Zen in the West has been a largely literary event. It is time, therefore, to enter a new phase of understanding of Zen Buddhism. This is necessary whether this form of Buddhism is to have a chance of being transplanted to the West or we are simply to have a clear picture of something concerning which our curiosity has been aroused. We have the word. We should now be more concerned about the thing.

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The remarks in this composite review are, accordingly, centered around a single proposition which provides the main basis for evaluating the books under consideration. The importance of this proposition for beginners, which all Westerners are, in the study of Zen Buddhism cannot be over-estimated. It is: at the heart of Zen Buddhism is a practice which the Japanese call zazen. This is a form of "meditation" in which the practitioner sits cross-legged concentrating. It is a practice in which the body and the mind are inseparably involved. This will hereafter be referred to mainly as sitting or as zazen (of which the word "meditation" is a misleading translation).

These facts are being ignored in the interpretation of Zen Buddhism to the West. We remain either unaware or only vaguely aware that Zen Buddhism is "meditation" (sitting) Buddhism. This has led to uses of the word "Zen" in which it has virtually no significance and to claims that Zen is ineffable, paradoxical, and beyond understanding. It is no more ineffable than swimming, though its practice is infinitely more difficult and requires far more diligence. Quiet sitting and its extension to quiet, concentrated living take more effort than most of us can muster.

Sitting Buddhism: This phrase suggests quietism and retreat from life. At times, therefore, Zen Buddhists have emphasized satori (enlightenment) in order to correct this suggestion. One can, therefore, as a corollary principle of judgment, evaluate a book about Zen Buddhism by the amount of attention paid in it to satori. If that word occurs frequently and with a capital S, the chances are that the book is highly misleading.

Zen and Reality is based on a series of lectures given before the Buddhist Society in London. Its subtitle, "An Approach to Sanity and Happiness on a non-Sectarian Basis," reveals that it is misnamed. Zen and Reality is a melange of Krishnamurti, "Zen" sayings, Buddhism, Christianity, and "psychology" for those interested in self-help. It may provide solace or inspiration, but its title must have been designed to market it. Its message is, "Awake and be happy," but it contains no hint of how this might be accomplished. The book is part of the do-it-yourself movement which might be called Operation Bootstrap.

At the outset we are told that, according to Krishnamurti, "all psychological suffering begins and ends in and through the mind.... Therefore liberation from suffering can only be achieved by ending the ceaseless activity of the mind" (p. 11). "This happens--not by discipline, not by repression, not by choice--but spontaneously once the mind has understood the nature of its own activities . . . suddenly and without any forewarning or intimation" (p. 12).

Where else would "psychological" suffering occur except in the mind? Yet, this is paraded as a discovery equaling in importance the theory of

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relativity. The subtle mistake contained herein is repeated throughout the book. It is exemplified by the report on page 23, and common in books about Zen, of the manner in which so-and-so attained enlightenment. His rake, say, struck a tile and wham! These reports, with one or two exceptions in D. T. Suzuki, invariably neglect to mention that so-and-so had been practicing zazen for years and continued to do so after his awakening. Mr. Powell's head, in other words, is in the clouds, and his remarks are like a statue without a base. He leaves his reader with naught but high-sounding words. The significance of the legend of Bodhidharma's sitting for nine years before he established Zen Buddhism in China is lost.

The last chapter of Zen and Reality is appropriately entitled "There is Nothing in It." This is the only resemblance between the contents of the book and Zen Buddhism. On the other hand, Powell has assembled an interesting array of quotations which show common traits in the Bhagavad Giitaa, the Bible, and some Zen literature.

Mr. Phillips opens his Introduction to The Essentials of Zen Buddhism by remarking that never have so many been so interested in anything as little understood as Zen Buddhism. Zen, he says, tantalizes us by its inscrutability. Phillips' Introduction has many good qualities, but this sort of remark approaches nonsense. A major reason for the supposed inscrutability of Zen Buddhism is that it is a practice, and not a philosophy which can be understood. This aspect of the matter strikes any beginner who goes to Japan to study Zen, and it is what should be understood first. Whatever may come later is something else, but it will not be appreciated before the practice is undertaken.

On page xviii a practice is mentioned and Zen is referred to as an "ultimate therapy," yet zazen is not discussed. Instead, there are misleading references to your True Self and to the fact that each person's truth is different--both of these overlook the egolessness for which the Buddhist strives and the fact that the practice is universal. On page xix Phillips says that you cannot realize your true self by the intellect, and writes sensibly on the failure of the intellect to bring us into contact with reality (though he calls it "your reality"). However, by page xxvii there is still no reference to zazen, or to any means other than the intellect; and, indeed, one passes to the end of the Introduction without in any way being illuminated in this regard.

Phillips says some other things to which attention should be called. On page xxiii he misleads us with the claim that Zen formulates no system of ethics. Actually, a Zen Buddhist lives by a strict ethical code quite like the Christian and finds that his zazen provides the basis for this code. Possibly Phillips slips here because of our own aversion to the authority and lack of

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creativity in Christianity. On page xxviii it is correctly pointed out that, if Zen is nor conformity, it is not non-conformity, either. Life does require discipline.

There is a fine discussion of creative morality (pp. xxviii-xxix) and the transcendence of rules, which can bring Out, though Phillips does not, a resemblance between Zen Buddhism and pragmatism. The good is unique, claimed Dewey, and moral rules are only guides to conduct, not its arbiter. Later (pp. xxxi-xxxv) there are some penetrating remarks on the failure of Western religions because of their emphasis on duality (God and the Devil, form and freedom, faith and reason).

Phillips finally warns that his anthology is only a book about Zen and not Zen itself. This is excellent, but where does it leave the reader? For the author then writes of a year in Japan, of having his eyes opened to Zen, and of access to Suzuki's library, but he nowhere mentions the Zendo (Meditation Hall) at Engaku-ji, the temple where Suzuki lives.

Looking through the anthology, one finds a single chapter (Part IV, Chapter l), devoted to the practice of Zen--36 pages out of 490--and even there zazen is only mentioned. According to the Index, the word occurs but twice in the book; "meditation" has five references, but meditation is never thoroughly discussed. Satori, on the other hand, is mentioned six times in the Index and discussed four times at length.

The book includes two hundred pages from the Essays in Zen Buddhism, almost seventy pages from Zen and Japanese Culture. Only one hundred and three pages come from sources which the average reader might not consult. Furthermore, The Training of the Zen Buddhist Monk, regarded by some as Suzuki's best book, is not quoted at all. Finally, most of the works included were written in the early thirties. Later ones, such as Living by Zen, are not used, and the reader gets little idea of the development in Suzuki's interpretation of Zen (his views on the use of the koan, for example, underwent a change) .

Thus, the book is essentially an anthology to introduce readers to Zen Buddhism. It is well worked-out and more complete than the anthology in Anchor Books.[1] However, one still wonders at the need for it, especially since so much of Suzuki has been reissued by Rider and Company.[2]

Soto Zen. Because of the influence of Suzuki there are still many Westerners interested in Zen Buddhism who are unaware that there is more than one sect of this form of Buddhism. Chisan Koho, in a foreword, distinguishes two

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1. W. Barrett, ed., Zen Buddhism. Anchor Books A90 (New York: Doubleday and Co., Inc., 1956).

2. Christmas Humphreys, ed., The Complete Works of D. T. Suzuki (London: Rider and Co., 1947).

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of these sects, the Rinzai and the Soto, and defines Zen Buddhism largely in terms of zazen. Soto Zen is for the people, continues Koho, Rinzai for the `elite. Both sects employ zazen, but the Rinzai stresses also a rigorous use of the koan for achieving penetration and concentration in the exercise.

The distinction between the two sects stems from a teaching of Dogen, a great thirteenth-century master, according to which zazen is enlightenment and not in part a means to it. Thus, anyone who simply does zazen is regarded as enlightened. This has had the effect of making the goal easier and thus rendering Zen possible for more people. Chisan Koho does not say that reward is proportional to effort and consequently that the rigor demanded by the Rinzai sect should result in greater attainment. But, then, Soto, Zen is for the average person, and one cannot but admire the Soto seer for making Zen available to more than an `elite few.

The author next distinguishes between Eastern and Western culture as being, respectively, religiously and scientifically oriented. Each culture, then, has something for the other.

There follows a good, short discussion of Buddhism. The reality of change and the goal of selflessness are stressed. Buddhism is shown not to be antithetical to science, with the implication that it is the religion of the future. The discussion ends on the point that the Zen Buddhist accepts the principles of Mahaayaana Buddhism but insists that they be experienced concretely as well as conceptually (p. 19).

From the principles of Buddhism the author turns to a short history, showing that Zen developed out of a variation of the practice of zazen which occurred early in India. The value of this little history lessens toward its end where there occurs a mere recitation of names, but it is important that the story is centered about zazen.

On page 57 the principles of Soto Zen are listed. Mainly, these are: to lead a simple life, to perform zazen, and to help others. Then Dogen is discussed. He combated sectarianism and emphasized zazen, saying that it is enlightenment (to combat intellectualism) and that "attainment of the way can only be achieved with one's body" (p. 63). (Pages 64-65 are also worth looking at.)

Chapter 7 further discusses Dogen's principle that zazen is enlightenment. It might be pointed out that awareness of the principle can be of immense help in zazen and that Zen Buddhists, whether Rinzai or Soto, are deeply impressed with Dogen's profundity in this and in other respects.

In Chapter 8 Christianity and Zen are contrasted, in large part by contrasting prayer and zazen. "Zazen is the basic expression of a religion which emphasizes practice" (p. 81).

Chisan Koho closes, as one might expect, by recommending Soto Zen as

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the religion of the future. This spirit of sectarianism vitiates an otherwise promising book for interpreting Zen to the West. The book's value is further decreased by a lengthy appendix in which the author repeats what has already been said in an almost frantic effort to recommend Soto Zen over Rinzai. Suzuki is enviously criticized for emphasizing Rinzai, though certainly the point should be made to Westerners that Suzuki has emphasized only one aspect of Zen Buddhism.

How can a Zen Buddhist be sectarian? It may help in getting Zen Buddhism down to earth to notice that even Zen masters are people.

A First Zen Reader. Leggett's brief introduction is good. It is simple and stresses the practice on which Zen Buddhism is based. One senses immediately that the author has been closer to Zen than Powell or Phillips. There is less theorizing in his remarks, and, for example, he brings out the fact that the Japanese word for mind is close in meaning to the English word for heart. This helps one to realize the extent to which zazen is a physical activity and its outcome physical as well as mental. The Rinzai student, when given a Koan, may be told to "solve" it with his guts.

The book, except for a brief final chapter, consists of writings by Zen roshis (masters). For this reason alone it would be of value. It is of particular value because two of these writings, the "backbone" of the book, are by modern roshis and are for laymen, not Zen students. The book is in this respect almost unique in the literature "about" Zen in English. An important exception is Soen Shaku's Sermons of a Buddhist Abbot, Open Court, 1906, now long out of print.

The first selection, The Original Face, by Daito Kokushi (fourteenth century) is short and to the point. It starts: "All students should devote themselves in the beginning to zazen" (p. 21). It continues by saying that wiping the mind clean, getting rid of thoughts, is part of zazen. And it indicates that zazen, as just being quiet, can pervade all one's activities.

The second selection is by Roshi (Master) Takashina Rosen, Primate of the Soto Sect. It opens with two sections on zazen which include photographs of the position. In continues with simple descriptions of that for which one strives in zazen. There is no philosophy, no theory, in these sketches. The religious quest is defined simply as a deep penetration into daily life (p. 41). It is not something esoteric, though it is difficult. For the Zen Buddhist its method is zazen.

Example after example shows that the practice leads to everyday life. However, this vital point is made: cold water before and after boiling is cold water, but with an enormous difference. So, our ordinary life before and after

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zazen is our ordinary life, though in the first we are in chains and in the second free. Westerners who quote Rinzai's "The Zen life is your everyday life" overlook this difference.

The third selection (130 pages) is by a Rinzai Roshi, Amakuki Sessan. Interestingly enough, it is a commentary on Hakuin's "Song of Meditation (zazen)," at the heart of which are the lines:

The Zen Meditation of the Mahayana
Is beyond all praise.
Giving and morality and the other perfections,
Taking of the name, repentance, discipline,
And the many other right actions,
All come back to the practice of meditation.
By the merit of a single sitting
He destroys innumerable accumulated sins (p. 67).

Roshi Sessan's essay is more difficult than Roshi Rosen's and shows the intellectual rigor which a Zen Buddhist can attain. However, like Roshi Rosen's, it is full of the typically Zen references to concrete cases, in this instance to make Hakuin's song clear. "We should meditate deeply on these words, bringing our mind to stillness, to taste the real meaning. In fact, better than putting legs onto the snake (which does not need them) with these foolish comments of mine, is to . . . reverently meditate on the Song of Meditation" (p. 80).

Of the three sections dealing with the lines of the song quoted above, sections 5 and 6 are especially important. In section 5 we are told that simple sitting (zazen) extends into the rest of a man's life. It grounds his morality, his patience, his endurance, and his understanding. In section 6 zazen is described. In both sections there is the taste of the practical advice which comes out of zazen; for example, money is the best of slaves, the worst of masters. Certainly, however, this helps one to realize that the main thing that differentiates Zen Buddhism from the life of common sense is a practice which makes such a life more feasible.

Sections 9 and 10 describe the state of enlightenment and put much-vaunted satori in its place. "It is not simply a question of having satori and waking from a dream. The aim is to wake up and then be active . . . return to this world to extend the hand of compassion to all that lives" (p. 164). (I have taken the "Song of Meditation" as praise of simply sitting. It is also praise of the life to which that leads.)

In his concluding "Note on the Ways" (judo, calligraphy, etc.) Leggett starts by emphasizing zazen. A saying or a blow may bring the latter to a

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head, but sitting is essential. The ways are then described as means of ex- tending zazen into practical daily activities. They are not substitutes for it.

The translations in this book are pleasantly in that vernacular which so often characterizes the discourse of the Zen teacher. The format is commendable, except for the printing, which is too far to the outer edge of the page.

In Zen, a Religion Mrs. Sasaki makes out a case for regarding Zen Buddhism as a religion. Her point is that the practice of Zen leads step by step to full awakening to the simple life. The latter is the religious life and, therefore, Zen is a religion.

Mrs. Sasaki stresses the awakening over the practice but makes it clear that it is the practice which leads to the awakening. Her monograph is of particular value because it brings out the fact that full awakening is a gradual step-like process made up of many small awakenings. Satori has been misunderstood as one tremendous and sudden illumination, after which all is light. It is not. Full enlightenment takes years of zazen, years of effort, and many realizations. (Hakuin reported that he had innumerable small satoris and seven great ones. One of the first small steps for a Westerner can be the awakening to the importance of zazen. )

Attention should be called to Mrs. Sasaki's Zen, a Method for Religious Awakening (26 pages), also available at the First Zen Institute. It is the best short introduction to Zen in English. The goal is described, no mystery made of it; the method is stressed, and satori, as Westerners speak of it, debunked. (Mrs. Sasaki reports that after thirty years studying with three Zen roshis she had not heard the word "satori.")

The French title of Linssen's Living Zen is significant: Essais sur le Bouddhisme en General et sur le Zen en Particulier. It is actually an introduction to Buddhism. In it we are removed from Zen to the chamber of the Western scholar.

As you wade into this book you feel that, with qualifications here and there, it is a contribution to the literature on Buddhism. In a short history of Zen no mention is made of Bodhidharma's sitting, but the practical influence of the Chinese on Buddhism is stressed. Then Buddhism is compared to pragmatism, which further counteracts the impression that it is esoteric. However, one's initial feelings turn out to be wrong. Buddhism is said to shun metaphysics, but Linssen goes on to indulge in a prodigious amount of it.

And so it goes. The evident scholarship is subtly misleading. In Chapter 3 there is an interesting comparison of the saint with the sage, but the role

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of ritual is misunderstood. It can become a crutch, but it can also play a vital part in the discipline which the religious life requires. We see that Linssen is attracted by the naturalism of Buddhism but that he does not appreciate the hard work that goes with a religious practice that is not wholly mental.

By Chapter 7, "On the Nature of Things," the urge to praise Living Zen practically disappears. What have all these demonstrations culled from physics to do with Buddhism? That change is real and things substanceless can be seen in everyday experience. They do not require demonstrations from science. The pure stuff in this book is overlaid with a confusing mass of theorizing. If this is an expression of the author's enlightenment, the latter is murky indeed. You have only to compare this writing with that of the roshis in Leggett's book to see where there is more light.

Chapter 22 is particularly misleading, though it is characteristic of the kind of error on which this book is based. Here any sort of regular religious practice is condemned. Meditation, though mentioned, is made a mystery. So is the attainment of enlightenment. It can be seen only as an accident or an act of Grace. Linssen is right, of course, that striving for it makes awakening impossible. But he has not seen the next step, which is: of course, one strives for it. Striving for it is all right provided that you are not attached to the striving.

In Chapter 24 Buddhism and Christianity are interestingly compared, especially at the time of Christ. Nevertheless, one finds that the author is reluctant to abandon the idea of divinity, though he is right in insisting that it is inaccurate to label Buddhism atheistic. (How, where there is no question of God involved, can one speak of atheism? That, however, is not Linssen's argument. ) This sort of thing distorts understanding of Buddhism even as a matter of scholarship.

Put the word "Zen" in the title and sell the book. This one also turns out to be more Krishnamurti than Zen Buddhism, though on the former it is better than Powell's book. (Krishnamurti, incidentally, never recommends a practice, but he has his own physical religious exercises.) On page 252 a koan is discussed. It is not a complete translation of the Koan. Satori is played up. Anything like zazen is criticized so often that one suspects that Linssen has a block against it. The style is encumbered by scientific jargon and bastard words like "Love-Intelligence." As Linssen himself says: "We remain impenitently cerebral" (p. 286). If you tried to live by this book, you would die.

I dislike being thus critical of a work the author of which is clearly on the side of the angels. However, the realities (as contrasted with the words) of Zen Buddhism must be brought to the fore. It is either a misunderstanding or

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a disservice to repeat the ringing phrases over and over without referring to the practice of Zen and the long years of hard work which it requires.

Buddhism and Zen is a little book of a different stripe. It has the flavor of Zen Buddhism and is mainly a translation of Zen documents. Mrs. McCandless has added a simple and informative introduction to Buddhism and some notes on meditation.

The Sho-do-ka (Song of Realization), an eighth-century Zen poem, is translated and commented on by Senzaki, a Zen monk who lived in the United States for fifty years. There are also translations of two fragments: "Notes of Bodhidharma's Disciples" and "Suggestions for Zen Students by Zen-Getsu."

On the whole, Mrs. McCandless has accomplished her purposes: to provide a brief introduction to Zen Buddhism for beginners, and a manual, in the form of Senzaki's translations, for those who are beyond this stage. Whether it was wise to mix the two purposes is another question. The translations may only confuse the beginner, and the more advanced student needs no introduction.

The Sho-do-ka has already appeared in Suzuki's Manual of Zen Buddhism. Nevertheless, it is a service to make any of these materials available, especially with a commentary by a practicing Zen Buddhist. Zen literature, as distinct from books about Zen, is important for the serious Zen student.

Despite the quality of Buddhism and Zen and the help it may provide, I could not avoid thinking as I read it that an appreciation of the simplicity and practicality of Zen Buddhism is virtually impossible without an association with Zen Buddhists. Words like "Dharma," "Mind-essence," "the Buddha-body," and so on must either repel the Western reader or throw him into a hysterical state of pseudo-religious ecstasy.

The Development of Chinese Zen is a handsome volume which is neither an interpretation of Zen Buddhism nor an introduction to it. Consequently it should not be assessed strictly on the basis of the criteria employed in this review. It is a book for scholars and will probably play a role in the development of advanced training for Western Zen students.

The book centers about an article of forty pages by H. Dumoulin, S.J., "The Development of Chinese Zen after Eno, in the Light of the Mumonkan," which first appeared in Monumenta Serica, Vol. VI, 1941. The article is a contribution to history, and Mrs. Sasaki's notes and multilingual glossaries will be invaluable for those who eventually pursue the study of Zen Buddhism into its further reaches.

The scholarship in this book may seem far from Zen. However, the ad-

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vanced Zen student supplements his work on koans by finding Chinese poems which illustrate the "point" of each koan. A thorough knowledge of both Japanese and written Chinese is at present necessary for the Zen student who is going beyond the beginnings of, say, three years of Zen study. It will be generations before this can be done in a Western language, if it ever will be. Meanwhile Mrs. Sasaki's efforts to provide translations and the beginnings of dictionaries, not only here but in all her work, together with the rigorous standards she maintains, will be of great service to those who follow in this direction.

In this connection, a point on page xvii should be emphasized. Members of the Zen sect hold that "apart from linguistic qualifications, only one who has studied under a Zen teacher is competent to translate a Zen koan collection, for instance, and then only after his correct understanding of those koans . . . has been acknowledged by a Zen master." Otherwise, the translation may be linguistically accurate but miss the "pivot" of the original, "the subtle point in which its 'Zen' meaning is conveyed."

Father Dumoulin's article provides a brief history of Chinese Zen Buddhism after the death of the Sixth Patriarch, from roughly 618 to 1279. After saying that little is known of the period from Bodhidharma to the Sixth Patriarch, Dumoulin traces the development of Zen through the "Golden Age" of the great masters of the T'ang Dynasty (618-906), when Zen Buddhism was in its creative stage, into the Sung Dynasty (960-1279), when the koan exercise was developed and left as a legacy to succeeding generations.

A theme of the article is that the T'ang masters employed no one technique for helping their students. Each created his own. As the vitality of this early phase died, Zen Buddhism was in danger of being lost. The gradual development of the koan exercise, a particular technique, prevented this, according to Dumoulin in a quotation from Suzuki (Essays in Zen Buddhism, 11, p. 66).

Though this account is based on the soundest scholarship, it is misleading. It hides the fact that, regardless of special teaching techniques, Zen Buddhists have throughout their history performed zazen. Father Dumoulin's work even implies that this is not the case, that zazen is just a special technique. On page 10, for example, he relates a story about Base, a T'ang master, who ridiculed zazen. Such a trick, of course, is perfectly consistent with zazen's being all-important, for a student can also get attached to it and should be warned of this. This example shows, however, the great need for the care which must be taken both in reporting about something like Zen Buddhism and in reading about it.

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The fault is not with Father Dumoulin, for the error has occurred in connection with the work of the man who almost single-handedly has brought the awareness of Zen Buddhism to the West.

This brings us to the French translation of Daisetz T. Suzuki's Essays in Zen Buddhism (all three series), which began appearing in England in 1928. Over half of the translation first appeared in France from 1940 to 1943. All of the translation is fluent and accurate.

I shall say little of this book. As the other volumes reviewed give evidence, it is too well known to require extensive description. Virtually all that the West knows of Zen Buddhism has come from the pen of Suzuki and particularly from the Essays. Rereading them, I realized what a mine of information they are. Not only are the history of Zen Buddhism, its theory and practice, its relations to other religions and to philosophies discussed, but the book contains translations of dozens of Zen Buddhist anecdotes, records, and poems.

Despite the excellence and comprehensiveness of these and others of Suzuki's writings, however, and admitting his right to be regarded as the interpreter of Zen Buddhism to the West, a re-emphasis (if not a correction) of one portion of this interpretation should now be made. Any Westerner who has studied Zen Buddhism in a temple can do this, which suggests that the need for it may be due to us as much as to Suzuki.

Suzuki has nowhere in his writings, except perhaps in the little-known Training of the Zen Buddhist Monk, sufficiently emphasized the role of zazen in Zen Buddhism. This has resulted in making far more of a mystery of Zen than it deserves and has turned reports of the results of Zen practice (which many Zen stories and suutras favored by the Zen Buddhists are) into philosophical theories about no-mind, nothingness, the Void, etc., thereby suggesting that Zen is a philosophy.

Whatever else "Zen" may mean, it means meditation, zazen, a particular practice with a classical description that has remained unchanged for centuries. The so-called Zen person is the "meditating" person. The so-called Zen experience is the "meditating" experience. "Zen" may mean more after this aspect of it is grasped, but it means at least that, and the chances of grasping its further significance are nil until zazen is being regularly practiced.

There are many reasons for the obscurity into which zazen has disappeared in the Western view of Zen. For example, even when it is clearly stated that meditation is at the heart of Zen Buddhism, the matter does not become clear to the Westerner--for the word "meditation" does not mean zazen. Thus the

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translation of the word "Zen" is at once a help and a hindrance for furthering the understanding of Zen Buddhism. It calls attention to the essence of the thing only to hide it behind an ambiguity in the word "meditation" which is created by the very act of translation.

Then, too, there is the fact that the practice of zazen (or exercises very much like it) is as familiar in the Orient as it is unfamiliar in the Occident. This results in two factors. On the one hand, because he is so familiar with it and because he does not realize that the Westerner is not, the Oriental interpreter does not see the need for stressing zazen for his Western audience. On the other hand, precisely because it is quite unfamiliar to him, the Westerner does not realize the importance of zazen even when he does hear about it.

Westerners, furthermore, are incurably dualistic. We talk of God and the world, faith and reason, and mind and matter. The notion of a practice in connection with thinking and enlightenment, as the basis and core of it, is consequently hard to grasp. We read of enlightenment in books on Zen and immediately think of an intellectual affair. That it should be an affair of the body is virtually incomprehensible.

Finally, there are the facts that, rightly or wrongly, Zen Buddhism has often been charged with quietism and that it has sometimes resulted in quietism--both during its long history and now. This brings us, last but not least, to another reason why zazen has been overlooked in the West. Western literature on Zen stems mainly from the writings of Suzuki, of which the Essays ate the core. And these have obscured the importance of zazen because a major thread in them is Suzuki's effort to combat both the charge and the tendency to quietism. For this reason he has stressed those aspects of the history of Zen Buddhism which deal with the efforts and the development of techniques to combat quietism, and he has stressed the aspect of insight or enlightenment in the practice of the Zen Buddhist to show that such practice is anything but mere sitting when it is properly carried out. The stressing of insight, however, has been so great that the pendulum has swung in the other direction for the Western reader, and the importance of sitting has been overlooked.

Thus, if one turns to the indices in the Essays, one finds very few references to zazen or to meditation. And only some thirty pages out of more than a thousand are devoted to explicit discussions of zazen. In the chapter on the Zendo (Meditation Hall) in the first volume there is no mention of that for which the hall is primarily used. Furthermore, there are dozens of the stories, to which allusion has already been made, on the manner in which this or that man became enlightened by something that a master did or said,

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perhaps a single word or blow; and yet there are few references to the facts that all of those who became enlightened were at that time practicing zazen and that many achieved further insights.

There is also a long chapter called "Practical Methods of Zen Instruction," in which certain devices are discussed and classified, giving him who is not aware that they presuppose zazen the idea that short lectures, pithy remarks, paradoxes, and blows are the only methods of Zen instruction. In fact, these devices, when employed, are preceded by instruction in zazen and are accompanied by its constant and unremitting practice.

However, Suzuki has not been guilty of omission. For the Zen student the references in the Essays to zazen are there, even though most are implicit. Zazen forms the background for the three volumes, though it is an obscure background because Suzuki has been so concerned to point out that zazen is not mere sitting.

So much for the words. For the rest, religion is the same wherever it occurs. It is garbed differently by time, place, and circumstance. If we are to become acquainted with its Zen Buddhist pontificals we must go, not to books, but to Japan and to zazen.