The Poetics of Chan:Upaayic Poetry and Its Taosist Enrichment

·期刊原文

The Poetics of Ch'an:Upaayic Poetry and Its Taosist Enrichment

Sandra A.Wawrytko
Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal
No.5 July,1992
Chung-Hwa Insitute of Buddhist Studies
P.341-378

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P.341

Summary

The inherent suitability of the poetic form for

communicating the ineffable has long been known to

poet-practioners in all mystical traditions. Poetry

offers possibilities of indirection and evocation

far beyond those of any prose style. The

open-endedness of a poem serves the same function as

the blank space in a Ch'an painting, allowing the

audience to resonate (yu-yun, Japanese yoin) with

the work and, most importantly, with the artist. In

this way, "Artistic appreciation is...transformed

into meditation."

This paper discusses the pivotal role played by

poetry,as it evolved from the Sanskrit gaathaa found

in Buddhist suutras, within the Ch'an sect of

Buddhism. After a brief review of the poetic

component in early Buddhist literature, we will

consider the indigenous Chinese tradition of

poetically-expressed philosophy that influenced the

evolution of sinitic Buddhism. The creative mergence

of these diverse sources within Ch'an is then

considered through examples of the upaayic

application of poetry in terms o f a three-fold

process of awakening.

The opening section describes the poetic path to

enlightenment, focussing on the function of gaathaas

in the Buddhist literature. Of primary importance

here is an understnading of why and how poetry could

function as a vehicle of Dharma in the suutras from

the very inception of Buddhism.

The poetic precursors in the Taoist tradition

are then considered. Two roots of the Chinese poetic

tradition generally have been identified-the Shih

Ching (Classic of Poetry) emphasized by the

Confucian school and the Ch'u Tz'u. (Elegies of Ch'u

or Song of the South) displaying affinities with

Taoist philosophy. The latter currents were best

able to resonate with Buddhist thought, as

exemplified in Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, the

Neo-Taoist currents in Liu I-ch'ing's New Tales of

the World (Shih-shuo Hsin-yu), and the transitional,

Buddhist tinged lines of T'ao

P.342

Ch'ien.

The Ch'an synthesis reflects a threefold process

of enlightenment, sometimes characterized as the Way

of the Ancient masters, The Ch'an of Voidness, and

the Ch'an of the Patriarchs. This same process can

be traced in certain poetic expressions of the Ch'an

practitioners,including Hui-Neng,Pai-chang Huai-hai,

and Hsiang-yen Chih-hsien. A more in-depth

epistemological analysis of the threefold experience

of awakening is presented in terms of the famous

enlightenment poem of Ch'ing-yuan Wei-hsin. The ex-

position aims to demonstrate that, building on

Indian sourecs, and enriched by Chinese poetic and

Taoist traditions, Ch'an poetics evolved into a

powerful upaayic tool.

P.343

1. The POETIC PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT(1)

The inherent suitability of the poetic form for

communicating the ineffable has long been known to

poet-practitioners in all mystical traditions.

Examples may be cited from such diverse sources as

the Psalms of the Bible and the Bhagavad Gita.

Pieces have been penned by poets as diverse as

Kukai, Mechthild of Magdeburg, and William Blake.(2)

Poetry offers possibilities of indirection and

evocation far beyond those of any prose style. Its

metaphorical use of language is able to elicit

meanings without bluntly asserting them. More

importantly, perhaps, it has the advantage over

clearcut declarations of suggesting a multiplicity

of meanings, suited to its multiplicity of

audiences. Here indeed it truly can be said that

"less is more": less explicit content leaves room

for more implicit connotations. Thus, the

openendedness of a poem serves the same function as

the blank space in a Ch'an painting, allowing the

audience to resonate (yu-yun,)Japanese yoin) with

the work and, most importantly, with the artist. In

this way, "Artistic appreciation is.. transformed

into meditation."(3)

The following discussion concerns the pivotal

role played by poetry, as it evolved from the

Sanskrit gaathaa found in Buddhist suutra, within

the Ch'an sect of Buddhism. After a brief review of

the poetic component in early Buddhist literature,

we will consider the indigenous Chinese tradition of

poetically-expressed philosophy that influenced the

evolution of sinitic Buddhism. The creative mergence

of these diverse sources within Ch'an is then

considered through examples of the upaayic

application of poetry in terms of a three-fold

process of awakening. This leads to an outline for a

poetics of Ch'an as reflected in an epistemological

analysis of a famous set of Ch'an enlightenment

poems. Lucien Stryk observes:

Writers of such poems did not think of

themselves as poets. Rather they were

────────────

(1) Ke-tao(Japanese, Kado), the poetry way.

(2)For an inter-cultural wealth of examples, see The

Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry,

Stephen Mitchell ed. (New York: Harper & Row,

1989).

(3) Horst Hammitzsch, Zen in the Art of the Tea

Ceremony, Peter Lemesurier trans. (New York:

E.P. Dutton, 1988), p.93.

P.344

gifted men-masters, monks, some laymen-who after

momentous experiences found themselves with

something to say which only a poem could express.

Enlightenment, point of their meditation, brought

about transformation of the spirit; a poem was

expected to convey the essential experience and its

effect.(4)

As will be argued here, these poems do not merely

document and validate the enlightenment experience,

but also played an important role as catalysts and

guides for progress along the enlightenment path.

The Function of Gaathaas in the Buddhist Literature

The Sanskrit term gaathaa (Chinese chia-t'uo;

Japanese ga-da( is a "song...a metrical narrative or

hymn, with moral purport, described as generally

composed of thirty-two characters,.. a detached

stanza." (5) Gaathaas are classified among the nine

classes of suutras in Theraraada Buddhism, as

distinguished from actual sermons, prophecies,

etc.(6) In the Mahaayaana canon, gaathaas represent

one of the twelve divisions of the canon.(7)

Gaathaas often appear within the context of

suutras as means of further explicating stated

points. For example, the Diamond Suutra concludes

with a brief poetic pronouncement that restates,

while reinforcing, the abstract message of the text

in terms of concrete images:

All phenomena are like

A dream, an illusion, a bubble and a shadow,

Like dew and lightening.

Thus should you meditate upon them.(8)

Similarly, in the La^nkaavataara Suutra the Buddha

punctuates his discourse with

────────────

(4) Lucien Stryk in his Introduction to The Penguin

Book of Zen Poetry, Lucien Stryk and Takashi

Ikemoto eds., trans. (New York: Penguin Books,

1981), p.13

(5) William Edward Soothill, A Dictionary of Chinese

Buddhist Terms (London: Kegan Paul, Trench,

Trubner & Co., Ltd., 1934), p.225a.

(6) Soothill, p.19b.

(7) Soothill, p.44a.

P.345

gaathaas summarizing the main thrust of his

exposition. The same rhetoric style is adopted by

many who preach. For example, Jesus of Nazareth

often avails himself of vivid metaphorical and

allegorical language to convey his message about the

Kingdom of God.

It is quite likely that these poetic phrasings

of doctrine represent a mnemonic device for the

listeners, with the rhyme scheme serving to

facilitate memorization. The necessity of such

devices was further reinforced by the fact that the

sermons of the Buddha were not written down for some

four hundred years, but committed to memory by his

followers and transmitted orally.(9) The concrete

language of the poetic versions also stimulated

comprehension by offering an alternative to the

abstract profundity of the concepts being

expressed, as well as making the encoded messages

more accessible to less sophisticated members of the

audience.

An additional factor here was the difficulty

inherent in communicating certain fundamental

aspects of the Dharma. As a preclude to Ch'an,

Buddhism in India already was exploring the rarefied

realm of spiritual experience that defied

verbalization. The following passage from

A.s.tasaahasrikaa Praj~naapaaramitaa outlines the

linguistic and conceptual liabilities of discussing

enlightenment:

The Enlightened One sets forth in the Great

Ferryboat (Mahaayaana); but there is nothing from

which he sets forth. He starts from the universe;

but in truth he starts from nowhere. His boat is

manned with all the perfections (paaramitaas); and

is manned by no one. It will find its supprot on

nothing whatsoever and will find its support on the

state of all-knowing, which will serve it as a

non-support. Moreover, no one has ever set forth in

the Great ferryboat; no one will ever set froth in

it, and no one is setting forth in it now. And why

is

────────────

(8) The Diamond Suutra, Charles Luk trans., included

in the Bilingual Buddhist Series, Suutras and

Scriptures, Vol.1 (Taipei, Taiwan: Buddhist

Culture Service, 1962), p.132

(9) Edward Conze notes: "For four centuries the

Scriptures went not written down, and only

existed in the memory of the monks. Like the

Brahmins, the Buddhists had a strong aversion to

writing down religious knowledge." Buddhism: Its

Essence and Development (New York: Harper & Row,

1959), p.89.

P.346

this? Because neither the one setting forth nor

the goal for which he sets forth is to be found:

therefore, who should be setting forth, and

whither? (10)

This situation created quite a quandary for those

who nonetheless sought to propagate the Dharma.

Thus, the following guidelines were set forth:

‧Rely on the teaching, not the teacher.

‧Rely on the meaning, not the letter.

‧Rely on the definitive meaning (nitaartha),

not the interpretable meaning (neyaartha).

‧Rely on wisdom (j~naana), not on [ordinary]

consciousness (vij~naana). (11)

Each of these guidelines redirects the focus away

from intellectual abstractions and back to the

original experiential core of the Buddha's

enlightenment. The same point is emphasized by the

Buddha in his parting advice to his disciples to

diligently pursue their individual paths to

awakening.

And so the stage was set for linguistic

indirection and evocation, summarized in the

well-known four points of Ch'an, often attributed to

Bodhidharma:

‧ direct transmission outside the Scriptures;

‧ non-reliance on verbal expression;

‧ direct pointing to the hear/mind(hsin);

‧ seeing into one's original nature (hsing) to

‧ realize our inherent Buddhahood.

Properly applied, poetry can satisfy each of these

requirements: it goes beyond the actual content of

orthodox texts, it utilizes language without

limiting itself to sim---

────────────

(10) A.s.tasaaharkaa Praj~naapaarmitaa (The Wisdom

that has Gone Beyond), as quoted by Heinrich

Zimmer in Philosophies of India (Princeton,

1951), p.485.

(11) Catuhpratisaranasutra ( Sutra of the Four

Refuges), as quoted by Donald S.Lopez in his

introduction to his edited text, Buddhist

Hermeneutics (Honolulu: University of Hawaii

Press, 1988), p.3.

P.347

ple denotation, and it provides a species of

ostensive definition through its marshaling of

images. Finally, by means of the above methods,

poetry provides insight into the inmost depths of

reality.

The mergence of Buddhism and poetry through the

common thread of enlightenment was aptly noted by

literary critic Yen Yuu in the twelfth century:

Generally speaking, the Way of Buddhism lies on

enlightenment. The way of poetry also lies on

enlightenment. Meng Hao-yen's academic

achievement is far below that of Han Yu

(769-824). Meng's poetry is much better than

that of Han Yu. The reason for this is that Meng

has achieved enlightenment, but Han has not.

(12)

Accordingly, Buddhists were distinguished

contributors to the Chinese poetic tradition, while

Chinese poets were greatly influenced by Buddhist

doctrine.

II. POETIC PRECURSORS IN THE TAOIST TRADITION

The Twofold Root of the Chinese Poetic Tradition

Chinese culture was eminently suited to

appreciate the Buddhist use of poetry due to its

centuries-long cultivation of poetic sensibilities.

Being grounded in the same philosophical perspective

of reality that suffuses the I Ching, Chinese poetry

from its inception has evidenced a highly

sophisticated use of imagery. The images were not

construed as mere metaphors, but in fact represent

metaphysics made concrete: "the Chinese poem was

assumed to invoke a network of preexisting

correspondences-between poet and world and among

clusters of images." (13) Thus, philosophers such as

Confucius made poetry a focal point of moral

education. (14)

Two books generally are considered to represent

the earliest collections of

────────────

(12) Yen Yu, as quoted by Chang Chung-yuan in

Creativity and Taoism: A Study of Chinese

Philosophy, Art, and Poetry (New York: Harper &

Row, 1970), p.186.

(13) Pauline Yu, The Reading of Imagery in the

Chinese Poetic Tradition (Princeton, New

Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1987) ,

p.36.

(14) For a fuller discussion of this point, see Yu,

"Imagery in the Classic of Poetry," pp.44-83.

P.348

Chinese poetry, the Shih Ching (Classic of Poetry)

and the Ch'u Tz'u (Elegies of Ch'u or Song of the

South). Geographically considered, they represent

respectively the northern and southern strains of

early Chinese civilization, the first centered in

the vicinity of the Yellow River (Shandong and

Hopei) and the second in the Yangtze river valley

(Hunan and Hupeh) .Culturally, these anthologies

contain the twofold root of Chinese literary

tradition, whose offshoots developed as

manifestations of two essentially diverse

approaches to life, two unique ways of being in the

world.

The Shih Ching anthology consists of folk songs,

court compositions, and ritual hymns. The preface to

the text succinctly conveys the reigning perception

of poetry's origins within individual human

experience, as well as its social-political

functions:

Poetry is where the intent of the heart/mind

(hsin) goes. What in the heart is intent is

poetry when emitted in words. An emotion moves

within and takes form in words. If words do not

suffice, then one sighs; if sighing does not

suffice, then one prolongs it [the emotion] in

song; if prolonging through song does not

suffice,then one unconsciously dances it with

hands and feet. Emotions are emitted in sounds,

and when sounds form a pattern, they are called

tones. The tones of a well-governed world are

peaceful and lead to joy, its government

harmonious; the tones of a chaotic world are

resentful and angry, its government perverse;

the tones of a defeated state are mournful to

induce longing, its people in difficulty. Thus

in regulating success and failure, moving heaven

and earth, and causing spirits and gods to

respond, nothing comes closer than poetry. (15)

In contrast, the Ch'u Tz'u represents a

collection of poems composed in the southern state

of Ch'u, many of which are attributed to Ch'u Yuan

(343? -278 b.c.e.), the first Chinese poet known by

name. These poems differ both stylistically and

thematically from the poems of the Shih Ching,

bearing the unmistakable influence of the religious

culture of the Ch'u state, which was more closely

con-

────────────

(15) Great Preface (Ta Hsu) to the Shih Ching,

attribute to Wei Hong; included in Yu,pp.31-32.

p.349

nected to its tribal origins than was the agrarian

culture to the north. The Ch'u Tz'u poems are known

for detailed descriptions of magical flights to

heavenly kingdoms and of encounters with the various

gods and goddesses of the Ch'u pantheon, generally

associated with various rivers and mountains. The

poets of the south anthologized in the Ch'u Tz'u

blithely describe the ecstatic spirit journeys of

shamans and meeting with divine beings. Exorcism,

prophecy, divination, dream interpretation, and

other occult activities were practiced by the wu,

many of whom were women.

Lao Tzu

Not surprisingly, the reputed founder to the

school of Taoism, Lao Tzu (Li Erh), is said to have

been a native of Ch'u. Moreover, adherents of the

Taoist school were also predominantly from the south

(as opposed to the northern base of the Confucian

school, Ju Chia). Lao Tzu's preference for poetic

expression is reflected in the style of his reputed

text, the Tao Te Ching. The mystically-tinged

elements of the Ch'u anthology reappear as

embodiments of metaphysical truths in Taoist texts.

Although poetical in content, the form in which

the Tao Te Ching is written does not conform to

traditional models of the shih; it does fit the

broader definition of poetry as recognized in the

West by virtue of its frequent use of rhyme and

pervasive imagery. By way of illustration, let us

examine the images in the seminal opening chapter of

the Tao Te Ching.

The tao that can be taoed is not the enduring

Tao;

The name that can be named is not the enduring

Name.

As No-thingness [Tao] is named the origin of

Heaven and Earth;

As Being [Tao] is named the mother of the Ten

Thousand Things.

Thus, always in terms of No-thingness,

One contemplates its [hidden] wonders;

Always in terms of Being,

One contemplates its [manifested] forms.

These two spring forth from the same [source],

P.350

And yet they differ in name.

Both are called "profoundly dark";

Profoundly dark and ever profoundly dark,

The gateway to infinite wonders.(16)

In these lines Lao Tzu initiates the questioning of

the legitimacy, and even the possibility, of

confining reality to the limits of language,

qualifying him as a precursor of Ch'an. The

"enduring Tao" as all-pervasive substratum remains

everelusive, nor can it be fixated by a mere name.

The word "enduring" (ch'ang) is sometimes translated

as "constant" or "eternal". The Chinese character

depicts a flag outside the headquarters of the

commanding general. Extrapolating from this concrete

image, the flag may be interpreted as a sign or a

symbol of leadership. Furthermore, the flag connotes

a special sense of movement within constancy, a

supple flexibility fluttering in the breeze. The

sense of stability amid flux is missing from the

word "eternal," which refers to something outside of

time, outside of change (e.g., the Platonic Forms).

Tao, however, is immanent in, rather than

transcendent of, the world of change-it is the

changeless that endures in the midst of change. In

the Silk manuscript the word "heng" (constant) is

inserted in place of "ch'ang." This character

depicts the heart/mind (hsin) in a constant orbit,

revolving around and around in a set pattern.

Despite the differences between the words heng and

ch'ang, they do share a common sense of movement in

accordance with a natural rhythm. In contrast to the

western philosophical preference for an otherworldly

("real world") perfection that is eternal, Lao Tzu's

Tao is consistent with the traditional Chinese view

of dynamic reality, as contained in the I Ching.

Change, then, is not an affront or a weakness or a

negation, but simply and admitted characteristic of

reality.

The name given to Tao, is not its real name,

merely a heuristic device. What is unique about this

so-called Nameless Tao is that not only can it not

be named by us, but moreover no name can ever be

applicable to it. The ultimate reality cannot be

encompassed within the necessarily restricted scope

of linguist patterns. The problem resides not in

Tao, but rather in the inherent deficiencies of

human

────────────

(16) Charles We-hsun Fu and Sandra A. Wawrytko,

trans., Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching: A New Annotated

Translation (forthcoming from Greenwood Press).

P.351

discourse, and so the essential dissonance existing

between language and Taoism is revealed. Language is

fundamentally based on naming. Names provide a

common point of reference for communication; they

define and delimit reality within the confines most

comfortable to human comprehension. Thus, language

is best able to deal with tangible objects and their

properties (such as color) that fall within the

range of human experience. The cultural nuances of

that experience occasionally result in words that

defy translation when a corresponding experience

does not exist in the second culture.(17)

The strength of language allows us to fix or

secure things by means of a name or label. However

such fixation also can be fatal. Thus, Friedrich

Nietzsche sarcastically berates western philosophers

for a mind-set grounded in abstract verbalization:

You ask me which of the philosophers' traits are

really idiosyncrasies? For example, their lack

of historical sense, their hatred of the very

idea of becoming, their Egypticism. They think

that they show their respect for a subject when

they de-historicize it, sub specie aetenuu-when

they turn it into a mummy. All that philosophers

have handled for thousands of years have been

concept-mummies; nothing real escaped their

grasp alive. When these honorable idolaters of

concepts worship something, they kill it and

stuff it; they threaten the life of everything

they worship. Death, change, old age, as well as

procreation and growth, are to their minds

objections-even refutations.(18)

In sharp contrast, Lao Tzu emphasizes the

flexibility of names vis-a-vis Tao. The name Mother

of the Ten Thousand Things applies to Tao as Being

(yu), that is, the "manifest forms" that are subject

to linguistic analysis and fixation. These

correspond to the limits of cognition and intellect.

But it also has another name, "No-

────────────

(17) One example would be the Japanese phrase "mono

no aware." There is no exact equivalent in

English, inasmuch as its cultural aesthetic

does not include nor value precisely the same

experience as does the Japanese aesthetic.

(18) Friedrich Nietzsche, "Reason' in Philosophy,"

from Twilight of the Idols, Walter Kaufmann

trans. And included in The Portable Nietzsche

(New York: Viking Press, 1968), p.479.

P.352

thingness" (wu) as "origin of Heaven and Earth." In

the latter sense we are forced beyond the limits of

language and into the realm of the wondrous (miao).

This is the same rarefied territory tread by the

Ch'an Buddhist, a region suffused with ineffable

spirituality. Deprived of the crutch of language,

how are we to communicate such things? The Taoist

invites us to soar on the wings of poetry, engaging

our creative imagination and transcending cognitive

reason. Lao Tzu seems to echo the insights of Lu Ji

regarding the creative process:

Impose on empty nonbeing to ask forth being,

Knock on deepest silence in search of sound.(19)

Although both perspectives, the Mother and the

Origin, are possible, there is a definite priority,

ontologically speaking, given to No-thingness.

One might interpret this passage as a set of

guidelines suggesting how to reconcile the dual

perspectives, later discussed as the worldviews of

the worldling and the Sage. The worlding is not

totally wrong in his or her perceptions, merely

excessively limited, a limitation inherent in the

temptation to name, to verbalize, to define reality,

thus bringing it into our sphere of influence and

control. Another image from chapter 38 serves to

clarify the relationship between these two views in

an appropriately poetic way:

Those who have foreknowledge are [merely] the

flower of Tao,

And the beginning of human folly.

Accordingly, the accomplished person holds to

what is thick,

And does not reside in what is thin;

Holds to the fruit and does not reside in the

flower.

Therefore, prefers the one and avoids the other.

The flower prefigures the fruit, as the worldling

does the Sage. But no fruit is forthcoming if,

dazzled by the flower's beauty, we pluck it from the

branch and

────────────

(19) Lu Ji, Wen Xuan, 17/4b/p.309. as quoted by Yu,

p.35.

P.353

interrupt (wei) the natural cycle.

The key word in the lines describing the

"manifest forms" versus the "hidden wonders" is

"contemplate" (kuan). Usually this character is

simply translated as "see". Yet it connotes much,

much more than mere seeing; it is a very special

species of seeing. Etymologically it contains two

components-a heron beside an eye on two feet, that

is, human vision. The encoded message, then, implies

something unique about how this bird see. The egret

is a water bird that has a very characteristic

survival skill-it stands perfectly still for long

periods of time. Rather than clumsily splashing

about the shallows on its ungainly legs frightening

its prey, it waits unobtrusively, non-threateningly

for the fish to come to it, and then strikes with

its long beak.(20)

Perhaps this is Lao Tzu's subtle recommendation

for reading his text, for comprehending Tao. If you

pick up this book intending to force the meaning out

of it you will never be successful. Instead, you

have to wait for the meaning to come to you. The

more you try to grasp it and the more you try to

analyze it, the deeper you sink into the obscuring

mire of language. Taoism is, in that sense, very

demanding, it requires considerable patience and

receptivity. Receptivity is the key point, being

ready and able to resonate with what reveals itself

to you. The same can be said for the cultivation

that precedes enlightenmental break-through in Ch'an

practice.

The closing lines of the first chapter are

equally important in emphasizing the

interrelatedness of the two perspectives

(paralleling the Samsaara/Nirvaa.na mergence in

Ch'an):

These two [the manifest forms and the hidden

wonders] spring forth from the same

[source].

And yet they differ in name.

Both are called "profoundly dark,"

────────────

(20) An alternative etymology interprets kuan in

terms of a "bird's-eye view" from the heights,

and by extension meaning a look-out point, high

tower, or Taoist monastery.

P.354

Profoundly dark and ever profoundly dark,

The Gateway to infinite wonders.

Notice what Lao Tzu is describing here; he does not

offer us the clear, glaring truth, but a murky

profundity. He does not promise infinite wonders,

only the Gateway, the point of entry is indicated.

The rest of the way remains for us to travel alone,

again, a prefiguring of the Ch'an emphasis on

self-reliance.

The character rendered here as "profoundly

dark" (hsuuan) depicts a piece of silk thread which

has been dipped in dye. Hence, it bears the literal

meaning of dark, darkened, and by extrapolation,

something mysterious. This same character is used in

combination with several others throughout the text:

"the profoundly dark mirror (hsuan-lan) " or the

inmost heart/mind (10); "profoundly dark virtue

(hsuante)," the most deeply rooted of all virtues

(51,65); "the profoundly dark female (hsuan-p'in), "

embodying the Taoistically prioritized yin force (6)

; "the profoundly dark union (hsuan-t'ung)" between

ourselves and Tao(56,65).

Furthermore, since this is a piece of silk that

has been dyed, one might read this, hermeneutically

speaking, as a spurious process. The mystery is not

really inherent in Tao any more than the darkness is

inherent to the silk. Tao is mysterious to us

because we have artificially distanced ourselves

from it, inducing a sense of estrangement and

alienation. We have mystified it by our unnatural

attempts to make it conform to language and logic.

On the other side of the gateway, when the barriers

of language have been surmounted, "subtle

enlightenment (wei-ming)" awaits (chapter 36). It is

precisely this something else that defies

expression, except by poetic indirection.

The Buddhists found their natural allies in

the Taoist camp. The collaboration began with a

borrowing of Taoist terminology to translate

Buddhist concepts into the Chinese intellectual

context, culminating in the birth of a new school:

Zen may.. be regarded as the fullest development

of Taoism by wedding it to congenial Buddhist

insights and the powerful Buddhist impulse of

apostolic zeal. If Buddhism is the father,

Taoism is the mother of this prodigious child.

But there can be no denying that the child looks

more like the mother than the child.(21)

P.355

Neo-Taoist Currents in Liu I-ch'ing's New Tales of

the World (Shih-shuo Hsin-yu)

The cultural encounter will and increasing

adaptation of Buddhism in Chinese intellectual

circles is recorded in the pages of Liu I-ch'ing's

classic collection of anecdotes, New Tales of the

World (Shih-shuo Hsin-yuu). It also records the

skirmishes between the "Conformist" Confucian forces

and the "Naturalist" Taoist camp, vying for

political control of the court. The execution of the

out-spoken naturalist proponent Hsi K'ang (223-262)

was a strong inducement for more veiled expressions

in a poetic form. Thus, Juan Chi (210-263) contrasts

the broad vision of the Naturalists with the narrow

vision of the Conformists using the imagery of the

crane and the small birds:

Amid the clouds there is a dark-hued crane;

With high resolve it lifts its mournful sound.

Once flown from sight into the blue-green sky.

In all the world it will not cry again.

What has it to do with quails and sparrows

Flapping their wings in play within the central

court? (22)

One could readily conclude that Buddhism offered

ever greater attractions for the disappointed and

embattled Taoist forces as a means to escape the

domination of their Confucian foes. The general

openness of the intellectual climate during this

period facilitated a Taoist-Buddhist synthesis among

the literati.(23) These develop-

────────────

(21) John C.H.Wu, The Golden Age of Zen, rev.ed

( Taipei, Taiwan : United Publishing Center,

1975), p.44

(22) Note the poet's allusion to the differing

visions of the P'eng bird and the little dove

in the first chapter of the Chuang Tzu,

respectively representing Great Knowledge (ta

chih) and Small Knowledge (hsiao chih). Quoted

by Richard B.Mather in his introduction to Liu

I-ch'ing's Shih-shuo Hsin-yu: A New Account of

Tales of the World (Minneapolis: University of

Minnesota Press, 1976) , p.xix. See also

Mather's informative discussion of the conflict

between the Naturalists and the Conformists in

this essay.

P.356

ments are reflected in the pages of the New Tales of

the World ( shih-shuo Hsin-yu ), where the Taoist-

Buddhist interactions are documented. Among the most

influential of the Buddhists was the monk Chih Tun

(314-366), who was highly regarded for his eloquence

and scholarship,including creative reinterpretations

of such Taoist texts as the Chuang Tzu. His

importance can be gauged from the fact that he

merited nearly fifty mentions in the Tales.

Commenting on a comparison between erudition in the

North as opposed to the South, Chih Tun utilized

both metaphorical language and an allusion to the

Taoists' distrust of language:

Sages and worthies, of course, are those who

'forget speech,' but if we're talking about

people from the middle range down, the reading

of the Northerners is like viewing the moon in a

bright place, while the erudition of the

Southerners is like peering at the sun through

a window.(24)

The Tales also demonstrate the continuing

prominence of poetic expression in all walks of

life-from political intrigue to social criticism,

literary fame to refined entertainment. The poetic

preference for interweaving the strongly imagistic

Taoist terminology into one's work gradually evolved

toward Buddhist doctrine.(25)

T'ao Ch'ien

The poet T'ao Ch'ien (365-427; also known as

T'ao Yuan-ming) represents a transitional figure in

the increasing rapport of Taoist and Buddhist

currents. He was on intimate terms with individuals

from both groups. Especially noteworthy is his

connection with monks from the White Lotus Society

that eventually developed into Ch'an Buddhism.

T'ao Ch'ien has been hailed for both his poetic

prowess and his spiritual re-

────────────

(23) For a detailed discussion of this climate see

Kenneth Ch'en, "Neo-Taoism and the Praj~naa

School during the Wei and Chin Dynasties,"

included in Chinese Philosophy, Volume II:

Buddhism (Taipei, Taiwan: China Academy, 1974),

pp.129-42.

(24) Liu I-ch'ing, A New Account of Tales of the

World, Chapter 7, section 25, p.105.

(25) See Liu Chun's comments to chapter IV, section

85, p.137.

P.357

finement: "the extreme beauty of T'ao Ch'ien's poems

cannot be equaled by any other works because no poet

had ever given so much of his inner experience in

his works." (26) His path of progress may be traced

in a poem simply entitled "Going Back to the Farm":

When young, ill at ease with the common world,

Naturally (hsing pen) loving hills and mountains.

Mistakingly [I] fell into the midst of the

worldly web,

Onec gone [into the web] thirty years [went by].

The caged bird pines for the forest of old,

The ponded fish mourns for past depths.

Clearing wilderness on the borders of the south-

ern wasteland,

Guard the stupid self back down on the farm;

The place is more than a mu,

[With] a grass shelter of eight or nine units

Elms and willows shelter the eaves behind,

Peach and plum trees overarch the building in front.

Dimly seen, the far off village,

Hovering [above], the village smoke;

A dog barks deep within the lane,

A rooster crows from the topmost branch of the mulberry tree.

Door [shelter] and yard devoid of worldly confusion,

Empty rooms overflowing with ease/tranquility.

So long caged/confused within,

[Now] returned, back to tzu-jan.(27)

The poem begins with a depiction of his early

preference for Nature (" naturally loving hills and

mountains") and corresponding uneasiness with the

mundane world. This is followed by an interlude of

alienation from Nature and self. This stage is

vividly depicted in terms of a bird or fish torn

from its natural habitat and

────────────

(26) Chang Chung-yuan, Creativity and Taoism, p.191

(27) My translation.

P.358

forced into the artificial restrictions of a cage or

pond. In each case longing remains for what was-the

bird "pines" while the fish "mourns." We then see

the poet liberated from the "worldly web" in his

third and final stage, having gone back to Nature in

his rural seclusion. Here "worldly confusion" has

been dispelled, supplanted by the tranquility that

overflows in emptiness (paralleling the

"No-thingness" of wu yu). T'ao Ch'ien has seen both

the way of the worldings and the way of the Sage.

The way of the world left him discontented, so he

returned to his true roots. He did not need to

acquire tzu-jan, only to remove his temporary

alienation from it, just as Ch'an awakening is not

an attainment, but a realization.

Consistent with Taoist thought, T'ao Ch'ien

emphasizes the "returning" (fu) action involved

here, the return to the root that is Tao itself. He

also makes several allusions to passages in the Tao

Te Ching, most specifically the utopian vision

described in chapter 80:

Although the neighboring country is within

sight,

And the crowing of cocks and barking of dogs

there can be heard,

The two peoples never are in touch with one another,

Throughout their lives.(28)

References to tzu-jan and tranquility point to the

same inspirational source, while T'ao Ch'ien himself

became a model emulated by later poets.

III THE CH'AN SYNTHESIS

The Threefold Process of Enlightenment (29)

Building upon both the indigenous and imported

traditions, Chinese Buddhists gradually adapted

doctrines to their own cultural context, in accord

with Buddhism's long-standing emphasis on upaaya or

pragmatic adaptability. The Ch'an school is

particularly noteworthy for its expansion of

traditions, as well as its infusion of Taoist

elements. The result was a creative synthesis

representing

────────────

(28) Translated by Charles Wei-hsun Fu and Sandra

A.Wawrytko.

P.359

the ultimate sinification of Buddhist philosophy and

practice.

The same synthesizing current is evidenced in

the evolution of poetic forms within Ch'an practice.

Shin'ichi Hisamatsu has stated that verse (ge or ju)

was the primal form of Ch'an literature:

Sometimes this verse was metrical, with

conventional rhymes and tones, and sometimes it

was completely free of formality. Zen Activity

manifest in words favored the use of concrete

and straightforward images in a literary or

poetic manner, rather than the use of analytic

or theoretical prose. Zen dialogues in verse,

for example, resulted in a unique literary

style, which was appropriate to the full

expression of Zen Activity. Poetry also has been

used since the early days of Zen as a vehicle

for transmitting the dharma from master to

disciple..in Zen lieterary expression, poetry

ranks first.(30)

In addition to the more orthodox uses of poems

to summarize essential points in sermons and serve

as manifestos of enlightenment, poems now functioned

as responses to the characteristically Ch'an kung-an

(koan) technique. Poems were particularly

appropriate retorts to the kung-an since both

expressions shared a translogical core of meaning.

When the kung-an had achieved its end of driving the

stu-

────────────

(29) Tung-shan Liang-chich's Five Levels of

Achievement (wu wei kung hsun) bears a certain

resemblance to the three-fold model proposed

here:

1. hsiang, or subjectivity

2. feng, or objectivity

3. kung, or non-action (from which action

emerges)

4. kong kung, or the interfusion between action

and non-action

5. kung kung, or the absolute freedom from both

action and non-action

See Chang Chung-yuan, Original Teachings of

Ch'an Buddhism, Selected from The Transmission

of the Lamp (New York: Pantheon Books, 1969),

pp.51-53. It should be emphasized that my model

is purely heuristic, and has no pretensions of

being exhaustive or comprehensive.

(30) Shin'ichi Hisamatsu, Zen and the Fine Arts,

Gishin Tokiwa trans.( Tokyo : Kodansha Inter-

national Ltd., 1971), pp.13-14.

P.360

dent beyond the limits of rational discourse and

mundane consciousness, poetry was apt spontaneously

to spew forth. Thus the Ch'an Master would be able

to evaluate the student's comprehension of the

incomprehensible by decoding images that might seem

bizarre, if not nonsensical, to the unawakened.

Enlightenment poems themselves also came to be

utilized as kung-an, as were the death poems of

great masters.

Different students might legitimately offer

quite different poetic responses to the same

kung-an, while simultaneously revealing the same

insight. For example, the following poems were both

equally acceptable replies to the kung-an known as

Joshu's 'Oak in the courtyard':

Joshu's 'Oak in the courtyard'

Nobody's grasped its roots.

Turned from sweet plum trees,

They pick sour pears on the hill.

-Eian

Joshu's 'Oak in the courtyard'

Handed down, yet lost in leafy branch

They miss the root. Disciple Kaku shouts

'Joshu never said a thing!'

-Monju-shindo(31)

Despite their differing contents, both poems

demonstrate that their respective authors have seen

beyond the upaayic nature of the kung-an exercise to

glimpse the transcendental truth that makes the

kung-an itself superfluous-like the ladder pushed

aside once the height has been reached or the raft

left on the shore once the river has been crossed.

For purposes of discussion, a three-fold process

can be mapped within the Ch'an poetics:

────────────

(31) Quoted by Lucien Stryk, The Penguin Book of Zen

Poetry, p.14.

P.361

Great Faith (ta-hsin) , adherence to the

doctrines of Buddhism; "Our supreme faith.. is

in the Buddha's enlightenment experience, the

substance of which he proclaimed to be that

human nature, all existence, is intrinsically

whole, flawless, omnipotent-in a word, perfect.

Without unwavering faith in this the heart of

the Buddha's teaching, it is impossible to

progress far in one's practice."

Great Doubt(ta-yi-t'uan), a turning away from

vicarious knowledge and toward self-reliance by

the introduction of a salutary skepticism;

"mass-doubt".. as to why the world should appear

so imperfect, so full of anxiety, strife, and

sufering, when in fact our deep faith tells us

exactly the opposite is true. It is a doubt

which leaves us no rest." (32) As one master

observed: "The heart is Buddha'-this is the

medicine for sichk people. 'No Heart, no

Buddha'-this is to cure people who are sick

because of the medicine." (33)

Great Death (ta-shi), the point of break-through

with the "death" or eradication of the illusory

ego-self; both faith and doubt are transcended

in that there is no one in whom that faith or

doubt can be anchored.

Ch'an practice is designed to guide the student

successively through these three levels, each

building on its predecessor. By virtue of this

strategy, practitioners viewed themselves as having

gone beyond other Buddhists in terms of the depth of

their penetration into "original nature" or the

present state of Buddhahood. Thus, they

distinguished three levels of broadening awareness:

1. the Way of the Ancient Masters, based on

reading Buddhist Scripture (and hence

restricted to the limitations of linguistic

expression);

2. Tathaagata Ch'an, Ch'an of the Perfected One

(ju-lai ch'an), or the Ch'an of Emptiness,

resulting from a non-reliance on language and

Scriptures, inclu-

────────────

(32) Cf. Zen Master Hakuun Yasutani's Lectures on

Zen, "10 The Three Essentials of Zen Practice"

in Philip Kapleau's the Three Pillars of Zen:

Practice, and Enlightenment (Boston: Beacon

Press, 1965), pp.58-60

(33) Master Nanyo, Irmgard Schloegl trans., The

Wisdom of the Zen Masters (New York: New

Directions, 1975), as quoted by p.55.

P.362

sive of Bodhidharma;

3. the Ch'an of the Patriarchs (tsu shih ch'an),

or the direct experience of enlightenment

through mind to mind transmission, expressed

not through conventional language, but rather

through either action (body language) or

silence. (34)

Only the thired level of awareness could claim to be

complete and perfect, the other two being mere means

to this ultimate end.

A certain similarity may be discerned here with

the three phases of the teaching/learning process

recognized by the T'ien-t'ai sect:

1. to sow the seed of Buddha's wisdom in the

heart

2. ripening of the seed

3. harvesting of the seed, abandonment of

all.(35)

What distinguishes the Ch'an approach, however, is

the crucial transitional second stage that directly

contradicts the initial stage. In contrast, the

T'ien-t'ai methodology nurtures the seed sown in the

level to its second stage ripening. Congruence

returns in the final stage, where the seed is

harvested, that is, removed and revealed as a mere

means to the end of enlightenment. The abandonment

noted here this extends even to doctrine itself, the

previously sown seed. The common core would seem to

be upaaya , the orthodos doctrine expounded

innumerable times by the Buddha that emphasizes

efficacy an flexibility. Both the T'ien-t'ai and

Ch'an schools thus may be seen as appropriate

responses to the cultural imperatives under which

Buddhist doctrine had to accomplish-and-hence

adapt-its message to the needs and sensitivities of

Chinese audiences.(36)

────────────

(34) this threefold divison represents a movement

initiated by the Sixth Patriarch, Hui-neng, and

his "sudden enlightenment" school. See Heinrich

Dumoulin, Zen Buddhist; A History: Vol, I India

and China, James W.Heising and Paul Knitter,

trans. (New York Macmillan publishing company,

1988)pp.155-56.

(35) Soothill, p.55a.

p.363

The Ch'an of the Ancient Masters, reliance on

the scriptures, entails cognitive literalism, the

use of abstract language. Given its intellectual

content and concepts, hsin or consciousness comes to

the fore. While it is the beginning point of

awakening, it is by no means a complete answer, only

a partial answer. In seeking to cognitively solve

the existential quandary of life and death, it

remains ever incapable of dis-solving Samsaara

within Nirvaana.

When Buddhism arrived in China, it brought in

its wake a rich intellectual tradition. Many suutras

and volumes of philosophical commentaries were

available from original Indian sources and

increasingly in Chinese translation. This immense

foundation also proved to be a source of problems,

by mistaking the words written about awakening for

the experience itself. The temptation was to limit

oneself to the intellect, to assume that

intellectual comprehension was both the beginning

and the end o f Buddhist Dharma. However Buddhism is

not merely an intellectual experience, it is first

and foremost an existential experience. To limit

oneself to intellectual understanding is premature;

it is imperative to transcend the boundaries of the

intellect, inclusive of language and logic.

Seeing the need to be rid of the intellect, the

next level of Ch'an Buddhism focussed on the Ch'an

of Voidness. Emphasis is now placed on negation, as

a reaction against an addiction to the intellectual,

over-involvement in the cognitive level.

Accordingly, people burned images of the Buddha,

used the suutras for toilet paper, and engaged in

myriad forms of bizarre behavior to demonstrate that

they were far removed from the stultifying

influences of intellect. In this sense, Chinese

practitioners were able to delve their own rich

heritage of poetic expression, with its compellingly

concrere images.

Finally, as the process continues, the

realization is made that one also must avoid

fixation at the second, nay-saying level. Only then

is the final level realized, seen either as

transcendence or the revelation of the foundation.

This Ch'an of the Patriarchs refers to the flesh and

blood practitioners of the time, who best revered

────────────

(36) An interesting resource for analysis of this

culturally-induced transformation are the

sermons attributed to Bodhidharma (Ta-mo) .

"Outline of Practice, " "Bloodstream Sermon,"

"Wake-up Sermon, " and "Breakthrough Sermon."

The adaptation of Chinese terminology to

express the technical terminology of Buddhist

doctrine is of particular note.

P.364

the Buddha not by slavish discipleship, but by bold

re-enactment of his existential awakening.

The Place of Poetry in Hui-Neng's Platform Suutra

The thought of Hui-neng (638-713), the Sixth

Patriarch, represents an important turning point in

the evloution of Ch'an. A southerner by background,

he incorporates Taoist elements into Buddhism

doctrine as a means of expressing his unique-and

culturally influenced-interpretations of Dharma. He

even is credited with attracting Taoists to his

sermons. Although tradition holds that Hui-neng was

illiterate, this obviously posed no obstacle for him

in the composition of classical five character

verse. In the Platform Suutra he used the stock

Buddhist technique of intergrating poetic exposition

into his lectures to summarize and underscore

important points. (37)

Poetry had a particularly seminal role to play

in the progress of Hui-neng's career in the Ch'an

school. His case reveals a dimension of dynamism and

poetic interplay in terms of what might be termed a

duel played out with gaathaas as "weapons." His

poetic opponent, Shen-hsiu, thus takes on the role

of presenting the first level of awareness against

which Hui-neng reacts, then building upon the

insight evoked to realize the final stage. The stage

is set by the Fifth Patriarch, Hung-jen, in the

context of a poetry contest, with transmission of

the Ch'an leadership as the prize. Although he

cautions his disciples that "deliberation is quite

unnecessary and will be of no use." Shen-hsiu's

entry betrays the hyperreflection of its author:

Our body may be compared to the Bodhi-tree;

While our heart (hsin) is a mirror bright;

Carefully we cleanse and watch them hour by

hour,

And let no dust collect upon them.

────────────

(37) Passages quoted here are from Suutra Spoken by

the Sixth patriarch, Wong Mou-lan trans., rev.

Dwight goddard, included in Vol.I of Suutras

and Scriptures, pp.337-446.

P.365

Certainly these lines demonstrate that Shen-hsiu has

learned his lessons well. Shen-hsiu was in fact

Hung-jen's star pupil and assumed heir apparent.

Unfortunately, as Hui-neng recognized, there is

nothing more than intellectual awareness reflected

here, as if he merely enjoyed a dream of awakening.

Hui-neng, by contrast, was already half-aroused

from his slumbers and asked someone to write out the

following retort:

By no means is Bodhi a kind of tree,

Nor is the bright reflecting mind (hsin), a

case of mirrors.

Since mind is emptiness,

Where can dust collect?

Typical of the second stage, these lines focus on

negation, pointing out the error of the previous

poem. While the Fifth Patriarch immediately sensed

the potential they revealed, there was one more

stage to be realized.

Following transmission of the Dharma from the

Fifth patriarch, Hui-neng was fully awakened.(38)

Although we have no gaathaa as documentation, we do

have his poetically-phrased reponse to the Fifth

Patriarch's offer to ferry him across a river as he

left the monastery:

(So long as I was) under illusion, I was

dependent on you to get me across, but now it is

different--since I am now enlightened, it is

only right for me to cross the sea of birth and

death by my own effort to realize my own

self-nature (tse-hsing).

Later, after hearing the gaathaa of Ch'an Master

Wo-lun vaunting his self-proclaimed enlightenment,

Hui-neng composed these lines:

Hui-neng has no special aptitude;

He does not cut off any thoughts.

────────────

(38) The text reads: "Hui-neng yen hsia ta wu."

Previously Hui-neng had described his response

to hearing the Diamond Suutra as "hsin chi k'ai

wu."

P.366

His mind responds to all situatins.

In what way can the Bodhi tree grow? (39)

Hui-neng went on to develop the concept of the

original nature with greater clarity than had

hitherto been applied. His reference to wu-hsin (no

mind) displays on obvious similarity to the concepts

of Taoism. The use of the qualifying term wu

fulfills the same function for hsin that Lao Tzu

accomplishes for wei. That is, rather than being a

denial or negation, it represents a more profound

transcendence. Your original nature is always

present, like enlightenment; it is tzu-jan, natural

spontaneity. The subtle change of focus wrought by

Hui-neng moves us from the Taoist emphasis on

methodology (wu-wei as non-interference with the

working of Tao) to existential awareness, which is

more appropriate to Buddhism.

Hsin represents not simply one's intellectual

center, but the way of dealing with the world that

relies on consciousness and the comparatively weak

tools of language and logic. When these are

recognized as a potential trap, one is led to the

second stage of denial, pu-hsin, really a denial of

our self-restriction to consciousness. However, it

is impossible do this literally. Instead, we need to

cultivate the mind of no-mind at the third level,

which is the Buddha mind. What we must rid ourselves

of is not sin, but attachment to artificial

limitations. In a sense, then, we are excavating the

underlying foundation. It is a kind of homecoming, a

return to Tao, a return to one's original mind. This

also grows out of the transmission Hui-neng received

from the Fifth Patriarch to avoid attachment, which

Hui-neng further developed as non-abiding (wu-chu).

This translates into an avoidance of fixation on

concepts, words, or doctrines, whether positively or

negatively propounded. It constitutes teaching by

non-teaching, which thus avoids both the dependency

of the first level (Great Faith) and the more subtle

dependency on independence (Great Doubt). So it has

been said, "the Buddha taught for forty-nine years,

but no word was spoken."

────────────

(39) As quoted by Wu, p.81. wo-lun's poem, also

cited by Wu, was:

Wo-lun possesses a special aptitude:

He can cut off all thoughts.

No situation can stir his mind.

The Bodhi tree grows daily in him.

P.367

Ch'an Master Pai-chang Huai-hai

Pai-chang's ( 749-814 ) three level continuum of

"the incomplete and the complete teaching" seems to

reflect the same experiential process of awakening.

Although Pai-chang does not use poetry per se, his

prose is permeated with poetic images that engage

the reader in a trans-intellectual mode of

comprehension:

1."The way of two vehicles" (Theravaada Buddhism)

concerns the monks who diligently practice

Buddhist discipline in a meditational

lifestyle. While this is recognized as "the

elementary good," it is also criticized for

"obstructing Buddha's light" and "shedding

Buddha's blood," The problem here is that the

practitioner has taken it all too seriously,

and views Buddhism from too narrow a

perspective. It is the way of "one who is fond

of the raft [that is, the doctrine] and will

not give it up," which constitutes a kind of

grasping when in fact all forms of grasping

are to be exorcised. It is, in effect, and

attachment to non-attachment.

2." The half-word teaching " is an improvement

over these well-motivated errors, for there is

neither grasping nor dwelling in non-

attachment. Yet even here we have only "the

intermediate good." The fatal flaw resides in

"meditation sickness..the bondage of the

bodhisattvas." By this is meant an

isolationism in which one is so intent on

/addicted to meditational practice that the

rest of the world ceases to exist. This is an

artificial, even escapist, approach amounting

to wisdom bereft of compassion. Only con-

summate wisdom allows for the return to

in-the-world experience without degeneration

to being of-the-world.

3." The full-word teaching " alone avoids all of

the above pitfalls. Thus it is deemed "the

final good" in which there is no attempt to

understand or make sense of not dwelling in

non-attachment. One is then able to re-enter

the world with a combination of wisdom and

compassion.The extremes of over-intellectuali-

zing and anti-intellectualization are both

avoided.

This same three-fold process is reflected in the

poetic expressions of Ch'an practitioners. In each

case we can see a re-enactment of " a deer leaping

three

P.368

times and getting out of the net" to become "an

enlightened one beyond confinement."(40) Most

especially, this signals an end to self-confinement:

To say the present mirror awareness is one's own

Buddha is words of measurement, words of

calculation-it is like the crying of a jackal.

This is still being stuck as in glue at the

gate, Originally you did not acknowledge that

innate knowing and awareness are your own

Buddha, and went running elsewhere to seek

Buddha. So you needed a teacher to tell you

about innate knowing and awareness as a medicine

to cure this disease of hastily seeking outside.

Once you no longer seek outwardly, the disease

is cured and it is necessary to remove the

medicine. If you cling fixedly to innate knowing

awareness [level two; the Ch'an of Emptiness],

this is a disease of meditation. Such is a

thoroughgoing disciple; like water turned to

ice, all the ice is water, but it can hardly be

expected to quench thirst.(41)

The reference to stagnation at the gate is

interesting by way of comparison to Lao Tzu's

reference to "The gateway to infinite wonders" in

the final line of the Tao Te Ching's opening

chapter.

Hsiang-yen Chih-hsien

In the case of Hsiang-yen (p.898), we see a

poetically documented progression through the three

stages of enlightenment. (42) What is particularly

important here is the implication that his main

obstacle seems to be his own brilliant intellect and

his impressive scholarship. Master Tokusan makes

this point very clearly in the Mumonkan: "However

deep your knowledge of the scriptures, it is no more

than a strand of hair in the vastness of space;

however important seeming your worldly experience,

it is but a drop of water in a deep ravine." (43)

────────────

(40) Pai-chang, p.31.

(41) Pai-chang, p.34.

(42) The subsequent discussion of Hsiang-yen is

derived from Chang Chung-yuan's translation,

Original Teachings of Ch'an Buddhism, pp.

189-91, 219-20.

P.369

The original catalyst for Hsiang-yen's extended

enlightenment experience came in form of a very

popular kung-an with which he was confronted by

Ch'an master Kuei-shan Ling-yu: "what was your

original face before your parents gave you birth?"

At a loss as to how to reply, Hsiang-yen suddenly

realized the futility of his abstract learning and

exclaimed "There is no hunger which can be satisfied

by pictures of food painted on paper!" Thus, his

"hunger" for enlightenment remained unsatiated

despite his having read numerous texts describing

it. Vowing to abandon his studies of Buddhism, he

burned his notes and left the monastery.

Much later, while living a quiet life of

seclusion, the seed planted by Master Kuei-shan

began to sprout. As he was weeding his garden,

spontaneously Hsiang-yen burst into laughter upon

hearing the sound of a dislodged rock hitting a

piece if bamboo. He composed a gaathaa to

commemorate his break-through:

With one stroke, all previous knowledge is

forgotten.

No cultivation is needed for this.

This occurrence reveals the ancient way.

And is free from the track of quiescence.

No trace is left anywhere.

Whatever I hear and see does not conform to

rules.

All those who are enlightened.

Proclaim this to be the greatest action.

These lines indicate that Hsiang-yen indeed has

completely let go of his misguided fixation on mere

scholarship, something he was unable to accomplish

by simply burning his notes. Being instantaneous,

his break-through required no (conscious)

cultivation. On the contrary, it involved what Chang

Chung-Yuan refers to as "the cultivation of

non-cultivation." Nonetheless, there is an air of

verbal pretentiousness about these lines, betraying

a dissonance with consummate Ch'an. The poet is,

perhaps, too eloquen t and still too attached to his

intellectual acumen. Hence, he boldly claims to have

revealed the "ancient way" and to have freed himself

from "the track of quiescence." Conformity to mere

rules is disavowed, and he

────────────

(43) Tokusan as quoted by Lucien Stryk in his

preface to Zen Poems of China and Japan,

p.vlviii.

P.370

ranks himself among the enokghtened in his closing

proclamation.

Learning of Hsiang-yen's experience, a fellow

monk. Yang-shan Hui-chi (807-883), went to him to

verify Hsiang-yen's enlightemnent. After hearing the

above gaathaa he relegated it to the lowest level,

and raised a challenge to Hsiang-yen: "Hereing you

followed the sayings of the ancient masters. If you

have really been awakened, speak from your own

experience." In response Hsiang-yen composed a

second gaathaa:

My poverty of last year was not real poverty.

This year it is want indeed.

In last year's poverty there was room, for a

piercing gimlet.

In this year's poverty even the gimlet is no

more.

These lines include a recognition of past error on

Hsiang-yen's part, an admission that he had

misjudged his situation. The previous sprout of

wisdom now displays a bud. The reference to

"poverty" connotes detachment from artificiality and

superficiality, and is consistent with the negative

formulation of the second level reflected in Great

Doubt. The "piercing gimlet"symbolizes lingering

attachment, which he now believes he has removed.

Note that this poem is both shorter than the first

and more simply stated.

Yang-shan acknowledged this to be an improvement

over the first effort, yet still found it somewhat

lacking. He dismissed it with the remark. "You may

have the Ch'an of Tathaagata, but as for the Ch'an

of the Patriarchs, you have not even dreamed of

it." In other words, Hsiang-yen is adrift on the

sea of voidness, and has yet to land on the

opposite shore. Inspired by this critique,

Hsiang-yen immediately retorted:

I have my secret.

I look at you with twinkling eye.

If you do not understand this.

Do not call yourself a monk.

In this briefest and most vague of the three

gaathaas Hsiang-yen has finally demon-

P.371

strated that he has arrived at the deepest level of

awareness. The bud has burst into full bloom Unlike

the others, it asserts no claims of awakening. It

makes no attempt at either description or

symbolization,but simply presents a phenomenological

exposition of the present moment (being-here-now).

The sentiment it contains runs parallel to Lao Tzu's

lines "Whoever knows does not speak;/Whoever speaks

does not know" (Tao Te Ching, chapter 56). Yang-shan

responded approvingly, " I rejoice that brother

Hsiang-yen has grasped the Ch'an of the Patriarchs."

The poetic expressions, then, become a series of

vehicles for enriching and ultimately consummating

the original glimmering of enlightenment. At first

Hsiang-yen cannot resist the temptation to expound

on his experience in stereotypically Ch'an jargon,

displaying a misguided conformity to non-conformist

expressions. The remonstrance of his fellow monk

forces him to reconsider, and his response is

accordingly less flamboyant. However, only the final

poem shows that he has exorcised the demons of lan

guage and conceptualization, as he fully recognizes

the futility of verbalizing enlightenment.

Enlightenment is for him no longer an object of

intellect but rather a fact of being. The Ch'an

strategy behind this process has been described as

follows:

The Zen experience is centripetal, the artist's

contemplation of subject sometimes referred to

as 'mind-pointing'. The disciple in an early

stage of discipline is asked to point the mind

at (meditate upon) an object, say a bowl of

water. At first, he is quite naturally inclined

to metaphorize, expand, rise imaginatively from

water to lake, sea, clouds, rain. Natural

perhaps, but just the kind of 'mentalization'

Zen masters caution against. The disciple is

instructed to continue until it is possible to

remain strictly with the object, penetrating

more deeply, no longer looking bold it but, the

Sixth Patriarch Hui-neng maintained essential,

bold it..so close an identification with the

object that the unstable mentalizing self

disappears.(44)

────────────

(44) Lucien Stryk, The penguin Book of Zen Poetry,

p.23.

P.372

IV. AN EPISTEMOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE THREEFOLD

EXPERIENCE OF AWAKENING:THE CASE OF CH'ING-YUAN

WEI-HSIN

To explore this process more closely, let us

consider antoher set of enlightenment poems, perhaps

the most famous of all, illustrating the dawning of

Ch'an awareness for Ch'ing-yuan Wei-hsin. His three

stage process of understanding has often been quoted

in explications of Ch'an practice:

Thirty years ago, before I began the study of

Zen, I said, 'Mountains are mountains, waters

are waters.'

After I got an insight into the truth of Zen

through the instruction of a good master, I

said, "mountains are not mountains, water are

not water.'

But now, having attained the abode of final rest

[that is, Awakening], I say, 'Mountains are

really mountains, water are really waters'(45)

There is much of philosophical significance within

these unpretentious lines and their mundane images.

I. 'Mountains are mountains, waters are waters.'

This is the way things are in the world, in

terms of our mundane perception, the keynotes of

which are differentiation, affirmation, and

objectification. This level of consciousness is

associated with the "deaf worldling" by Pai Chang.

(46) In terms of Nietzsche's Three Metamorphoses

(Thus Spoke Zarathustra), the image is that of the

camel, bearing the burden of social conditioning, as

characterized by Great Faith.

These simple-and simplistic-declarative state-

ments of is-ness issue from the

────────────

(45) Quoted by Abe Masao in his Zen and Western

Thought, edited by William R.La-Fleur

(University of Hawaii Press, 1989), p.4. Masao

goes on to elucidate the epistemological

significance, of these lines in the remainder

of that chapter entitled "Zen Is Not a

Philosophy, but.." (pp.5-18). My own discussin

here is both a restatement and an elaboration

of his analysis.

(46) Pai-Chang, p.29.

P.373

viewpoint of a subject (1) encountering an object

(the other). It thereby presupposes a duality, along

with its attendant categories of objectivity and

subjectivity. Most importantly, these distinctions

posit the ego-self as center and focal point. At

this rudimentary level, hsin or consciousness

engages in (ultimately futile) wei activity, seeking

to control and manipulate what is perceived as the

other.

In turn, the I or ego-self perpetrates the

subject/object duality of questioner (1) as

distinguished from that which is questioned

(myself). Hence arises the eternal and central query

of western philosophy concerning self-identity,

epitomized by the Cartesian meditations. The

subjective (inquiring) Self may be identified with

the Tree Self discussed in the Upanisads as the

aatman. Since it is impossible to grasp this aatman,

the ultimate result of the attempt to do so is

self-estrangement and anxiety. In a generalized

sense, the Buddha termed this dukkha, while modern

psychotherapy has referred to it as the Existential

Vacuum (k'ung k'ung tung tung). As Abe observes:"The

ego-self, split at the root into subject and object,

is forever dangling over a bottomless abyss, unable

to gain any footing." (47)

The existential realization of the unattainabi-

lity of the True Self constitutes an opaque wall

blocking the path of enlightenment. Only by

destroying the ego-self can no-self or, more

precisely, no-ego-self, emerge, thereby putting an

end to the false subject/object duality. The

possibility of realization, and the impossibility of

attainment, also underscores the present fact of

enlightenment as an awakening to a pre-existing

reality rather than an accomplishment to be

achieved.

II 'Mountains are not mountains, waters are not

waters'

The keynote at this stage is the denial of

differentiation, affirmation, and objectification,

that is a total contradiction of the preceding stage

and can be characterized as nihilistic. It

encompasses the an-aatman and pu-wei of Taoism as

well as Hui-neng's pu-hsin, in direct opposition to

the previous stage. For Nietzsche, it corresponds to

the nay-saying rebellious lion, representing the

common chord of destruction-Great Doubt.

However, inherent in this negation is a new

differentiation, an ultimately misguided

polarization between differentiation and lack of

differentiation. This is a

────────────

(47) Abe, pp.6-7.

P.374

crucial and necessary transitional phase that

represents a two-edged Zen sword that may both kill

and save. On the one hand, it represents a solution

to the fundamental problematic of stage one, rooted

in existential awareness, by uprooting the ego-self.

The result of this obliteration is detachment, an

ebbing of anxiety, and tranquility. On the other

hand it contains an implicit danger of fixation on

no-self. Paralleling Pai chang's warning against

" meditation sickness, " it includes the risk

factor of wallowing in non-attachment, leading to

indifference and lack of compassion as negativity

predominates. Latent within it Abe identifies a

"hidden form of anxiety".

Thus, it also represents an obstacle on the

enlightenment path, but a much more subtle obstacle,

hiding is liabilities by its transparency. That is

to say, unlike the opaque wall presented by the

ego-self that must be broken through in going from

the first to the second stage, this wall deludes us

into thinking we already have achieved our

objective, for we are allowed to glimpse the goal.

The danger is that we will mistake seeing

enlightenment for being enlightened, just as

Hsiang-yen mistakingly assumed his poverty was

"real" poverty, unlike his original error. The

common flaw in both the first and second stages is a

lingering objectification-first in terms of an

ego-self and then as its denial, a no-self. Even the

no-self is ascribed the properties of

unattainability or emptiness that perpetuate the

myth of thing-ness. Furthermore, this thing

continues to be perceived as needing to acquire

enlightenment, creating a gulf between that which

experiences realization and that which is to be

realized. At this point, as Abe puts it, Realization

A has been grasped: 'I, as the True Self, am empty,

unattainable.' What remains, however, is an even

more radical step: "Emptiness must empty itself."

III 'Mountains are really mountains, waters are

really waters.'

Stage three brings us full circle, in a kind of

Taoist returning with a difference. Differentiation

emerges at the negation of no differentiation in a

negation of negation, or double negative. Mutual

cancellation brings about absolute affirmation.

This is the emptying of emptiness giving rise to

fullness; an overcoming of the very overcoming

process, a liberation from the liberation

imperative. All attachments,even to non-attachment,

are now effectively removed, as are the last

P.375

shreds of dukkha. Nietzsche identifies this as the

self-forgetting innocence of the child, who says

'yes' to life. Or, as stated by Master Lin-chi,

"When hungry, I eat; when tired, I sleep. Fools

laugh at me. The wise understand." (48) It signals

the Great Death of the remaining remnants of

ego-self/non-ego-self.

In the threefold process of the negation of

ego-self followed by the negation of no-self the

true and ever unattainable true self is at long last

realized. This is wu-hisn, no-mind, the Middle Way

between former polarities. It is not a solution or

resolution of the problem of self, but rather its

dis-solution and dis-appearance. The walls-both

opaque and transparent-have now been dis-solved as

well. Abe speaks here of Realization B: 'Emptiness,

the Unattainable, itself is the True Self.'

Objectification is at an end, and realization

merges with the realizer. In coming home to our

original nature we also realize that the whole

world, represented by the mountains and waters, is

home.

The above discussion illustrates the multitude

of uses to which poetry was put as a means to the

end of enlightenment. Building on Indian sources,

and enriched by Chinese poetic and Taoist

traditions, Ch'an poetics evolved into a powerful

upaayic tool. Chang Chung-yuan's pronouncement that

"pure serenification..constitutes the highest

achievement of Chinese poets, to whom ontological

and poetic experience are one" is hereby abundantly

vindicated.(49)

────────────

(48) Lin-chi (Rinzai), as quoted by Schloegl, p.79.

(49) Chang Chung-yuan, Creativity and Taoism, p.174

p.376

┌─────────────────────────┐

│CULTIVATION PROCESSES │HUI-NENG │

│UNDERLYING SUDDEN │unclouding the mind-Fifth│

│ │Patriarch │

│ENLIGHTENMENT │ │

│THROUGH THE STIMULUS │ │

│OF THE KUNG-AN │ │

│─────────────────────────┤

│THE WAY OF THE ANCIENT │Our body may be compared │

│─────────── │to the Bodhi-tree; │

│MASTER │ │

│─── │ │

│reliance on the scrip- │While our hear(hsin) is a│

│tures │mirror bright; │

│COGNITIVE LITERALISM: │ │

│ABSTRACT LANGUAGE, │Carefully we cleanse and │

│INTELLECTUAL CONTENT │watch them hour by hour, │

│AND CONCEPTS │And let no dust collect │

│ │upon them. │

│GREAT FAITH: │-Shen-hsiu │

│THE MIND IS THE BUDDHA │ │

│─────────────────────────┤

│THE CH'AN OF │By no means is Bodhi a │

│────── │kind of tree, │

│TATHAGATA/VOIDNESS │Nor is the bright │

│───────── │reflecting mind(hsin), │

│burning the Scriptures │a case of mirrors. │

│DISTRUST OF LANGUAGE │Since mind is emptiness, │

│AS INADEQUATE TO CONVEY│Where can dust collect? │

│REALITY GREAT DOUBT: │-Hui-neng │

│NON MIND, NO BUDDHA │ │

│─────────────────────────┤

│THE CH'AN OF THE │(So long as I was) under │

│──────── │illusion, I was dependent│

│PATRIARCHS transcend- │on you to get me across, │

│───── │but now it is different..│

│ing the Scripture, │since I am now enlighten │

│individual spontaneity │-ed, it is only right for│

│BEING-HERE-NOW: │me to cross the sea of │

│ACTUAL EXPERIENCE │birth and death by my own│

│GREAT DEATH │effort to realize my own │

│silence (ta-chi,great │self nature(tse-hsing). │

│potentiality) or │-Hui-neng │

│action(ta-yung, great │ │

│activity) │ │

└─────────────────────────┘

p.377

├──────────┬─────────────┐

│HSIANG YEN │CH'ING YUAN WEI-HSIN │

│What was your │ │

│original face before│ │

│your parents gave │ │

│you birth? │ │

├──────────┼─────────────┤

│With one stroke,all │Thirty years ago, before I│

│previous knownledge │began the study of Zen, I │

│is forgotten. │said, "Mountains are │

│No cultivation is │mountains, waters are │

│needed for this. │waters." │

│This occurrence │ │

│reveals the ancient │ │

│way. │ │

│And is free from the│ │

│track of quiescence.│ │

│No trace is left │ │

│anywhere. │ │

│Whatever I hear and │ │

│see does not conform│ │

│to rules. │ │

│All those who are │ │

│enlightened │ │

│Proclaim this to be │ │

│the greatest action.│ │

├──────────┼─────────────┼

│My poverty of last │After I got an insight into

│year was not real │the truth of Zen through │

│poverty. │the instruction of a good │

│This year it is want│master, I said, "Mountains│

│indeed. │are not mountains, waters │

│In last year's │are not waters." │

│poverty there was │ │

│rooms,for a piercing│ │

│gimlet. │ │

│In this year's │ │

│poverty even the │ │

│gimlet is no more. │ │

├──────────┼─────────────┤

│I have my secret. │But now, having attained │

│I look at you with │the abode of final rest │

│twinkling eye.If you│[that is,Awakening],I say,│

│do not understand │"Mountains are really │

│this, Do not call │mountains, waters are │

│yourself a monk. │really waters." │

│ │ │

└──────────┴─────────────┘

p.378

提要

　　所有神秘主义传统的诗人修道者早就知道，诗的形式适

于传达不可言诠的终极真实或境界。诗所表现的意义微妙性

与起兴性远较散文为高。诗的无止境开放性所发挥的作用就

如同禅画一样，能让听众与原作者，尤其原艺术家，共享余

韵。这样，艺术欣赏就转化成为默思瞑想了。

　　本文专就禅宗诗偈所扮演的重要角色而予以讨论。简论

早期佛教圣典的诗偈要素之后，我将探讨曾影响过中国佛教

演进，而特以诗体表现哲学思想的中国本土传统。然后，我

将借用禅悟三层历程所彰显的诗偈，方便善巧的应用实例，

来讨论禅宗之中不同资源的创造性汇合。

本文开头一段，描述了转迷开悟的诗作之道，专注于佛

教圣典中的诗偈功能。这里首要的一点是，要了解佛教开创

以来，诗偈在佛典之中，为何又如何能具有传达佛法的功能

。

　　本文续论道家传统的诗道先驱。一般认为中国诗歌传

统有其两大本源 -- 即儒家所强调的诗经与楚辞及其道家哲

学背景。后者又与佛教思想更接近，例如老子的道德经，刘

义庆所著世说新语中的玄学思潮，以及潜具儒家韵味的陶潜

诗等乃为明证。

　　禅的悟道的三历程，或可分视之为上古佛教袓师之道，

空性禅，与祖师禅。此一历程可在某些禅宗袓师的诗作之中

看到痕迹，包括。包括慧能，百丈怀海，与香岩智闲。我将

特就青原的著名悟道诗分析其三层的历程。经过拙文的探讨

发现：禅的诗偈是源乎于印度佛教，经由中国古诗与道家传

统的中介与丰富化，而终于演进成为一种强而有力的佛法方

便善巧。