During the Tang dynasty, the foreign, import religion, Buddhism, became officially recognized and patronized by the imperial courts. Shen Xiu, the face of Buddhism for a time and founder of what is know historically as the Northern School of Zen, was strongly supported by aristocrats and nobility. In the shadow of of this public respendlence, however, another breed of Buddhism began to grow, and, very appropriately, from the unlikeliest of sources. Hui Neng, an illiterate fuel-wood peddler, and his energetic pupil Shen Hui began challenging the meaning and doctrines of prevailing Buddhist beliefs and practices by their emphasis on the religious significane of mundane, human experiences. According to this radical strand of thought, formal practices such as meditaiton and absolute quietude were unnescessary, even troublesome , auxiliaries to the perfectly adequate activities of everyday life in realizing one's Buddha-nature. The renowned sinologist Wing-tsit Chan summarizes the nature of Hui Neng and Shen Hui's poistion, named the Southern School (what would prevail as the as the orthodox Chan or Zen school), in the following way:
"Everything other than the cultivation of the mind, such as reading scriptures, making offerings to the Buddha, reciting His name, joining the monastic order, are regarded as unnescessary. The total effect is to minimize, if not to wipe out, the whole Buddhist organziation, creed, and literature and to reduce Buddhism to a concern with one's mind alone" (A Source Book 428)
Just how was this minimization brought about? The history is complex and the methods are sundry, but the prinicple is singular: to attach oneself to a master who will disabuse you of all attempts to attain Buddhahood. This seems perfectly counter-intuitive and counter-productive. It is. But because the Southern School believed that what was necessary for enlightenement was a stripping down of Buddhist practices, the methods tended to seem wildely irreligious and irreverent. This was meant to free the mind from the bonds of desire and logic in pursuing Buddhist ideals. A whole library of literary works cropped up documenting the surreal teachings and strange encounters between Zen masters and their pupils. Here is a typically beffudling example from the classic the Blue Cliff Record (碧巖錄)(1125CE). These short, pithy accounts are known as gong an (koan). They were purported to have lead many a lucky pupil to enlightenment:
"Nansen told Joshu what had happened, and asked him for his view. Joshu thereupon took his sandals, put them upon his head and went away. Nansen said, 'If you had been there, I could have spared the cat.'"
Where is the doctrine? Where is the logic?... Exactly.
Readings:
(1) Platform Sutra (see ANGEL)
(2) Records of the Teachings of Master Yi Xuan (see ANGEL)
Questions:
(1) What purpose do you see obsurdity having in religious experience?
(2) What is the logic of irrationality?
(3) How would this kind of teaching change the image of a sacred, religious figure like the Buddha?
Links:
*Blue Cliff Record , The Gateless Gate , Book of Equanimity
*A Finger Pointing to the Moon (Bruce Lee)
*Steve Carrell babbling
Secondary sources:
* Wing-Tsit Chan. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1963.
* Bill Porter. A Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits. Mercury House, 2009.
* Edward Burger's documentaries on Buddhist hermits
