Around the T’ang dynasty (618–906), generally speaking, three qualities were required to become a noteworthy Buddhist monk of high recognition. First, one had to be extremely pious, strictly following the Vinaya (discipline) observing all of the monastic regula. Secondly, one had to have memorized a great number of Buddhist Sutras and Shastras (treatises). Then lastly, one had to be able to understand and lecture on the Sutras demonstrating their ability to clarify difficult subjects.
While on the surface it is difficult to fault such a system, Zen proved to be skeptical of it although Zen masters were, themselves, also monk-scholars.
With the rise of Zen realization (siddhanta) in China, which had no primary interest in “words, paper, and brush”, a tension began to develop and grow between Buddhist monks who were chiefly committed to literary practices, and those who were committed to mysticism seeking to comprehend the so-called "dark principle". This principle was none other than the personal experience of Mind as a pure animative power and intelligence—hence, the idea of the "Mind—to—Mind transmission" of Zen.
Zen realization understood that a literary understanding of Buddhism through the Sutras and the commentarial literature was insufficient to trigger illumination (bodhi). More was required of the monk. He or she had to walk a transcendent path which led to a kind of Buddhist baptism or anointing (abhisheka). By this, one became truly a disciple of the Buddha who was then fit, as a genuine Bodhisattva, to become a Buddha.
Zen is dead!
Posted by: Uku | October 30, 2008 at 07:16 PM