Zen koans, a kind of Kabuki theater

Koans, while they are certainly puzzling, become less so the more one becomes familiar with the essence of Buddhism.  Ultimately, koans are based on Mind so that to understand a koan means, to some degree, we have penetrated the dark veil of phenomenality, including even our mental conceptions, enough to catch a glimpse of Mind in all of its luminosity.  In this regard, koans don’t have, strictly speaking, answers.  They are more like tests.  If we have any connection with Mind, we can clearly see upon what basis the koan is composed.  It becomes transparent, in other words.  So we pass the test.

 

In 1916 a book was published in Japan entitled, Gendai Sôjizen Hyôron (“A Critique of Present-day Pseudo-Zen”).  It created, to say the least, a firestorm.  It revealed two hundred and eighty-one koans with their answers that had been secretly passed on from teacher to student in the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism for many generations.  One can think of this as being something akin to Zen’s own version of Kabuki theater for the reason the use of the koan between teacher and student had become a ritualized performance like Kabuki.  Zen, you might say, was spiritually dead.

 

The author of Gendai Sôjizen Hyôron wished to remain anonymous.  His book revealed, for one thing, that he had a great deal of knowledge about the extant koan training system having himself completed it, which meant that he was no mere beginner.  Yoel Hoffmann, who translated the koans with answers to the Gendai Sôizen Hyôron under the title, The Sound of the One Hand, had this to say about the author’s reasons for publishing the Gendai Sôjizen Hyôron.

 

   “The author considered contemporary Zen masters (those of the end of the Meiji and the beginning of the Taishô era) and most of their followers to be fakes, and he declared himself determined to reveal their “true face.”  He added that it was useless to look for enlightenment among the Zen masters for they were nothing but “envoys of the devil clad in a monk’s robe.”  He declared that his real masters were the Chinese Zen masters of the past, such as Rinzai, Chûhô, Bassui, and Takusui.  In this way, he was suggesting that he accepted the Chinese koans as “Zen teaching” but rejected both the Japanese koans and the answers to the Chinese koans composed by Hakuin and his disciples.  In his attacks on master and novices of his time, the author avoided revealing their real names.  He justified this restraint by his desire to prevent sensationalism, but it is clear he wished to hide his own identity.

   The author declared that his aim in revealing the secrets of Zen was to destroy the position of the “masters” of his time.  From now on, he said, anyone who read his books would know no less that [sic] the Zen masters—that is, he would be able to speak and act “Zen.”  There for, anyone could become a Zen master.  The author also presented his own viewpoint on questions of Buddhist doctrine:  generally speaking, he believed that the essence of Buddhist teaching is “deliverance from the cycle of like and death” and “insight into one’s true nature.”  He thought that the koan system of “Hakuin-Zen,” as revealed in this book and as employed by Zen masters, did not satisfactorily describe the essence of Buddhism” (pp. 42–43).

 

If he were still alive, I don’t believe the author of the Gendai Sôjizen Hyôron would disagree with me when I say that the essence of Buddhism is hardly being taught in today’s typical Zen center.  In fact, it is easy to ignore the 'essence' and cling, instead, to appearances so that Zen becomes stylized like Kabuki theater.  After all, our ordinary life is dedicated to maintaining elaborate appearances, so why shouldn't this kind of life eventually infect Zen and completely corrupt it?  

 

 

Comments

[Mark Hamill]

What you are basically saying, based on the writings of an anonymous author, whom you never talked to, much less met, is that every zen temple or monastery in Japan today is corrupt. That there is not one genuine zen teacher alive (except yourself of course) teaching the true dharma.

Interesting.

It reminds me of some german pre-WW2 authors proclaiming how inferior and corrupt the african race was due to their dark complexion and life style that seemed to be based on superstition and ignorance. These authors had never visited Africa. They had only read some books by german explorers in kongo and close by nations and thus condemned an entire race based on theoretical assumptions.

You write some good articles on the subject of Zen but also some very bad.

However clean and pure you keep trying to tell your readers, your white sheet of Zen is, the black ink stains on it doesnt fool those with eyes to see.

[BuddhaFrog]

For what it's worth, my sense is that Zen is occult in the same way as the Western Mystery Tradions. You can read the answers/rituals/etc. and have no idea what the experience was about unless you worked through it with someone that understood the essence and was able to convey that to you.

I can't say I have any idea of what is taught in most Zen centers, because I don't attend most Zen centers :-)