It's the means, not the end

There is always that tendency in the West to mistake Zen for an end state rather than a means (I think I sometimes do it).  Addressing this problem I came across this list from Ruth Fuller Saskai’s paper, Zen, a Religion (Anthology of Zen, p. 111).

“Zen is a kind of nature mysticism; Zen is a kind of existentialism; Zen is a kind of mental therapy; Zen is a discipline of which blows and conundrums are used as teaching devices; Zen advocates a humble, retired mode of life, the main activity of which is the practice of meditation; Zen aims at the attainment of satori and with satori comes total knowledge and understanding; Zen is everyday life; Zen is complete freedom; the man who has attained the aim of Zen, that is, satori, is beyond law, beyond the regulations laid down for human society.”

All of the above are not entirely correct or entirely wrong.  However, they overlook the fact that Zen was a means the Bodhisattva Siddhartha discovered by which he awakened and thus made an end to suffering.  This means is dhyâna in Sanskrit or in Pali, jhâna.  In Chinese it is Ch’an.  In Japanese it is Zen.  The Buddha discovered four levels or states of dhyâna/Zen.  Quoting from the Pali Text Society’s Pali-English Dictionary it provides us a good idea of what these levels are.

“It is the technical term for a special religious experience, reached in a certain order of mental states.  It was originally divided into four such states.  These may be summarized:  1.  The mystic with his mind free from sensuous and worldly ideas, concentrates his thoughts on some special subject (for instance, the impermanence of all things).  2.  Then uplifted above attention & reasoning, he experiences joy & ease of both body and mind.  3.  Then the bliss passes away, & he becomes suffused with a sense of ease and  4.  he becomes aware of pure lucidity of mind & equanimity of heart” (p. 286).

Zen intends to reach the pure nature of true thusness (tathatâ) which according to the Sixth Patriarch Hui-neng is Buddhahood; which I hasten to add, is thoroughly unconditioned.  After reaching this sublime, enlightened state Zen has been surpassed.  The means of Zen is somewhat like constructing and using a bow drill to make a fire, the goal being a fire to keep everyone warm.  The big mistake is to believe the bow drill is the fire.

Comments

[Omar]

To take Mara as your 'unskilled states of mind' is enough.

[Omar]

That doesn't sound like the Khrisna of the Gita.

[Methexis]

http://sdhammika.blogspot.com/2009/07/buddha-meets-dark-lord.html

Let me know what you think. Are there any fallacies in the connection he makes?

I don't know Pali/Sanskrit so I thought it would be good if you verified this.

[Thezennist]

Methexis: No I haven't — please share what you have if you wish. This is from the Mahavastu which is quite interesting.

"Here at the Bodhi tree I won preeminence after seven days, woke up to enlightenment, and reached the end of the jungle and wilderness of birth, old-age and death. Here I have broken the demon [mara] who was my unskilled states of mind.  Here I have broken the Demon who was my limited personality.  Here I have broken the Demon who is the spirit of malevolence.  Here, it is done, at the foot of the Bodhi tree." 

[Methexis]

Ardent Hollingsworth have you studied yet the identity between Krishna from the Gita and Mara the Evil One?

Verse 449 from the Padhana Sutta. The verse describes Mara’s 'defeat' and reads, ‘The lute fell from the armpit of that one overcome with disappointment. Then that discouraged one disappeared there and then’. Now throughout the sutta the Buddha’s adversary is called by three names – Mara, Namuci or Kanha.

This last name can be translated as ‘Dark One’ or ‘Darky’ and of course its Sanskrit equivalent is Krishna.

Now we meet with Krishna under his alternative name of Vasudeva in the Ghata Jataka (No.454), a story very similar to the one about Krishna in the Bhagavata Purana.