The Zennist

A major presupposition of ours

Everyone who takes up the study of Buddhism—and Zen—tries to understand it based upon their presuppositions.  Few can even imagine that Buddhism will challenge many of the presuppositions that they are holding on to.  The Buddha’s teaching cannot be comprehend except as we are willing to give up our presuppositions which we have brought with us in advance of our study. 

Everyone has a lot of known and unknown presuppositions in their life’s baggage—precious items that they don’t want to toss into the trash bin of life, at least not yet—not while they still  have their youth.

I am not surprised by all this when I find people arguing that when the Buddha said to Subhuti in the Diamond Sutra “there is not the slightest dharma that can be attained” he essentially was telling Subhuti that there is no enlightenment or anuttara-samyak-sambodhi—that’s the big secret.  But that is not what the Buddha meant or taught.  And the painful truth is this: we will never know what the Buddha meant because the reason we took up the study of Buddhism and Zen is because we are nihilists at heart.  We imagine that Buddhism is the perfection of nihilism.  Nihilism is a major presupposition of ours especially in today's world.  It is difficult to admit that we are fundamentally nihilists at heart.  So then it becomes my job to confront this presupposition among others.  And it usually never works out.  And where do these people go?  To other like-minded nihilists who call themselves Buddhists.

The clearer I lay out what the Buddha taught the more aggressive are the counter assertions of my opponets.  They are really defending nihilism.  Such people are dishonest.  Yet, they deny the transcendent.  They also deny that what animates this temporal body of ours is transcendent and really who we are.  They deny rebirth and the fact that consciousness is the transmigrant.  They deny karma, in particular, that this temporal body is old karma.  They even deny the central importance of nirvana in which it then becomes trivial.  But more important, they believe in emptiness which is just another way of saying in death I will be annihilated which is attained nihilism.

Belief in an unseen order

It was William James who said that if we were to  “characterize the life of religion in the broadest and most general terms possible, one might say that it consists of the belief that there is an unseen order, and that our supreme good lies in harmoniously adjusting ourselves thereto. This belief and this adjustment are the religious attitude in the soul” (The Varieties of Religious Experience).  As far as a concise definition of religion goes, this ranks pretty high.

The reader of this blog may have figured out that James’ words are alluding to the Buddha’s teaching of the unconditioned (asaṃskṛta) which is certainly an “unseen order” that lies beyond the bounds of our conditioned world and everyday life.  The unconditioned, by the way, is also nirvana that mysterious term Western secular Buddhists are uneasy with.

Maybe I am too critical, but I believe that the West would like to toss anything religious into the dustbin of history.  This would include James’ “unseen order” which is beyond the nets of our sensory consciousness.  It would also include any religious attitude that believes a person can yoke with this unseen order—in the example of Buddhism, the unconditioned.  In fact the Buddha said, that the noble eightfold path is called the path leading to the unconditioned (S. iv. 361).

Of interest also in James’ definition of religion, is where it talks about the religious attitude of the soul (ātman) which we could say, has its compass turned towards the unseen order always trying to at least harmonize with it making incremental adjustments which in some cases might amount to a major course correction if necessary. 

Again, maybe I am being too critical, but we should not toss the idea of the soul into the dust bin along with the unseen order (i.e., religion).  It could be a dangerous if not a fatal mistake to do so.  Instead of a gentle course correction we could, instead, have to make a terrifying readjustment to get back on course, harmonizing with this beneficent unseen order.  Perhaps the alarming rise in depression is to be found in our lack of understanding of just what the soul is and its purpose.  There is certainly evidence in Buddhism that the soul or ātman has its work cut out for it.  We read in the Dhammapada, that “by the self is one purified [for] the very self (paccattam/pratyātman) is pure and impure” (165).

This unseen order seems like it is absolute justice.  In our ignorance we have our unconscious desires always granted.  It never fails.   Our soul is like a magician.  And by its power, if it is impure, we can doom ourself to countless misfortunes.  We do not yet see yet that there is a higher path leading to the unconditioned, where goodness and luminous bliss are found; where suffering is surpassed.  In this regard, we lack the means to harmonize ourself with this unseen order. 

 

Zen misunderstandings

The first serious misunderstanding in Zen that we will often face (the beginner that is) is that we assume Zen teachers are enlightened or at least act like they are enlightened in virtue of being transmitted by their teacher.  I went through this misunderstanding as did others I know.  The chances of finding an enlightened teacher is likely not going to happen unless you run into a Maitreya like teacher accidentally. 

The Zen beginner is really getting an incomplete picture of Zen.  Doing a lot of rituals and zazen including sewing your rakusu and robes reinforces that incomplete picture.  That’s okay but there is more to Zen.  Doing stuff like this is not the true aim of Zen Buddhism.

And then there is the next problem the beginner faces.  Is Dogen’s version of Zen (the organic unfolding of Buddha-nature though prolonged sitting) real Zen?  Or is Rinzai Zen the better tradition which involves koan introspection leading to, hopefully, kenshō which is the sudden intuition of pure Mind which is luminous and should not be confused with the thinking or reasoning mind?

Which ever Zen you decide to choose is critical and maybe it would be good to study the history of Zen to understand why Zen diverged into different practices.  It is also important to answer the question, which Zen fits better with the Buddha’s teaching?

But from my own perspective the best teacher in the world can only point the way and tell you, “Awaken to the pure Mind within you which is luminous, don't keep clinging to your meat body of birth — that thing eventually grows old and dies.  You haven’t got that much time.”

We are not unlike the Patagonians

Trying to understand enlightenment or kenshō (見性) in the context of modern thought is not without problems which at times I think are almost insurmountable.  We are used to finding something or understanding something that we apprehend with the senses or at least can conceive of.  But enlightenment is not a sensory thing or something we might conceive of.

It is not far from the problem the Patagonians (a tribe in S. Argentina) had, optically, seeing Darwin’s ship, The Beagle.  From what I have read, at first, only the tribal shaman could see Darwin’s ship. Eventually, the entire tribe could see the The Beagle, but only  after the shaman described Darwin’s ship to the members of the tribe using various objects they were already familiar with.  Sound strange?  I agree.

We make strong and convincing assumptions about the world we live in which in the scheme of things is quite limited in terms of perception.  We watch the sun rise and set or so we imagine.  But the sun is not really rising or setting.  The Earth is rotating around on its own axis which gives us the illusion of the rising and setting sun. We seem to be not moving at all.  In practical terms it is easier to go with the illusion and say, for example, the sun rises at 6:29am and sets at 4:55pm.

Looking at our own mind it is easier to go with what we normally have been aware of for a long time. There are thoughts arising and disappearing in front of our mind’s eye, including our psychological feelings such as anger, sadness, frustration, foreboding, bodily pleasures and pains, including our internal voice, and mental images.  But the Buddha is asking us to see our true nature or the same pure Mind.  What the heck is that?  There is nothing between our ears like that or so we believe. 

At this point we are not unlike the Patagonians. And the Buddha is not unlike the shaman who uses various skillful means to help us see the nature we are unable to see.  But given our arrogance and smugness many of us are not likely to accept the Buddha’s words.  Many lack respect for teachings such as these. Who is going to believe that in the 4th dhyāna we see pure Mind which  suffuses our entire body?  But like The Beagle, pure Mind is there in all of its glory. 

 

 

 

Our tiny thought bubbles

From where our thoughts actually arise and disappear we have no knowledge.  We sort of live in-between the birth and disappearance of our thoughts.  This is our ‘life’.  It is somewhat like bubbles forming at the base of a small waterfall which eventually burst.  Watching the bubbles burst we already know that the underlying substance of all these bubbles is water.  But what is the substance of these tiny thought bubbles of ours? 

During seated meditation, carefully watching our thoughts arise and eventually disappear, what are they composed of which does not arise or disappear?  I am sure we can make some pretty good guesses given enough time.  But this is not what Zen is all about.  We, ourselves, must enter into this mysterious substance from which our thoughts arise and disappear into.  Clever word answers will not do.

This is a life and death matter.  If we gain access to this mysterious underlying substance we are free from having to follow this illusory world with its suffering; believing foolishly  that it will lead us to some kind of paradise instead of just going around in a big circle of rebirth that is more like Nietzsche’s eternal recurrence.

“Let us think this thought in its most terrible form; existence as it is, without meaning or aim, yet recurring inevitably without any finale of nothingness: “the eternal recurrence.” This is the most extreme form of nihilism: the nothing (the "meaningless") eternally!” ( WP, 55)

But being smug moderns we shrug this off.  “This is not important,” we say.  Science is our savior, not the Buddha’s teaching.  But then science still doesn’t know what the universe is made of (certainly not Swiss cheese).  Science is in the dark like we are.  They are still guessing although they won’t admit it.  They have been wrong before and this is not likely to change.  So meanwhile it would be wise to pay attention to our thought bubble when it bursts. What do you see?