Selling seated meditation ignoring kenshō

Zen master Dahui (1089–1163) fought against the pernicious view that began to grow in the Zen of his time called silent illumination which involved just sitting crosslegged keeping the back ramrod straight as if posture alone had some kind of magical power.  Dahui considered silent illumination to be heretical insofar as its goal amounted to quietism in which the adept tries to become empty and still.  For these quietists, this was enlightenment. 

Those who defended this kind of Zen believed that enlightenment or bodhi was only a conceptual construct.  For this type of Zennist, realistically, what could be achieved was the condition of quietude which could be learned by almost anyone.  It just required the daily practice of sitting still for long periods of time. 

Such Zen is represented, today, by the Japanese Sōtō tradition which originally was developed in China and known as the Caodong tradition. This Zen was more of a response, if not a counter to traditional Zen and the hard work required of actually trying to realize one’s true nature which comes in a flash of intuition.

Zen master Dahui's efforts to maintain traditional Zen in the face of this new, popular approach to Zen which was largely quietist, proved difficult.  The quietist tradition of just sitting has, over the years, made Zen’s traditional four slogans seem like a useless relic of the past.

教外別傳 Kyōge betsuden

A special transmission outside the teaching;

不立文字 Furyū monji

Do not depend upon written words;

直指人心 Jikishi ninshin

Directly point to the human mind;

見性成佛 Kenshō jōbutsu

Intuit your nature and become Buddha.

A person who takes up the study of Zen should at least understand that Zen is supposed to culminate in sudden enlightenment.  Only then is Zen’s mysterious secret revealed which tells the adept what exactly was transmitted by the Buddha and, subsequently, to others in a long line.

Zen, presently, seems to be already on its last leg.  It has spent too many years selling seated meditation ignoring the fourth slogan, kenshō 見性 upon which the Mind to Mind transmission is based.

Comments

[TheZennist]

D: You don't need a teacher to depend upon. If fact, those who unlock the secret of Zen might go through a couple of teachers finding them to be somewhat narcissistic always looking for a supply of students. The good student does not neglect paṭisallānaṃ which means seclusion. Bodhidharma meditated in a cave that went 23 feet back. I meditated in an old mine (called an 'adit') that went 43 feet back inside some remote hill between Knights Ferry and Copperopolis in California. Try meditating in seclusion for a few days.

[Coyote]

Can someone who does not have a teacher realize the “mysterious secret” on their own? I often wonder if this is possible, given that the Buddha (according to canon) achieved enlightenment on his own.