Koan, Zazen, and the Practice of Zen in East Asia
Zen is a sect of Buddhism that has continued to evolve through its fundamental growth from culture to culture. The foundation of Zen is traced back to India but its main roots were settled in China during the sixth century. As the teachings of Zen, Ch’an in Chinese, spread throughout east Asia and Japan in the thirteenth century, it quickly became the most followed system of Buddhism practices in the fourteenth century in the world. Unlike other sects of Buddhism, Zen does not emphasize the memorization and recitation of sutras or chants, rather it encourages people to discover enlightenment through their own personal meditation and reason. The main type of Zen meditation that is exercised is zazen. This simple act of sitting and thinking is the main building block for one of the most influential religious sects in all eastern Asia.
Koan Meditation and Zazen
In an effort to implement doubt in the mind of a mediator and change the process of enlightenment, the introduction of koans in meditation became necessary for giving struggling students a place to start. Koan meditation is a type of meditation where you focus directly on a certain phrase or statement that a master gives to you. The purpose of this statement is to provoke and promote doubt in one’s mind. The koan is used during zazen meditation as a point of focus. When not using a koan, zazen meditation principally concentrates on your posture, hand, and leg placement as well as your breathing while sitting. The sitting position is meant to relax the body and bring stillness into the meditator’s world. Zazen encourages a union between body and mind in order to eliminate any outside distractions that might creep into the person’s thoughts. This meditative state in zazen is not one of unconsciousness or trance but one where a person becomes aware of the world and sees it in a different light. It is important to note that Zen differs from many other belief systems in that there is no defined path to achieve “satori” (seeing one’s true nature). Zen only offers a person a path to simplicity and understanding, it is not aimless as every person strives to seek the bodhisattva (Buddha nature) within themselves. Koans are important to keep disciples focused on their own process. A koan may take a student anywhere from a day to months to fully understand and explain to their teacher. Koans are used to understand one’s mind and how it can relate to their own learning.
SZ Suzuki and Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind is a transcription of SZ Suzuki’s speeches which was transcribed and published by one of his students in 1970 just one year before his death. Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind attempts to convey that the openness and naivety of a beginner’s mind is exactly what is needed for Zen. An impressionable being that is willing to understand further truths of life. Suzuki believes that it is more important to focus on the process of learning rather than just focusing on the end result: enlightenment. The end goal is believed to be “satori” also meaning experience. Suzuki was schooled in Rinzai tradition growing up and eventually learned to teach zazen, or seated mediation.
The beginner’s mind, as described by Suzuki, has infinite potential and there is limited danger in thinking that you already know what Zen is. With a beginner’s mind all one needs to do is focus their breath on a single point. Once you can achieve that you may begin to daydream. Suzuki believes that a daydream gives the mind a pasture and allows for the mind to fantasize. When in this stage one must let their thoughts roam and then settle in. Suzuki calms the doubts of a beginner mind by imposing that the Buddha is in the mind and that Buddha nature is not an event or experience. Both koans and zazen emphasis the nonduality of the mind, therefore; when discussing “satori” it cannot be directly expressed in language. The reason that it cannot be described is that speech categorizes and separates subject and object, but “satori” is where the distinction between subject and object collapses.
Dogen and Zazen
Dogen came of relevance when he became a low ranking monk on Mount Hiei. He was educated in his Buddhist beliefs under the Tendai school but was unhappy with the knowledge that he gained from it. Dogen then moved to China and studied Ch’an under a man named Rujing. At that time in the early thirteenth century, China was considered to be the “Buddhist Capital” of the world. There, Dogen was able to learn more about Zazen and was able to actualize enlightenment. After a couple of years more of studying in China, Dogen moved back to Echizen, Japan and established his own temple. His temple was unusually designed implementing many Chinese architectural influences – much different than the temples that were on Mount Hiei or in Kyoto. His temple started the teachings of what became to be known as Soto Zen in Japan. His Soto Zen teachings differed from Rinzai tradition as he was opposed to the overuse of koans when practicing zazen. The Soto Zen tradition was his effort to create his own lineage expanding upon the teaching that he had acquired in China. Zazen was very important to Dogen and he believed that the practice and meditation of zazen is almost identical to studying Zen. To Dogen, zazen is nothing but sitting “in a state of brightly alert attention that is free of thoughts, directed to no object, and attached to no particular content” (Kohn, 196-197). Dogen believed that enlightenment is already present in each being and that zazen meditation should be devoid of critical thought, just nothingness and openness.
Nishitani and Nihility
Keiji Nishitani was a Japanese philosopher who focused primarily on nihilism and contemplating the Buddhist term “sunyata” (emptiness/nothingness). When Nishitani wrote his book Religion and Nothingness in 1982, he was grappling with the Western lack of belief in religion and viewed it as empty worship. His solution for this “empty worship” was for Western thought to embrace the Buddhist idea of “sunyata” and how it applies to life. To Nishitani, religion is about the practice and the experience and less about the teachings. Nishitani believes that in reality there is a subject set against an object, but sometimes in life it is not that simple. There are times when a person may struggle significantly and any action they do does not reap a reward or action. This is where Nishitani brings in nihilism. To him, meaning can apply to reality, but not all reality has meaning therefore reality is lifeless or emptiness (“sunyata”). Nishitani changed the question of religion from “What is this for?” to “What am I for?” This question evokes a sense of “great doubt” which was important for people to contemplate. The nonguaranteed view on life (nothingness and doubt) helped followers, both a part of Zen and not a part of Zen, to realize the true nature of their lives. Nishitani used emptiness as a basis for bridging eastern and western thought together and becoming unified.
Practice of Zen in Monasteries
Robert Buswell wrote of his experiences with koan and zazen in Korean Zen temples. Zen, Son in Korean, came to existence in the Korean peninsula by the end of the seventh century. It took almost two more centuries to pass until Son became a strong part of Buddhist tradition at the end of the Silla dynasty. The Silla king was able to influence the people of Korea into believing that his family was a stand in for the Buddha. Since he was rich, the aristocracy believed that they would become the Buddha of the future. At the end of the Unified Silla Dynasty, the creation of the “Nine Mountains school of Son” was established and temples/schools scattered throughout the peninsula giving way for Son to be practiced and spread. Son was spread further throughout Korea by a Koryo monk named Chinul. Chinul demonstrated that Son could be taught scholastically just like other sects of Buddhism, making it more appealing to the public. He also introduced Koan mediation as a way of musing multiple Zen challenges. Son’s dominance was confirmed in the fourteenth century by monk T’aego Pou who mastered technique from the Rinzai lineage that he learned from China. Korean Son meditators were given one “hwadu” (similar to koan) for their life. What was different between Japanese and Korean Zen is that Son meditators keep the same hwadu throughout their entire careers in an attempt to deepen their sensation of doubt. The Japanese Rinzai school had a curriculum of meditation and students would have to master up to 1,700 koans. Koans are a means of generating doubt within yourself, and the Koreans believed that once you have that doubt it does not matter which doubt (koan) you are meditating on. Buswell writes that as a person continues to meditate on their hwadu, they will not be able to put it down. “The day and the night will pass like a second. The body will become light as if it is floating in space; we will not know whether the earth exists or not. At that time, even if we do not strive to keep the thought of the hwadu, naturally the hwadu will be raised vividly. Even if we try to discard the hwadu, we cannot; instead it remains vivid all the same” (Buswell, 158). One of the places in a monastery where monks could completely meditate was in the meditation hall. The meditation hall was created to interfere with disconnect that people have between themselves and enlightenment and help to convert a student from a beginning monk into an enlightened master.
Monks who were very serious would start their training in the meditation hall at a monastery. The meditation halls were the center of activity in most of the largest monasteries in Korea. The Son school of Buddhism is unyielding in claiming that it is purely experientially based and to meditate is to learn. Because the journey that the monks depart on is thought to be very difficult, they are pampered. The best fruits, rice cakes, and other foods are sent to the meditation hall and monks there received larger shares. When Buswell discussed the meditation halls with Korean monks he came across two basic attitudes for them: some viewed it as a training ground for junior monks who are not ready to practice in a hermitage by themselves, and others viewed it as a “laboratory for which ideal practice is maintained.” When thinking about Zen monasteries it is important to note the atmosphere in which the monks do their work. The meditation hall has a very formal ambiance, though meditation hall practitioners operate on a pretty flexible schedule. When a monk makes the decision to practice Son in the meditation hall, they are prohibited from socializing with other monks from other compounds. In regards to their flexible schedule, Meditation monks are excused from morning and evening services as well as from other works that help keep the monastery running. Novice monks were not meditating in the monasteries and were even forbidden from entering the meditation hall. Meditation monks dedicated all of their time to contemplation of their hwadu and they were not allowed to be in contact with novice monks, support monks, or any of the laity that was present in the monastery. In Korea, there were common rules governing meditation halls that were followed. These rules discussed the proper behavior when meditating as well as more obscure rules telling when a monk is allowed to wash his underwear. Monks that practice Son at monasteries and in the meditation halls often do not stay at a single monastery beyond a three-month period.
These meditation halls had very similar décor from monastery to monastery and the practice of mediation was done the same way throughout them all. Ten minutes before the start of a meditation period, a monastery attendant strikes the “mokt’ak” (wooden percussion instrument shaped like a fish) three times to warn the monks to return to the meditation hall. All of the monks practicing will have returned to the meditation hall exactly on the hour and are quiet in anticipation of the leader of the hall – succentor – striking the “chukpi” (wooden stick) against their hand to make a clapping noise. This action indicates the start of a meditation period. It is very important for a monk not to miss his appointment or be late as he would not be allowed to practice in the Meditation Hall that time. During the sitting period in the meditation hall, the succentor rarely carries a large, four-foot-long warning stick (“Changchun chukpi”) to make sure monks are practicing zazen with the proper posture.
The most challenging part of being a part of the meditation halls is the intensive mediation that takes place for one week leading up to the Buddha’s enlightenment day. This meditation called “yongmaeng chongjin,” meaning ferocious effort, is intended to be a ritual reenactment of the meditation Buddha performed before achieving enlightenment. The monks that are in the meditation hall do not sleep for seven days straight and only take breaks from meditating to eat their meals. The monks are given a small snack of brown rice gruel called “chuk” by the tea boys in order to retain their stamina while meditating.
In addition to heavy meditation, some Son monks also partake in fasting or “tansik.” Fasting is used by monks primarily for health reasons. Fasting was thought of as a way to rid the body of any ailments, and some monks say that fasting with a healthy body would be detrimental and weaken the body causing interference with their meditation. In general, Korean monks believe that the more food you eat the more energy you will have for your meditation. Most fasting is done by the monks in increments of three days or up to two weeks.
Monks believed and took part in ascetic practices as part of their training. Though most were harmful, consisting of burning a finger or two, some monks participated in other acts. Self-Immolation became popular among Vietnamese monks in the 1960s but was very rare with Korean monks. It was primarily a political act in Vietnam but was used only sparingly to end a terminal illness for a monk or nun in Korea.
Zen and Vietnam
The teachings of Zen spread quickly throughout the east and played a role in Vietnamese society as well as its role in medieval japan. Dr. Alexander Soucy presents his evaluation of how Zen (Thien in Vietnamese) operated within Vietnamese society. His work, titled The Buddha Side: Gender, Power and Buddhist Practices is Vietnam, discusses how gender roles in the society were shaped by the influence of Thien Buddhism. Soucy used the societal gender separation to dissect which parts of society were more attracted to Thien and how they impacted the practice in Vietnam. Thien appealed to the female population and gave women a role to play. In a married household, women would make offerings, known as “loc,” to wish for good fortune upon their families. Soucy writes that “loc is emblematic of salient aspects of feminity (such as being reliant), but its practices also can be seen as… demonstrable representations of women’s caring and ritual action on behalf of others, primarily members of the family” (Soucy, 98). Single women also made offerings though there was a negative connotation to them since they were single. This added pressure on young women to get married as soon as possible. Soucy believes that “these performances (loc)… serve to reinforce hegemonic gender structures, whereby men are able to maintain power within…society.” (Soucy, 99). There is greater female involvement in Thien and therefore women are considered to have a greater activity in religion than men. Men are supposed to emblematic of “strength and self-reliance” and turning to religion could be portrayed as a sign of weakness.
Zen and Medieval Japan
Whereas in Vietnam Thien appealed primarily to a gender divide in society, Zen was appealing to lower socioeconomic classes in medieval Japanese society. Zen was primarily centered in Kyoto and was present mostly for the aristocratic folk who lived there. The whole rural segment of society – farmers, merchants, craftsmen – were all outside of the city and were looking for a way into Zen. The creation of temples in the countryside allowed for some laity access, but the creation of mass ordinations and lay funerals help corral the remaining people.
Mass Ordinations and Lay Funerals
Since there was no socioeconomic distinction in these ceremonies it allowed monks to spread their teachings to as many people as possible. In addition to mass ordinations in Japan, there were also funerals for laypeople. The ceremonies offered no distinction between a lay person or a monk and decorations and offerings were awarded equally. Mass ordinations were special occasions that did not happen often, only on special days such as the Buddha’s birthday or an equinox. These ceremonies provided laypeople (non-religious rural people) with a direct lineage through generations of Zen masters, eventually tracing back to the Buddha. For lower members of society, this was the first time that their names were publicly recorded. The mass ordinations were a tool used by Soto Zen to strengthen their ties to society secularly as well. These ordinations occurred in major and minor temples throughout with “pseudo-monks” acting as agents for the more significant monks. Monks and other laypersons who participated in mass ordinations were then used as intermediaries for other mass ordination which helped spread the practices wider to lower levels of society. There were three main functions of mass ordinations: “to induct participants into Buddhism, to provide participants communion with Zen monks, and to establish in each participant strong personal links to the Soto School.”
Importance of Koans in Soto Zen
Koans were an integral part of Soto masters passing their teaching on to their students. Each Soto master taught their students through a series of systematic koans. The koans in this tradition were different than the ones learned in Rinzai tradition. Rinzai koans were supposed to inflict a large amount of doubt, whereas “koan[s] were studied as models of truth or as idealized statements of truth. This style of koan study seemed designed to ensure that future Zen masters would never be at a loss for words to express the ultimately ineffable truths of Zen” (Bodiford, 213). In traditional Zen, a student would join their master’s lineage after proving their enlightenment to a master. The sequence of transmission was reversed during lay ordination and funerals. “Instead of one’s realization of Zen enlightenment serving as the sole act that could provide entrance into this exclusive lineage, one’s initiation into the Zen lineage provided ritual moment for one’s symbolic attainment of enlightenment” (Bodiford, 215). Peasants, merchants, and craftsmen were now all connected through the mass ordinations of Soto Zen. The shogunate saw this connection as a threat and seized an opportunity to control the growing part of society through the temple registration system. The registration system was used to identify and control Buddhist citizens while simultaneously identifying Christian followers.
Zen was a force that spread very quickly throughout Asia and played a major role in the development of marginalized people. Zen offered a new way of thought for people that were not getting the answers they needed out of their current system of beliefs. Japan, China, Korea, and Vietnam each created their own distinct practices which were built upon lineages that were in place for hundreds of years. Each established their own paths to enlightenment and cemented their roots that are continuing to develop and advance today.