The Way of Zen - Alan Watts [41]
3 In Suzuki (3), p. 55. The “fields” of the senses are the areas or aspects of the external world to which the particular sense organs are related.
4 Madhyamika Shastra, XV. 3.
5 In Suzuki (3), p. 67.
6 Prajna-paramita-hridaya Sutra (Chinese version).
7 Saptasatika-prajna-paramita Sutra, 232, 234.
8 Ashtasahasrika, II. 38, 40. In Conze (2), pp. 177–78.
9 The reader who is interested in exploring Nagarjuna’s philosophy more deeply should refer to the magnificent work of Professor T. R. V. Murti, The Central Philosophy of Buddhism. (See Bibliography.) Unhappily, there are now available only fragmentary translations of Nagarjuna’s writings in English, unless he was indeed the author of the Prajna-paramita literature, for which see Conze (2, 3).
10 “Suchness is neither past, future, nor present,” for when it is seen that there is neither past nor future there is no more a present, since the idea of the present has meaning only in relation to past and future.
11 For a general account see E. Nagel and J. R. Newman, “Gödel’s Proof,” Scientific American, CXCVI. 6 (June, 1956), pp. 71–86.
12 Lankavatara Sutra, 154, 29–30, 32–33. In Suzuki (2), p. 242. I have cited the Lankavatara for both Madhyamika and Yogacara viewpoints, since either both schools have used the sutra or else it is a work of the latter incorporating views of the former. Since historical order is here a matter of conjecture, I have simply chosen sources which seem to express the ideas in question most effectively.
Four
THE RISE AND DEVELOPMENT OF ZEN
The qualities which distinguish Zen or Ch’an from other types of Buddhism are rather elusive when it comes to putting them in words, yet Zen has a definite and unmistakable “flavor.” Although the name Zen is dhyana, or meditation, other schools of Buddhism emphasize meditation as much as, if not more than, Zen–and at times it seems as if the practice of formal meditation were not necessary to Zen at all. Nor is Zen peculiar in “having nothing to say,” in insisting that the truth cannot be put into words, for this is already the Madhyamika as well as the teaching of Lao-tzu.
Those who know do not speak;
Those who speak do not know. (56)
Perhaps the special flavor of Zen is best described as a certain directness. In other schools of Buddhism, awakening or bodhi seems remote and almost superhuman, something to be reached only after many lives of patient effort. But in Zen there is always the feeling that awakening is something quite natural, something startlingly obvious, which may occur at any moment. If it involves a difficulty, it is just that it is much too simple. Zen is also direct in its way of teaching, for it points directly and openly to the truth, and does not trifle with symbolism.
Direct pointing (chih-chih a) is the open demonstration of Zen by nonsymbolic actions or words, which usually appear to the uninitiated as having to do with the most ordinary secular affairs, or to be completely crazy. In answer to a question about Buddhism, the master makes a casual remark about the weather, or performs some simple action which seems to have nothing to do with philosophical or spiritual matters. However, it is difficult to find many instances of this method before the middle of the T’ang dynasty, by which time Zen was already well established. But it is certainly consistent with the emphasis of the earlier masters on immediate awakening in the midst of everyday affairs.
No one has been able to find any trace of a specific Dhyana School in Indian Buddhism, though because of our lack of historical materials this is no evidence that it did not exist. If the characteristic note of Zen is immediate or instantaneous awakening (tun wu b) without passing through preparatory stages, there are certainly evidences of this principle