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Was Hakuin Ekaku (1686 \u2013 1768), the great Japanese revitalizer of Rinzai Zen and the inspiration for much of modern-day k\u014dan introspection, a hater of that other Zen school \u2013 S\u014dt\u014d Zen? What would have happened if Hakuin and a S\u014dt\u014d monk had met face-to-face?<\/p>\n
The short answer to the first question is \u201cNo, Hakuin was not a S\u014dt\u014d hater.\u201d<\/p>\n
The short answer to the second question is that it happened a lot and, well, see below. From Hakuin\u2019s reports, a good number of S\u014dt\u014d monks studied with him and when Hakuin was a young monk, he also studied in S\u014dt\u014d monasteries.<\/p>\n
Hakuin did, however, have blistering criticisms of the silent illumination tendencies of the S\u014dt\u014d Zen of his day. See my\u00a0Hakuin\u2019s Blistering Criticisms of S\u014dt\u014d Zen: Who and What<\/a>\u00a0for a more detailed look at this. Briefly, Hakuin had at least these four criticisms:<\/p>\n You may notice that some of the above seem to apply to much of today\u2019s S\u014dt\u014d Zen. Nevertheless\u2026.<\/p>\n Despite his often-repeated negative criticisms of S\u014dt\u014d Zen, especially S\u014dt\u014d with a silent illumination emphasis, Hakuin borrowed the Five Ranks teaching of D\u00f2ngsh\u0101n<\/span> from the C\u00e1od\u00f2ng (<\/span>S\u014dt\u014d) school, rather than use L\u00ednj\u00ec<\/span>\u2018s Four Views, for example. Hakuin received instruction in the Five Ranks from either his main teacher, Sh\u014dju R\u014djin (aka, D\u014dky\u016b Etan, 1642\u20131721), or from his own encounter with S\u014dt\u014d priests at\u00a0Inry\u014d-ji, teh S\u014dt\u014d temple referred to above that Hakuin stayed at for a practice period shortly after he left Sh\u014dju R\u014dshi. (1) Or perhaps both.<\/p>\n By this time, Hakuin was already suffering from Zen sickness, but had yet to meet Hakuy\u016b and learn the \u201csoft-butter method\u201d<\/a> that cured him. (2) Due to Hakuin\u2019s affinity with the Five Ranks, they now serve as central (but quiet) organizing principles in both the contemporary Rinzai k\u014dan curriculum and the reformed Hakuin-Yasutani k\u014dan curriculum transplanted to the West by the likes of R\u014dshis Yasutani, Maezumi, Kapleau, and Aitken.<\/p>\n In Hakuin\u2019s day, it should be noted, S\u014dt\u014d and Rinzai were not as separate as they are today, at least, in Japan, where I\u2019m told that if a S\u014dt\u014d monk wants to train in a Rinzai monastery, they would need to reordain. Apparently, the reverse is also the case. This was not the case in Hakuin\u2019s time.<\/p>\n In my view, it is a sad development. I have greatly benefited from study in Rinzai Zen and in the Harada-Yasutani k\u014dan tradition, and would like to see more S\u014dt\u014d practitioners have that opportunity, and visa versa. At the same time, both S\u014dt\u014d and Rinzai lineages have a \u201cfamily style\u201d with integrity and could both make important contributions to sincere practitioners more interested in awakening than to sectarian purity, as well as to our fledgling global culture. So my hope is that both continue vigorously.<\/p>\n To complicate the situation, however, there are also some lineages that are neither S\u014dt\u014d nor Rinzai in the traditional sense. I\u2019m referring to all those who are descendents of Harada Dai\u016bn R\u014dshi (1871 \u2013 1961), the S\u014dt\u014d monk who trained extensively in Rinzai Zen and received inka sh\u014dmei (proof of succession) from T\u014dy\u014dta D\u014dkutan R\u014dshi (1840-1917), a Rinzai Zen master. Harada Dai\u016bn R\u014dshi had a long teaching career in a S\u014dt\u014d monastery, H\u014dshinji, used a reformed k\u014dan curriculum, and also trained lay people together with monks, something that just was not done in his day.<\/p>\n Some of Harada Dai\u016bn R\u014dshi\u2019s present day successors regard themselves as Rinzai, some see themselves as S\u014dt\u014d.\u00a0In my case, due to the good steeping in S\u014dt\u014d I received from my time with Katagiri Roshi, I emphasize the flow of S\u014dt\u014d (aka, \u201cforms\u201d), and the importance of D\u014dgen\u2019s teaching. At the same time, I think that k\u014dan introspection inspired by Hakuin and T\u014drei, is the greatest meditation innovation since the Buddha saw the morning star. From this hybrid perspective, D\u014dgen\u2019s teaching is esteemed but not privileged. After all, there have been a lot of great Zen teachers.<\/p>\n where Hakuin had a lovely practice period in a S\u014dt\u014d monastery. Later, he described fifty monks practicing earnestly, including\u00a0a monk named Jukaku J\u014dza, someone Hakuin felt he\u2019d know for many years, and who Hakuin recognized for his genuine aspiration for the Way. At first, though, Hakuin saw him as \u201c\u2026an old man who seemed half-demented, with an unsightly face and a robe hanging in tatters from his body .\u00a0.\u00a0. who ran off when he saw me coming.\u201d (2)<\/p>\n Fortunately, Hakuin sat next to Jukaku during the 90-day practice session. When Hakuin finally cornered Jukaku and they had a chance to talk, Hakuin says that they found their minds to be in complete agreement. This inspired them to sit an extreme sesshin together.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how Hakuin told the story:<\/p>\n \u201cOn one occasion, the two of us engaged in a private practice session. We pledged to continue it for seven days and nights. No sleep. No lying down. We cut a three-foot section of bamboo and fashioned it into a makeshift shippei. We sat facing each other with the shippei placed on the ground between us. We agreed that if one of us saw the other\u2019s eyelids drop, even for a split second, he would grab the staff and crack him with it between the eyes. For seven days, we sat ramrod-straight, teeth clenched tightly in total silence. Not so much as an eyelash quivered. Right through to the end of the seventh night, neither one of us had occasion to reach for that cudgel. One night, a heavy snowfall blanketed the area. The dull, muffled thud of snow falling from the branches of the trees created a sense of extraordinary stillness and purity. I made an attempt at a poem to describe the joy I felt:<\/p>\n If only you could hear The abbot of the Inry\u014d-ji, a S\u014dt\u014d lineage monk, even asked Hakuin, a Rinzai lineage monk, to be his successor at Inry\u014d-ji. Hakuin seems to have been tempted, noting that \u201c\u2026the temple holdings included some very rich and productive fields, making it possible to provide for forty or even fifty visiting monks at annual summer retreats.\u201d (5)<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t an easy choice, but Hakuin eventually decided he was not ready to settle down, so he declined the offer, and went on with his pilgrimage. On the day that Hakuin left\u00a0Inry\u014d-ji, he reported that \u201c\u2026 Jukaku slipped away from the assembly, walked along at my side for several leagues, and then turned back.\u201d (6)<\/p>\n So tender!<\/p>\n What would happen if Hakuin met a S\u014dt\u014d monk face-to-face? In this case, they entangled eyebrows, and became fast dharma friends.<\/p>\n (1) See Complete Poison Blossoms from a Thicket of Thorn<\/em>, trs., Norman Waddell,\u00a0\u201c58. Informal Talk on a Winter Night,\u201d for Hakuin on Rujing and D\u014dgen. Here and in other places, Hakuin spoke highly of D\u014dgen, who, by the way, was also critical of silent illumination.<\/p>\n (2) See Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin<\/em>, trs., Norman Waddell, \u201cThe Soft Butter Method,\u201d pp. 105-107.<\/p>\n (3) Precious Mirror Cave<\/em>, trs., Norman Waddell, pp. 185\u20136.<\/p>\n (4)\u00a0Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin<\/em>, trs., Norman Waddell, pp. 50-51.<\/p>\n (5) Ibid.<\/p>\n (6) Ibid.<\/p>\n D\u014dsh\u014d Port began practicing Zen in 1977 and now co-teaches with his wife, Tetsugan Zummach Sensei, with the Vine of Obstacles: Online Support for Zen Training<\/a>, an internet-based Zen community. D\u014dsh\u014d received dharma transmission from Dainin Katagiri R\u014dshi and inka sh\u014dmei from James My\u014dun Ford R\u014dshi in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. D\u014dsh\u014d\u2019s translation and commentary on The Record of Empty Hall: One Hundred Classic Koans,<\/em><\/a>\u00a0is now available (Shambhala). He is also the author\u00a0of\u00a0Keep Me In Your Heart a While: The Haunting Zen of Dainin Katagiri<\/a><\/i>. Click here<\/a> to support the teaching practice of D\u014dsh\u014d R\u014dshi at Patreon.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Was Hakuin Ekaku (1686 \u2013 1768), the great Japanese revitalizer of Rinzai Zen and the inspiration for much of modern-day k\u014dan introspection, a hater of that other Zen school \u2013 S\u014dt\u014d Zen? What would have happened if Hakuin and a S\u014dt\u014d monk had met face-to-face? The short answer to the first question is \u201cNo, Hakuin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[129,191,26],"class_list":["post-5234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-hakuin","tag-rinzai-zen","tag-soto-zen"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
Rinzai and S\u014dt\u014d: Never the Twain Shall Meet?<\/h4>\n
But let\u2019s get back to Inry\u014d-ji<\/h4>\n
\nthe sound of snow
\nfalling late at night
\nfrom the trees
\nof the old temple
\nin Shinoda!\u201d (4)<\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n