Buddhist<\/a> Studies professor at Komazawa University in Tokyo and a renowned Dogen scholar.<\/p>\nIshii digs into two important figures in the creation of Dogen Zen. The first, Dahui, is often considered Dogen\u2019s nemesis, not only because he was a koan innovator but also for how vehemently he denounced the quietism of Silent Illumination practice.<\/p>\n
The second Chan master, Hongzhi, is associated with advocating Silent Illumination and is considered by many to be one of Dogen\u2019s role-models. The question behind this analysis is about Dogen Zen and what that old dog was really teaching. Koan, Silent Illumination, both or neither?<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a passage that Ishii quotes from Dahui:<\/p>\n
When ministers study the Way, they do not depart from two kinds of paths. One is called \u201cemotional detachment.\u201d The other is called \u201cattachment to concepts.\u201d The one called \u201cattachment to concepts\u201d is what unreliable elder\u2019s refer to as \u201cwatchful control.\u201d Emotional detachment is what unreliable elders refer to as \u201cSilent Illumination.\u201d \u201cWatchful control\u201d and \u201cSilent Illumination\u201d are two kinds of illness, and if you do not eliminate them, you will not be able to escape birth and death.<\/em><\/p>\nTurns out that despite Dahui not being into Silent Illumination practice, he and Hongzhi were close buddies. Hongzhi even bequeathed his monastery to Dahui.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s bit of Hongzhi that\u2019s sweet and quietistic \u2026 and then not so:<\/p>\n
I instruct on how to achieve tranquility. In autumn, water immerses the old well; in spring, everything is engulfed in change. In the depth of solitude, silence is achieved; as we radiate forth, our activity is dazzling.<\/em><\/p>\nIshii concludes:<\/p>\n
Chinese Chan, which recognized meditation as a form of practice in everyday life, releasing the practitioner from the strictures of sitting, developed an antagonism between Koan-Introspection and Silent Illumination Chan. This antagonism was based fundamentally on Dahui\u2019s emphasis on \u201cwisdom\u201d and Hongzhi\u2019s emphasis on \u201cmeditation.\u201d Although Dogen refuted Dahui directly, the foundations of Dogen Zen teaching favor neither Dahui nor Hongzhi.<\/em><\/p>\nI especially like that last part, admittedly because I share Ishii\u2019s view and have beat the same drum here and there for quite some time. Dogen Zen, imv, goes beyond the single foci of either wisdom or meditation by going through each in intimate conversation. In this vein, Ishii says that Dogen never once uses the term Silent Illumination in his many works. Shikantaza, not Silent Illumination, is Dogen\u2019s expression for this intimate conversation.<\/p>\n
Now back to vinegar. Is the truth about Dogen Zen like our associations with vinegar?<\/p>\n
In other words, each phenomena has no fixed position but is simply how each mind views it.<\/p>\n
For some, vinegar is greens, or sunburn, or bathing. There\u2019s nothing \u201cout there\u201d but how each mind creates it. This relativistic \u201cno accounting for taste\u201d is one side, one foci.<\/p>\n
Lived one-sidedly, this view can lead to lack of inquiry and deadness. If there\u2019s only each person\u2019s view of truth, for instance, what\u2019s to practice? What\u2019s worth saying?<\/p>\n
On the other hand, the absolutist view is that there is one right view regarding phenomena, Dogen Zen, in this case. This side can lead to brittle fundamentalism, even when (especially when) backed by authentic religious experience.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s right?<\/p>\n
Imv, engaging the conversation we can deepen our life and have something to offer others. The old Buddha\u2019s Middle Way isn\u2019t a compromise but the dynamic play of these foci (see Hee Jin Kim\u2019s Dogen on Meditation and Thinking<\/em> for more on this).<\/p>\nAnd that\u2019s the true taste of vinegar.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A couple days ago at work I was cleaning the coffee maker in my office by running vinegar through it. After the first person came in and said, \u201cWow, that smell brings me back. I\u2019m in my grandmother\u2019s kitchen in Louisiana in 1960 and she\u2019s cooking greens,\u201d I began to ask each passing guest what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":937,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11,6,15],"class_list":["post-936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dogen","tag-koan","tag-silent-illumination"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>A couple days ago at work I was cleaning the coffee maker in my office by running vinegar through it. After the first person came in and said, \u201cWow, that smell brings me back. I\u2019m in my grandmother\u2019s kitchen in Louisiana in 1960 and she\u2019s cooking greens,\u201d I began to ask each passing guest what they were reminded of by the smell.<\/p>\n