The Poetics of Ch'an:Upaayic Poetry and Its Taosist Enrichment
Sandra A.Wawrytko
Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal
No.5 July,1992
Chung-Hwa Insitute of Buddhist Studies
P.341-378
.
P.341
Summary
The inherent suitability of the poetic form for
communicating the ineffable has long been known to
poet-practioners in all mystical traditions. Poetry
offers possibilities of indirection and evocation
far beyond those of any prose style. The
open-endedness of a poem serves the same function as
the blank space in a Ch'an painting, allowing the
audience to resonate (yu-yun, Japanese yoin) with
the work and, most importantly, with the artist. In
this way, "Artistic appreciation is...transformed
into meditation."
This paper discusses the pivotal role played by
poetry,as it evolved from the Sanskrit gaathaa found
in Buddhist suutras, within the Ch'an sect of
Buddhism. After a brief review of the poetic
component in early Buddhist literature, we will
consider the indigenous Chinese tradition of
poetically-expressed philosophy that influenced the
evolution of sinitic Buddhism. The creative mergence
of these diverse sources within Ch'an is then
considered through examples of the upaayic
application of poetry in terms o f a three-fold
process of awakening.
The opening section describes the poetic path to
enlightenment, focussing on the function of gaathaas
in the Buddhist literature. Of primary importance
here is an understnading of why and how poetry could
function as a vehicle of Dharma in the suutras from
the very inception of Buddhism.
The poetic precursors in the Taoist tradition
are then considered. Two roots of the Chinese poetic
tradition generally have been identified-the Shih
Ching (Classic of Poetry) emphasized by the
Confucian school and the Ch'u Tz'u. (Elegies of Ch'u
or Song of the South) displaying affinities with
Taoist philosophy. The latter currents were best
able to resonate with Buddhist thought, as
exemplified in Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, the
Neo-Taoist currents in Liu I-ch'ing's New Tales of
the World (Shih-shuo Hsin-yu), and the transitional,
Buddhist tinged lines of T'ao
P.342
Ch'ien.
The Ch'an synthesis reflects a threefold process
of enlightenment, sometimes characterized as the Way
of the Ancient masters, The Ch'an of Voidness, and
the Ch'an of the Patriarchs. This same process can
be traced in certain poetic expressions of the Ch'an
practitioners,including Hui-Neng,Pai-chang Huai-hai,
and Hsiang-yen Chih-hsien. A more in-depth
epistemological analysis of the threefold experience
of awakening is presented in terms of the famous
enlightenment poem of Ch'ing-yuan Wei-hsin. The ex-
position aims to demonstrate that, building on
Indian sourecs, and enriched by Chinese poetic and
Taoist traditions, Ch'an poetics evolved into a
powerful upaayic tool.
P.343
1. The POETIC PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT(1)
The inherent suitability of the poetic form for
communicating the ineffable has long been known to
poet-practitioners in all mystical traditions.
Examples may be cited from such diverse sources as
the Psalms of the Bible and the Bhagavad Gita.
Pieces have been penned by poets as diverse as
Kukai, Mechthild of Magdeburg, and William Blake.(2)
Poetry offers possibilities of indirection and
evocation far beyond those of any prose style. Its
metaphorical use of language is able to elicit
meanings without bluntly asserting them. More
importantly, perhaps, it has the advantage over
clearcut declarations of suggesting a multiplicity
of meanings, suited to its multiplicity of
audiences. Here indeed it truly can be said that
"less is more": less explicit content leaves room
for more implicit connotations. Thus, the
openendedness of a poem serves the same function as
the blank space in a Ch'an painting, allowing the
audience to resonate (yu-yun,)Japanese yoin) with
the work and, most importantly, with the artist. In
this way, "Artistic appreciation is.. transformed
into meditation."(3)
The following discussion concerns the pivotal
role played by poetry, as it evolved from the
Sanskrit gaathaa found in Buddhist suutra, within
the Ch'an sect of Buddhism. After a brief review of
the poetic component in early Buddhist literature,
we will consider the indigenous Chinese tradition of
poetically-expressed philosophy that influenced the
evolution of sinitic Buddhism. The creative mergence
of these diverse sources within Ch'an is then
considered through examples of the upaayic
application of poetry in terms of a three-fold
process of awakening. This leads to an outline for a
poetics of Ch'an as reflected in an epistemological
analysis of a famous set of Ch'an enlightenment
poems. Lucien Stryk observes:
Writers of such poems did not think of
themselves as poets. Rather they were
────────────
(1) Ke-tao(Japanese, Kado), the poetry way.
(2)For an inter-cultural wealth of examples, see The
Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry,
Stephen Mitchell ed. (New York: Harper & Row,
1989).
(3) Horst Hammitzsch, Zen in the Art of the Tea
Ceremony, Peter Lemesurier trans. (New York:
E.P. Dutton, 1988), p.93.
P.344
gifted men-masters, monks, some laymen-who after
momentous experiences found themselves with
something to say which only a poem could express.
Enlightenment, point of their meditation, brought
about transformation of the spirit; a poem was
expected to convey the essential experience and its
effect.(4)
As will be argued here, these poems do not merely
document and validate the enlightenment experience,
but also played an important role as catalysts and
guides for progress along the enlightenment path.
The Function of Gaathaas in the Buddhist Literature
The Sanskrit term gaathaa (Chinese chia-t'uo;
Japanese ga-da( is a "song...a metrical narrative or
hymn, with moral purport, described as generally
composed of thirty-two characters,.. a detached
stanza." (5) Gaathaas are classified among the nine
classes of suutras in Theraraada Buddhism, as
distinguished from actual sermons, prophecies,
etc.(6) In the Mahaayaana canon, gaathaas represent
one of the twelve divisions of the canon.(7)
Gaathaas often appear within the context of
suutras as means of further explicating stated
points. For example, the Diamond Suutra concludes
with a brief poetic pronouncement that restates,
while reinforcing, the abstract message of the text
in terms of concrete images:
All phenomena are like
A dream, an illusion, a bubble and a shadow,
Like dew and lightening.
Thus should you meditate upon them.(8)
Similarly, in the La^nkaavataara Suutra the Buddha
punctuates his discourse with
────────────
(4) Lucien Stryk in his Introduction to The Penguin
Book of Zen Poetry, Lucien Stryk and Takashi
Ikemoto eds., trans. (New York: Penguin Books,
1981), p.13
(5) William Edward Soothill, A Dictionary of Chinese
Buddhist Terms (London: Kegan Paul, Trench,
Trubner & Co., Ltd., 1934), p.225a.
(6) Soothill, p.19b.
(7) Soothill, p.44a.
P.345
gaathaas summarizing the main thrust of his
exposition. The same rhetoric style is adopted by
many who preach. For example, Jesus of Nazareth
often avails himself of vivid metaphorical and
allegorical language to convey his message about the
Kingdom of God.
It is quite likely that these poetic phrasings
of doctrine represent a mnemonic device for the
listeners, with the rhyme scheme serving to
facilitate memorization. The necessity of such
devices was further reinforced by the fact that the
sermons of the Buddha were not written down for some
four hundred years, but committed to memory by his
followers and transmitted orally.(9) The concrete
language of the poetic versions also stimulated
comprehension by offering an alternative to the
abstract profundity of the concepts being
expressed, as well as making the encoded messages
more accessible to less sophisticated members of the
audience.
An additional factor here was the difficulty
inherent in communicating certain fundamental
aspects of the Dharma. As a preclude to Ch'an,
Buddhism in India already was exploring the rarefied
realm of spiritual experience that defied
verbalization. The following passage from
A.s.tasaahasrikaa Praj~naapaaramitaa outlines the
linguistic and conceptual liabilities of discussing
enlightenment:
The Enlightened One sets forth in the Great
Ferryboat (Mahaayaana); but there is nothing from
which he sets forth. He starts from the universe;
but in truth he starts from nowhere. His boat is
manned with all the perfections (paaramitaas); and
is manned by no one. It will find its supprot on
nothing whatsoever and will find its support on the
state of all-knowing, which will serve it as a
non-support. Moreover, no one has ever set forth in
the Great ferryboat; no one will ever set froth in
it, and no one is setting forth in it now. And why
is
────────────
(8) The Diamond Suutra, Charles Luk trans., included
in the Bilingual Buddhist Series, Suutras and
Scriptures, Vol.1 (Taipei, Taiwan: Buddhist
Culture Service, 1962), p.132
(9) Edward Conze notes: "For four centuries the
Scriptures went not written down, and only
existed in the memory of the monks. Like the
Brahmins, the Buddhists had a strong aversion to
writing down religious knowledge." Buddhism: Its
Essence and Development (New York: Harper & Row,
1959), p.89.
P.346
this? Because neither the one setting forth nor
the goal for which he sets forth is to be found:
therefore, who should be setting forth, and
whither? (10)
This situation created quite a quandary for those
who nonetheless sought to propagate the Dharma.
Thus, the following guidelines were set forth:
•Rely on the teaching, not the teacher.
•Rely on the meaning, not the letter.
•Rely on the definitive meaning (nitaartha),
not the interpretable meaning (neyaartha).
•Rely on wisdom (j~naana), not on [ordinary]
consciousness (vij~naana). (11)
Each of these guidelines redirects the focus away
from intellectual abstractions and back to the
original experiential core of the Buddha's
enlightenment. The same point is emphasized by the
Buddha in his parting advice to his disciples to
diligently pursue their individual paths to
awakening.
And so the stage was set for linguistic
indirection and evocation, summarized in the
well-known four points of Ch'an, often attributed to
Bodhidharma:
• direct transmission outside the Scriptures;
• non-reliance on verbal expression;
• direct pointing to the hear/mind(hsin);
• seeing into one's original nature (hsing) to
• realize our inherent Buddhahood.
Properly applied, poetry can satisfy each of these
requirements: it goes beyond the actual content of
orthodox texts, it utilizes language without
limiting itself to sim---
────────────
(10) A.s.tasaaharkaa Praj~naapaarmitaa (The Wisdom
that has Gone Beyond), as quoted by Heinrich
Zimmer in Philosophies of India (Princeton,
1951), p.485.
(11) Catuhpratisaranasutra ( Sutra of the Four
Refuges), as quoted by Donald S.Lopez in his
introduction to his edited text, Buddhist
Hermeneutics (Honolulu: University of Hawaii
Press, 1988), p.3.
P.347
ple denotation, and it provides a species of
ostensive definition through its marshaling of
images. Finally, by means of the above methods,
poetry provides insight into the inmost depths of
reality.
The mergence of Buddhism and poetry through the
common thread of enlightenment was aptly noted by
literary critic Yen Yuu in the twelfth century:
Generally speaking, the Way of Buddhism lies on
enlightenment. The way of poetry also lies on
enlightenment. Meng Hao-yen's academic
achievement is far below that of Han Yu
(769-824). Meng's poetry is much better than
that of Han Yu. The reason for this is that Meng
has achieved enlightenment, but Han has not.
(12)
Accordingly, Buddhists were distinguished
contributors to the Chinese poetic tradition, while
Chinese poets were greatly influenced by Buddhist
doctrine.
II. POETIC PRECURSORS IN THE TAOIST TRADITION
The Twofold Root of the Chinese Poetic Tradition
Chinese culture was eminently suited to
appreciate the Buddhist use of poetry due to its
centuries-long cultivation of poetic sensibilities.
Being grounded in the same philosophical perspective
of reality that suffuses the I Ching, Chinese poetry
from its inception has evidenced a highly
sophisticated use of imagery. The images were not
construed as mere metaphors, but in fact represent
metaphysics made concrete: "the Chinese poem was
assumed to invoke a network of preexisting
correspondences-between poet and world and among
clusters of images." (13) Thus, philosophers such as
Confucius made poetry a focal point of moral
education. (14)
Two books generally are considered to represent
the earliest collections of
────────────
(12) Yen Yu, as quoted by Chang Chung-yuan in
Creativity and Taoism: A Study of Chinese
Philosophy, Art, and Poetry (New York: Harper &
Row, 1970), p.186.
(13) Pauline Yu, The Reading of Imagery in the
Chinese Poetic Tradition (Princeton, New
Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1987) ,
p.36.
(14) For a fuller discussion of this point, see Yu,
"Imagery in the Classic of Poetry," pp.44-83.
P.348
Chinese poetry, the Shih Ching (Classic of Poetry)
and the Ch'u Tz'u (Elegies of Ch'u or Song of the
South). Geographically considered, they represent
respectively the northern and southern strains of
early Chinese civilization, the first centered in
the vicinity of the Yellow River (Shandong and
Hopei) and the second in the Yangtze river valley
(Hunan and Hupeh) .Culturally, these anthologies
contain the twofold root of Chinese literary
tradition, whose offshoots developed as
manifestations of two essentially diverse
approaches to life, two unique ways of being in the
world.
The Shih Ching anthology consists of folk songs,
court compositions, and ritual hymns. The preface to
the text succinctly conveys the reigning perception
of poetry's origins within individual human
experience, as well as its social-political
functions:
Poetry is where the intent of the heart/mind
(hsin) goes. What in the heart is intent is
poetry when emitted in words. An emotion moves
within and takes form in words. If words do not
suffice, then one sighs; if sighing does not
suffice, then one prolongs it [the emotion] in
song; if prolonging through song does not
suffice,then one unconsciously dances it with
hands and feet. Emotions are emitted in sounds,
and when sounds form a pattern, they are called
tones. The tones of a well-governed world are
peaceful and lead to joy, its government
harmonious; the tones of a chaotic world are
resentful and angry, its government perverse;
the tones of a defeated state are mournful to
induce longing, its people in difficulty. Thus
in regulating success and failure, moving heaven
and earth, and causing spirits and gods to
respond, nothing comes closer than poetry. (15)
In contrast, the Ch'u Tz'u represents a
collection of poems composed in the southern state
of Ch'u, many of which are attributed to Ch'u Yuan
(343? -278 b.c.e.), the first Chinese poet known by
name. These poems differ both stylistically and
thematically from the poems of the Shih Ching,
bearing the unmistakable influence of the religious
culture of the Ch'u state, which was more closely
con-
────────────
(15) Great Preface (Ta Hsu) to the Shih Ching,
attribute to Wei Hong; included in Yu,pp.31-32.
p.349
nected to its tribal origins than was the agrarian
culture to the north. The Ch'u Tz'u poems are known
for detailed descriptions of magical flights to
heavenly kingdoms and of encounters with the various
gods and goddesses of the Ch'u pantheon, generally
associated with various rivers and mountains. The
poets of the south anthologized in the Ch'u Tz'u
blithely describe the ecstatic spirit journeys of
shamans and meeting with divine beings. Exorcism,
prophecy, divination, dream interpretation, and
other occult activities were practiced by the wu,
many of whom were women.
Lao Tzu
Not surprisingly, the reputed founder to the
school of Taoism, Lao Tzu (Li Erh), is said to have
been a native of Ch'u. Moreover, adherents of the
Taoist school were also predominantly from the south
(as opposed to the northern base of the Confucian
school, Ju Chia). Lao Tzu's preference for poetic
expression is reflected in the style of his reputed
text, the Tao Te Ching. The mystically-tinged
elements of the Ch'u anthology reappear as
embodiments of metaphysical truths in Taoist texts.
Although poetical in content, the form in which
the Tao Te Ching is written does not conform to
traditional models of the shih; it does fit the
broader definition of poetry as recognized in the
West by virtue of its frequent use of rhyme and
pervasive imagery. By way of illustration, let us
examine the images in the seminal opening chapter of
the Tao Te Ching.
The tao that can be taoed is not the enduring
Tao;
The name that can be named is not the enduring
Name.
As No-thingness [Tao] is named the origin of
Heaven and Earth;
As Being [Tao] is named the mother of the Ten
Thousand Things.
Thus, always in terms of No-thingness,
One contemplates its [hidden] wonders;
Always in terms of Being,
One contemplates its [manifested] forms.
These two spring forth from the same [source],
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And yet they differ in name.
Both are called "profoundly dark";
Profoundly dark and ever profoundly dark,
The gateway to infinite wonders.(16)
In these lines Lao Tzu initiates the questioning of
the legitimacy, and even the possibility, of
confining reality to the limits of language,
qualifying him as a precursor of Ch'an. The
"enduring Tao" as all-pervasive substratum remains
everelusive, nor can it be fixated by a mere name.
The word "enduring" (ch'ang) is sometimes translated
as "constant" or "eternal". The Chinese character
depicts a flag outside the headquarters of the
commanding general. Extrapolating from this concrete
image, the flag may be interpreted as a sign or a
symbol of leadership. Furthermore, the flag connotes
a special sense of movement within constancy, a
supple flexibility fluttering in the breeze. The
sense of stability amid flux is missing from the
word "eternal," which refers to something outside of
time, outside of change (e.g., the Platonic Forms).
Tao, however, is immanent in, rather than
transcendent of, the world of change-it is the
changeless that endures in the midst of change. In
the Silk manuscript the word "heng" (constant) is
inserted in place of "ch'ang." This character
depicts the heart/mind (hsin) in a constant orbit,
revolving around and around in a set pattern.
Despite the differences between the words heng and
ch'ang, they do share a common sense of movement in
accordance with a natural rhythm. In contrast to the
western philosophical preference for an otherworldly
("real world") perfection that is eternal, Lao Tzu's
Tao is consistent with the traditional Chinese view
of dynamic reality, as contained in the I Ching.
Change, then, is not an affront or a weakness or a
negation, but simply and admitted characteristic of
reality.
The name given to Tao, is not its real name,
merely a heuristic device. What is unique about this
so-called Nameless Tao is that not only can it not
be named by us, but moreover no name can ever be
applicable to it. The ultimate reality cannot be
encompassed within the necessarily restricted scope
of linguist patterns. The problem resides not in
Tao, but rather in the inherent deficiencies of
human
────────────
(16) Charles We-hsun Fu and Sandra A. Wawrytko,
trans., Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching: A New Annotated
Translation (forthcoming from Greenwood Press).
P.351
discourse, and so the essential dissonance existing
between language and Taoism is revealed. Language is
fundamentally based on naming. Names provide a
common point of reference for communication; they
define and delimit reality within the confines most
comfortable to human comprehension. Thus, language
is best able to deal with tangible objects and their
properties (such as color) that fall within the
range of human experience. The cultural nuances of
that experience occasionally result in words that
defy translation when a corresponding experience
does not exist in the second culture.(17)
The strength of language allows us to fix or
secure things by means of a name or label. However
such fixation also can be fatal. Thus, Friedrich
Nietzsche sarcastically berates western philosophers
for a mind-set grounded in abstract verbalization:
You ask me which of the philosophers' traits are
really idiosyncrasies? For example, their lack
of historical sense, their hatred of the very
idea of becoming, their Egypticism. They think
that they show their respect for a subject when
they de-historicize it, sub specie aetenuu-when
they turn it into a mummy. All that philosophers
have handled for thousands of years have been
concept-mummies; nothing real escaped their
grasp alive. When these honorable idolaters of
concepts worship something, they kill it and
stuff it; they threaten the life of everything
they worship. Death, change, old age, as well as
procreation and growth, are to their minds
objections-even refutations.(18)
In sharp contrast, Lao Tzu emphasizes the
flexibility of names vis-a-vis Tao. The name Mother
of the Ten Thousand Things applies to Tao as Being
(yu), that is, the "manifest forms" that are subject
to linguistic analysis and fixation. These
correspond to the limits of cognition and intellect.
But it also has another name, "No-
────────────
(17) One example would be the Japanese phrase "mono
no aware." There is no exact equivalent in
English, inasmuch as its cultural aesthetic
does not include nor value precisely the same
experience as does the Japanese aesthetic.
(18) Friedrich Nietzsche, "Reason' in Philosophy,"
from Twilight of the Idols, Walter Kaufmann
trans. And included in The Portable Nietzsche
(New York: Viking Press, 1968), p.479.
P.352
thingness" (wu) as "origin of Heaven and Earth." In
the latter sense we are forced beyond the limits of
language and into the realm of the wondrous (miao).
This is the same rarefied territory tread by the
Ch'an Buddhist, a region suffused with ineffable
spirituality. Deprived of the crutch of language,
how are we to communicate such things? The Taoist
invites us to soar on the wings of poetry, engaging
our creative imagination and transcending cognitive
reason. Lao Tzu seems to echo the insights of Lu Ji
regarding the creative process:
Impose on empty nonbeing to ask forth being,
Knock on deepest silence in search of sound.(19)
Although both perspectives, the Mother and the
Origin, are possible, there is a definite priority,
ontologically speaking, given to No-thingness.
One might interpret this passage as a set of
guidelines suggesting how to reconcile the dual
perspectives, later discussed as the worldviews of
the worldling and the Sage. The worlding is not
totally wrong in his or her perceptions, merely
excessively limited, a limitation inherent in the
temptation to name, to verbalize, to define reality,
thus bringing it into our sphere of influence and
control. Another image from chapter 38 serves to
clarify the relationship between these two views in
an appropriately poetic way:
Those who have foreknowledge are [merely] the
flower of Tao,
And the beginning of human folly.
Accordingly, the accomplished person holds to
what is thick,
And does not reside in what is thin;
Holds to the fruit and does not reside in the
flower.
Therefore, prefers the one and avoids the other.
The flower prefigures the fruit, as the worldling
does the Sage. But no fruit is forthcoming if,
dazzled by the flower's beauty, we pluck it from the
branch and
────────────
(19) Lu Ji, Wen Xuan, 17/4b/p.309. as quoted by Yu,
p.35.
P.353
interrupt (wei) the natural cycle.
The key word in the lines describing the
"manifest forms" versus the "hidden wonders" is
"contemplate" (kuan). Usually this character is
simply translated as "see". Yet it connotes much,
much more than mere seeing; it is a very special
species of seeing. Etymologically it contains two
components-a heron beside an eye on two feet, that
is, human vision. The encoded message, then, implies
something unique about how this bird see. The egret
is a water bird that has a very characteristic
survival skill-it stands perfectly still for long
periods of time. Rather than clumsily splashing
about the shallows on its ungainly legs frightening
its prey, it waits unobtrusively, non-threateningly
for the fish to come to it, and then strikes with
its long beak.(20)
Perhaps this is Lao Tzu's subtle recommendation
for reading his text, for comprehending Tao. If you
pick up this book intending to force the meaning out
of it you will never be successful. Instead, you
have to wait for the meaning to come to you. The
more you try to grasp it and the more you try to
analyze it, the deeper you sink into the obscuring
mire of language. Taoism is, in that sense, very
demanding, it requires considerable patience and
receptivity. Receptivity is the key point, being
ready and able to resonate with what reveals itself
to you. The same can be said for the cultivation
that precedes enlightenmental break-through in Ch'an
practice.
The closing lines of the first chapter are
equally important in emphasizing the
interrelatedness of the two perspectives
(paralleling the Samsaara/Nirvaa.na mergence in
Ch'an):
These two [the manifest forms and the hidden
wonders] spring forth from the same
[source].
And yet they differ in name.
Both are called "profoundly dark,"
────────────
(20) An alternative etymology interprets kuan in
terms of a "bird's-eye view" from the heights,
and by extension meaning a look-out point, high
tower, or Taoist monastery.
P.354
Profoundly dark and ever profoundly dark,
The Gateway to infinite wonders.
Notice what Lao Tzu is describing here; he does not
offer us the clear, glaring truth, but a murky
profundity. He does not promise infinite wonders,
only the Gateway, the point of entry is indicated.
The rest of the way remains for us to travel alone,
again, a prefiguring of the Ch'an emphasis on
self-reliance.
The character rendered here as "profoundly
dark" (hsuuan) depicts a piece of silk thread which
has been dipped in dye. Hence, it bears the literal
meaning of dark, darkened, and by extrapolation,
something mysterious. This same character is used in
combination with several others throughout the text:
"the profoundly dark mirror (hsuan-lan) " or the
inmost heart/mind (10); "profoundly dark virtue
(hsuante)," the most deeply rooted of all virtues
(51,65); "the profoundly dark female (hsuan-p'in), "
embodying the Taoistically prioritized yin force (6)
; "the profoundly dark union (hsuan-t'ung)" between
ourselves and Tao(56,65).
Furthermore, since this is a piece of silk that
has been dyed, one might read this, hermeneutically
speaking, as a spurious process. The mystery is not
really inherent in Tao any more than the darkness is
inherent to the silk. Tao is mysterious to us
because we have artificially distanced ourselves
from it, inducing a sense of estrangement and
alienation. We have mystified it by our unnatural
attempts to make it conform to language and logic.
On the other side of the gateway, when the barriers
of language have been surmounted, "subtle
enlightenment (wei-ming)" awaits (chapter 36). It is
precisely this something else that defies
expression, except by poetic indirection.
The Buddhists found their natural allies in
the Taoist camp. The collaboration began with a
borrowing of Taoist terminology to translate
Buddhist concepts into the Chinese intellectual
context, culminating in the birth of a new school:
Zen may.. be regarded as the fullest development
of Taoism by wedding it to congenial Buddhist
insights and the powerful Buddhist impulse of
apostolic zeal. If Buddhism is the father,
Taoism is the mother of this prodigious child.
But there can be no denying that the child looks
more like the mother than the child.(21)
P.355
Neo-Taoist Currents in Liu I-ch'ing's New Tales of
the World (Shih-shuo Hsin-yu)
The cultural encounter will and increasing
adaptation of Buddhism in Chinese intellectual
circles is recorded in the pages of Liu I-ch'ing's
classic collection of anecdotes, New Tales of the
World (Shih-shuo Hsin-yuu). It also records the
skirmishes between the "Conformist" Confucian forces
and the "Naturalist" Taoist camp, vying for
political control of the court. The execution of the
out-spoken naturalist proponent Hsi K'ang (223-262)
was a strong inducement for more veiled expressions
in a poetic form. Thus, Juan Chi (210-263) contrasts
the broad vision of the Naturalists with the narrow
vision of the Conformists using the imagery of the
crane and the small birds:
Amid the clouds there is a dark-hued crane;
With high resolve it lifts its mournful sound.
Once flown from sight into the blue-green sky.
In all the world it will not cry again.
What has it to do with quails and sparrows
Flapping their wings in play within the central
court? (22)
One could readily conclude that Buddhism offered
ever greater attractions for the disappointed and
embattled Taoist forces as a means to escape the
domination of their Confucian foes. The general
openness of the intellectual climate during this
period facilitated a Taoist-Buddhist synthesis among
the literati.(23) These develop-
────────────
(21) John C.H.Wu, The Golden Age of Zen, rev.ed
( Taipei, Taiwan : United Publishing Center,
1975), p.44
(22) Note the poet's allusion to the differing
visions of the P'eng bird and the little dove
in the first chapter of the Chuang Tzu,
respectively representing Great Knowledge (ta
chih) and Small Knowledge (hsiao chih). Quoted
by Richard B.Mather in his introduction to Liu
I-ch'ing's Shih-shuo Hsin-yu: A New Account of
Tales of the World (Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press, 1976) , p.xix. See also
Mather's informative discussion of the conflict
between the Naturalists and the Conformists in
this essay.
P.356
ments are reflected in the pages of the New Tales of
the World ( shih-shuo Hsin-yu ), where the Taoist-
Buddhist interactions are documented. Among the most
influential of the Buddhists was the monk Chih Tun
(314-366), who was highly regarded for his eloquence
and scholarship,including creative reinterpretations
of such Taoist texts as the Chuang Tzu. His
importance can be gauged from the fact that he
merited nearly fifty mentions in the Tales.
Commenting on a comparison between erudition in the
North as opposed to the South, Chih Tun utilized
both metaphorical language and an allusion to the
Taoists' distrust of language:
Sages and worthies, of course, are those who
'forget speech,' but if we're talking about
people from the middle range down, the reading
of the Northerners is like viewing the moon in a
bright place, while the erudition of the
Southerners is like peering at the sun through
a window.(24)
The Tales also demonstrate the continuing
prominence of poetic expression in all walks of
life-from political intrigue to social criticism,
literary fame to refined entertainment. The poetic
preference for interweaving the strongly imagistic
Taoist terminology into one's work gradually evolved
toward Buddhist doctrine.(25)
T'ao Ch'ien
The poet T'ao Ch'ien (365-427; also known as
T'ao Yuan-ming) represents a transitional figure in
the increasing rapport of Taoist and Buddhist
currents. He was on intimate terms with individuals
from both groups. Especially noteworthy is his
connection with monks from the White Lotus Society
that eventually developed into Ch'an Buddhism.
T'ao Ch'ien has been hailed for both his poetic
prowess and his spiritual re-
────────────
(23) For a detailed discussion of this climate see
Kenneth Ch'en, "Neo-Taoism and the Praj~naa
School during the Wei and Chin Dynasties,"
included in Chinese Philosophy, Volume II:
Buddhism (Taipei, Taiwan: China Academy, 1974),
pp.129-42.
(24) Liu I-ch'ing, A New Account of Tales of the
World, Chapter 7, section 25, p.105.
(25) See Liu Chun's comments to chapter IV, section
85, p.137.
P.357
finement: "the extreme beauty of T'ao Ch'ien's poems
cannot be equaled by any other works because no poet
had ever given so much of his inner experience in
his works." (26) His path of progress may be traced
in a poem simply entitled "Going Back to the Farm":
When young, ill at ease with the common world,
Naturally (hsing pen) loving hills and mountains.
Mistakingly [I] fell into the midst of the
worldly web,
Onec gone [into the web] thirty years [went by].
The caged bird pines for the forest of old,
The ponded fish mourns for past depths.
Clearing wilderness on the borders of the south-
ern wasteland,
Guard the stupid self back down on the farm;
The place is more than a mu,
[With] a grass shelter of eight or nine units
Elms and willows shelter the eaves behind,
Peach and plum trees overarch the building in front.
Dimly seen, the far off village,
Hovering [above], the village smoke;
A dog barks deep within the lane,
A rooster crows from the topmost branch of the mulberry tree.
Door [shelter] and yard devoid of worldly confusion,
Empty rooms overflowing with ease/tranquility.
So long caged/confused within,
[Now] returned, back to tzu-jan.(27)
The poem begins with a depiction of his early
preference for Nature (" naturally loving hills and
mountains") and corresponding uneasiness with the
mundane world. This is followed by an interlude of
alienation from Nature and self. This stage is
vividly depicted in terms of a bird or fish torn
from its natural habitat and
────────────
(26) Chang Chung-yuan, Creativity and Taoism, p.191
(27) My translation.
P.358
forced into the artificial restrictions of a cage or
pond. In each case longing remains for what was-the
bird "pines" while the fish "mourns." We then see
the poet liberated from the "worldly web" in his
third and final stage, having gone back to Nature in
his rural seclusion. Here "worldly confusion" has
been dispelled, supplanted by the tranquility that
overflows in emptiness (paralleling the
"No-thingness" of wu yu). T'ao Ch'ien has seen both
the way of the worldings and the way of the Sage.
The way of the world left him discontented, so he
returned to his true roots. He did not need to
acquire tzu-jan, only to remove his temporary
alienation from it, just as Ch'an awakening is not
an attainment, but a realization.
Consistent with Taoist thought, T'ao Ch'ien
emphasizes the "returning" (fu) action involved
here, the return to the root that is Tao itself. He
also makes several allusions to passages in the Tao
Te Ching, most specifically the utopian vision
described in chapter 80:
Although the neighboring country is within
sight,
And the crowing of cocks and barking of dogs
there can be heard,
The two peoples never are in touch with one another,
Throughout their lives.(28)
References to tzu-jan and tranquility point to the
same inspirational source, while T'ao Ch'ien himself
became a model emulated by later poets.
III THE CH'AN SYNTHESIS
The Threefold Process of Enlightenment (29)
Building upon both the indigenous and imported
traditions, Chinese Buddhists gradually adapted
doctrines to their own cultural context, in accord
with Buddhism's long-standing emphasis on upaaya or
pragmatic adaptability. The Ch'an school is
particularly noteworthy for its expansion of
traditions, as well as its infusion of Taoist
elements. The result was a creative synthesis
representing
────────────
(28) Translated by Charles Wei-hsun Fu and Sandra
A.Wawrytko.
P.359
the ultimate sinification of Buddhist philosophy and
practice.
The same synthesizing current is evidenced in
the evolution of poetic forms within Ch'an practice.
Shin'ichi Hisamatsu has stated that verse (ge or ju)
was the primal form of Ch'an literature:
Sometimes this verse was metrical, with
conventional rhymes and tones, and sometimes it
was completely free of formality. Zen Activity
manifest in words favored the use of concrete
and straightforward images in a literary or
poetic manner, rather than the use of analytic
or theoretical prose. Zen dialogues in verse,
for example, resulted in a unique literary
style, which was appropriate to the full
expression of Zen Activity. Poetry also has been
used since the early days of Zen as a vehicle
for transmitting the dharma from master to
disciple..in Zen lieterary expression, poetry
ranks first.(30)
In addition to the more orthodox uses of poems
to summarize essential points in sermons and serve
as manifestos of enlightenment, poems now functioned
as responses to the characteristically Ch'an kung-an
(koan) technique. Poems were particularly
appropriate retorts to the kung-an since both
expressions shared a translogical core of meaning.
When the kung-an had achieved its end of driving the
stu-
────────────
(29) Tung-shan Liang-chich's Five Levels of
Achievement (wu wei kung hsun) bears a certain
resemblance to the three-fold model proposed
here:
1. hsiang, or subjectivity
2. feng, or objectivity
3. kung, or non-action (from which action
emerges)
4. kong kung, or the interfusion between action
and non-action
5. kung kung, or the absolute freedom from both
action and non-action
See Chang Chung-yuan, Original Teachings of
Ch'an Buddhism, Selected from The Transmission
of the Lamp (New York: Pantheon Books, 1969),
pp.51-53. It should be emphasized that my model
is purely heuristic, and has no pretensions of
being exhaustive or comprehensive.
(30) Shin'ichi Hisamatsu, Zen and the Fine Arts,
Gishin Tokiwa trans.( Tokyo : Kodansha Inter-
national Ltd., 1971), pp.13-14.
P.360
dent beyond the limits of rational discourse and
mundane consciousness, poetry was apt spontaneously
to spew forth. Thus the Ch'an Master would be able
to evaluate the student's comprehension of the
incomprehensible by decoding images that might seem
bizarre, if not nonsensical, to the unawakened.
Enlightenment poems themselves also came to be
utilized as kung-an, as were the death poems of
great masters.
Different students might legitimately offer
quite different poetic responses to the same
kung-an, while simultaneously revealing the same
insight. For example, the following poems were both
equally acceptable replies to the kung-an known as
Joshu's 'Oak in the courtyard':
Joshu's 'Oak in the courtyard'
Nobody's grasped its roots.
Turned from sweet plum trees,
They pick sour pears on the hill.
-Eian
Joshu's 'Oak in the courtyard'
Handed down, yet lost in leafy branch
They miss the root. Disciple Kaku shouts
'Joshu never said a thing!'
-Monju-shindo(31)
Despite their differing contents, both poems
demonstrate that their respective authors have seen
beyond the upaayic nature of the kung-an exercise to
glimpse the transcendental truth that makes the
kung-an itself superfluous-like the ladder pushed
aside once the height has been reached or the raft
left on the shore once the river has been crossed.
For purposes of discussion, a three-fold process
can be mapped within the Ch'an poetics:
────────────
(31) Quoted by Lucien Stryk, The Penguin Book of Zen
Poetry, p.14.
P.361
Great Faith (ta-hsin) , adherence to the
doctrines of Buddhism; "Our supreme faith.. is
in the Buddha's enlightenment experience, the
substance of which he proclaimed to be that
human nature, all existence, is intrinsically
whole, flawless, omnipotent-in a word, perfect.
Without unwavering faith in this the heart of
the Buddha's teaching, it is impossible to
progress far in one's practice."
Great Doubt(ta-yi-t'uan), a turning away from
vicarious knowledge and toward self-reliance by
the introduction of a salutary skepticism;
"mass-doubt".. as to why the world should appear
so imperfect, so full of anxiety, strife, and
sufering, when in fact our deep faith tells us
exactly the opposite is true. It is a doubt
which leaves us no rest." (32) As one master
observed: "The heart is Buddha'-this is the
medicine for sichk people. 'No Heart, no
Buddha'-this is to cure people who are sick
because of the medicine." (33)
Great Death (ta-shi), the point of break-through
with the "death" or eradication of the illusory
ego-self; both faith and doubt are transcended
in that there is no one in whom that faith or
doubt can be anchored.
Ch'an practice is designed to guide the student
successively through these three levels, each
building on its predecessor. By virtue of this
strategy, practitioners viewed themselves as having
gone beyond other Buddhists in terms of the depth of
their penetration into "original nature" or the
present state of Buddhahood. Thus, they
distinguished three levels of broadening awareness:
1. the Way of the Ancient Masters, based on
reading Buddhist Scripture (and hence
restricted to the limitations of linguistic
expression);
2. Tathaagata Ch'an, Ch'an of the Perfected One
(ju-lai ch'an), or the Ch'an of Emptiness,
resulting from a non-reliance on language and
Scriptures, inclu-
────────────
(32) Cf. Zen Master Hakuun Yasutani's Lectures on
Zen, "10 The Three Essentials of Zen Practice"
in Philip Kapleau's the Three Pillars of Zen:
Practice, and Enlightenment (Boston: Beacon
Press, 1965), pp.58-60
(33) Master Nanyo, Irmgard Schloegl trans., The
Wisdom of the Zen Masters (New York: New
Directions, 1975), as quoted by p.55.
P.362
sive of Bodhidharma;
3. the Ch'an of the Patriarchs (tsu shih ch'an),
or the direct experience of enlightenment
through mind to mind transmission, expressed
not through conventional language, but rather
through either action (body language) or
silence. (34)
Only the thired level of awareness could claim to be
complete and perfect, the other two being mere means
to this ultimate end.
A certain similarity may be discerned here with
the three phases of the teaching/learning process
recognized by the T'ien-t'ai sect:
1. to sow the seed of Buddha's wisdom in the
heart
2. ripening of the seed
3. harvesting of the seed, abandonment of
all.(35)
What distinguishes the Ch'an approach, however, is
the crucial transitional second stage that directly
contradicts the initial stage. In contrast, the
T'ien-t'ai methodology nurtures the seed sown in the
level to its second stage ripening. Congruence
returns in the final stage, where the seed is
harvested, that is, removed and revealed as a mere
means to the end of enlightenment. The abandonment
noted here this extends even to doctrine itself, the
previously sown seed. The common core would seem to
be upaaya , the orthodos doctrine expounded
innumerable times by the Buddha that emphasizes
efficacy an flexibility. Both the T'ien-t'ai and
Ch'an schools thus may be seen as appropriate
responses to the cultural imperatives under which
Buddhist doctrine had to accomplish-and-hence
adapt-its message to the needs and sensitivities of
Chinese audiences.(36)
────────────
(34) this threefold divison represents a movement
initiated by the Sixth Patriarch, Hui-neng, and
his "sudden enlightenment" school. See Heinrich
Dumoulin, Zen Buddhist; A History: Vol, I India
and China, James W.Heising and Paul Knitter,
trans. (New York Macmillan publishing company,
1988)pp.155-56.
(35) Soothill, p.55a.
p.363
The Ch'an of the Ancient Masters, reliance on
the scriptures, entails cognitive literalism, the
use of abstract language. Given its intellectual
content and concepts, hsin or consciousness comes to
the fore. While it is the beginning point of
awakening, it is by no means a complete answer, only
a partial answer. In seeking to cognitively solve
the existential quandary of life and death, it
remains ever incapable of dis-solving Samsaara
within Nirvaana.
When Buddhism arrived in China, it brought in
its wake a rich intellectual tradition. Many suutras
and volumes of philosophical commentaries were
available from original Indian sources and
increasingly in Chinese translation. This immense
foundation also proved to be a source of problems,
by mistaking the words written about awakening for
the experience itself. The temptation was to limit
oneself to the intellect, to assume that
intellectual comprehension was both the beginning
and the end o f Buddhist Dharma. However Buddhism is
not merely an intellectual experience, it is first
and foremost an existential experience. To limit
oneself to intellectual understanding is premature;
it is imperative to transcend the boundaries of the
intellect, inclusive of language and logic.
Seeing the need to be rid of the intellect, the
next level of Ch'an Buddhism focussed on the Ch'an
of Voidness. Emphasis is now placed on negation, as
a reaction against an addiction to the intellectual,
over-involvement in the cognitive level.
Accordingly, people burned images of the Buddha,
used the suutras for toilet paper, and engaged in
myriad forms of bizarre behavior to demonstrate that
they were far removed from the stultifying
influences of intellect. In this sense, Chinese
practitioners were able to delve their own rich
heritage of poetic expression, with its compellingly
concrere images.
Finally, as the process continues, the
realization is made that one also must avoid
fixation at the second, nay-saying level. Only then
is the final level realized, seen either as
transcendence or the revelation of the foundation.
This Ch'an of the Patriarchs refers to the flesh and
blood practitioners of the time, who best revered
────────────
(36) An interesting resource for analysis of this
culturally-induced transformation are the
sermons attributed to Bodhidharma (Ta-mo) .
"Outline of Practice, " "Bloodstream Sermon,"
"Wake-up Sermon, " and "Breakthrough Sermon."
The adaptation of Chinese terminology to
express the technical terminology of Buddhist
doctrine is of particular note.
P.364
the Buddha not by slavish discipleship, but by bold
re-enactment of his existential awakening.
The Place of Poetry in Hui-Neng's Platform Suutra
The thought of Hui-neng (638-713), the Sixth
Patriarch, represents an important turning point in
the evloution of Ch'an. A southerner by background,
he incorporates Taoist elements into Buddhism
doctrine as a means of expressing his unique-and
culturally influenced-interpretations of Dharma. He
even is credited with attracting Taoists to his
sermons. Although tradition holds that Hui-neng was
illiterate, this obviously posed no obstacle for him
in the composition of classical five character
verse. In the Platform Suutra he used the stock
Buddhist technique of intergrating poetic exposition
into his lectures to summarize and underscore
important points. (37)
Poetry had a particularly seminal role to play
in the progress of Hui-neng's career in the Ch'an
school. His case reveals a dimension of dynamism and
poetic interplay in terms of what might be termed a
duel played out with gaathaas as "weapons." His
poetic opponent, Shen-hsiu, thus takes on the role
of presenting the first level of awareness against
which Hui-neng reacts, then building upon the
insight evoked to realize the final stage. The stage
is set by the Fifth Patriarch, Hung-jen, in the
context of a poetry contest, with transmission of
the Ch'an leadership as the prize. Although he
cautions his disciples that "deliberation is quite
unnecessary and will be of no use." Shen-hsiu's
entry betrays the hyperreflection of its author:
Our body may be compared to the Bodhi-tree;
While our heart (hsin) is a mirror bright;
Carefully we cleanse and watch them hour by
hour,
And let no dust collect upon them.
────────────
(37) Passages quoted here are from Suutra Spoken by
the Sixth patriarch, Wong Mou-lan trans., rev.
Dwight goddard, included in Vol.I of Suutras
and Scriptures, pp.337-446.
P.365
Certainly these lines demonstrate that Shen-hsiu has
learned his lessons well. Shen-hsiu was in fact
Hung-jen's star pupil and assumed heir apparent.
Unfortunately, as Hui-neng recognized, there is
nothing more than intellectual awareness reflected
here, as if he merely enjoyed a dream of awakening.
Hui-neng, by contrast, was already half-aroused
from his slumbers and asked someone to write out the
following retort:
By no means is Bodhi a kind of tree,
Nor is the bright reflecting mind (hsin), a
case of mirrors.
Since mind is emptiness,
Where can dust collect?
Typical of the second stage, these lines focus on
negation, pointing out the error of the previous
poem. While the Fifth Patriarch immediately sensed
the potential they revealed, there was one more
stage to be realized.
Following transmission of the Dharma from the
Fifth patriarch, Hui-neng was fully awakened.(38)
Although we have no gaathaa as documentation, we do
have his poetically-phrased reponse to the Fifth
Patriarch's offer to ferry him across a river as he
left the monastery:
(So long as I was) under illusion, I was
dependent on you to get me across, but now it is
different--since I am now enlightened, it is
only right for me to cross the sea of birth and
death by my own effort to realize my own
self-nature (tse-hsing).
Later, after hearing the gaathaa of Ch'an Master
Wo-lun vaunting his self-proclaimed enlightenment,
Hui-neng composed these lines:
Hui-neng has no special aptitude;
He does not cut off any thoughts.
────────────
(38) The text reads: "Hui-neng yen hsia ta wu."
Previously Hui-neng had described his response
to hearing the Diamond Suutra as "hsin chi k'ai
wu."
P.366
His mind responds to all situatins.
In what way can the Bodhi tree grow? (39)
Hui-neng went on to develop the concept of the
original nature with greater clarity than had
hitherto been applied. His reference to wu-hsin (no
mind) displays on obvious similarity to the concepts
of Taoism. The use of the qualifying term wu
fulfills the same function for hsin that Lao Tzu
accomplishes for wei. That is, rather than being a
denial or negation, it represents a more profound
transcendence. Your original nature is always
present, like enlightenment; it is tzu-jan, natural
spontaneity. The subtle change of focus wrought by
Hui-neng moves us from the Taoist emphasis on
methodology (wu-wei as non-interference with the
working of Tao) to existential awareness, which is
more appropriate to Buddhism.
Hsin represents not simply one's intellectual
center, but the way of dealing with the world that
relies on consciousness and the comparatively weak
tools of language and logic. When these are
recognized as a potential trap, one is led to the
second stage of denial, pu-hsin, really a denial of
our self-restriction to consciousness. However, it
is impossible do this literally. Instead, we need to
cultivate the mind of no-mind at the third level,
which is the Buddha mind. What we must rid ourselves
of is not sin, but attachment to artificial
limitations. In a sense, then, we are excavating the
underlying foundation. It is a kind of homecoming, a
return to Tao, a return to one's original mind. This
also grows out of the transmission Hui-neng received
from the Fifth Patriarch to avoid attachment, which
Hui-neng further developed as non-abiding (wu-chu).
This translates into an avoidance of fixation on
concepts, words, or doctrines, whether positively or
negatively propounded. It constitutes teaching by
non-teaching, which thus avoids both the dependency
of the first level (Great Faith) and the more subtle
dependency on independence (Great Doubt). So it has
been said, "the Buddha taught for forty-nine years,
but no word was spoken."
────────────
(39) As quoted by Wu, p.81. wo-lun's poem, also
cited by Wu, was:
Wo-lun possesses a special aptitude:
He can cut off all thoughts.
No situation can stir his mind.
The Bodhi tree grows daily in him.
P.367
Ch'an Master Pai-chang Huai-hai
Pai-chang's ( 749-814 ) three level continuum of
"the incomplete and the complete teaching" seems to
reflect the same experiential process of awakening.
Although Pai-chang does not use poetry per se, his
prose is permeated with poetic images that engage
the reader in a trans-intellectual mode of
comprehension:
1."The way of two vehicles" (Theravaada Buddhism)
concerns the monks who diligently practice
Buddhist discipline in a meditational
lifestyle. While this is recognized as "the
elementary good," it is also criticized for
"obstructing Buddha's light" and "shedding
Buddha's blood," The problem here is that the
practitioner has taken it all too seriously,
and views Buddhism from too narrow a
perspective. It is the way of "one who is fond
of the raft [that is, the doctrine] and will
not give it up," which constitutes a kind of
grasping when in fact all forms of grasping
are to be exorcised. It is, in effect, and
attachment to non-attachment.
2." The half-word teaching " is an improvement
over these well-motivated errors, for there is
neither grasping nor dwelling in non-
attachment. Yet even here we have only "the
intermediate good." The fatal flaw resides in
"meditation sickness..the bondage of the
bodhisattvas." By this is meant an
isolationism in which one is so intent on
/addicted to meditational practice that the
rest of the world ceases to exist. This is an
artificial, even escapist, approach amounting
to wisdom bereft of compassion. Only con-
summate wisdom allows for the return to
in-the-world experience without degeneration
to being of-the-world.
3." The full-word teaching " alone avoids all of
the above pitfalls. Thus it is deemed "the
final good" in which there is no attempt to
understand or make sense of not dwelling in
non-attachment. One is then able to re-enter
the world with a combination of wisdom and
compassion.The extremes of over-intellectuali-
zing and anti-intellectualization are both
avoided.
This same three-fold process is reflected in the
poetic expressions of Ch'an practitioners. In each
case we can see a re-enactment of " a deer leaping
three
P.368
times and getting out of the net" to become "an
enlightened one beyond confinement."(40) Most
especially, this signals an end to self-confinement:
To say the present mirror awareness is one's own
Buddha is words of measurement, words of
calculation-it is like the crying of a jackal.
This is still being stuck as in glue at the
gate, Originally you did not acknowledge that
innate knowing and awareness are your own
Buddha, and went running elsewhere to seek
Buddha. So you needed a teacher to tell you
about innate knowing and awareness as a medicine
to cure this disease of hastily seeking outside.
Once you no longer seek outwardly, the disease
is cured and it is necessary to remove the
medicine. If you cling fixedly to innate knowing
awareness [level two; the Ch'an of Emptiness],
this is a disease of meditation. Such is a
thoroughgoing disciple; like water turned to
ice, all the ice is water, but it can hardly be
expected to quench thirst.(41)
The reference to stagnation at the gate is
interesting by way of comparison to Lao Tzu's
reference to "The gateway to infinite wonders" in
the final line of the Tao Te Ching's opening
chapter.
Hsiang-yen Chih-hsien
In the case of Hsiang-yen (p.898), we see a
poetically documented progression through the three
stages of enlightenment. (42) What is particularly
important here is the implication that his main
obstacle seems to be his own brilliant intellect and
his impressive scholarship. Master Tokusan makes
this point very clearly in the Mumonkan: "However
deep your knowledge of the scriptures, it is no more
than a strand of hair in the vastness of space;
however important seeming your worldly experience,
it is but a drop of water in a deep ravine." (43)
────────────
(40) Pai-chang, p.31.
(41) Pai-chang, p.34.
(42) The subsequent discussion of Hsiang-yen is
derived from Chang Chung-yuan's translation,
Original Teachings of Ch'an Buddhism, pp.
189-91, 219-20.
P.369
The original catalyst for Hsiang-yen's extended
enlightenment experience came in form of a very
popular kung-an with which he was confronted by
Ch'an master Kuei-shan Ling-yu: "what was your
original face before your parents gave you birth?"
At a loss as to how to reply, Hsiang-yen suddenly
realized the futility of his abstract learning and
exclaimed "There is no hunger which can be satisfied
by pictures of food painted on paper!" Thus, his
"hunger" for enlightenment remained unsatiated
despite his having read numerous texts describing
it. Vowing to abandon his studies of Buddhism, he
burned his notes and left the monastery.
Much later, while living a quiet life of
seclusion, the seed planted by Master Kuei-shan
began to sprout. As he was weeding his garden,
spontaneously Hsiang-yen burst into laughter upon
hearing the sound of a dislodged rock hitting a
piece if bamboo. He composed a gaathaa to
commemorate his break-through:
With one stroke, all previous knowledge is
forgotten.
No cultivation is needed for this.
This occurrence reveals the ancient way.
And is free from the track of quiescence.
No trace is left anywhere.
Whatever I hear and see does not conform to
rules.
All those who are enlightened.
Proclaim this to be the greatest action.
These lines indicate that Hsiang-yen indeed has
completely let go of his misguided fixation on mere
scholarship, something he was unable to accomplish
by simply burning his notes. Being instantaneous,
his break-through required no (conscious)
cultivation. On the contrary, it involved what Chang
Chung-Yuan refers to as "the cultivation of
non-cultivation." Nonetheless, there is an air of
verbal pretentiousness about these lines, betraying
a dissonance with consummate Ch'an. The poet is,
perhaps, too eloquen t and still too attached to his
intellectual acumen. Hence, he boldly claims to have
revealed the "ancient way" and to have freed himself
from "the track of quiescence." Conformity to mere
rules is disavowed, and he
────────────
(43) Tokusan as quoted by Lucien Stryk in his
preface to Zen Poems of China and Japan,
p.vlviii.
P.370
ranks himself among the enokghtened in his closing
proclamation.
Learning of Hsiang-yen's experience, a fellow
monk. Yang-shan Hui-chi (807-883), went to him to
verify Hsiang-yen's enlightemnent. After hearing the
above gaathaa he relegated it to the lowest level,
and raised a challenge to Hsiang-yen: "Hereing you
followed the sayings of the ancient masters. If you
have really been awakened, speak from your own
experience." In response Hsiang-yen composed a
second gaathaa:
My poverty of last year was not real poverty.
This year it is want indeed.
In last year's poverty there was room, for a
piercing gimlet.
In this year's poverty even the gimlet is no
more.
These lines include a recognition of past error on
Hsiang-yen's part, an admission that he had
misjudged his situation. The previous sprout of
wisdom now displays a bud. The reference to
"poverty" connotes detachment from artificiality and
superficiality, and is consistent with the negative
formulation of the second level reflected in Great
Doubt. The "piercing gimlet"symbolizes lingering
attachment, which he now believes he has removed.
Note that this poem is both shorter than the first
and more simply stated.
Yang-shan acknowledged this to be an improvement
over the first effort, yet still found it somewhat
lacking. He dismissed it with the remark. "You may
have the Ch'an of Tathaagata, but as for the Ch'an
of the Patriarchs, you have not even dreamed of
it." In other words, Hsiang-yen is adrift on the
sea of voidness, and has yet to land on the
opposite shore. Inspired by this critique,
Hsiang-yen immediately retorted:
I have my secret.
I look at you with twinkling eye.
If you do not understand this.
Do not call yourself a monk.
In this briefest and most vague of the three
gaathaas Hsiang-yen has finally demon-
P.371
strated that he has arrived at the deepest level of
awareness. The bud has burst into full bloom Unlike
the others, it asserts no claims of awakening. It
makes no attempt at either description or
symbolization,but simply presents a phenomenological
exposition of the present moment (being-here-now).
The sentiment it contains runs parallel to Lao Tzu's
lines "Whoever knows does not speak;/Whoever speaks
does not know" (Tao Te Ching, chapter 56). Yang-shan
responded approvingly, " I rejoice that brother
Hsiang-yen has grasped the Ch'an of the Patriarchs."
The poetic expressions, then, become a series of
vehicles for enriching and ultimately consummating
the original glimmering of enlightenment. At first
Hsiang-yen cannot resist the temptation to expound
on his experience in stereotypically Ch'an jargon,
displaying a misguided conformity to non-conformist
expressions. The remonstrance of his fellow monk
forces him to reconsider, and his response is
accordingly less flamboyant. However, only the final
poem shows that he has exorcised the demons of lan
guage and conceptualization, as he fully recognizes
the futility of verbalizing enlightenment.
Enlightenment is for him no longer an object of
intellect but rather a fact of being. The Ch'an
strategy behind this process has been described as
follows:
The Zen experience is centripetal, the artist's
contemplation of subject sometimes referred to
as 'mind-pointing'. The disciple in an early
stage of discipline is asked to point the mind
at (meditate upon) an object, say a bowl of
water. At first, he is quite naturally inclined
to metaphorize, expand, rise imaginatively from
water to lake, sea, clouds, rain. Natural
perhaps, but just the kind of 'mentalization'
Zen masters caution against. The disciple is
instructed to continue until it is possible to
remain strictly with the object, penetrating
more deeply, no longer looking bold it but, the
Sixth Patriarch Hui-neng maintained essential,
bold it..so close an identification with the
object that the unstable mentalizing self
disappears.(44)
────────────
(44) Lucien Stryk, The penguin Book of Zen Poetry,
p.23.
P.372
IV. AN EPISTEMOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE THREEFOLD
EXPERIENCE OF AWAKENING:THE CASE OF CH'ING-YUAN
WEI-HSIN
To explore this process more closely, let us
consider antoher set of enlightenment poems, perhaps
the most famous of all, illustrating the dawning of
Ch'an awareness for Ch'ing-yuan Wei-hsin. His three
stage process of understanding has often been quoted
in explications of Ch'an practice:
Thirty years ago, before I began the study of
Zen, I said, 'Mountains are mountains, waters
are waters.'
After I got an insight into the truth of Zen
through the instruction of a good master, I
said, "mountains are not mountains, water are
not water.'
But now, having attained the abode of final rest
[that is, Awakening], I say, 'Mountains are
really mountains, water are really waters'(45)
There is much of philosophical significance within
these unpretentious lines and their mundane images.
I. 'Mountains are mountains, waters are waters.'
This is the way things are in the world, in
terms of our mundane perception, the keynotes of
which are differentiation, affirmation, and
objectification. This level of consciousness is
associated with the "deaf worldling" by Pai Chang.
(46) In terms of Nietzsche's Three Metamorphoses
(Thus Spoke Zarathustra), the image is that of the
camel, bearing the burden of social conditioning, as
characterized by Great Faith.
These simple-and simplistic-declarative state-
ments of is-ness issue from the
────────────
(45) Quoted by Abe Masao in his Zen and Western
Thought, edited by William R.La-Fleur
(University of Hawaii Press, 1989), p.4. Masao
goes on to elucidate the epistemological
significance, of these lines in the remainder
of that chapter entitled "Zen Is Not a
Philosophy, but.." (pp.5-18). My own discussin
here is both a restatement and an elaboration
of his analysis.
(46) Pai-Chang, p.29.
P.373
viewpoint of a subject (1) encountering an object
(the other). It thereby presupposes a duality, along
with its attendant categories of objectivity and
subjectivity. Most importantly, these distinctions
posit the ego-self as center and focal point. At
this rudimentary level, hsin or consciousness
engages in (ultimately futile) wei activity, seeking
to control and manipulate what is perceived as the
other.
In turn, the I or ego-self perpetrates the
subject/object duality of questioner (1) as
distinguished from that which is questioned
(myself). Hence arises the eternal and central query
of western philosophy concerning self-identity,
epitomized by the Cartesian meditations. The
subjective (inquiring) Self may be identified with
the Tree Self discussed in the Upanisads as the
aatman. Since it is impossible to grasp this aatman,
the ultimate result of the attempt to do so is
self-estrangement and anxiety. In a generalized
sense, the Buddha termed this dukkha, while modern
psychotherapy has referred to it as the Existential
Vacuum (k'ung k'ung tung tung). As Abe observes:"The
ego-self, split at the root into subject and object,
is forever dangling over a bottomless abyss, unable
to gain any footing." (47)
The existential realization of the unattainabi-
lity of the True Self constitutes an opaque wall
blocking the path of enlightenment. Only by
destroying the ego-self can no-self or, more
precisely, no-ego-self, emerge, thereby putting an
end to the false subject/object duality. The
possibility of realization, and the impossibility of
attainment, also underscores the present fact of
enlightenment as an awakening to a pre-existing
reality rather than an accomplishment to be
achieved.
II 'Mountains are not mountains, waters are not
waters'
The keynote at this stage is the denial of
differentiation, affirmation, and objectification,
that is a total contradiction of the preceding stage
and can be characterized as nihilistic. It
encompasses the an-aatman and pu-wei of Taoism as
well as Hui-neng's pu-hsin, in direct opposition to
the previous stage. For Nietzsche, it corresponds to
the nay-saying rebellious lion, representing the
common chord of destruction-Great Doubt.
However, inherent in this negation is a new
differentiation, an ultimately misguided
polarization between differentiation and lack of
differentiation. This is a
────────────
(47) Abe, pp.6-7.
P.374
crucial and necessary transitional phase that
represents a two-edged Zen sword that may both kill
and save. On the one hand, it represents a solution
to the fundamental problematic of stage one, rooted
in existential awareness, by uprooting the ego-self.
The result of this obliteration is detachment, an
ebbing of anxiety, and tranquility. On the other
hand it contains an implicit danger of fixation on
no-self. Paralleling Pai chang's warning against
" meditation sickness, " it includes the risk
factor of wallowing in non-attachment, leading to
indifference and lack of compassion as negativity
predominates. Latent within it Abe identifies a
"hidden form of anxiety".
Thus, it also represents an obstacle on the
enlightenment path, but a much more subtle obstacle,
hiding is liabilities by its transparency. That is
to say, unlike the opaque wall presented by the
ego-self that must be broken through in going from
the first to the second stage, this wall deludes us
into thinking we already have achieved our
objective, for we are allowed to glimpse the goal.
The danger is that we will mistake seeing
enlightenment for being enlightened, just as
Hsiang-yen mistakingly assumed his poverty was
"real" poverty, unlike his original error. The
common flaw in both the first and second stages is a
lingering objectification-first in terms of an
ego-self and then as its denial, a no-self. Even the
no-self is ascribed the properties of
unattainability or emptiness that perpetuate the
myth of thing-ness. Furthermore, this thing
continues to be perceived as needing to acquire
enlightenment, creating a gulf between that which
experiences realization and that which is to be
realized. At this point, as Abe puts it, Realization
A has been grasped: 'I, as the True Self, am empty,
unattainable.' What remains, however, is an even
more radical step: "Emptiness must empty itself."
III 'Mountains are really mountains, waters are
really waters.'
Stage three brings us full circle, in a kind of
Taoist returning with a difference. Differentiation
emerges at the negation of no differentiation in a
negation of negation, or double negative. Mutual
cancellation brings about absolute affirmation.
This is the emptying of emptiness giving rise to
fullness; an overcoming of the very overcoming
process, a liberation from the liberation
imperative. All attachments,even to non-attachment,
are now effectively removed, as are the last
P.375
shreds of dukkha. Nietzsche identifies this as the
self-forgetting innocence of the child, who says
'yes' to life. Or, as stated by Master Lin-chi,
"When hungry, I eat; when tired, I sleep. Fools
laugh at me. The wise understand." (48) It signals
the Great Death of the remaining remnants of
ego-self/non-ego-self.
In the threefold process of the negation of
ego-self followed by the negation of no-self the
true and ever unattainable true self is at long last
realized. This is wu-hisn, no-mind, the Middle Way
between former polarities. It is not a solution or
resolution of the problem of self, but rather its
dis-solution and dis-appearance. The walls-both
opaque and transparent-have now been dis-solved as
well. Abe speaks here of Realization B: 'Emptiness,
the Unattainable, itself is the True Self.'
Objectification is at an end, and realization
merges with the realizer. In coming home to our
original nature we also realize that the whole
world, represented by the mountains and waters, is
home.
The above discussion illustrates the multitude
of uses to which poetry was put as a means to the
end of enlightenment. Building on Indian sources,
and enriched by Chinese poetic and Taoist
traditions, Ch'an poetics evolved into a powerful
upaayic tool. Chang Chung-yuan's pronouncement that
"pure serenification..constitutes the highest
achievement of Chinese poets, to whom ontological
and poetic experience are one" is hereby abundantly
vindicated.(49)
────────────
(48) Lin-chi (Rinzai), as quoted by Schloegl, p.79.
(49) Chang Chung-yuan, Creativity and Taoism, p.174
p.376
┌─────────────────────────┐
│CULTIVATION PROCESSES │HUI-NENG │
│UNDERLYING SUDDEN │unclouding the mind-Fifth│
│ │Patriarch │
│ENLIGHTENMENT │ │
│THROUGH THE STIMULUS │ │
│OF THE KUNG-AN │ │
│─────────────────────────┤
│THE WAY OF THE ANCIENT │Our body may be compared │
│─────────── │to the Bodhi-tree; │
│MASTER │ │
│─── │ │
│reliance on the scrip- │While our hear(hsin) is a│
│tures │mirror bright; │
│COGNITIVE LITERALISM: │ │
│ABSTRACT LANGUAGE, │Carefully we cleanse and │
│INTELLECTUAL CONTENT │watch them hour by hour, │
│AND CONCEPTS │And let no dust collect │
│ │upon them. │
│GREAT FAITH: │-Shen-hsiu │
│THE MIND IS THE BUDDHA │ │
│─────────────────────────┤
│THE CH'AN OF │By no means is Bodhi a │
│────── │kind of tree, │
│TATHAGATA/VOIDNESS │Nor is the bright │
│───────── │reflecting mind(hsin), │
│burning the Scriptures │a case of mirrors. │
│DISTRUST OF LANGUAGE │Since mind is emptiness, │
│AS INADEQUATE TO CONVEY│Where can dust collect? │
│REALITY GREAT DOUBT: │-Hui-neng │
│NON MIND, NO BUDDHA │ │
│─────────────────────────┤
│THE CH'AN OF THE │(So long as I was) under │
│──────── │illusion, I was dependent│
│PATRIARCHS transcend- │on you to get me across, │
│───── │but now it is different..│
│ing the Scripture, │since I am now enlighten │
│individual spontaneity │-ed, it is only right for│
│BEING-HERE-NOW: │me to cross the sea of │
│ACTUAL EXPERIENCE │birth and death by my own│
│GREAT DEATH │effort to realize my own │
│silence (ta-chi,great │self nature(tse-hsing). │
│potentiality) or │-Hui-neng │
│action(ta-yung, great │ │
│activity) │ │
└─────────────────────────┘
p.377
├──────────┬─────────────┐
│HSIANG YEN │CH'ING YUAN WEI-HSIN │
│What was your │ │
│original face before│ │
│your parents gave │ │
│you birth? │ │
├──────────┼─────────────┤
│With one stroke,all │Thirty years ago, before I│
│previous knownledge │began the study of Zen, I │
│is forgotten. │said, "Mountains are │
│No cultivation is │mountains, waters are │
│needed for this. │waters." │
│This occurrence │ │
│reveals the ancient │ │
│way. │ │
│And is free from the│ │
│track of quiescence.│ │
│No trace is left │ │
│anywhere. │ │
│Whatever I hear and │ │
│see does not conform│ │
│to rules. │ │
│All those who are │ │
│enlightened │ │
│Proclaim this to be │ │
│the greatest action.│ │
├──────────┼─────────────┼
│My poverty of last │After I got an insight into
│year was not real │the truth of Zen through │
│poverty. │the instruction of a good │
│This year it is want│master, I said, "Mountains│
│indeed. │are not mountains, waters │
│In last year's │are not waters." │
│poverty there was │ │
│rooms,for a piercing│ │
│gimlet. │ │
│In this year's │ │
│poverty even the │ │
│gimlet is no more. │ │
├──────────┼─────────────┤
│I have my secret. │But now, having attained │
│I look at you with │the abode of final rest │
│twinkling eye.If you│[that is,Awakening],I say,│
│do not understand │"Mountains are really │
│this, Do not call │mountains, waters are │
│yourself a monk. │really waters." │
│ │ │
└──────────┴─────────────┘
p.378
提要
所有神秘主義傳統的詩人修道者早就知道，詩的形式適
於傳達不可言詮的終極真實或境界。詩所表現的意義微妙性
與起興性遠較散文為高。詩的無止境開放性所發揮的作用就
如同禪畫一樣，能讓聽眾與原作者，尤其原藝術家，共享餘
韻。這樣，藝術欣賞就轉化成為默思瞑想了。
本文專就禪宗詩偈所扮演的重要角色而予以討論。簡論
早期佛教聖典的詩偈要素之後，我將探討曾影響過中國佛教
演進，而特以詩體表現哲學思想的中國本土傳統。然後，我
將借用禪悟三層歷程所彰顯的詩偈，方便善巧的應用實例，
來討論禪宗之中不同資源的創造性匯合。
本文開頭一段，描述了轉迷開悟的詩作之道，專注於佛
教聖典中的詩偈功能。這裡首要的一點是，要了解佛教開創
以來，詩偈在佛典之中，為何又如何能具有傳達佛法的功能
。
本文續論道家傳統的詩道先驅。一般認為中國詩歌傳
統有其兩大本源 -- 即儒家所強調的詩經與楚辭及其道家哲
學背景。後者又與佛教思想更接近，例如老子的道德經，劉
義慶所著世說新語中的玄學思潮，以及潛具儒家韻味的陶潛
詩等乃為明證。
禪的悟道的三歷程，或可分視之為上古佛教袓師之道，
空性禪，與祖師禪。此一歷程可在某些禪宗袓師的詩作之中
看到痕跡，包括。包括慧能，百丈懷海，與香巖智閑。我將
特就青原的著名悟道詩分析其三層的歷程。經過拙文的探討
發現：禪的詩偈是源乎於印度佛教，經由中國古詩與道家傳
統的中介與豐富化，而終於演進成為一種強而有力的佛法方
便善巧。