Buddha gave him the knowledge which overcomes the mind, that's voiceless knowledge,
silentium mysticum.
Prajnaparamita-hridaya sutra represents the comment on the "flower
sermon", teaching about "emptiness". If that's BS to you, then I think
you're in the wrong thread.
Zen - The Religion of the Samurai
by Julius Evola
3. The Meaning and Context of Zen
We know the kind of interest Zen has evoked even outside specialized
disciplines, since being popularized in the west by D.T. Suzuki through
his books Introduction to Zen Buddhism and Essays in Zen Buddhism. This
popular interest is due to the paradoxical encounter between East and
West. The ailing West perceives that Zen has something "existential"
and surrealistic to offer. Zen's notion of a spiritual realization,
free from any faith and any bond, not to mention the mirage of an
instantaneous and somehow gratuitous "spiritual breakthrough", has
exercised a fascinating attraction on many Westerners. However, this is
true, for the most part, only superficially. There is a considerable
difference between the spiritual dimension of the "philosophy of
crisis", which has become popular in the West as a consequence of its
materialistic and nihilist development, and the spiritual dimension of
Zen, which has been rooted in the spirituality of the Buddhist
tradition. Any true encounter between Zen and the West, presupposes, in
a Westerner, either an exceptional predisposition, or the capability to
operate a metanoia. By metanoia I mean an inner turnabout, affecting
not so much one's intellectual "attitudes", but rather a dimension
which in every time and in every place has been conceived as a deeper
reality.
Zen has a secret doctrine and not to be found in scriptures. It was
passed on by the Buddha to his disciple Mahakassapa. This secret
doctrine was introduced in China around the sixth century C.E. by
Bodhidharma. The canon was transmitted in China and Japan through a
succession on teachers and "patriarchs". In Japan it is a living
tradition and has many advocates and numerous Zendos ("Halls of
Meditation").
As far as the spirit informing the tradition is concerned, Zen may be
considered as a continuation of early Buddhism. Buddhism arose as a
vigorous reaction against the theological speculation and the shallow
ritualism into which the ancient Hindu priestly caste had degraded
after possessing a sacred, lively wisdom since ancient times. Buddha
mad tabula rassa of all this: he focused instead on the practical
problem of how to overcome what in the popular mind is referred to as
"life's suffering". According to esoteric teachings, this suffering was
considered as the state of caducity, restlessness, "thirst" and the
forgetfulness typical of ordinary people. Having followed the path
leading to spiritual awakening and to immortality without external aid,
Buddha pointed the way to those who felt an attraction to it. It is
well known that Buddha is not a name, but an attribute or a title
meaning "the awakened One", "He who has achieved enlightenment", or
"the awakening". Buddha was silent about the content of his experience,
since he wanted to discourage people from assigning to speculation and
philosophizing a primacy over action. Therefore, unlike his
predecessors, he did not talk about Brahman (the absolute), or about
Atman (the transcendental Self), but only employed the term nirvana, at
the risk of being misunderstood. Some, in fact, thought, in their lack
of understanding, that nirvana was to be identified with the notion of
"nothingness", an ineffable and evanescent transcendence, almost
bordering on the limits of the unconscious and of a state of unaware
non-being. So, in a further development of Buddhism, what occurred
again, mutatis mutandi, was exactly the situation against which Buddha
had reacted; Buddhism became a religion, complete with dogmas, rituals,
scholasticism and mythology. It eventually became differentiated into
two schools: Mahayana and Hinayana. The former was more grandiose in
metaphysics an Mahayana eventually grew complacent with its abstruse
symbolism. The teachings of the latter school were more strict and to
the point, and yet too concerned about the mere moral discipline which
became increasingly monastic. Thus the essential and original nucleus,
namely the esoteric doctrine of the enlightenment, was almost lost.
At this crucial time Zen appeared, declaring the uselessness of these
so-called methods and proclaiming the doctrine of satori. Satori is a
fundamental inner event, a sudden existential breakthrough,
corresponding in essence to what I have called the "awakening". But
this formulation was new and original and it constituted a radical
change in approach. Nirvana, which had been variously considered as the
alleged Nothingness, as extinction, and as the final end result of an
effort aimed at obtaining liberation (which according to some may
require more than one lifetime), now came to be considered as the
normal human condition. By these lights, every person has the nature of
Buddha and every person is already liberated, and therefore, situated
above and beyond birth and death. It is only necessary to become aware
of it, to realize it, to see within one's nature, according to Zen's
main expression. Satori is like a timeless opening up. On the one hand,
satori is something sudden and radically different from all the
ordinary human states of consciousness; it is like a catastrophic
trauma within ordinary consciousness. On the other hand, satori is what
leads one back to what, in a higher sense, should be considered as
normal and natural; thus, it is the exact opposite of an ecstasis, or
trance. It is the rediscovery and the appropriation of one's true
nature: it is the enlightenment which draws out of ignorance or out of
the subconscious the deep reality of what was and will always be,
regardless of one's condition in life. The consequence of satori is a
completely new way to look at the world and at life. To those who have
experienced it, everything is the same (things, other beings, one's
self, "heaven, the rivers and the vast earth"), and yet everything is
fundamentally different. It is as if a new dimension was added to
reality, transforming the meaning and value. According to the Zen
Masters, the essential characteristic of the new experience is the
overcoming of every dualism: of the inner and outer; the I and not I;
of finitude and infinity; being and not-being; appearance and reality;
"empty" and "full"; substance and accidents. Another characteristic is
that any value posed by the finite and confused consciousness of the
individual, is no longer discernible. And thus, the liberated and the
non-liberated, the enlightened and the non-enlightened, are yet one and
same thing. Zen effectively perpetuates the paradoxical equation of
Mahayana Buddhism, nirvana-samsara, and the Taoist saying "the return
is infinitely far". It is as if Zen said: liberation should not be
looked for in the next world; the very world is the next world; it is
liberation and it does not need to be liberated. This is the point of
view of satori, of perfect enlightenment, of "transcendent wisdom"
(prajnaparamita)
Basically, this consciousness is a shift of the self's center. In any
situation and in any event of ordinary life, including the most trivial
ones, the ordinary, dualistic and intellectual sense of one's self is
substituted with a being who no longer perceives an "I" opposed to a
"non-I", and who transcends and overcomes any antithesis. This being
eventually comes to enjoy a perfect freedom and incoercibility. He is
like the wind, which blows where it wills, and like a naked being which
is everything after "letting go" -abandons everything, embracing
poverty.
Zen, or at least mainstream Zen, emphasizes the discontinuous, sudden
and unpredictable character of satori disclosure. In regard to this,
Suzuki was at fault when he took issue with the techniques used in
Hindu schools such as Samkya and Yoga. These techniques were also
contemplated in early Buddhist texts. Suzuki employed the simile of
water, which in a moment turns into ice. He also used the simile of an
alarm, which, as a consequence of some vibration, suddenly goes off.
There are no disciplines, techniques or efforts, according to Suzuki,
which by themselves may lead one to satori. On the contrary, it is
claimed that satori often occurs spontaneously, when one has exhausted
all the resources of his being, especially the intellect and logical
faculty of understanding. In some cases satori it is said to be
facilitated by violent sensations and even by physical pain. Its cause
may be the mere perception of an object as well as any event in
ordinary life, provided a certain latent predisposition exists in the
subject.
Regarding this, some misunderstandings may occur. Suzuki acknowledged
that "generally speaking, there are no indications on the inner work
preceding satori". However, he talked about the necessity of first
going through "a true baptism of fire". After all, the very institution
of the so-called "Halls of Meditation" (Zendo), where those who strive
to obtain a satori submit themselves to a regimen of life which is
partially analogous to that of some Catholic religious orders, bespeaks
the necessity of a preliminary preparation. This preparation may last
for several years. The essence of Zen seems to consist in a maturation
process, identical to the one in which one almost reaches a state of an
acute existential instability. At that point, the slightest push is
sufficient to produce a change of state, a spiritual breakthrough, the
opening which leads to the "intuitive vision of one's nature". The
Masters know the moment in which the mind of the disciple is mature and
ready to open up; it is ten that they eventually give the final.
Decisive push. This push may sometimes consist of a simple gesture, an
exclamation, in something apparently irrelevant, or even illogical and
absurd. This suffices to induce the collapse of the false notion of
individuality. Thus, satori replaces this notion with the "normal
state", and one assumes the "original face, which one had before
creation". One no longer "chases after echoes" and "shadows". This
under some aspects brings to mind the existential theme of "failure",
or of "being shipwrecked" (das Scheitern, in Kierkegaard and in
Jaspers). In fact, as I have mentioned, the opening often takes place
when all the resources of one's being have been exhausted and one has
his back against the wall. This can be seen in relation to some
practical teachings methods used by Zen. The most frequently employed
methods, on an intellectual plane, are the koan and the mondo. The
disciple is confronted with a saying or with questions which are
paradoxical, absurd and sometimes even grotesque and "surrealistic". He
must labor with his mind, if necessary for years, until he has reached
the extreme limit of all his normal faculties of comprehension. Then,
if he dares proceed further on that road he may find catastrophe, but
if he can turn the situation upside down, he may achieve metanoia. This
is the point where satori is usually achieved.
Zen's norm is that of absolute autonomy; no gods, no cults, no idols.
To literally empty oneself of everything, including God. "If you meet
Buddha on the road, kill him", a saying goes. It is necessary to
abandon everything, without leaning on anything, and then to proceed
forward, with one's essence, until the crisis point is reached. It is
very difficult to say more about satori, or to compare it with various
forms of initiatory mystical experience whether Eastern or Western. One
is supposed to spend only the training period in Zen monasteries. Once
the disciple has achieved satori, he return to the world, choosing a
way of life that fits his need. One may think of satori as a form of
transcendence which is brought to immanence, as a natural state, in
every form of life.
The behavior which proceeds from the newly acquired dimension, which is
added to reality as a consequence of satori, may well be summarized by
Lao Tzu's expression: "To be the whole in the part". In regard to this,
it is important to realize the influence which Zen has exercised on the
Far-Eastern way of life. Zen has been called "the samurai's
philosophy," and it had also been said that "the way of Zen is
identical to the way of archery," or to the "way of the sword". This
means that any activity in one's life, may be permeated by Zen and thus
be elevated to a higher meaning, to a "wholesomeness" and to an
"impersonal activity". This kind of activity is based on a sense of the
individual's irrelevance, which nevertheless does not paralyze one's
actions, but which rather confers cam and detachment. This detachment,
in turn, favors an absolute and "pure" undertaking of life, which in
some cases reaches extreme and distinct forms of self-sacrifice and
heroism, inconceivable to the majority of Westerners (e.g. the kamikaze
in WWII).
Thus, what C.G. Jung claims is simply ridiculous, namely that
Psychoanalysis, more than any other Western school of thought, is
capable of understanding Zen. According to Jung, satori coincides with
the state of wholeness, devoid of complexes or inner splitting, which
psychoanalytic treatment claims to achieve whenever the intellect's
obstructions and its sense of superiority are removed, and whenever the
conscious dimension of the soul is reunited with the unconscious and
with "Life". Jung did not realize that the methods and presuppositions
of Zen, are exactly the opposite of his own. There is no
"subconscious", as a distinct entity, to which the conscious has to be
reconnected; Zen speaks of a superconscious vision (enlightenment,
bodhi or "awakening"), which actualizes the "original and luminous
nature" and which, in so doing, destroys the unconscious. It is
possible though, to notice similarities between Jung's view's and Zen',
since they both talk about the feeling of one's "totality" and freedom
which is manifested in every aspect of life. However, it is important
to explain the level at which these views appear to coincide.
Once Zen found its way to the West, there was a tendency to
"domesticate" and to moralize it, playing down its potential radical
and "antinomian" (namely, antithetical to current norms) implications,
and by emphasizing the standard ingredients which are held so dear by
"spiritual" people, namely love and service to one's neighbor, even
though these ingredients have been purified in an impersonal and
non-sentimental form. Generally speaking, there are many doubts on the
"practicability" of Zen, considering that the "doctrine of the
awakening" has an initiatory character.
Thus, it will only be able to inspire a minority of people, in contrast
to later Buddhist views, which took the form of a religion open to
everyone, for the most part a code of mere morality. As the
re-establishment of the spirit of early Buddhism, Zen should have
strictly been an esoteric doctrine. It has been so as we can see by
examining the legend concerning its origins. However, Suzuki himself
was inclined to give a different account; he emphasized those aspects
of Mahayana which "democratize" Buddhism (after all, the term Mahayana
has been interpreted to mean "Great Vehicle", even in the sense that it
extends to wider audiences, and not just to a few elect). If one was to
fully agree with Suzuki, some perplexities on the nature and on the
scope of satori may arise. One should ask whether such an experience
merely affects the psychological, moral or mental domain, or whether it
affects the ontological domain, as is the case in every authentic
initiation. In that event, it can only be the privilege a very
restricted number of people
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