In some respects, no doubt, this kind of education prevailing at
the Zendo is behind the times. But its guiding principles such as
simplification of life, not wasting a moment idly, self-independence,
and what they call “secret virtue,” are sound for all ages.
Especially, this latter is one of the most characteristic features
of Zen discipline. “Secret virtue” means practising goodness without
any thought of recognition, neither by others nor by oneself. The
Christians may call this the doing of “Thy Will.” A child is drowned,
and I get into the water, and it is saved. What was to be done was
done. Nothing more is thought of it. I walk away and never turn back.
A cloud passes, and the sky is as blue and as broad as ever. Zen calls
it a “deed without merit,” and compares it to a man’s work who tries to
fill up a well with snow.
This is the psychological aspect of “secret virtue.” When it is
religiously considered, it is to regard and use the world reverentially
and gratefully, feeling as if one were carrying on one’s shoulders all
the sins of the world. An old woman asked Jōshu,[7.34] “I belong to
the sex that is hindered in five ways from attaining Buddhahood;
and how can I ever be delivered from them?” Answered the master, “O
let all other people be born in heaven and let me, this humble self,
alone continue suffering in this ocean of pain!” This is the spirit
of the true Zen student. There is another story illustrating the same
spirit of longsuffering. The district of Jōshu where this Zen master’s
monastery was situated and where he got his popular title, was noted
for a fine stone-bridge. A monk one day came up to the master and
asked,[7.35] “We hear so much of the splendid stone-bridge of Jōshu,
but I see here nothing but a miserable old rustic log-bridge.” Jōshu
retorted, “You just see the rustic log-bridge, and fail to see the
stone-bridge of Jōshu.” “What is the stone-bridge then?” “Horses go
over it, asses go over it,” was Jōshu’s reply. This seems to be but
a trivial talk about a bridge, but considered from the inner way of
looking at such cases, there is a great deal of truth touching the
centre of one’s spiritual life. We may inquire what kind of bridge is
represented here. Was Jōshu speaking only of a stone-bridge in his
monastery premises, which was strong enough for all kinds of passengers
over it? Let each one of us reflect within himself and see if he is in
possession of one bridge over which pass not only horses and asses,
men and women, carts heavy and light, but the whole world with its
insanities and morbidities, and which is not only thus passed over
but quite frequently trampled down and even cursed,—a bridge which
suffers all these treatments, good as well as despised, patiently and
uncomplainingly. Was Jōshu referring to this kind of bridge? In any
event we can read something of the sort in the cases above cited.
But this Zen spirit of self-suffering ought not to be understood in
the Christian sense that a man must spend all his time in prayer and
mortification for the absolution of sin. For a Zen monk has no desire
to be absolved from sin, this is too selfish an idea, and Zen is free
from egotism. The Zen monk wishes to save the world from the misery
of sin, and as to his own sin he lets it take care of itself, as he
knows it is not a thing inherent in his nature. For this reason it is
possible for him to be one of those who are described as “they
that weep as though they wept not; and they that rejoice as though they
rejoiced not; and they that buy as though they possessed not; and they
that use this world as not abusing it.”
Says Christ, “When thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy
right hand doeth; that thine alms may be in secret.” This is a “secret
virtue” of Buddhism. But when he goes on to say that “thy Father who
seeth in secret shall recompense thee,” there we see a deep cleavage
between Buddhism and Christianity. As long as there is any thought of
anybody, whether he be God or Devil, knowing of your doings, Zen would
say “You are not yet one of us.” Deeds that are accompanied by such
thought are not “meritless deeds,” but full of tracks and shadows. If
a Spirit is tracing you, he will in no time get hold of you and make
you account for what you have done. The perfect garment shows no seams,
inside and outside; it is one complete piece and nobody can tell where
the work began and how it was woven. In Zen, therefore, there ought not
to be left any trace of consciousness after the doing of alms, much
less the thought of recompensation even by God. The Zen ideal is to be
“the wind that bloweth where it listeth, and the sound of which we hear
but cannot tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth.”
Lieh-tzŭ, the Chinese philosopher, describes this frame of mind in a
figurative manner as follows: “I allowed my mind without restraint
to think of whatever it pleased and my mouth to talk about whatever
it pleased; I then forgot whether the ‘this and not-this’ was mine
or other’s, whether the gain and loss was mine or other’s; nor did I
know whether Lao-shang-shin was my teacher, and whether Pa-kao was my
friend. In and out, I was thoroughly transformed; and then it was that
the eye became like the ear, and the ear like the nose, and the nose
like the mouth; and there was nothing that was not identified. The mind
was concentrated, and the form dissolved, and the bones and flesh all
thawed away: I did not know where my form was supported, where my feet
were treading; I just moved along with the wind, east and west, like a
leaf of a tree detached from the stem, I was not conscious whether
I was riding on the wind or the wind riding on me.”[f151]
X
As I stated before, Zen followers do not approve of Christians, even
Christian mystics being too conscious of God who is the creator and
supporter of all life and all being. Their attitude towards the
Buddha and Zen is that of Lieh-tzŭ riding on the wind; a complete
identification of the self with the object of thought is what is
aimed at by the disciples of Jōshu, Ummon, and other leaders of Zen.
This is the reason why they are all loath to hear the word Buddha
or Zen mentioned in their discourse, not because indeed they are
anti-Buddhist, but because they have so thoroughly assimilated Buddhism
in their being. Listen to the gentle remonstrance given by Hōyen, of
Gosozan, to his disciple Yengo:
Goso said,[7.36] “You are all right, but you have a trivial fault.”
Yengo asked two or three times what that fault was. Said the master
at last, “You have altogether too much of Zen.” “Why,” protested the
disciple, “if one is studying Zen at all, don’t you think it the most
natural thing for one to be talking of it? Why do you dislike it?”
Replied Goso, “When it is like an ordinary everyday conversation, it
is somewhat better.” A monk happened to be there with them, who asked,
“Why do you specially hate talking about Zen?” “Because it turns one’s
stomach,” was the master’s verdict.
Rinzai’s way of expressing himself in regard to this point is
quite violent and revolutionary. And if we were not acquainted with
the methods of Zen teachings, such passages as are quoted below would
surely make our teeth chatter and our hair stand on end. The reader may
think the author simply horrible, but we all know well how earnestly he
feels about the falsehoods of the world and how unflinchingly he pushes
himself forward through its confusion worse confounded. His hands may
be compared to Jehovah’s in trying to destroy the idols and causing
the images to cease. Read the following, for instance, in which Rinzai
endeavours to strip one’s spirit off its last raiment of falsehood.
“O you, followers of Truth, if you wish to obtain an orthodox
understanding [of Zen], do not be deceived by others. Inwardly or
outwardly, if you encounter any obstacles, lay them low right away. If
you encounter the Buddha slay him; if you encounter the Patriarch, slay
him; if you encounter the Arhat or the parent or the relative, slay
them all without hesitation: for this is the only way to deliverance.
Do not get yourselves entangled with any object, but stand above, pass
on, and be free. As I see those so-called followers of Truth all over
the country, there are none who come to me free and independent of
objects. In dealing with them, I strike them down any way they come. If
they rely on the strength of their arms, I cut them right off; if they
rely on their eloquence, I make them shut themselves up; if they rely
on the sharpness of their eyes, I will hit them blind. There are indeed
so far none who have presented themselves before me all alone, all
free, all unique. They are invariably found caught by the idle tricks
of the old masters. I have really nothing to give to you, all that I
can do is to cure you of the diseases and deliver you from bondage.
“O you, followers of Truth, show yourselves here independent of all
objects, I want to weigh the matter with you. For the last five or
ten years I have waited in vain for such, and there are no such yet.
They are all ghostly existences, ignominious gnomes haunting the woods
or bamboo-groves, they are elfish spirits of the wilderness. They
are madly biting into all heaps of filth. O you, mole-eyed, why are
you wasting all the pious donations of the devout! Do you think
you deserve the name of a monk, when you are still entertaining such a
mistaken idea [of Zen]? I tell you, no Buddhas, no holy teachings, no
discipling, no testifying! What do you seek in a neighbour’s house? O
you, mole-eyed! You are putting another head over your own! What do you
lack in yourselves? O you, followers of Truth, what you are making use
of at this very moment, is none other than what makes a Patriarch or a
Buddha. But you do not believe me, and seek it outwardly. Do not commit
yourselves to an error. There are no realities outside, nor is there
anything inside you may lay your hands on. You stick to the literal
meaning of what I speak to you, but how far better it is to have all
your hankerings stopped and be doing nothing whatever!” etc., etc.
This was the way Rinzai wanted to wipe out all trace of
God-consciousness in the mind of a truth-seeker. How he wields
Thor-like his thunder-bolt of harangue!