Essays in Zen Buddhism (Third Series)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

‘In this Third Series of Zen Essays have tried to trace the relationship which exists between Zen and the two chief Mahayana sutras, the Gandavyuha and the prajnaparamita, and then the transformation through which Indian Buddhism had to go while adapting itself to Chinese pyschology. The Chinese are a practical people quite different from the Indian, who are highly endowed with the power of abstraction as well as an inexhaustible mine of imagination. It was natural that the Mahayana teachings had to be so transformed as to make them appreciated by the Chinese.'

In this book D.T. Suzuki shows that the changes to the Mahayana teaching were immense and the story of this evolution is lucidly told. The chapter on the Bodhisattva Ideal is the answer to all who regard Buddhism as ‘cold’, whilst that on Zen and Japanese culture tells more of the actual practice of Zen Buddhism than any number of theoretical text books.

The book also contains a superb collection of pictures reproduced from Japanese and Chinese paintings - these are accompanied by the author’s illuminating comments and observations.

D.T. SUZUKI, (also written Daisetz) in full Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki, born Oct 18, 1870, Kanazawa Japan - died July 12, 1966, Kamakura, was a Japanese philosopher and author of Books and Essays on Buddhism, Zen and Shin that were instrumental in spreading interest in both Zen and Shin (and for Eastern Philosophy in general to the west. Suzuki was also a prolific translator of Chinese, Japanese and Sanskrit literature, Suzuki spent several lengthy streches teaching or lecturing at Western universities and devoted many years to professorship in a Japanese Buddhist University, Otani. He was a best key figure in the introduction of Buddhism to the non-Asian world.

In this Third Series of Zen Essays I have tried to trace the relationship which exists between Zen and the two chief Mahayana sutras, the Gandavytiha and ithe Prajidparamita, and then the transformation through which Indian Buddhism had to go while adapting itself to Chinese psychology. The Chinese are a practical people quite different from the Indian, who are highly endowed with the power of abstraction as well as an inexhaustible mine of imagination, It was natural that the Mahayana teachings had to be so transformed as to make them appreciated ‘by the Chinese. This meant that the Prajnaparamita and the Gandavytha were to be converted into Zen dialogues.

As regards Zen contributions to Japanese culture, a special volume has been written. Apart from Buddhism, apart from Zen after the Kamakura era, Japanese cultural history has no significance, so deeply has Buddhism en- tered into the lifeblood of the people. Mv attempt here is merely tentative. The section on "The Zen Life in Pictures’ is also a suggestion; a fuller and more systematic treatment awaits another opportunity.

A few facts are to be mentioned concerning the matter treated in this Series, which have come up while it was in the press. (1) The Tun-huang MS. of the Sayings of Shén-hui mentioned in p. 21 fn. and p. 37 fn. has already been re- produced in facsimile, while its printed and fully revised edition will be published before long. (2} Dr. Keiki Yabuki has published a book giving detailed explanations of the Tun-huang MSS. collected in his Echoes of the Desert. He supplies us with a wealth of useful information regarding them. (3) All page references to the Gandavyitha are either to the Idzumi MS. or to the R.A.S. one. (4) The Tun-huang MS. of Hui-néng’s Tan-ching (p. 15 fn.) will be printed and made accessible to the general public. It will be.accom- panied by the Koshoji copy of the same. The latter is an old Japanese reprint of the fifteenth or sixteenth century, the Chinese original of which was probably printed some time in the tenth or the eleventh century. Quite likely it is the ‘older edition’ referred to in a preface to the current edition of the Tan-ching. Its historical importance is beyond dispute.

The author’s thanks are, as usual, due to his wife, Beatrice Lane Suzuki, for reviewing the whole MSS. and reading the proofs, and tc Mrs. Ruth Fuller. Everett, of Chicago, who also kindly read the proofs.

Reference to the generous encouragement of the author's friend, Yakichi Ataka, is not to be omitted just because he is always ready to respond unhesitatingly to all the requests of the author and to make the teachings of Zen Buddhism universally approachable within the limits of literary interpretation.

DAISETZ TEITARO SUZUKI, D.LITT., Professor of Buddhist Philosophy in the Otani University, Kyoto, was born in 1869. He is probably now the greatest living authority on Buddhist philosophy, and is certainly the greatest authority on Zen Buddhism. His major works in English on the subject of Buddhism number a dozen or more, and of his works in Japanese as yet unknown to the West there are at least eighteen. He is, moreover, as a chronological bibliography of books on Zen in English clearly shows, the pioneer teacher of the subject outside Japan, for except for Kaiten Nukariya’s Religion of the Samurat (Luzac and Co., 1913) nothing was known of Zen as a living experience, save to the readers of The Eastern Buddhist (1921-1939) until the publication of Essays in Zen Buddhism (Volume I) in 1927.

Dr. Suzuki writes with authority. Nat only has he studied original works in Sanskrit, Pali, Chinese and Japanese, but he has an up-to-date knowledge of Western thought in German and French as well as in the English, which he speaks and writes so fluently. He is, moreover, more than a scholar: he is a Buddhist. Though not a priest of any Buddhist sect, he is honoured in every temple in Japan, for his knowledge of spiritual things, as all who have sat at his feet bear witness, is direct and profound. When he speaks of the higher stages of consciousness he speaks as a man who dwells therein, and the impression he makes on those who enter the fringes of his mind is that of a man who seeks for the intellectual symbols wherewith to describe a state of awareness which lies indeed ‘beyond the intellect’.

To those unable to sit at the feet of the Master his writings must be a substitute. All these, however, were out of print in England by 1940, and all remaining stocks in Japan were destroyed in the fire which consumed three quarters of Tokyo in 1945. When, therefore, 1 reached Japan in 1946, I arranged with the author for the Buddhist Society, London—my wife and myself as its nominees— to begin the publication of his Collected Works, reprinting the old favourites, and printing as fast as possible transia- tions of the many. new works which the Professor, seif- immured in his house at Kyoto, had written during the war.

This undertaking, however, was beyond the powers of the Buddhist Society, and we therefore secured the assistance of Rider and Co., who, backed by the vast resources of the House of Hutchinson, can honour the needs of such a considerable task.

Of Zen itself I need say nothing here, but the increasing sale of books on the subject, such as The Spirit of Zen by Alan Watts (Murray) and the series of original translations of Chinese Zen Scriptures and other works published by the Buddhist Society, prove that the interest of the West is rising rapidly. Zen, however, is a subject extremely easy to misunderstand, and it is therefore important that the words of a qualified Master should come readily to hand.

**Contents and Sample Pages**