8. Hakuin's View on Koan and Nembutsu
By way of conclusion, let me quote the following, which is a part of a letter1 written by Hakuin to one of his noblemen followers, and in which he discusses the relative merit of the Nembutsu and the koan as instrumental in bringing about the state of satori. Hakuin does not slight the value of Nembutsu or Shōmyō, which is practically the same in the minds of the Pure Land followers, but he thinks the koan exercise is far more effective in that it intensely awakens the spirit of inquiry in the Zen Yogin's mind, and it is this spirit that finally rises up to the Zen experience. The Nembutsu may also achieve this, but only accidentally and in some exceptional cases; for there is nothing inherent in Nembutsu which would stir up the spirit of inquiry.
Hakuin also cites examples of some Nembutsu devotees who attained thereby a satori. Let us begin with this citation:
During the Genroku period (1688-1703) there were two such Buddhists, the one was called Yenjo and the other Yengu. After the realization Yenjo saw Dokutan, the Zen master, who asked, 'Where is your native land?'
'Yamashiro,' was the answer.
'What is your faith?'
'The Pure Land.'
'What is the age of Amida?'
'Of the same age as myself.'
'What is yours?'
'Same as that of Amida.'
'Where is he now?' Dokutan demanded.
Yenjo closed the left hand a little and raised it.
Dokutan was surprised to see this and said, 'You are a real follower of the Nembutsu.'1
Later on, Yengu also attained realization.
There was another man about the same time who was called Sokuwo, also a Nembutsu devotee. By virtue of his singleminded practice, he was also enabled to realize the truth of Buddhism. Hakuin writes that he himself has recorded these facts elsewhere.
Hakuin was, we can thus see, by no means an exclusive upholder of the Zen exercise, but he did not wish to see his Zen followers diverted from their regular discipline. The letter further reads:
'When I say that the "Mu" (wu) and the Myōgō (nāmadheya, or Buddha-name, or Nembutsu) are of the same order, I must not forget to mention that there is some difference between the two as regards the time of final experience and the depth of intuition. For those Zen students of the highest capacity who wish to stop up the leakage of dualistic imaginations and to remove the cataract of ignorance, nothing compares to the effectiveness of the "Mu". So we read in the verse of Fa-yen of Wu-tsu Shan:
'"Chao-chou's sword blade is out of its scabbard,
How cold like frost, how blazing like a flame!
If one attempts to ask 'How so?'
A division at once sets in—this and that."
'At this supreme moment [of Zen experience], Nirvana and Samsāra are like a dream of yesterday, and the ocean of worlds in the great chiliocosm appears like a bubble, and even all the holy ones of the past, present, and future are like the flashes of great lightning. This is the great moment of satori known as the occasion of ho ti i hsia (exclaiming "Ho!").1
'The experience is beyond description, and can never be transmitted to others. It is those who have actually drunk water that know whether it is cold or warm. The ten quarters are melted into the spot of your presence; the past, present, and future are concentrated in this moment of your consciousness. Even among the celestial beings no joy is ever comparable to this, much less among humankind. Such advancement in one's spiritual life can be acquired even in a few days, if only the Yogins are devoted enough to the exercise.
'How is it possible to stimulate a spirit of inquiry to a state of great fixation?
'Not necessarily avoiding moments of activity, nor specially favouring places of quietude, inquire into the meaning of the "Mm", saying to yourself that "This body of mine is the 'Mm' itself, and what does it all mean?" Throw away all thoughts and imaginations, exclusively applying yourself to the "Mu"—what does it mean? What sense is there in it? When you go on like that with singleness of purpose, the moment will surely come to all of you when finally a state of great fixation prevails.
'When you hear of this state of absolute unification, you are apt to harbour a feeling of uneasiness mixed with fright, but you must remember that you are by this exercise going to experience the inner realization attained by all the Buddhas because the frontier gate of eternal transmigration is thereby successfully broken down. Some hardships are bound to accompany the attainment.
'As I think of the matter, there have been an innumerable number of the Zen Yogins who have experienced a great joy after going through the state of great fixation and of "great death"; but as to those followers of the Nembutsu who, by means of the Myōgō (nāmadheya = "Namu Amida Butsu"), have come even to a fraction of realization, I have heard of only a few of such. It was quite possible for the master of Yeshin In with his virtue, spiritual strength, and sincerity of faith to gain an insight into the truth of Buddhism say in a month or two or at the longest within a year, and find out that he himself was an embodiment of Suchness, if only he could have applied himself to the study of the "Mu" or the "three chin of flax". It was a great pity that he had to devote himself with wonderful persistency to the recitation of the "Namu Amida Butsu" for forty long years. This is all due to the absence of a great spirit of inquiry even in the most earnest devotee of the Nembutsu. This spirit is surely the highway to final realization.
'Another instance may be seen in the person of Hōnen Shōnin whose morality, humanity, industry, and spiritual virility were phenomenal, and who is said to have been able to read the sūtras in the dark with the light issuing from his own eyes. A soul so highly endowed could easily attain the highest enlightenment if only a spirit of inquiry were present in him. There was no chance indeed for him to complain about the rope being too short to sound the depth of the spring.
'On the other hand, how was it that such masters of great abilities as Yang-ch'i, Huang-lung, Chên-ching, Hsi-kêng, Fo-chien, and Miao-hsi (Tai-hui), who must have known hundreds of thousands of Buddha-names as well as hundreds of thousands of Mantrams or Dhāranīs which might be given to their disciples as objects of meditation, should have chosen the "Au" as the means of reaching the goal of an exercise? They would not have done this unless there was something especially recommendable in the "Mu". What is this? It is no other than this that the "Mu" is apt to awaken a spirit of inquiry in the mind of a Zen Yogin whereas this is difficult with the reciting of the Myōgō—"Namu Amida Butsu".
'The reason, however, why even among Zen followers the Nembutsu or the Shōmyō has been entertained and the rebirth in the Land of Purity desired, is owing to the historical fact that the spirit of Zen was on the wane at the time [that is, in Yuan and especially in Ming], when the Jōdo idea came to be countenanced. While Zen was still in its heyday, not only in China but in India, the masters were strict and strongly conscious of the mission of Zen. Their only fear was that if Zen were allowed to degenerate, its spirit should soon totter to its fall; they never dreamed of referring to the Nembutsu or to the rebirth. But alas, as time went on, there was a lame master towards the end of Ming whose name was Chu-hung of Yün-hsi; his training in Zen was short of finality, his Zen insight did not go deep enough; he found himself wandering about in midway between Nirvāna and Samsāra. And it was natural for such a soul to abandon the true spirit of Zen discipline and to seek salvation in the echoes of the White Lotus Society, anciently led by Hui-yüan.
'Calling himself the teacher of the Lotus Pond, he wrote commentaries on the sūtras of the Pure Land school to instruct his disciples. Yüan-hsien of Ku-shan, known as Yung-chiao the Teacher, joined forces with Chu-hung by writing a book on the doctrine of the Pure Land (Ch' ing-t'zŭ yao-yü). Since then the purity of the Zen spirit became contaminated beyond repair not only in China itself but in Japan. Even with the master hands of Lin-chi, Tê-shan, Fen-yang, T'zŭ-ming, Huang-lung, Chên-ching, Hsi-kêng, Miao-hsi, and others, it is difficult to push back this tempestuous tide from the field of Zen proper.
'When I say this, I may seem to be unnecessarily hard on the teaching of the Pure Land school and slighting the practice of the Nembutsu. But in truth it is not so. What I blame most is the habit of those Zen followers who, claiming to be training themselves in Zen, are lazy, weak-minded, and while being so slack in the discipline they begin to take fright as they grow older in the thought of an approaching end and start anew with the practice of the Nembutsu, telling people that the Nembutsu is the best method of salvation and most suited for beings of these latter days. They look pious enough, but really they are revilers of Zen, pretending to be its faithful devotees. They are like those insects which, growing from the wooden post, feed upon it and finally tear it down. They deserve therefore a severe criticism.
'Since Ming these Nembutsu followers, disguising themselves to be those of Zen, have been very great in number. They are all worthless muddy-headed students of Zen. I heard, now about fifty years ago, a Zen master complaining of the way things were going on then in the world of Zen: "Alas! What would be the state of affairs three hundred years after this? The whole Zen world might turn into the Nembutsu hall where the wooden bell is heard all the time in accompaniment with the Nembutsu." This is indeed not an unfounded pessimism as far as I can see. Here is the last word of kindness an old man like myself can now offer for your perusal, which is: Do not regard this as a mere form of "Kwats!" nor take it for a Dhāranī, much less swallow it down as a sort of bitter pill. What is the kindest word of Zen? A monk asked Chao-chou, "Is the dog in possession of the Buddha-nature?" Chou said, "Mu!"'1
1 From a booklet known as the Orategama which is a collection of some of his letters. The work is read very much by his followers.
1 Shuo-shan Shih-chieh was asked by a general, 'What is the age of Shuo-shan?' 'Same as vacuity of space.' 'What is the age of space?' 'Same as Shuo-shan.' The Transmission of the Lamp, XI. (Here Hakuin describes the psychological state of the Zen Yogin who practises the 'Mu' exercise. This was already quoted on p. 131.)
1 See also p. 119 where similar expressions are quoted. They all point to the abruptness of the Zen experience as advocated by Hui-nêng and his followers.
1 While this was in the press, Mr. Kōson Goto of the Myōshinji monastery, Kyoto, informed me of the existence of a letter of Hakuin, still unpublished, in which he says that 'lately he has come to give the koan of "One Hand" to his students, instead of "Mu", because the "One Hand" awakens a spirit of inquiry much more readily than the "Mu Since then the 'One Hand' has become quite a favourite koan with all the descendants of Hakuin down to this day. The koan is, 'Hear the sound of one hand.' A sound issues when two hands are clapped, and there is no way of its issuing from one single hand. Hakuin now demands his pupils to hear it. One can say that this koan is more intellectual than the 'Mu'. That Hakuin, who is a great upholder of the inquiring spirit against the mechanical method of the Nembutsu exercise, has now come to use the 'One Hand' as a first eye-opener, is full of signification in the history of Zen consciousness. When I write the history of Zen Buddhism in China, I wish to treat of the subject from a point somewhat different from what has been presented in this Essay.