Zen Buddhism 6

Koan Practice William M. Bodiford

Medieval Soto monks and nuns mastered the depths of Zen enlight- enment, the trivial moments of daily life, and the routine activities of monastic training through the language of the Chinese Ch’an patriarchs as recorded in koan texts. This specialized idiom allowed Zen teachers and students to describe different approaches to practice, various states of meditation, and fine distinctions between points of view or levels of understanding. More important, koan study—like ordination rituals and funeral ceremonies—encapsulated Zen transcendence in tangible forms, expressed it in concrete performances, and allowed it to be com- municated easily to monks, nuns, and laypersons. For clerics and vil- lagers alike this body of Zen praxis fused together the symbolic transmission of the Buddha’s enlightenment, its embodiment in the words and actions of the Zen master, with the worlds lived and imag- ined, both inside and outside the monastery. While koan training, ordi- nation rituals, and funeral ceremonies comprise only three of the Zen practices performed by medieval Soto monks, each proved indispensa- ble for the rapid growth of Soto institutions and the religious efficacy of these institutions within rural society.

Today leading Soto scholars regard the medieval period of Soto his- tory as the dark ages (ankoku jidai) when “true Soto” Zen practices were all but forgotten.They cite the rapid institutional expansion as evidence of rampant compromise with folk religious customs. They abhor a per- ceived overemphasis on koan training as a deviation from Dogen’s method of Zen practice. Certainly it is true that few medieval Soto tem- ples produced significant doctrinal commentaries on Dogen’s writings, and most temples served the religious needs of local patrons in ways that no longer attract much empathy. Modern criticisms by Soto leaders,

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however, do an injustice to the religious world of their medieval prede- cessors who neither abandoned Zen practice nor lost their religious iden- tity. In fact, medieval Soto monks engaged in koan training, ordination rituals, and funeral ceremonies to emulate and identify themselves with Zen traditions, to preserve their sectarian identity, and ultimately to transform Zen monastic rituals in ways that more readily met a variety of social and religious needs.

It is also true that Dogen criticized certain aspects of koan training. But there is no doubt that Dogen himself trained in and taught his stu- dents systematic methods of koan investigation.His teachings cannot be comprehended without intimate knowledge of Chinese koan; he quotes more than 580 of them.An investigation into Dogen’s approach to koan training, its methods and psychology, or its ultimate significance within his overall conception of Zen practice is beyond the scope of this study. Nor would it contribute significantly to our present task, which is to see how koan training functioned in the context of medieval religious life. The average Soto monk in medieval times enjoyed neither Dogen’s edu- cational background nor his linguistic skills.The vast majority could not follow in Dogen’s footsteps and travel to China, study directly under a Chinese teacher, or immerse themselves in a Chinese cultural environ- ment. Other means had to be developed to preserve and transmit the dis- tinctive features of the Chinese approach to Buddhist training that Ch’an represented. In many ways the mysterious sophistication and religious potency of Ch’an language proved the most irresistible feature of all.

Koan Study in Early Japanese Zen

The Japanese adoption of Zen as a Chinese-style religious institution entailed the mastery of the literary and artistic fashions of Song dynasty China, not just religious adjustments. All the trappings of Zen monastic life, from the architecture and decoration of monastic buildings to the proper etiquette of washing one’s face, were more foreign to Japanese monks than the practice of sitting in meditation. Koan training proved to be no exception to this general pattern. The proper form and conduct of the teaching process had to be mastered just as much as the religious

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content conveyed by the koan.Moreover, the koan were taught and writ- ten in a specialized language even more foreign than the literary Chinese employed in traditional Buddhist scriptures.

Scholars typically explain the development of koan discourse as a Chinese rejection of abstract Indian terminology in favor of simple, con- crete expressions. It is ironic, therefore, that this “direct” idiom required prodigious amounts of intellectual accomplishment and textual investi- gation by Japanese students of Chinese Ch’an. Even native Chinese did not achieve spontaneity of expression in the paradoxical idiom of classi- cal Ch’an without great familiarity with Ch’an literature.As non-native speakers of Chinese, the Japanese acquired that spontaneity only after long struggle. By the time of the Southern Song dynasty (twelfth cen- tury) not only had a large corpus of Ch’an scripture with many standard- ized genres been created, but the practice of alluding to secular Chinese literature had also become widely practiced. Like other Chinese literati, Ch’an masters were expected to master the art of prosody and compose verse freely for all occasions.Collected verse,especially verses comment- ing on the famous koan, comprised one section of most Song period recorded sayings. Even Dogen adhered to this custom. His goroku includes his Chinese-language verses on ninety selected koan. The abil- ity to read such poetic comments with full comprehension of the liter- ary allusions was attained only by well-educated Japanese monks. Even fewer ever expected to compose their own verses.

Initially Japanese Zen students had to confront the obstacle of study- ing under teachers who spoke only Chinese.Many Japanese monks failed to bridge this barrier. Buddhist pilgrims returned from China carrying more of China’s material culture than its spiritual one. Even Chinese teachers who came to Japan rarely learned more than a few words of Japanese. The Chinese Ch’an master I-shan I-ning (1247–1317), who arrived in Japan in 1299, refused to accept Japanese students unless they were able to demonstrate their proficiency in Chinese.Evidence suggests that Japanese monks who mastered Chinese pronunciation and who could quote Chinese literary proverbs generally won more ready accept- ance from their Chinese teachers in Japan.

The Zen inherited by these Japanese students continued to be taught in imitation of the same Chinese syntax and stereotyped norms.Teacher

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and disciple exchange questions and answers in Chinese word order.Suc- cessful understanding of a koan had to be attested to by the student’s sup- plying a proper “appended verse” (jakugo) selected either from Ch’an or secular Chinese literature.At the officially sponsored Zen temples—the ones belonging to the Gozan (Five Mountain) system—senior monks were expected to excel at composing Chinese verse in the complex style of matched counterpoint lines (usually alternating in four and six char- acter combinations) known as bien-li wen. For these monks, mastering the intricacies of Chinese prosody became a major occupation. Only the brightest, most studious monks could hope to succeed within the con- fines of the Gozan.Monks of less scholastic inclination turned to the non- Gozan affiliated Zen monasteries, the rinka, where they gradually developed more accessible methods of koan instruction.

Thanks to the pioneering investigations of D. T. Suzuki and Tama- mura Takeji, the broad outlines of koan study as developed within rinka lineages are fairly clear. It had three main features: a standardized koan curriculum, a standardized set of answers based on stereotyped Chinese sayings, and a standardized method of secretly guiding students through the curriculum of koan and answers. By standardizing and simplifying each of these, the early rinka teachers not only lessened the amount of memorization required for koan study by non-native speakers of Chi- nese but also ensured the preservation of the koan system for later gen- erations of students. Koan training systems based on these three characteristics appeared within many lineages,both Soto and Rinzai, and through the modifications imposed by Hakuin Ekaku (1685–1768) have continued to the present in Japanese Rinzai Zen.

The koan curriculum differed in each rinka lineage, but within any particular lineage every generation of students proceeded through a set series of koan, more or less in an invariable order. By repeating the same series of koan in each generation, both teacher and student were freed from the burden of having to confront vast numbers of Zen texts.When a student later became a Zen teacher and began instructing his own dis- ciples, he merely had to follow the examples set by his own teacher. Inno- vation was neither required, nor, it seems, widely practiced. Although each lineage had its own techniques for koan study, most curriculums followed a threefold division. For example, the Daio lineage centered at

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Daitokuji placed particular emphasis on the koan of the Blue Cliff Record (Hekiganroku; Ch. Pi-yen lu). In this lineage the curriculum consisted of the following sequence: the initiatory koan (known as heki-zen), the koan of the Hekiganroku (known as the hekigan), and the koan to be studied afterwards (the hekigo). A few other lineages concentrated on koan taken from just three texts: the Blue Cliff Record, the Record of Lin- chi (Rinzairoku; Ch.Lin-chi lu), and the Koans ofWu-men (Mumonkan; Ch. Wu-men kuan). These three levels were known as the first, second, and third barriers (shokan, ryokan, and sankan).

The most common threefold divisions classified koan not on any tex- tual basis but according to content. In these curriculums, the three types or levels of koan (known as the sanmi within the Soto lineages) usually consisted of the categories of: “Ultimate Truth” (richi), “Devices” (kikan), and “Reality Itself” (kojo). The division of Zen koan into these three categories is found even in the earliest Japanese accounts of koan and might well have been based on Chinese precedents. For example, Enni Ben’en wrote:“[one must] directly transcend the richi and kikan of the Buddhas and patriarchs. Transcending the Buddhas’ richi is passing through the forest of brambles. Transcending the patriarchs’ kikan is penetrating through the iron mountain and steel wall. Then for the first time one will know the fundamental kojo.” And Nanpo Shomyo (1235– 1308), the founder of the Daio lineage, wrote:

Although the number of koan is said to be only one thou- sand seven hundred, actually the mountains and rivers, the great earth, the grasses and trees, the forests—whatever is seen by the eyes, whatever is heard by the ears—all of these are koan. Within our school, [koan] comprises three mean- ings. These are richi, kikan, and kojo.The first, richi, are the heart [i.e.,essence] or nature indicated by the truthful words preached by all Buddhas and taught by the patriarchs. The next, kikan, are the displays of compassion by the Buddhas and patriarchs: the twisting of one’s nose, the twinkling of an eye. In other words it is, “The stone horse wading in the water.”The last,kojo, are the direct words of the Buddha,the true form of all reality, all without differentiation. This is

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what is meant by the sayings: “The sky is the sky, and the earth is the earth”; “Mountains are mountains, and water is water”; “Eyes are horizontal, and the nose is vertical.”

According to Nanpo, the first type of koan consists of responses to metaphysical or doctrinal questions, the second type included accounts of the illogical statements or extraordinary teaching methods (shouts and beatings) used by famous Zen teachers,and the last type included the stories of how famous teachers had used or described common objects or situations. These three categories of koan correspond to the standard Buddhist technique of describing reality or enlightenment in terms of its nature, its functions, and its appearances. But whereas traditional Buddhist descriptions relied on philosophical terminology, koan lan- guage employs vivid examples of each category.

The second distinctive feature of the Japanese koan training tech- niques is the systematic use of stereotyped Chinese phrases to analyze or answer each koan.The roots of this practice probably date to the very first Japanese attempts to overcome the barrier of the Chinese language. The course of its growth, however, can be gauged only from the sporadic criticisms of this practice that appear in the writings of major Gozan teachers. Wu-hsüeh Tsu-hsüan (Jpn. Mugaku Sogen, 1226–1286), who arrived in Japan in 1279, lamented the tendency of his Japanese students to compile lists of sayings from Zen texts. Tsu-hsüan admonished his students not to reuse the words of others without knowing the experi- ence for oneself, a practice that he described as less beneficial than merely reciting the Buddha’s name. Likewise, Muso Soseki termed the tendency of Japanese monks to identify Zen sayings with Zen enlightenment an insane delusion.According to Soseki,many“self-styled men of theWay” (donin; i.e., rinka monks) failed to acquire sufficient learning. He criti- cized these monks for devoting too much time to meditation instead of to reading Zen texts and studying Chinese classics.These monks, Soseki asserted, skimmed Zen texts not for the meaning but only to glean the supplemental sayings (betsugo) or alternative responses (daigo) that past masters had supplied for various koan.

At Gozan monasteries koan texts were studied in a scholastic fash- ion.At rinka monasteries,however, the predominant form of koan study

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was the memorization of a set number of stereotyped sayings.These say- ings, generally known as “appended words” (agyo), were used to sum- marize or explain each segment of a koan text. In the course of his koan training a student learned not only the expressions favored within his own lineage but also exactly what types of situations fit each expression. Unlike Gozan monks, who might compose their own Chinese verse, rinka monks merely had to select an appropriate phrase from a limited set of “appended words.” This means that the same Chinese phrase was used on separate occasions to describe very different experiences. Regardless of a student’s own understanding, little individuality or cre- ativity was expected in his responses to a koan.

This emphasis on imitation is generally credited with causing a grad- ual decline in the vitality of medieval koan training.Whether or not such a decline occurred,on the positive side reliance on stereotyped phrases— which simplified the linguistic demands of the koan method at a time when Chinese learning was not widespread—ensured the survival of the koan system.Repetitive use of Zen sayings did not necessarily stifle indi- viduality. It probably resembled the drills used in modern foreign lan- guage instruction, which teach students how to use a large vocabulary of new terms correctly even before they fully understand the literal mean- ing of each word.The stereotyped answers gave Zen students the means to acquire rapid fluency in Zen expression. Certainly hackneyed imita- tion by beginner monks would have lacked inner depth or conviction.Yet many monks who blindly memorized Zen expressions must have expe- rienced a deeper inner resource as their practice matured.

The third feature of koan training at rinka temples was teaching through private initiation into the proper series of responses for each koan.Private instruction has always been a key element of organized Zen monastic life. The earliest Chinese monastic code (i.e., the Ch’an yüan ch’ing-kuei, 1103) provides full instructions for the ceremony of Enter- ing the Master’s Quarters (nyusshitsu), during which all the monks assembled at the abbot’s building and then entered one by one. Medieval rinka lineages, however, practiced an informal private instruction, con- ducted in secret only for selected individual students,who would visit the abbot’s quarters alone. In purpose and content these secret sessions were completely different from the sessions conducted as part of the group

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ceremony. During the regular visits to the abbot’s quarters, the teacher counseled and encouraged each member of the community of monks,one at a time. The secret instruction sessions, however, were limited to sen- ior disciples who would inherit their teacher’s dharma lineage. For these disciples alone the teacher conducted lengthy initiations into the entire koan curriculum and into that lineage’s own set of questions and answers used for each koan.

Secret manuals recording the koan curriculum exist for several line- ages. The more detailed of these manuals are nearly complete textbooks of both the koan curriculum and the standardized answers taught in that particular lineage. In Rinzai lineages these manuals are known as mis- sanroku and missancho (Records of Secret Instructions). In Soto these texts are referred to as monsan, a word that appears to be an abbrevia- tion of the more descriptive term monto hissan (the secret instructions of this lineage). The development of these koan manuals is obscure. No early texts survive. The earliest extant texts (sixteenth century) contain frequent references to earlier, well-developed traditions. The practice of secretly initiating students into particular questions and answers for each koan,therefore,probably has early roots.It must have co-evolved with the first two features of Japanese koan study as a method to ensure the faith- ful transmission of the standardized curriculum and stereotyped answers.

Certainly, the copying of koan manuals was practiced by the time of Ikkyu Sojun (1394–1481). In his“SelfAdmonitions”(Jikaishu, ca.1461), Ikkyu assailed the exaggerated importance Zen monks attach to dharma succession and their equating of initiation into koan answers with attain- ment of that succession. Ikkyu focused the brunt of his attacks on Yoso Soi (1376–1458), a fellow Daio-line Rinzai monk known for his success- ful campaign to rebuild Daitokuji. Ikkyu accusedYoso of having obtained contributions from the merchants by selling them the questions, answers, and verses for the koan taught at Daitokuji. These merchants (even as laymen) could then claim to be full Zen masters with knowledge of all the traditions handed down within the Daio line.Evidently, the pos- sibility of being initiated into the esoteric lore of Zen language proved extremely tempting even to worldly merchants.

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The Beginnings of Soto Koan Literature

Fixed koan curriculums appeared within Soto lineages at least as early as the end of the fourteenth century. One Soto koan manual (i.e., monsan) states that Gasan’s disciple Tsugen Jakurei found it necessary to forbid his disciples to teach koan without authorization.One biography reports that secret instruction in koan was common during Tsugen’s lifetime. Other evidence supports the accuracy of this chronology. The earliest extant monsan text, the Enso monsan, purports to be a 1396 copy by Mugoku Etetsu (1350–1430), a disciple of one of Tsugen Jakurei’s disci- ples. Baisan Monpon (a contemporary of Tsugen) prescribed the study of wato (Zen words; i.e., koan) in his monastic regulations. During this same period, between 1397 and 1411, a Soto temple in Kyushu published a woodblock edition of the Hekiganroku, the premier koan collection.

By this period Rinzai and Soto monks studied koan at each other’s temples. Sometimes Gozan monks joined Soto temples after becoming dissatisfied with the Gozan emphasis on literary pursuits. Likewise, many Soto monks (especially those of Giin’s line) studied in Gozan tem- ples in order to learn the intricacies of Chinese prosody.But to study with monks in other rinka lineages was much more common.To illustrate the connections between medieval Rinzai and Soto, Tamamura Takeji cites the example of Shochu Shotan (d. 1492), a Rinzai monk, and Chikuba Kotaku (1419–1471), a Soto monk.

Shochu inherited the koan curriculum of the so-called Genju line of rinka Rinzai Zen from his masterYuhoToeki (n.d.).Nonetheless,Shochu remained unsatisfied with his level of attainment and studied under other teachers.In 1433 he spent seven days on sacred Mt.Kiyosumi pray- ing to Kokuzo bodhisattva to complete his mastery of Zen. He then climbed Mt. Fuji in order to select his next Zen teacher by means of rit- ual divination. The teacher selected was Daiko Myoshu (d. 1437), a Soto master of theTsugen lineage.Shochu studied under Daiko until he inher- ited the entire koan curriculum of the Tsugen line. After Daiko’s death Shochu continued training under several other Soto masters,all of whom belonged to the same subfaction within the Tsugen line as had Daiko.

Then Shochu met Chikuba Kotaku, a Soto teacher in a different sub- faction of the Tsugen line. Chikuba, like Shochu, had studied koan in

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several different lineages. He had inherited the koan curriculum of the rinka Daio line from Ikkyu Sojun. After Shochu and Chikuba met, they decided to study under each other. In other words, the Rinzai monk Shochu taught the secrets of his Soto koan curriculum to the Soto mas- ter of a different line. In exchange, the Soto monk Chikuba taught the secrets of his Rinzai koan curriculum to a Rinzai master of a different line. In essence, each became dharma heir to the other, learning the secrets of their own style from a monk nominally affiliated with the other.

From this example and others,Tamamura asserts that by the fifteenth century the distinctions between Rinzai and Soto had totally broken down, that Zen monks remained aware only of the rivalries between dif- ferent lineages, and that two Soto lineages would have been as distant from each other as if one had been Rinzai and the other Soto.Tamamura’s characterization is accurate insofar as every lineage had its own secret teachings. In terms of self-awareness and religious goals, however, monks in both Zen traditions typically exaggerated even small differ- ences between Rinzai and Soto. In studying koan, the training methods taught were not necessarily similar. Bassui Tokusho, for example, had been extremely critical of Soto teachers, stating that their intellectual approach to koan training prevented them from even dreaming of the depths of the realization taught in Rinzai lines.

In some cases koan manuals authored by Rinzai monks apparently did become confused with the writings of Soto patriarchs. Two texts in particular, the Kenshoron (Treatise on Perceiving Reality) attributed to Dogen and the Himitsu shobo genzo (Secret Shobo genzo) attributed to Keizan, appear to have originated in the Hotto line of the Rinzai monk Kyoo Unryo. Kyoo obtained access to the writings of Dogen and Keizan when he served as abbot of Daijoji. Biographies state that Kyoo also authored several Zen texts, including Kana kenshosho (Japanese- Language Treatise on Perceiving Reality) and Shobo genzogo (Shobo genzo Koans). It cannot be proved that Kyoo texts are the same as the ones now attributed to Dogen and Keizan,but a recently discovered man- uscript (copied ca. 1486) suggests that they are probably related. This texts quotes Hotto-line monks such as Shinchi Kakushin and Bassui Tokusho as well as various Chinese masters on techniques for concen- trating on koan in ways that will arouse doubt (gidan) and induce an

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insight into reality (kensho). It also includes an essay attributed to Dogen, titled Kenshoron. This essay, still attributed to Dogen, also has been preserved at various Soto temples,but under the same title as Kyoo’s treatise, Kana kenshosho.

A similar example of confusion over titles and authorship appears in the biography of Keizan Jokin compiled by the Rinzai monk Mangen Shiban, which states that Keizan wrote a text titled Shobo genzogo— again the same title as Kyoo’s text. Soto records mention no such title. But Keizan is cited as the author of a commentary on ten Chinese koan titled Himitsu shobo genzo (Secret Shobo genzo). Significantly, this Himitsu shobo genzo was found among the Hotto-line manuscripts just mentioned.Also significant is the fact that not all versions of this text cite Keizan as author. Some Soto lineages secretly transmitted copies of the same set of ten Chinese koans under the title Jusoku shobo genzo (Ten- Koan Shobo genzo), but without any reference to Keizan.

These examples suggest that koan texts passed from one rinka lin- eage to another.The outside origin of these teachings,however, could not be acknowledged. Instead, the texts borrowed respectability associated with the names Dogen and Keizan. A similar process of borrowing the authority of ancient patriarchs can be observed in most of the secret koan literature passed down within medieval Soto. This literature defies easy summation, but it cannot be ignored. It presents us with a gold mine of information regarding what Soto monks studied and how; what institu- tional, pedagogical, and ritual structures mediated the koan experience; what religious or doctrinal interpretations were applied to koan; and the general flow of monastic rituals and medieval institutions.

Medieval Soto Koan Literature

In addition to the secret koan manuals (monsan) mentioned earlier, extensive records of medieval koan study exits in secret initiation docu- ments (kirikami) and in transcriptions of monastic lectures (kikigak- isho). A brief review of each of these genres reveals the features and limitations of the literature as historical sources as well as the nature of Zen training in late medieval Soto.

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Koan Manuals (Monsan)

Monsan detail the curriculum, questions, and expected responses for each koan. Each medieval Soto lineage regarded the questions and answers that had been devised by their own past masters as closely guarded secrets.Possession of a completed record of a particular lineage’s koan curriculum was seen as proof of succession to that dharma line. Monsan, therefore, were transmitted in secret. One monsan explained this process by distinguishing between two types of private instruction sessions offered during the biannual ninety-day training period. During the morning session (chosan) the Zen master met privately with all the monks one-by-one, regardless of lineage affiliations. Mornings were termed Yang, the “open instructions,” the “revealed word.” Meetings during the evening (yasan) were termed Yin, the “private matters,” the “secret words.” Only future dharma heirs received evening instruction.

At present most of the monsan available to scholars belong to lines descendant from Tsugen Jakurei (i.e., the largest Soto faction). These texts often cite answers from other Soto lineages, thereby indicating that the Tsugen faction held no monopoly on koan initiations. Within this faction, different branch lineages exhibit wide variation in both curricu- lum and answers for the koan. The branch lines descendant from Ryoan Emyo (1337–1411) emphasized nonverbal responses (i.e., kikan), whereas the branch lines descendant from Sekioku Shinryo (1345–1423) emphasized analysis (i.e., richi). Consider, for example, the answers for the koan concerning Shakyamuni Buddha holding up a flower (the first koan in the Jusoku shobo genzo mentioned above). Student monks within the Ryoan line imitated the walk of a small child to express the meaning of the holding up of a flower, whereas the Sekioku-line teach- ers merely explained that the meaning of the koan is within the person holding the flower, not within the flower itself.

In general, monsan follow a standard question-and-answer format. First the koan is identified by name only. Following each name, there are one, two,or a series of questions to be asked by the teacher (usually intro- duced by the word shi). The questions might include requests to explain the meaning of key terms in the koan, to provide an appropriate Chinese verse or phrase (agyo or jakugo) that would express that same meaning,

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to explain (seppa; abbreviated as ha) the meaning of that Chinese phrase, or to sum up the basic meaning or purpose of the koan as a whole (rakkyo or hikkyo). After each one of these questions the expected response is indicated. Occasionally, a text might explicitly indicate that the student monk (gaku) is to respond.More often, the text indicates that the teacher substitutes (dai) for the monk.

In Chinese Ch’an literature,the term dai (“in place of”) usually intro- duces an alternative answer to an old question or introduces the master’s own answer for a question to which no monk in the assembly would respond. In medieval Soto koan literature, however, dai always indicates that the teacher is supplying the correct answer in order to instruct his student, not in order to replace the answer in the original text.An exam- ple will clarify this distinction between these two uses of dai. The Blue Cliff Record contains the following koan:

Yun-men [Jpn. Unmon], lecturing the assembly, said:“The old Buddha and the bare pillar intermingle.What function- ing is this?”

Speaking for (dai) himself [he answered]:“In the south- ern mountains, clouds arise; in the northern mountains, rain falls.”

In the Soto monsan this incident is cited by the title “Unmon’s old Buddha [and] bare pillar.” The monsan lists the following questions and answers:

Teacher (shi): “As for the old Buddha?” Substituting (dai) [for the student]: “This one person.” Teacher: “As for the bare pillar?” Substitute: “A five-foot object [of perception].” Teacher: “When the rains disperse and clouds draw

together?” Substitute: “The very burning away of body and mind

(shinjin [i.e., subject and object]).” Teacher: “An appended verse (jakugo)?” Substitute: [in Chinese]

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“The night moon glitters in the cold pool; “The autumn wind penetrates the skull bone.”

Teacher: “Explain (seppa) [its meaning].” Substitute: “Mind and object are one.”

Throughout this entire session the student monk apparently would have made no response. The students expected only to become conver- sant with the many nuances of each koan. They did not have to create new responses.The surviving monsan reveal few, if any, signs of the stu- dents struggling with each koan on their own.

Soto Koan study, however, was not confined to linguistic analysis. Ryoan-line monsan repeatedly call for physical gestures in response to the teacher’s questions, as in the following passage:

What is “Tozan’s ‘The inanimate preach the dharma’?” Student’s [nonverbal response]: Cough, [then] sit. Wait,

saying nothing. [Then,] Thump the cushion two or three times.

Teacher: “That’s still too weak.” Student’s [nonverbal response]:With fists, strike the

straw mat. This is the teaching (san) of Tokuo [Horyu].

Often the answers alluded to terms or concepts taught only in Soto lineages. For example, the same Ryoan-line monsan just cited also includes the following sequence:

Question: “How does [one] sit atop a hundred-foot pole?” Substitute: “Sitting in [total] forgetfulness.” Question: “How does [one’s] whole body appear in all

directions?” Substitute: “Jumping up; falling down.” Question: “A verse?”

“Shinjin datsuraku “Datsuraku shinjin.”

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This commentary asserts that Zen meditation, in and of itself, is the experience of the totality of existence as enlightenment. The “top of a hundred-foot pole”is a common Zen expression for the goal of Zen train- ing, or enlightenment. In this case, that enlightenment is conceived of as the activity of sitting in Zen meditation without any special mental effort.Although sitting normally is static, in this passage it is paired with the activity of one’s body becoming manifest everywhere. This means that Zen meditation is the experiencing of all reality as a dynamic momentness (jumping up and falling down),or as shinjin datsuraku, the phrase that Dogen used to describe the experience of Zen meditation.

Another monsan, from a different line within the Ryoan faction, begins with a historical definition of the Soto line and then differentiates proper Soto practices from other styles of Zen. In its emphasis on sectar- ian identity it explicitly cites Dogen as the authority behind the Soto approach to koan study:

The Soto school derives from the line of Shih-t’ou, [which in turn] derived from the first patriarch, Bodhidharma.The sixth patriarch, master Huineng, while working as a rice polisher within the assembly of the fifth patriarch, Hun- jen, considered this matter [i.e., enlightenment] day and night without interruption even while drinking tea or eat- ing rice. As his exertion (kufu) gradually matured, he nat- urally penetrated into [the realm of] fundamental wisdom. This “penetrating” (tonyu) does not refer to his having smashed through all objects [of perception]. Without loss of the realm of objects,he attained the mind of wisdom.This “mind of wisdom” (shinchi) is the [realization of one’s] original face without thought of good, without thought of evil [i.e., reality itself, beyond mundane thoughts]. When Ch’ing-yuan grasped this doctrine, the sixth patriarch accepted him as [his disciple]. Shih-t’ou, then, was the suc- cessor to Ch’ing-yuan. From the teachings bequeathed by them there must not be even the slightest deviation….

Showing off with shouts and with [blows of the] staff are great hindrances.Among the ancients, [only] one in ten

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thousand believed in such practices. Since the first Japanese patriarch, Master Dogen of Eiheiji, had strongly rejected these, [likewise] how much more [strongly] should [the] unlearned monks of this later age who have not yet forgot- ten [their worldly] knowledge and who have not yet cast off [their] discriminating intellect [do so]. If one believes in such practices, not only will he fall like an arrow into hell, but he also will completely lose the true teaching [i.e., Buddhism]. People born into this corrupt, turbulent end of the final age [of Buddhism], having minds full of dreams and delusions, should merely sit in meditation according to the old [Zen monastic] codes. Throughout the twelve peri- ods of the day, they should realize this matter [i.e., enlight- enment] through shinjin datsuraku.

The fact that this text encourages monks to practice Zen meditation according to the old monastic regulations is noteworthy. Modern Soto scholars usually assert that observance of regulated sessions of Zen med- itations gradually disappeared in medieval Japan until revived in the early eighteenth century after the arrival of Ming-dynasty Chinese monks. This monsan demonstrates, however, that meditation according to the old regulations continued to be advocated in medieval Soto.

Initiation Documents (Kirikami)

After monsan, the second prime source for descriptions of medieval Soto koan training is the kirikami traditionally handed down within many Soto lineages.Kirikami (literally“paper strips”) vary in length from sin- gle sheets to bound volumes.They record secret instructions for the per- formance of ritual. In medieval Japan, kirikami were used at all levels of society for teaching almost any endeavor centered on private master- disciple lineages, such as theatrical performance, poetry composition, martial arts, secret religious practices, and especially Buddhism.

Soto kirikami generally performed two functions. First, mere posses- sion of them served as yet another testament to one’s religious author- ity. Second, they supplemented the Chinese monastic codes (shingi) that

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governed Zen monastic life. Whereas the Chinese codes regulated the operation of large monasteries as a whole, kirikami describe procedures for the private rituals conducted by the abbot alone, such as techniques for performing consecrations, funerals, transfers of merit, dharma trans- missions, and precept initiations.Kirikami also differ from Chinese codes in that while the latter reveal the influence of Chinese social customs and beliefs, kirikami reflect Japanese folk beliefs and magical practices.

Kirikami depict many aspects of koan study, since koan initiation was an important monastic ritual.These koan initiation documents treat the same subject matter as the full-length monsan described above. In con- trast to the monsan, they are more narrowly focused and of shorter length.Some describe the correct series of questions and answers for just a single koan (often referred to as sanwa). The sanwa documents were not part of the general training curriculum but were reserved for special occasions. Within some lines, for instance, each new dharma heir was instructed in a series of questions and answers regarding the legendary first Zen transmission when Shakyamuni Buddha help up a flower (nenge) and his disciple Mahakashyapa smiled.

Even kirikami concerning other types of rituals or the meaning of rit- ual implements often adapted the same question-and-answer format as used for koan study. For example, one kirikami that describes the seven main Zen monastic buildings (which the abbot toured both during his inauguration ceremony and as part of his daily ritual) begins as follows:

Teacher: “First, the abbot’s building?” Substitute: “Prior to the Great Ultimate (taikyoku) [there

is] the abbot’s building.” Teacher: “Nothing exists prior to the Great Ultimate. How

can [you] say that the abbot’s building exists?” Substitute: “This answer means that the master dwells in

the place of non-being.” Teacher: “A verse?” Substitute:

“No bright brightness; “In the dark, no darkness.”

Teacher: “Next, the storehouse?…”

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The document continues in the same format for each of the seven buildings. Likewise, another initiation document describes an incense burner as a symbol of the fleetingness of life:

Teacher: “The evaluation (sadame) of an incense burner?” Student’s [nonverbal response]: Points at his own body. Teacher: “As for the burning incense?” Answer: “Exhalations and inhalations.” Teacher: “A verse? “Within one wisp of burning [incense]; “Grasp this mind.”

These kirikami in koan-style, question-and-answer format are espe- cially noteworthy because they demonstrate the large degree to which the use of appended verses (agyo or jakugo) dominated religious training in medieval Soto Zen. All objects of daily use and all aspects of monastic life wereanalyzedfromthestandpointofZendialectics inorder to imbuethem with a secret significance. The special language and techniques of koan study extended beyond meditation training to permeate the attitudes of medieval Soto monks toward all religious practices, so that even rituals adapted from non-Zen traditions were redefined in terms of Zen concepts.

As in the case with the monsan cited above, many kirikami invoked the authority of Dogen or his Chinese teacher, Ju-ching. Passages such as“the hundred twenty items listed in these certificates [are] the dharma bequeathed at T’ien-t’ung [i.e., Ju-ching’s monastery], [they are] the secrets of Dogen” are commonplace.Whether or not teachings or rituals could be traced back to these men, such was the symbolic power of the idealized “transmission from China” that medieval Soto monks sin- cerely believed their own practices to be faithful reenactments of this ancient paradigm. Here is a kirikami regarding the staff held by a Zen teacher while lecturing:

The teacher [Ju-ching] asked: “What is this one stick?” Dogen replied: “Everyone is [so] endowed.” The teacher said: “[Be] endowed! Look!” Dogen replied: “No-mind.”

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The teacher said: “Transcend words.” Dogen stood up…

When the student Zen monk stood up he not only beheld Dogen, but transmuted through ritual he became the Dogen of his own generation.

Transcription Commentaries (Kikigakisho)

In contrast to the secret records in monsan and kirikami, texts known as kikigakisho contain transcriptions of open lectures on koan presented at medieval Soto monasteries. The practice of producing bound editions of informal transcriptions seems to have begun at Gozan monasteries. Between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries Gozan monks tran- scribed numerous lectures on the classics of Chinese secular literature. At Soto monasteries very few lectures on secular literature occurred. Instead Soto monks focused on Zen texts, especially on koan collections. Transcriptions of these comments offer many insights into medieval Zen life because they often convey minute details of the circumstances of each day’s lecture. In spite of their historical value, however, records of medieval Zen lectures (especially informal transcriptions) have suffered a low literary reputation that has inhibited their study and publication.

Japanese linguists only recently began publishing medieval Zen kiki- gakisho (which they term shomono) when they discovered in them pho- netic transcriptions of medieval colloquial Japanese. The characteristics of a transcription commentary are well illustrated by the Ninden gen- mokusho, a record of lectures of Senso Esai on the jen-t’ien yen-mu (Jpn. Ninden genmoku;Guidelines for Gods and Men) delivered between1471 and 1474. Three transcriptions exist, each probably recorded separately. Two of the transcriptions are similarly terse,in that the content of Senso’s remarks is expressed in as few words as possible with no words separat- ing the commentary from the original text or from mention of contem- poraneous events. They resemble a modern college student’s lecture notes rather than a complete transcription.

Incontrast to these,thethirdversionisverydetailed,extendingtomore than three times the length of either of the other two.The sources for each portion of the transcription are identified in full and the quotations are in

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the form of complete sentences. The differences between this third ver- sion and the other two are so striking that normally it would suggest that they must represent different series of lectures on the same text. How- ever, careful comparison of the contemporaneous events mentioned in all three versions reveals that each recorded the same lectures given at the same time and place.The differences between each version,therefore, must have resulted not from different source lectures but from different scribes, one of whom took more detailed notes.

The majority of medieval Soto kikigakisho record lectures not on Zen treatises such as the Jen-t’ien yen-mu, but on koan collections.The Blue Cliff Record and Koans of Wu-men were widely studied. Transcriptions of Senso Esai’s lectures exist for both. Most Soto teachers, however, rather than following a standard koan collection, chose koans for their lectures according to their own inclinations. Koans were selected mainly from the above two collections and from the Zenrin ruiju (Ch. Ch’an-lin lei-chu, 1307), an exhaustive Chinese encyclopedia of koan and verses used by Chinese teachers to comment on them. The Shoyoroku (Ch. Tsung-jung lu, 1223), a koan collection compiled by two Chinese Ts’ao- tung teachers, also occasionally appears in quotations.

Whether lecturing on Zen treatises, koan collections, or their own selected topics, medieval Soto teachers followed the same question-and- answer format used for private koan initiations. First, the teacher iden- tified the topic or recited the koan. Then, with a question, he invited (satsu) the assembled monks to recite a verse summing up the meaning of that topic. Occasionally monks responded, but more often the teacher supplied his own verse in place of (dai) the monks. Finally, some teach- ers also explained (seppa) the meaning of the verse. Usually, however, only the teacher’s verse comments were recorded. For this reason, some teachers also conducted a second series of lectures on the same koans, in which they explained the meaning of the verses they had previously delivered.

For example, there are two versions of koan lectures by Kokai Ryotatsu (d. 1599). The first, Kokaidai (Kokai’s Alternate [Verses]), lists only the names of each koan in full with Kokai’s questions and verse answers.The second, Kokaidaisho (Kokai’s Alternate-[Verse] Commen- tary), lists only the names of each koan, each of which is accompanied by

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a full account of Kokai’s explanations of each of his verses. When the teacher lectured on the verses (dai) originally given by someone other than himself, the resulting transcription usually would be titled with his own name and the word saigin (reexamination).

Even though the question-and-answer format was the same, crucial differences separate the answers recorded in monsan or kirikami and those appearing in kikigakisho.The answers in the first group represent secret teachings that remained the same from generation to generation. In the kikigakisho, however, the koan selected, the questions asked, and the answers each represent the mood and character of a given teacher at a particular moment. Although the teachers usually gave their own answers, the students were free to attempt (and some transcriptions include) individual interpretations. For a monk the attempt to respond freely in front of the whole assembly could be a crucial step in his train- ing. In one case, Daian Shueki (1406–1473) accepted Zengan Tojun (d. 1495) as his dharma heir after the latter had been the only one able to give a suitable answer to a question posed to the entire assembly.

The questions and verse answers often commented as much on the day’s events as on the koan in question. For example, Senso Esai’s verse comments in the Ninden genmokusho that were given on the seven- teenth day of each month always contained a reference to the attributes of Kannon, the bodhisattva for whom special services were conducted on that day. Likewise, Senso’s concluding verse given at the end of one ninety-day training session (after which the monks were free to travel again) ordered:“Go! Go! Don’t look back.What a small place [this is] on the great earth.” Another version of Senso’s Ninden genmokusho notes that the lecture began just as the monks had finished reciting the monas- tic code. The date given in the text is the twenty-first, the day of the month on which the monks jointly recited the rules governing conduct in the monastery library (shuryo). Immediately after this recitation, everyone returned to the monks’ hall for another period of meditation. If this is the recitation referred to in the transcription, then the meaning of Senso’s concluding verse for that day’s lecture becomes easy to under- stand. Senso had asked: “What is the intended meaning of the ancient patriarchs?” and then answered, “The great assembly [of monks] medi- tating in the [monks’] hall.”This answer directed the monks to leave the

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Table 2. Comparison of Annual Lecture Dates in Medieval Soto

Events Goroku Kikigakisho: Dates Fusai Zenkyu Ryonen Eicho Kokai Ryotatsu Daien Monsatsu

(1347–1408) (1471–1551) (d. 1599) (d. 1636)

Saitan (first day of New Year) 1:1 yes yes yes yes

Gensho (first moon) Soan (end of winter training session) 1:15 yes yes yes yes

Nehan (Buddha’s Nirvana) 2:15 yes — — —

Kashaku (admittance of new monks) 3:28 — — yes yes

Bussho (Buddha’s Birthday) 4:8 yes yes yes yes

Hi’ i (adjustment of monastic seniority) 4:13 — — — yes

Ketsuge (start of summer training session) 4:15 yes yes yes yes

Yasan hajime (first evening instruction) 4:18 — — yes yes

Tango (midsummer) 5:5 yes yes yes yes

(full moon) 5:15 yes — yes yes

Kankin (sutra recitation) 5:28 — — — yes

(full moon) 6:15 yes — yes yes

Kankin (sutra recitation [for the dead]) 7:1 — — yes yes

Shichiseki (night of the cowherd and weaving maid stars) 7:7 — — yes yes

Events Goroku Kikigakisho: Dates Fusai Zenkyu Ryonen Eicho Kokai Ryotatsu Daien Monsatsu

(1347–1408) (1471–1551) (d. 1599) (d. 1636)

Kaige (end of summer training session) 7:15 yes yes yes yes

Chushu (night of the harvest moon) 8:15 — — yes yes

Dogenki (memorial for Dogen) 8:28 — — — yes

Chinjuki (service for protective spirits) 9:19 — — — yes

Kairo (opening of hearth) 1:1 yes — yes yes

Darumaki (memorial for Bodhidharma) 1:5 — — yes yes

Ketto (start of winter training session) 1:15 — yes yes yes

Nyujo (Buddha’s trance) 12:1 — — yes yes

Rohachi (Buddha’s enlightenment) 12:8 yes yes yes yes

Nisoki (memorial for second patriarch) 12:10 — yes — —

Toji (midwinter) 12:22 yes yes yes —

Joya (New Year’s Eve) 12:30 yes yes yes —

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Sources: Fusai osho ju Noshu Shogakuzan Soji Zenji goroku, fasc. 1, in SZ, vol. 5, Goroku, 1:123–129; Ishikawa Rikizan, “En’o chuko Ryoan dai osho hogo’ ni tsuite,” 68–72 [note: Addi- tional events are probably included in the original text, but not reported fully by Ishikawa]; Kokai Ryotatsu, Kokaidai, unpublished manuscript in Komazawa University Library; and Kagamishima Genryu, “Kaidai,” in Daien daisho, 2, Zenmon Shomono Sokan, 3:336–337. A dash (—) indicates that the event in question does not appear in the source cited.

library and return to the monks’ hall for meditation. Answers such as these represent a conscious effort by the teachers to make the koan seem relevant to the monks’ daily situations.

Because of the spontaneity they record, kikigakisho in many ways represent a Japanese counterpart to the goroku (recorded sayings) genre of Ch’an literature that had developed in China.As with the early Ch’an records, the Japanese kikigakisho record the colloquial language of the time, with many slang and nonliterary expressions. Both types of texts record concrete comments of a living teacher as he delivered his lectures and responded to students’ questions. Finally, kikigakisho resemble the late style of goroku developed in the Song dynasty in that the lectures comprising the original source material invariably were delivered according to the monastic calendar described in the Chinese monastic codes (see table 2).The regular occurrences of lectures during the ninety- day meditation training sessions is particularly noteworthy. These lec- tures demonstrate that Zen training continued at Soto monasteries uninterrupted by the civil disturbances of fifteenth- and sixteenth- century Japan.

Medieval kikigakisho, however, differ from Chinese “recorded say- ings” in several ways. First, Japanese Zen teachers traditionally wrote their own goroku in imitation of the genre produced in China. Only addresses composed in Chinese were included. Because of this artificial process, Japanese goroku often reveal very little of either the Zen teach- ings or the personalities of their authors. Second, in kikigakisho the emphasis or point of the lecture lies not in the topic as a whole but only in the concluding verse that sums up each koan. Often the same topic or same koan was brought up repeatedly, but depending on the circum- stances of that particular day the teacher (or students) asked different questions and answered with different verses. For example, Ryonen Eicho invariably began each ninety-day training period (ango) during one nine-year period (1519–1528) by questioning (satsu) his students on the meaning of this same line from the Sutra on Perfect Enlightenment (Engakukyo): “By great perfect enlightenment make yourself into a temple [wherein] body and mind abide (ango) in true knowledge of the undifferentiated [i.e., the absolute].” The quote remained the same, but his questions and answers always differed.

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Medieval Soto literature leaves no doubt that in the fifteenth and six- teenth centuries koan study had permeated every aspect of Soto Zen training.Each lineage had its own koan curriculum.Rituals and doctrines were taught in koan format, with questions answered by stereotyped phrases. Teachers lectured on Zen texts and individual koan as a means of teaching students how to apply these phrases to any and all situations. Soto koan Zen centered on the analysis and creative use of concluding phrases of stereotyped Chinese verse, the alternate sayings (daigo), and appended words (agyo or jakugo).

Medieval Soto Zen practice, however, was not limited to koan train- ing. Rituals originally intended for inside the monastery, such as precept ordinations and funerals, forged essential links uniting the communities of Zen monks to their lay supporters.These areas, the subjects of the fol- lowing chapters, represent major departures from Zen practice in Dogen’s time. Yet perhaps because they have continued to play a major role in retaining lay allegiance down to the present day, modern Soto leaders typically attempt to reconcile these practices with Dogen’s teach- ings rather than to renounce them.

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