The Religion of the Samurai: A Study of Zen Philosophy and Discipline in China and Japan — John Shaqi
The Religion of the Samurai: A Study of Zen Philosophy and Discipline in China and JapanNukariya, Kaiten
Religion
The Religion of the Samurai: A Study of Zen Philosophy and Discipline in China and Japan
Nukariya, Kaiten
Buddhism -- China; Buddhism -- Japan; China -- Religion; Human beings -- Origin; Japan -- Religion; Zen Buddhism
"And thus it has been elsewhere: There is the superior fixed
attention (dharana) for him-viz., if he presses the tip of the tongue
down the palate, and restrain the voice, mind, and breath, he sees
Brahman by discrimination (taraka). And when, after the cessation of
mind, he sees his own Self, smaller than small, and shining as the
Highest Self, then, having seen his Self as the Self, he becomes
Self-less, and because he is Self-less, he is without limit, without
cause, absorbed in thought. This is the highest mystery--viz., final
liberation " (Maitr. Upanisad, vi. 20).
Amrtab. Upanisad, 18, describes three modes of sitting-namely, the
Lotus-seat (Padmasana), the sitting with legs bent underneath; the
mystic diagram seat (Svastika); and the auspicious-seat
(Bhadrasana);--while Yogacikha directs the choice of the
Lotus-posture, with attention concentrated on the tip of the nose,
hands and feet closely joined.
But Brahmanic Zen was carefully distinguished even by early
Buddhists[FN#16] as the heterodox Zen from that taught by the Buddha.
Our Zen originated in the Enlightenment of Shakya Muni, which took
place in his thirtieth year, when he was sitting absorbed in profound
meditation under the Bodhi Tree.
[FN#16] The anonymous author of Lankavatara-sutra distinguishes the
heterodox Zen from the Hinayana Zen, the Hinayana Zen from the
Mahayana Zen, and calls the last by the name of the Buddha's Holy
Zen. The sutra is believed by many Buddhists, not without reason, to
be the exposition of that Mahayana doctrine which Acvaghosa restated
in his Craddhotpada-castra. The sutra was translated, first, into
Chinese by Gunabbadra, in A.D. 443; secondly, by Bodhiruci in A.D.
513; and, thirdly, by Ciksanada in A.D. 700-704. The book is famous
for its prophecy about Nagdrajuna, which (according to Dr. Nanjo's
translation) is as follows:
"After the Nirvana of the Tathagata,
There will be a man in the future,
Listen to me carefully, O Mahatma,
A man who will hold my law.
In the great country of South,
There will be a venerable Bhiksu
The Bodhisattva Nagarjuna by name,
Who will destroy the views of Astikas and Nastikas,
Who will preach unto men my Yana,
The highest Law of the Mahayana,
And will attain to the Pramudita-bhumi."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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