Zen Buddhism, and Its Relation to ArtWaley, Arthur
Religion
Zen Buddhism, and Its Relation to Art
Waley, Arthur
Buddhist art; Zen Buddhism
Something resembling the mystic belief which Zen embraces is found
in many countries and under many names. But Zen differs from other
religions of the same kind in that it admits only one means by
which the perception of Truth can be attained. Prayer, fasting,
asceticism--all are dismissed as useless, giving place to one single
resource, the method of self-hypnosis which I have here described.
I have, indeed, omitted any mention of an important adjunct of Zen,
namely tea-drinking, which was as constant a feature in the life of Zen
monasteries as it is here in the régime of charwomen and girl-clerks.
I have not space to describe the various tea-ceremonies. The tendency
of monasteries was to create in them as in every part of daily life a
more and more elaborate ritual, calculated to give some pattern to
days otherwise devoid of any incident. We possess minute descriptions
of every ceremony--the initiation of novices, the celebration of birth
and death anniversaries of the Patriarchs, the procedure in cases of
sickness, madness, disobedience, disappearance or death of monks;
the selection and investiture of abbots; the lectures, liturgies and
sessions which constituted the curriculum of Zen instruction.
In China decay set in after the fifteenth century. The Zen monasteries
became almost indistinguishable from those of popular, idolatrous
Buddhism. In Japan, on the other hand, Zen has remained absolutely
distinct and is now the favourite creed of the educated classes. It
has not hitherto conducted any propaganda in Europe, whereas the Amida
Sect has sent out both missionaries and pamphlets. But I believe that
Zen would find many converts in England. Something rather near it we
already possess. Quakerism, like Zen, is a non-dogmatic religion,
laying stress on the doctrine of Immanence. But whereas the Quakers
seek communion with the Divine Spark in corporate meditation and
deliberately exploit the mysterious potencies of crowd-psychology--the
Zen adept probes in solitude (or at least without reference to his
neighbour) for the Buddha within him.
In cases where a Quaker meeting passes in silence, the members having
meditated quietly for a whole hour, a very near approach to a Zen
gathering has been made. But more often than not the Holy Spirit,
choosing his mouthpiece with an apparent lack of discrimination,
quickly descends upon some member of the meeting. The ineffable,
which Zen wisely refused to express, is then drowned in a torrent of
pedestrian oration.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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