Bankei Zen

by Peter Haskel

  52. The kappa is an imaginary creature who appears frequently in Japanese folklore. He has a face like a tiger, a beak, a body covered with scales and on his head a kind of concave saucer which, when filled with a small quantity of water, gives him tremendous power. He is often said to lurk near bodies of water and lure animals, children and unwary travelers to their deaths.

  53. A famous brigand of the twelfth century.

  54. It was customary for magistrates in Bankei’s period to recruit arrested criminals to serve as spies. Later, the practice was abandoned and regularly employed detectives were used.

  55. To commemorate the Buddha’s enlightenment, a week-long period of intensive meditation practice known as rōhatsu is observed in Zen temples beginning on the first day of the twelfth month and culminating at dawn of the eighth day, when the Buddha is said to have experienced awakening on seeing the morning star.

  56. For Tao-che (J: Dōsha), see above, fn. 25. As a young monk, Bankei had studied under Tao-che at his temple in Nagasaki (see Introduction, p. xxv).

  57. One of the six supernormal powers or functions of the buddha and bodhisattva. The other five are the powers of unlimited vision and unlimited hearing and understanding, the power to recall previous lives, the power to appear anywhere at will, and the power to cut off the stream of transmigration.

  58. One of the most famous Zen koans, the story appears in the thirteenth-century collection Wu-men kuan (J: Mumonkan), “The Gateless Gate.” It concerns an old monk who, asked if an enlightened man is subject to birth and death, answered that he was not, and was consequently reborn as a wild fox for five hundred lifetimes. The monk is finally released when the Zen Master Po-chang Huai-hai (J: Hyakujō Ekai, 720–814) gives him the answer that an enlightened man is not blind to birth and death. In the Far East, the fox is known for his skill at dissembling, and “wild fox Zen” is a common epithet for those who falsely pretend to have experienced enlightenment.

  59. Bankei’s caustic remark here recalls a passage in the Lin-chi lu (J: Rinzai roku. See Introduction, p. xxxv): “... What are you looking for in these lands of dependent transformations! All of these, up to and including the Three Vehicles’ twelve divisions of teachings, are just so much wastepaper to wipe off privy filth. . . .” (Translated in R. F. Sasaki, The Record of Lin-chi (Kyoto: The Institute for Zen Studies, 1975), p. 21.)

  60. The language Bankei uses here refers to the give-and-take of the Zen mondō (literally, “questions and answers”), also known as mondō shōryō, exchanges in which student and Zen master directly confront one another through words and actions, “testing and weighing” (shōryō) one another’s understanding.

  61. Because they were devised to deal with specific circumstances in the past and are no longer necessarily relevant.

  62. The Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, the embodiment of compassion toward the sufferings of sentient beings. Bankei’s Kannon remains the principal image, or honzon, of the Ryōmonji and is one of many Buddhist statues Bankei sculpted during his lifetime. A number of his wood-carving tools are still preserved.

  63. The Chinese-derived reading for the old province of Mutsu (present-day Aomori Prefecture).

  64. An old province now included in Shimane Prefecture.

  65. Dokusan, the private interview with a Zen master which is a regular feature of Zen study.

  66. A feature of Pure Land Buddhism is the belief that in the present degenerate age man can no longer attain enlightenment through his own efforts at religious practice, termed “self-power”; his only hope is in complete reliance on the “other-power” of Amitābha’s saving grace (see above, fn. 7).

  67. A preface inserted in the text here reads: “Verbatim notes recording the sermons of the Zen Master Butchi Kōsai as they were directly preached on the twenty-third day of the eighth month on the occasion of his crossing to the Hōshinji in Marugame, Sanuki, at the close of the eighth month of the third year of Genroku (1690).” Sanuki is the old province that now composes Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. The Hōshinji was founded by Yōshō-in (d. 1689), foster mother of Bankei’s patron Kyōgoku Takatoyo (1655–1694), the daimyo of Marugame. It was at Yōshō-in’s dying request that the sermons recorded here were delivered. Bankei’s visit to the Hōshinji, during which these sermons were given, preceded the Ryōmonji training period by about a month; but, whatever the reason, the text has placed the Hōshinji sermons last.

  68. The Jizōji, a temple Bankei founded in 1664 in Yamashina, a section of the Higashiyama district of Kyoto. Bankei enjoyed the Jizōji’s quiet atmosphere, staying there whenever he was in Kyoto and spending several periods there in retreat. The temple no longer exists.

  69. An area in the Higashiyama district where the Tōkaidō, the old highway linking Edo and Kyoto, entered the city.

  70. Otherwise unknown. A letter from Lord Kōide to Bankei is preserved at the Ryōmonji.

  71. Certain “holy” days set aside by the government during which punishments were suspended.

  72. Raiban, a platform placed before the temple’s main altar. At the beginning and close of his sermon, the teacher mounts the platform and performs a series of prostrations.

  73. Shaka is the Japanese pronunciation of Śākya, the shortened form of Śākyamuni, “sage of the Śákyas,” the title of the historical Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (approximate dates: mid-sixth to early fifth centuries B.C.). The Śākyas were the North Indian tribe into which the Buddha was born.

  74. An important town of Sanuki province (see above, fn. 67), located some twelve miles east of Marugame.

  75. A unit of cosmic time, developed in ancient India. The term kalpa suggests a virtually measureless infinity, the time, for example, in which a universe is born, decays and vanishes.

  76. The Buddha Body is the subject of numerous and frequently elaborate theories in Buddhism. Bankei’s meaning here, however, seems quite plain: namely, that both sexes intrinsically “embody” the enlightened mind.

  77. Ceramic bowls produced in Korea during the Yi dynasty (1392–1910) were prized in Japan as tea bowls for use in the tea ceremony. Their popularity is said to date from the Regent Hideyoshi’s (1536–1598) invasion of Korea, when examples of Korean ceramics first attracted the attention of many Japanese connoisseurs. As a result, Hideyoshi’s Korean campaign (1592–1598) is sometimes referred to as the “Pottery War.” The bowls Bankei refers to were treasured antiques dating from the sixteenth century.

  78. The Kōrinji, one of Bankei’s leading temples, erected for him in 1678 in Tokyo’s Azabu district by Lord Kyōgoku’s foster mother, the nun Yōshō-in (see above, fn. 67). The Ryōmonji, Kōrinji and Nyohōji (see below, fn. 80) constituted Bankei’s three major temples. Because of its connection with Lord Kyōgoku’s family and its location in the capital, the Kōrinji was important in widening Bankei’s contacts among the daimyo, or feudal lords, and their samurai retainers, many of whom became his disciples. The Tokugawa government obliged the daimyo to maintain residences in the capital, where they were expected to live, generally in alternate years, and where their families remained as de facto hostages to the Shogunate on their return to their domains.

  79. A familiar practice in the Tokugawa period known as tsujigiri, literally, “street-corner killing.” A samurai anxious to test a new blade he had acquired would lurk in some deserted spot, waiting to attack whatever unfortunate pedestrian happened along. By law, a samurai was permitted to cut down any commoner who behaved disrespectfully toward him, so that, as in the present story, the killer might easily concoct some pretext for his attack, such as the claim that his intended victim had touched his sword or garments, technically considered capital offenses that could be punished on the spot.

  80. The Nyohōji, in the town of Ōzu (or Ōsu) in Iyo, an old Shikoku province now included in Ehime Prefecture. The temple was founded in 1669 by Bankei’s patron Katō Yasuoki (1618–1677), daimyo of Ōzu, then a fief within Iyo province. As seen here, fiefs are generally named for the castl
e towns such as Ōzu in which the daimyo had their principal residences.

  81. A ri (CH: li) is approximately two miles; hence, “two or three ri” here indicates a radius of some four to six miles.

  82. Presumably referring to items from the wife’s dowry.

  83. That is, the husband and the mother-in-law.

  84. Magoemon is the merchant’s given name.

  85. Namu myōhō rengeky ō! (“Praise to the Sutra of the Lotus of the Wonderful Law!”), an invocation to the Lotus Sutra, recited in the Nichiren school (see above, fn. 7).

  86. The four classes that composed Tokugawa society, given in order of importance according to the Confucian-inspired social theory of the period. Note that Buddhist monks and nuns are not included in the categories.

  87. The state of perfect oneness and concentration experienced in meditation.

  88. A flaming cart that is said to carry sinners to hell and to serve as an instrument of their torment.

  89. Judging by Bankei’s remarks, the townsman appears to have stayed on after the first lecture to present his question.

  90. In Buddhism, clinging, anger and foolishness are often referred to collectively as the Three Poisons, the source of the evils that poison men’s minds.

  PART II

  1. A well-known center for ceramics production in Saga Prefecture on the island of Kyushu. Imari was the ordinary household ware of Bankei’s period.

  2. See above, Part I, fn. 90.

  3. Kiku, the set of regulations governing every aspect of the monk’s life in the Zen monastery, from his conduct in the meditation hall to the way he removes his sandals. In Rinzai temples today, the kiku are generally posted on a board over the back entrance of the monks’ hall.

  4. In Buddhist temples in China and Japan, the length of meditation is traditionally computed according to the number of sticks of incense burned. A single stick of incense burns for approximately thirty minutes. Hence, Bankei’s students had decided to meditate for some six hours a day.

  5. In Zen temples, the practice of sitting meditation, or zazen, is punctuated by periods of walking meditation known as kinhin.

  6. An old Zen expression describing the state in which the student’s mind is totally obsessed with a particular problem, so that his whole being becomes the problem itself. The “ball of doubt” is often considered the prelude to the experience of satori, or enlightenment.

  7. See above, Part I, fn. 60.

  8. “Chinese words” apparently refers to the Japanese reading of Chinese Zen expressions traditionally used by Japanese monks in the course of mondō.

  9. The eye of wisdom, with which the bodhisattva is able to perceive the true state of all things and to save sentient beings.

  10. From the standpoint of enlightened mind, the realm of birth and death, of deluded sentient existence, is itself seen to be the unborn and imperishable realm of nirvana.

  11. The subject of a popular koan, based on a story told about Huineng (638–713), the Sixth Chinese Patriarch of Zen. According to the story, Hui-neng secretly left his teacher’s temple after receiving from him the robe and bowl, symbols of the Patriarchal transmission. He was pursued and confronted by a jealous fellow monk, Hui-ming, who was then enlightened when the Sixth Patriarch asked him: “Without thinking of good or evil, right at this moment, what is your original face before your mother and father were born?”

  12. Upon entering Buddhism, one vows to take refuge in—to uphold and revere—what are known as the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma, or the Buddha’s teaching, and the Sangha, the brotherhood of adherents.

  13. That is, limited to the functioning of the “six senses,” considered in Buddhism to be sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch and consciousness.

  14. A temple established in 1685 by Bankei’s patron Matsuura Shigenobu (1622–1703), daimyo of Hirado, a domain in Hizen province, now included in Nagasaki Prefecture. At Lord Matsuura’s request, Bankei became the temple’s founder. The present Fumonji is on a different site.

  15. That is, some six to eight miles.

  16. See above, Part I, fn. 80.

  17. A popular koan, often assigned to beginning students. According to the story on which it is based, the Zen Master Chao-chou Ts’ung-shen (J: Jōshū Jūshin, 778–897) was asked by a monk: “Does a dog have buddha-nature?” Chao-chou said: “Mu!” (CH: wu!) Literally, mu means “no,” but the koan student is generally urged to concentrate his entire being into the sound itself.

  18. Bankei implies that his speaking about the one word “unborn” is as constant for him as the sparrow’s chirp and the crow’s caw. Elsewhere, he refers more explicitly to the “one word ‘unborn.’”

  19. By the “world of externals,” Bankei refers to all objective existence, including both inner and outer states of being; when perceived dualistically, these are all “outside” the Buddha Mind.

  20. That is, when the mind, like water, returns to its original, formless state, it becomes fluid, transparent, with nothing to obstruct its free flow. Bankei thus compares the mind, “frozen” into particular forms, to the water frozen in a tub or container which, when melted, allows the hand to reach in freely and scoop it up.

  21. This is similar to a passage in the “Discourses” section of the Lin-chi lu:“. . . What do we lack for our manifold activities today? . . .” See Sasaki, The Record of Rinzai, op. cit., p. 8.

  22. Sendai was the chief town of Rikuzen Province in northern Japan and is now included in Miyagi Prefecture. In Bankei’s day it was part of the old province of Mutsu, of which ōshü is the Chinese-derived reading.

  23. A phrase from “The Return,” a well-known poem by the Chinese poet T’ao Ch’ien (371–427).

  24-27. The Japanese pronunciation of Bodhidharma, the semi-legendary Indian monk of the sixth century who is said to have brought Zen to China and is traditionally revered as the First Patriarch of Chinese Zen. He is said to have spent nine years in meditation facing a wall at the Shao-lin temple on Mt. Sung in modem Honan. Te-shan Hsüan-chien (J: Tokusan Senkan, 780/2–865) was a specialist in the Diamond Sutra, a short Mahayana scripture highly regarded in Zen, but after being enlightened, he burnt all the commentaries he had assembled. Chu-ti (J: Gutei, n.d.) is said to have been enlightened on seeing his master Tien-lung (J: Tenryū, d. 788) raise a finger, a practice that Chu-ti regularly repeated with his own students. Lin-chi I-hsüan (J: Rinzai Gigen, d. 866) is revered as the founder of the Lin-chi or Rinzai school of Zen. Katsul (CH: ho!) is the sound of a shout used by Zen monks. It is particularly associated with Lin-chi, who is frequently described employing it in the Lin-chi lu.

  28. See Introduction, p. xxxv.

  29. An old province now included primarily in the Kyoto municipal district, with some areas included in Hyōgo Prefecture.

  HŌGO (Instruction)

  1. That is, the Buddha Mind.

  2. See Sermons (II), fn. 22.

  3. Earth, water, fire and wind, which, according to Buddhist theory, are the four physical constituents of the body and of the universe itself. They represent, respectively, solid and liquid matter, heat and movement.

  4. In present-day Ehime Prefecture.

  5. Also located in Ehime Prefecture. Nothing more is known of Kantarō.

  6. Nothing is known of him.

  7. Bankei’s disciple Tōgaku Jōsen (d. 1726).

  8. Tairyō Sokyō (1638–1688), reputed to have been Bankei’s foremost disciple.

  9. The remainder of this episode suggests that Jōsen was repeating one of Bankei’s familiar statements about the Unborn.

  10. Shinran Shōnin (see Sermons (I), fn. 7). Echigo, an old province now included in Niigata Prefecture, was the site of Shinran’s five-year exile by the Kamakura Shogunate.

  11. “Who is the one who sees and hears?” is a koan that first became popular in Japan during the medieval period.

  12. Japanese folk wisdom holds that there are four things to be feared above all others: earthquake, thunder, fire and one’s fa
ther, in order of fearsomeness.

  13. Sanzen sekai. Literally, the three “thousand-fold” worlds (SKT: tri-sāhasra-loka-dhātu). According to ancient Indian cosmology, the universe consists of three types of interlocking worlds, the lesser, middle and greater, each a thousand times larger than the one preceding it. A thousand of our own universes comprise a single lesser world. In Buddhism, the expression signifies the entire universe and the limitless worlds it contains.

  14. The leading temple of the Shingon sect, founded by Kūkai in 816 in what is today Wakayama Prefecture.

  15. The headquarters of the Tendai sect, established in 788 by Saichō. Mt. Hiei is northeast of Kyoto, on the boundary between the Kyoto municipal district and Shiga Prefecture.

  16. Bankei is referring to the Tōkeiji, a Rinzai temple in Kamakura (Kanagawa Prefecture), founded as a nunnery in 1286 by the widow of the Regent Hōjō Tokimune (1251–1284). Women who wished to escape unhappy marriages could obtain a divorce by taking sanctuary here, even if their husbands followed in hot pursuit. The Tōkeiji is now a temple for monks.

  17. Eimyō Zenkō (1653–1716). Originally a Sōtō monk from ōmi, he became a student of Bankei and eventually the heir of Bankei’s disciple Sekimon. Zenkō was the fourth-generation abbot of the Ryōmonji.

  18. An old province now included in Shiga Prefecture.

  19. Literally, the eighth, or ōlaya consciousness. The Yogācāra, or Consciousness Only School of Buddhism, posits eight types of consciousness, of which the eighth is the ālaya or storehouse consciousness containing the “seeds” of all thoughts and perceptions. The ālaya consciousness is said to be “perfumed” by impressions from outside, and only when these are exhausted does ultimate reality—the pure, unconditioned mind of Such-ness—appear.