Zen: A Short Introduction with Illustrations by the Author

by Alan Watts, Shinge Roko Sherry Chayat (Foreword by)

Overview

According to Alan Watts, “Zen taste deplores the cluttering of a picture or of a room with many objects.” In that sense, this minimalist book embodies the aesthetic of Zen itself. As with brushstrokes in a Japanese ink painting, the words have been used sparingly and arranged precisely, with no unnecessary detail. In seven brief chapters, Watts captures the essence of Zen Buddhism as a religion and a way of life. He explains fundamental Zen concepts, introduces revered Zen thinkers, places Zen within the broader context of Eastern religion, and traces the influence of Zen in the arts. Illustrated with calligraphy and drawings by the author, this reprint of an old classic will delight fans of Alan Watts, while introducing new readers to a legendary author who infused groundbreaking scholarship with literary brilliance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608685882
Publisher:	New World Library
Publication date:	07/30/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	80
Sales rank:	513,475
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Through his books and lectures, Alan Watts (1915–1973) introduced millions of Westerners to Eastern philosophies such as Vedanta, Taoism, and Zen Buddhism. Born in England, Watts immigrated to the United States in his twenties, worked as a chaplain and teacher, and wrote more than twenty books, including the bestselling The Wisdom of Insecurity.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

THE BACKGROUND IN INDIAN RELIGION

Indian religion has ever been characterized by the quest for "that One thing, knowing which we shall know all." In the Upanishads this "One thing" is termed Brahman, the absolute Reality of the universe beyond all opposites. All ordinary things and experiences have opposites; life is opposed to death, pleasure to pain, joy to sorrow, light to darkness. These opposites are necessary to one another, so that life is always limited by death, and joy by sorrow. But Reality itself has no opposite; it is advaita, non-dual, and the soul of man is only delivered from death and sorrow by realizing its identity with Reality. For the Upanishads taught that Brahman is the true nature of ourselves and of all things. Not to realize this is ignorance (avidya) and unhappiness, but to know it is true knowledge (vidya) and a transcendental happiness which is eternal because, strange to say, it too has no opposite. Thus the religion of the Upanishads was more or less monistic, believing that all forms and objects were in fact manifestations of the One Absolute.

Primitive Indian Buddhism also sought this Reality, but its way of approach was purely psychological. The Buddha felt that philosophical speculation about Reality was a waste of time and even a positive hindrance. Reality or Nirvana lay beyond all definition, and nothing was of importance but an immediate and intimate experience of it, and this could only be had by getting rid of trishna. Reality is here and now, but it is concealed by attempts to grasp it in this form or that.

Later Indian Buddhism, which is to say Mahayana, linked both the psychological approach of primitive Buddhism and the metaphysical tradition of the Upanishads. But whereas the Upanishads described the non-dual Reality as the One, Mahayana felt this term misleading. One is opposed to Many and None, for which reason Reality must transcend even oneness. Mahayana went beyond monism, and certainly beyond any trace of that Spinozist pantheism so often, and, it may be said, erroneously, attributed to the Upanishads. To say that all things are one is to reduce everything to something which is still short of non-duality, since, as we have seen, one-ness has an opposite and so cannot be the Absolute. Furthermore, the very statement, "All things are Reality," contains an implied opposition between "all things" and "Reality." In making such a statement we are uniting two things which are in no need of union. They are already united, and to try to create the union in thought or in feeling is to imply to oneself that it does not already exist. Nirvana (the state of Reality) is Samsara (the state of ordinary life) and the very act of trying to realize that they are one implies that they are not. In any case, Reality is not one; it is non-dual, having no opposite at all.

Therefore Mahayana spoke of Reality as Tathata, or Thusness, and as Sunyata, or the Void, considered not as mere emptiness but as "solid emptiness." Sunyata resembles a crystal ball, which is visible to our eyes only because of what it reflects. Hold it up before a crowded street, and there within it is a crowded street. Hold it up before the empty sky, and there seems to be nothing in it, but only because it is reflecting the emptiness of the sky. Its true nature remains unknown. As the crystal ball reflects images, the manifold universe appears spontaneously within Sunyata. There is nothing in it, but everything comes out of it. Sunyata is the all-inclusive; having no opposite, there is nothing which it excludes or opposes. This was a philosophical theory expressing a spiritual and psychological state — the state of non-grasping or freedom from trishna. To thought and sense and feeling Reality is a void, for they cannot lay hold on it or keep it in any fixed form. But it is a living void, because all forms come out of it, and whoever realizes it is filled with life and power and the Bodhisattva's love (karuna)* for all beings.

From a somewhat more psychological standpoint, Sunyata is also regarded as the ground of human consciousness — the "essence of Mind," the supra-individual Self, in which all our varying states of consciousness, our thoughts, emotions, and sensations have their being, like images produced spontaneously in a mirror. This production of images is held to be playful rather than purposive, as if in the act of "creation" Reality were simply enjoying itself — an idea resembling the Hindu view of the universe as the lila, the playful dance, of God. Thus Mahayana considers Reality under three aspects which, somewhat in the manner of the Persons of the Christian Trinity, are in essence one: Dharmakaya, which is the pure and undifferentiated Sunyata; Sambhogakaya, which is the creative principle of enjoyment, the lila; and Nirmanakaya, which is the resultant manifested universe.

CHAPTER 2

THE BACKGROUND IN CHINESE RELIGION

While Zen derived its highly practical approach to religion from Confucianism, it was actually more deeply influenced by Taoism as taught by Lao-tzu (sixth century BCE) and Chuang-tzu (third century BCE). In Taoism Reality is termed Tao, another untranslatable word, which has, however, a rather more dynamic connotation than Brahman, Tathata, or Sunyata. Tao is life considered as a flowing power, like the wind, or a stream, or the present moment. It is sometimes rendered as "the Way of things," or as the Logos. A person who has realized union with Tao is said to be in a state of Te, or "grace," while the method of realization is called Wu-wei (no-assertion), which is highly similar to the Buddhist idea of giving up trishna. As in Buddhism, all evils are attributed to man's self-assertiveness, his itch to possess life in fixed forms. But if he can realize that he is one with Tao, the fullness of life, he will cease to want to possess things and will therefore be free from evil. If man ceases from self-assertion and lets go of life, the Tao will have a chance to operate freely within him. His life will be lived not by his own ego, but by Tao.

While Indian religion made its object the realization of man's identity with Brahman or Tathata, of the inherent unity of appearance and Reality, Samsara and Nirvana, Chinese religion made its object harmony with the Tao. To Indian religion, the result of this realization was that man was delivered from the realm of opposites, that is, from life and death as we know them. His consciousness passed from the state of manifestation into the state of absolute Reality. Chinese religion was not in quite so much of a hurry to separate consciousness from everyday life. Man was in harmony with Tao here and now, fully in possession of his ordinary everyday consciousness of people and things. In principle, Mahayana Buddhism was at one with Taoism in this respect, for in insisting that there was no real difference between Nirvana and Samsara it could not allow the idea of passing from one to the other. Mahayana was, however, somewhat infected with the characteristically Indian desire to escape from the world of form, but in China it lost this desire almost entirely. It became a world-transforming instead of a world-escaping religion.

Despite superficial differences, it will be seen that these two trends of Indian and Chinese religion have a common essence. Hindu-Buddhist religion discovered the essential Reality of life through detachment from its particular forms, assisted by the practice of meditation. Taoism discovered the essential harmony of everyday life with Tao by letting go of that life so that it could be free to be itself.

Both procedures are grounded in a common faith or trust, namely, that this everyday life is Reality, that all things are in harmony with Tao, and that therefore this will be clear to you if you simply let go of the possessive itch. To try to attain union with Reality by action or by inaction (which is simply an indirect form of action) is to imply that you do not already have that union. There is nothing to be attained. The union simply is; Samsara is Nirvana. The effort to attain something is just another form of that acquisitive desire which springs from lack of trust in the one supreme fact. In the words of Hsi-yun:

By their very seeking for it they produce the contrary effect of losing it, for that is using the Buddha to seek for the Buddha and using mind to grasp mind. Even though they do their utmost for a full kalpa [aeon], they will not be able to attain to it. ... If it is held that there is something to be attained apart from mind and, thereupon, mind is used to seek it, [that implies] failure to understand that mind and the object of its search are one.

CHAPTER 3

THE MOMENTOUS HARMONY

Historically, Zen is the embodiment of the common truth contained in the Hindu-Buddhist tradition and the Taoist tradition, the synthesis of the contemplative insight of Indian religion, the dynamic liveliness of Taoism, and the down-to-earthness of Confucianism. Zen is grounded precisely in this faith or trust that ordinary life is Tao, and is to be accepted or loved as such. The Zen master Chao-chu was asked, "What is the Tao?" He replied, "Everyday life is the Tao." "How," pursued the inquirer, "does one get into harmony with it?" "If you try to get into harmony with it, you will get away from it." The attempt suggests the absence of the Reality, and proceeds from lack of faith in the truth that harmony already is. Lack of faith in this harmony creates the sense of inadequacy and insecurity which underlies all our aggressive and evil actions.

But Zen is more than a synthesis of these various trends in Indian and Chinese religion. The unique contribution of Zen to higher religion is its method of presenting the truth, a method involving "No dependence on words and letters, and direct pointing to the soul of man" — that is, to the Tao, Buddha-nature, or Reality itself.

It is all too easy for ideas and concepts to conceal rather than reveal Reality. Thus the Zen masters say that ideas are fingers pointing at the moon of Reality, but that most people mistake the finger for the moon. Furthermore, we have already seen that it is quite impossible for ideas to describe or convey the deepest truth of life, since ideas are forms and Reality is too living to be held in any form. Zen, therefore, does not consist in acquiring new ideas about Reality and our relation to it; it consists in getting rid of ideas and feelings about life in order that we may get to life itself. The statement that ordinary life is Tao, or that we are one with Reality just as we are, here and now, is still an idea, and while it remains an idea it is still an attempt to capture the living truth in a fixed formula. Really to understand Zen we have to get away from this abstract and dead realm of concepts and come face-to-face with Reality as it stands quite clearly before us here and now.

There is only one place where we are truly alive, where we come into immediate contact with Reality, and that is now — this present moment. The past was only real when it was the present moment, and the future will only be real when it becomes it. The past continues to be real to the extent that it lives on effectually in the present. But real life is always now. In fact, we have no knowledge of any other reality than the present moment, and, strictly speaking, nothing has any existence save in this moment. Yet what we call the present moment is strangely elusive. As soon as we try to catch hold of it, it seems to run away. We cannot delay or hold it in any of the forms which it assumes or contains. We have moments of pleasure and moments of pain, but when we try to grab hold of the moment of pleasure, the moment, the movement, the life leaves the pleasure and it turns to dust in our hands. So, too, when we try to examine the moment, we cannot discover it, for it is too small to see. The more we look for it, the tinier it becomes, until we realize that it is infinitesimal and thus infinite.

Yet however much we may try to delay or grasp the moment, the fact remains that while, from one point of view, it eludes us, from another, we cannot get away from it. We may try to lag behind in the past or to hurry on into the future, but inevitably we do our lagging or hurrying in the present moment. As soon as we realize that the moment is in reality inescapable, we shall no longer try to grasp it; for whether we know it or not, it grasps us. For the now, this present moment, is Reality. All things proceed from it and exist in it, and yet when we look at it directly it seems nothing. Now is Tao, and Tao is now, and even though we do our damnedest to possess it, we are still unable to get out of it. Our union with Reality is the truth whether we realize it or not, whether we strive to attain it or not.

But to say that the now is Tao, or is Reality, at once introduces a concept which, useful though it may be for a time, instantly distracts our attention from the real now. At once our religion becomes dead and removed from life, for although this now, this eternal moment, looks so void and so uninteresting to sense and thought, in fact it is the mysterious source of all liveliness and power. The genius of Zen lies in its way of pointing to the real now without distracting the attention with concepts. But the human mind, because of its inherently possessive nature, lets go of concepts with extreme reluctance, for which reason Zen has sometimes to attack and smash them quite violently. Thus its technique has often the appearance of spiritual shock tactics.

CHAPTER 4

DIRECT POINTING

The Zen way of teaching is to demonstrate Reality rather than to talk about it, or, if words are used at all, to avoid formally religious terminology and conceptual statements. When Zen speaks it expresses Reality, not with logical explanations and doctrines but with everyday conversation, or with statements that upset the normal conceptual mode of thinking so violently that they appear as utter nonsense. Because Zen desires to get rid of concepts, to shatter the rigid frames in which we try to possess life, it employs a thoroughgoing iconoclasm. At the same time, Zen as a formal religious cult reads the scriptures, uses images and ceremonies, and sometimes breaks down far enough to include sermons and explanations. But it is just the preservation of this formal aspect of religion which makes the informal and iconoclastic such a puzzling and effective contrast, a truth which Western reformers and iconoclasts have never appreciated.

The greater part of Zen literature consists of mondo, of brief dialogues between masters and pupils, which illustrate its peculiar method of instruction, pointing to the real now without interposing ideas and notions about it. Here, for example, is the way in which Zen deals with the problem of non-duality, concerning which Indian Buddhism has composed so many volumes of intricate explanation.

A monk asked Dosan, "How do we escape the heat when summer comes and the cold when winter is here?"

The master said, "Why not go where there is no summer, no winter?"

"Where is such a place?"

"When the cold season comes, one is thoroughly chilled; when the hot summer is here, one swelters."

As to escaping from Samsara, the world of opposites and everyday consciousness, to Nirvana, the realm of absolute unity and peace, Zen has this to say:

Bokuju was once asked, "We have to dress and eat every day, and how can we escape from all that?"

The master replied, "We dress; we eat."

"I do not understand."

"If you do not understand, put on your dress and eat your food."

Or again:

"Pray show me the way to deliverance."

"Who has ever put you in bondage?"

"Nobody."

"If so, why should you ask for deliverance?"

Another master deals with this question rather more explicitly, but we must be careful that he does not fool us: Hui-hai was asked, "How can one attain the Great Nirvana?"

"Have no karma that works for transmigration."

"What is the karma for transmigration?"

"To seek after the Great Nirvana, to abandon the defiled and take to the undefiled, to assert that there is something attainable and something realizable, not to be free from the teaching of opposites — this is the karma that works for transmigration."

"How can one be emancipated?"

"No bondage from the very first, and what is the use of seeking emancipation? Act as you will, go on as you feel — without second thought. This is the incomparable way."

Hui-hai's final remark must not, however, give the impression that Zen is just living lazily and fatuously in the present and taking life as it comes. If this be used as a formula for grasping the reality of Zen, the whole point is missed. A master was asked, "What is the Tao?" "Walk on!" he shouted. Thus whenever you think you have the right idea of Zen, drop it and walk on.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Zen"
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Copyright © 2019 Joan Watts and Anne Watts.
Excerpted by permission of New World Library.
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Table of Contents

Preface by Shinge Roko Sherry Chayat,
Foreword,
Introduction,
The Background in Indian Religion,
The Background in Chinese Religion,
The Momentous Harmony,
Direct Pointing,
Zen Meditation,
The Cultural Effects of Zen,
Conclusion,
Bibliography,
The Drawings and Symbols,
About the Author,

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Perhaps the foremost Western interpreter of Eastern thought for the modern world.”
— The New York Times

“An essential book by a great religious thinker.”
— San Francisco Book Review