While working on a sermon the pastor heard a knock at his office door. "Come in," he invited. A sad-looking man in threadbare clothes came in, pulling a large pig on a rope. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" asked the ma... Read more of On Marriage: One-Liners at Free Jokes.ca

Privacy

Samurai

True Dhyana
To sit in Meditation is not the only method of practising Zaz...

The Creative Force Of Nature And Humanity
The innate tendency of self-preservation, which manifests its...

Zazen And The Forgetting Of Self
Zazen is a most effectual means of destroying selfishness, th...

How To Worship Buddha
The author of Vimalakirtti-nirdeca-sutra well explains our at...

The Five Ranks Of Merit
Thus far we have stated how to train our body and mind accord...

Zen In The Dark Age
The latter half of the Ashikaga period was the age of arms an...

Idealistic Scepticism Concerning Objective Reality
But extreme Idealism identifies 'to be' with 'to be known,' a...

The Progress And Hope Of Life
How many myriads of years have passed since the germs of life...

Poetical Intuition And Zen
Since Universal Life or Spirit permeates the universe, the po...

No Need Of The Scriptural Authority For Zen
Some Occidental scholars erroneously identify Buddhism with t...

Retribution In The Past The Present And The Future Life
Then a question suggests itself: If there be no soul that su...

The Buddha Of Mercy
Milton says: Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt; Surp...

The Second And The Third Patriarchs
After the death of the First Patriarch, in A.D. 528, Hwui Ko ...

Everything Is Living According To Zen
Everything alive has a strong innate tendency to preserve its...

The Development Of The Southern And Of The Northern School Of Zen
After the death of the Fifth Patriarch the venerable Shang Si...

Enlightened Consciousness Is Not An Intellectual Insight
Enlightened Consciousness is not a bare intellectual insight,...

Personalism Of B P Bowne
B. P. Bowne[FN#204] says: They (phenomena) are not phantoms o...

The Application Of The Law Of Causation To Morals
Although it may be needless to state here the law of causatio...

Enlightenment Implies An Insight Into The Nature Of Self
We cannot pass over, however, this weighty problem without sa...

The Parable Of The Robber Kih
Chwang Tsz (So-shi) remarks in a humorous way to the followi...

Zen In The Dark Age

The latter half of the Ashikaga period was the age of arms and
bloodshed. Every day the sun shone on the glittering armour of
marching soldiers. Every wind sighed over the lifeless remains of
the brave. Everywhere the din of battle resounded. Out of these
fighting feudal lords stood two champions. Each of them
distinguished himself as a veteran soldier and tactician. Each of
them was known as an experienced practiser of Zen. One was
Haru-nobu[FN#95] (Take-da, died in 1573), better known by his
Buddhist name, Shin-gen. The other was Teru-tora[FN#96] (Uye-sugi,
died in 1578), better known by his Buddhist name, Ken-shin. The
character of Shin-gen can be imagined from the fact that he never
built any castle or citadel or fortress to guard himself against his
enemy, but relied on his faithful vassals and people; while that of
Ken-shin, from the fact that he provided his enemy, Shin-gen, with
salt when the latter suffered from want of it, owing to the cowardly
stratagem of a rival lord. The heroic battles waged by these two
great generals against each other are the flowers of the Japanese
war-history. Tradition has it that when Shin-gen's army was put to
rout by the furious attacks of Ken-shin's troops, and a single
warrior mounted on a huge charger rode swiftly as a sweeping wind
into Shin-gen's head-quarters, down came a blow of the heavy sword
aimed at Shin-gen's forehead, with a question expressed in the
technical terms of Zen: What shalt thou do in such a state at such a
moment? Having no time to draw his sword, Shin-gen parried it with
his war-fan, answering simultaneously in Zen words: A flake of snow
on the red-hot furnace! Had not his attendants come to the rescue
Shin-gen's life might have gone as 'a flake of snow on the red-hot
furnace.' Afterwards the horseman was known to have been Ken-shin
himself. This tradition shows us how Zen was practically lived by
the Samurais of the Dark Age.

[FN#95] Shin-gen practised Zen under the instruction of Kwai-sen,
who was burned to death by Nobu-naga (O-da) in 1582. See
Hon-cho-ko-so-den.

[FN#96] Ken-shin learned Zen under Shu-ken, a So Ta master. See
To-jo-ren-to-roku.

Although the priests of other Buddhist sects had their share in these
bloody affairs, as was natural at such a time, yet Zen monks stood
aloof and simply cultivated their literature. Consequently, when all
the people grew entirely ignorant at the end of the Dark Age, the Zen
monks were the only men of letters. None can deny this merit of
their having preserved learning and prepared for its revival in the
following period.[FN#97]

[FN#97] After the introduction of Zen into Japan many important
books were written, and the following are chief doctrinal works:
Ko-zen-go-koku-ron, by Ei-sai; Sho bo-gen-zo; Gaku-do-yo-zin-shu;
Fu-kwan-za-zen-gi; Ei-hei-ko-roku, by Do-gen; Za-zen-yo-zin-ki; and
Den-ko-roku, by Kei-zan.

Next: Zen Under The Toku-gana Shogunate
Previous: Zen After The Downfall Of The Ho-jo Regency

Report
Privacy

SHARE

BOOKMARK

Viewed 522