last phase of Zen proselytization and as the creator of a new form of Zen
exposition. His writings are meta-reflections on the process of solving koan.
Hakuin writes about his personal experience, about the efforts and strains of
going through the koan training. He takes the reader into his confidence,
leading one by sympathy into the path of following a similar training. Hakuin
adopts the stance of the teacher encouraging a non-elite audience. Although
his medium is still the koan, the interaction of teacher and audience has shifted
drastically from the parrying of wits which made up the original materials for
the Chinese koan, and away from the witticisms by which the old commenta-
tors had set themselves as equals to the old masters whose doings they re-
counted.
Historically, numerous procedures have led to enlightenment experiences.
Dogen in 1225, soon after arriving in China, experienced enlightenment and
received the dharma seal after a few weeks of intense meditation; the precipi-
tating moment came when his master admonished a monk for falling asleep
during a midnight session: “In Zen, body and mind are cast off. Why do you
sleep?” (Dumoulin, 1990: 56). Dogen had his enlightenment experience very
quickly, while on his visit to China with the intention of receiving a lineage
transmission to take back to Japan. Many Japanese sojourners in China at this
time similarly progressed rapidly to enlightenment, in contrast to the many
years of training typical of enlightened masters during earlier, intensely com-
petitive generations in Chinese Ch’an, or again during later periods in Japanese
history. My point is not that the enlightenment experiences were not genuine,
but rather that the contrasts are evidence that they were socially constructed.
Muso Soseki (in 1305), walking under a moonless sky, was enlightened
when he tried to lean against a wall where there was none, fell down, and felt
the “wall of darkness” disintegrate; a few months later he received the seal of
enlightenment upon presenting his verses commemorating this event. Another
master, Shuho Myocho (in 1304), attained his enlightenment upon solving a
koan, which left him covered in sweat and feeling that a barrier had been
smashed through. Ikkyu attained his while working on a koan when he was
suddenly startled by the cawing of a crow. Still another was enlightened when
his dying master, asked for a last word, gave him a slap on the face. Another
was said to have experienced his first enlightenment at age 15 by falling down
stairs. These paths include verbal realizations, with and without koan para-
doxes, and in some cases a state of tension and preparation in intense medi-
tation, precipitated by a physical shock. Some monks put themselves through
grueling discipline, lengthy periods without sleep or food, sometimes sitting on
pointed rocks, making themselves sick in order to abrogate normal conscious-
ness.^17 It was also possible to reach enlightenment simply by the practice of
tranquil meditation.^18 The tranquil paths to enlightenment appear to have
Innovation through Conservatism: Japan • 345