ANINTRODUCTION TO ZENBUDDHISM
calirdyonhisthroneofabsoluteonenessandallness.Itisthe
"silence ofthunder" obtainedinthe midstofthe flashand
uproarofopposingelectriccurrents.Thissortofsilenceper\ades
allthingsOriental.Woeuntothosewhotakeitfordecadence
anddeath,fortheywillbeoverwhelmedbyanoverv^helming
outburstofactiN-it)'outoftheeternalsilence.ItisinthissensethatIspeakofthemysticismofOrientalculture. And Ican
afl&rmthatthecultivationofthiskindofmysdcismisprincipally
duetotheinfluenceofZen. IfBuddhismweretodevelopin
theFarEastsoastosatisfy'thespiritualcravingsofitspeople,ithadtogrowintoZen.The Indiansaremystical,buttheii
mysticism is too speculative, too contemplative, too compli-
cated,and,moreover,itdoesnotseemtohaveanyreal,vitalrelationwiththepracticalworldofparticularsinwhichweare
living.TheFar-Easternmysticism,onthecontrary,isdirect,
practical,andsurprisinglysimple.Thiscouldnotdevelopinto
anythingelsebutZen.
AlltheotherBuddhistsectsin ChinaaswellasinJapan
bespeak theirIndianorigin in anunmistakablemanner. For
theirmetaphysical complexity,theirlong-winded phraseology,
theirhighlyabstractreasoning,theirpenetratinginsightintothe
nature ofthings, and their comprehensive interpretation of
affairsrelatingtolife,aremostobs-iouslyIndianandnotatall
ChineseorJapanese. This vAUberecognized atoncebyallthosewho are acquainted with Far-Eastern Buddhism. For
instance, look at those extremely complex rites as practised
bythe Shingon sect, and ako at their elaboratesystems of
"Mandala",bymeansofwhichtheytrytoexplaintheuniverse.NoChineseorJapanesemindwouldhaveconceivedsuchan
intricatenet-workofphilosophy\\-ithoutbeingfirst influencedbyIndianthought.Thenobscr^'ehowhighlyspeculativeisthe
philosophyoftheMadhyamika, theTendai {T'un-taiin C),or Kegon {Avatamsaka or Gandavyuha in Sanskrit). Their
abstractionandlogicalacumenaretrulyamazing.Thesefacts
plainlyshowthat thosesectsofFar-EasternBuddhismareat
bottomforeignimp>ortations.ButwhenwecometoZen,afterasur-eyofthegeneralfield
ofBuddhism, wearecompelled toacknowledge thatitssim-
plicity, its directness, its pragmatic tendency, and its close