AN INTRODUCTIONTO ZEN BUDDHISM
feeling"meansthatZenisnomorethere.Zendefiesallconcept-
making.ThatiswhyZenisdifficulttograsp.
WhatevermeditationZenmaypropose,then,willbetotake
thingsastheyare,toconsidersnowwhiteandtheravenblack.
Whenwespeak ofmeditationwe in mostcases refer toits
abstractcharacter;thatis,meditationisknowntobethecon-
centrationofthemindonsomehighlygeneralizedproposition,
whichis,inthenatureofthings,notalwayscloselyanddirectly
connectedwiththeconcreteaffairsoflife.Zenperceivesorfeels,
anddoesnotabstractnormeditate.ZenpenetratesandisfinaUy
lostintheimmersion. Meditation, ontheotherhand,isout-
spokenlydualisdcandconsequendyinevitablysuperficial.
Onecritic^regardsZenas"theBuddhistcounterpartofthe
'SpiritualExercises'ofSt.IgnatiusLoyala". Thecriticshows
agreatinclinationtofindChristiananalogiesforthingsBudd-
histic,andthisisoneofsuchinstances.Thosewhohaveatalla
dearunderstandingofZenwillatonceseehowwideofthemark
thiscomparison is.Even superficiallyspeaking,there isnota
shadowofsimilitudebetweentheexercisesofZenand those
proposedbythefounderoftheSocietyofJesus.Thecontem-
plationsandprayersofSt. Ignatiusare,fromtheZenpointof
view,merelysomanyfabricationsoftheimaginationelaborately
wovenforthebenefitofthepiouslyminded;andinrealitythis
islikepilingtilesupontilesonone'shead,andthereisnotrue
gainin thelife ofthespirit.Wecan say this,however, that
those"SpiritualExercises"insomewaysresemblecertainmedi-
tationsofHinayanaBuddhism,suchastheFiveMind-quieting
Methods,ortheNineThoughtsonImpurity,ortheSixorTen
SubjectsofMemory.
Zenissometimesmadetomean"mind-murderandthecurse
ofidlereverie".ThisisthestatementofGriffis,thewell-known
authorofReligionsofJapan.^By"mind-murder"Idonotknow
whathe reallymeans, butdoes hemean that Zenkills the
activitiesofthemindbymakingone'sthoughtfixononething,
orbyinducingsleep?Mr.Reischauerinhisbook^almostendorses
thisviewofGriffisbyassertingthatZenis"mysticalself-intoxi-
cation".DoeshemeanthatZenisintoxicatedinthe"Greater
*ArthurLloyd:WheatAmongtheTares,p.
*StudiesofBuddhismwiJe^nm,p. 1 18.53- *P-255-
\tudiesofBuddhisminJapan,p. 1 18.
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