AN INTRODUCTIONTO ZEN BUDDHISM
Thequestion "Howcan one always be with Buddha?"
calledforththefollowinganswerfromamaster: "Havenostir-
ringsinyourmind;beperfecdyserenetowardtheobjectiveworld.Toremainthusallthetimeinabsoluteemptinessandcalmness
isthewaytobewiththeBuddha."
Sometimeswecomeacrossthefollowing:"Themiddleway
iswherethereisneithermiddlenortwosides.Whenyouare
fetteredbytheobjectiveworld,youhaveoneside;whenyouare
disturbedin yourownmind,youhavetheotherside.When
neitheroftheseexists, thereisnomiddlepart,andthisisthe
middleway."AJapaneseZenmasterwhoflourishedseveralhundredyears
agousedtosaytohisdisciples,whowouldimplorehimtoinstruct
theminthewaytoescapethefettersofbirth-and-death,"Hereis
nobirth-and-death."Bodhidharma (Daruma,J.;Tamo,C),theFirstPatriarch
oftheZensectinChina,wasaskedbyWu,thefirstEmperor
(reigneda.d.502-549)oftheLiangdynasty,astotheultimateandholiestprincipleofBuddhism.Thesageisreportedtohave
answered,"Vastemptinessandnothingholyinit."ThesearepassagestakenatrandomfromthevaststoreofZen
literature, and theyseem tobepermeatedwith theideasof
emptiness (sunyata), nothingness {nasti), quietude {santi), no-thought[acinta),andothersimilarnotions,allofwhichwemay
regardasnihilisticorasadvocatingnegativequietism.AquotationfromthePrajnaparamita-HridayaSutra}mayprove
tobemoreastoundingthananyoftheabovepassages.Infact,allthesutrasbelongingtothisPrajnaclassofMahayanalitera-
tureareimbuedthoroughlywiththeideaofSunyata,andthosewhoarenotfamiliarwiththiswayofthinkingwillbetakenaback
andmaynotknowhowtoexpresstheirjudgment.Thissutra,
consideredtobethemostconciseandmostcomprehensiveof
allthePrajnasutras,isdailyrecitedintheZenmonasteries;in
factitisthefirstthingthemonksreciteinthemorningaswell
asbeforeeachmeal.
*SeealsothequotationfromSekiso,sufna,oftenmisunderstoodasexpressly
advocatingthedoctrineofannihilation.FortheoriginalSanskrit,Hsuan-
chuang'sChinesetranslation, andamoreliteraryandaccurateEnglish
rendering,seemy^«»Essc^s,SeriesIII,pp.190-206,wheretheauthorgives
hisowninterpretationofthesignificationofthisimportantsutra.