User:Joshua Jonathan/Zen Narratives

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Modern scientific research on the history of Zen discerns three main narratives concerning Zen, it's history and it's teachings: Traditional Zen Narrative (TZN), Buddhist Modernism (BM), Historical and Cultural Criticism (HCC).

Traditional Zen Narrative (TZN)
The Traditional Zen Narrative developed in phases in China during the 7th to 11th century. It's main phases were:
 * 1) The development of the traditional Chan-lineage, culminating in the "Transmission of the Lamp"-genre,
 * 2) The encounter-dialogue culminating in the koan-collections,
 * 3) The "climax-paradigm" of the Song-period, in which Chan became the dominant buddhist school in China.

The Traditional Zen Narrative bases it's self-understanding especially on the encounter-stories of the well-known teachers of the later Tang-period, such as Mazu Daoyi and Linji. This period is seen as the "golden age" of Chan, a "romantic coloring" discarded by McRae: "'...what is being referred to is not some collection of activities and events that actually happened in the eight through tenth centuries, but instead the retrospective re-creation of those activities and events, the imagined identities of the magical figures of the Tang, within the minds of Song-dynasty Chan devotees' [...]'This retrospective quality pervades the Chan tradition. Time and again we find we are dealing, not with what happened at any given point, but with what people thought happened previously' "

Encounter-dialogue
The teaching styles and words of the classical masters were recorded in the so-called "encounter dialogues".

Climax-paradigm of the Song
"In the Song dynasty (960-1279), Chinese Chan Buddhism reached something of a climax paradigm. By "climax paradigm", I mean a conceptual configuration by which Chan was described in written texts, practiced by its adherents, and, by extension, understood as a religious entity by the Chinese population as a whole [...] Previous events in Chan were interpreted through the lens of the Song-dynasty configuration, and subsequent developments in China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam were evaluated, even as they occurred, against what was known of the standards established during the Song. Thus the romanticized image of the great Tang-dynasty masters - Mazu and his students, Caoshan, Dongshan, and their students, and of Course Linji - was generated by Song-dynasty authors and functioned within Song-dynasty texts. Similarly, even where subsequent figures throughout East Asia - Hakuin Ekaku (1685-1769), the famous reviver of Japanese Rinzai, is the best example - evoke the examples of Bodhidharma, the Sixth Patriarch Huineng, Mazu, and the others, they do so through the conceptual filter of Song-dynasty Chan."

Buddhist Modernism (BM)
In the 20th century the Traditional Zen Narrative was transformed into a modern narrative, due to the power of the western colonial forces and the modernisation of Japan, and the popularization in the western world. This narrative embraces the romantic idea of enlightenment as insight into a timeless, transcendent reality.

Romanticism and transcendentalism
As a consequence of the adaptation of Zen to the modern world a romantic idea of enlightenment as insight into a timeless, transcendent reality has been popularized, especially by D.T. Suzuki, who, though known as a Zen Buddhist, was also influenced by Theosophy. Further popularization was due to the writings of Heinrich Dumoulin. Dumoulin viewed metaphysics as the expression of a transcendent truth, which according to him was expressed by Mahayana Buddhism, but not by the pragmatic analysis of the oldest Buddhism, which emphasizes anatta. This romantic vision fits into Western romantic notions of self-realization and the true self, being regarded as a substantial essence being covered over by social conditioning: "Westerners do have a preconception of what ought to happen in mystical insight and in the attainment of enlightenment. True mystical insight, they will object, is not something that can be imposed from outside by a social system; instead it is a welling up of psychic energy from within, a breakthrough in which the true self erupts through the shell imposed by intellect, self-images,a nd socialization."

Historical and Cultural Criticism (HCC)
Contemporary research on buddhism has shed new light on the history of Chan and Zen.

Since the 1960's the scientific research on Zen has created another narrative of Zen. The "grand saga" of Zen appears not to be an accurate historical documentation, but a skillfullt created narrative, meant to lend authority to the Zen-school. The consequences of this critical narrative seem hardly to be recognized in the western world.

Awakening as 'Aufklarung'
The use of the western word enlightenment is based on the supposed resemblance of bodhi with Aufklärung, then independent use of reason to gain insight into the true nature of our world. As a matter of fact there are more resemblances with Romanticism than with the Enlightenment: the emphasis on feeling, on intuitive insight, on a rue essence beyond the world of appearences.

Hagiography
The biography of Bodhidharma and the story of Hui-neng are mostly hagiography

Sudden and gradual enlightenment
In Zen-buddhism two main views on the way to enlightenment are discernable: sudden and gradual enlightenment. Early ch'an recognized the "transcendence of the body and mind", followed by "non-defilement [of] knowledge and perception" In the 8th-century the Ch'an-history was effectively re-fashioned by Shenhui, who placed Hui-neng into prominence and emphasized sudden enlightenment, as oppoesd to the concurrent northern School's gradual enlightenment. According to the sudden enlightenment propagated by Shenhui insight into true nature is sudden; there-after there can be no misunderstanding anymore about this true nature. This emphasis is also maintained by the contemporary Rinzai-school.

The story of Hui-Neng, waarin plotseling inzicht wordt beschreven als superieur aan geleidelijke oefening, werd gebruikt in een strijd om macht en aanzien bij het Chinese hof.

Japanese Zen
During the Meiji period (1868-1912) Japan abandoned it's feudal system and opened up to western modernism. Shinto became the state-religion, and buddhism was coerced to adapt to the new regime. Within the buddhist establishment the Western world was seen as a threat, but also as a challenge to stand up to. Parties within the Zen-establishment sought to modernize Zen in accord with western insights, while simultaneously maintaining a Japanese identity. This lead to a Zen-narrative which saw the experience of a timeless essence as the essence of religion, most perfectly represented by Japanese Zen and the Japanese culture. but it also lead to the endorsement of the Nihonjinron-philosophy, the idea of the Japanese uniqueness in the world.

Essence and experience
Robert Sharf describes the development of an essentialist approach in modern Japanese Zen. This development had several stages. It starts with positing an essence: "'The first stage involves positing a distinction between the “essence” of a religious tradition and its “cultural manifestations.” According to this view, while the cultural manifestations of a religion are invariably shaped by social, institutional, and economic contingencies, the essence is an ahistorical truth logically prior to, and thus unsullied by, the cultural forms through which it is made known.' "

In the oldest buddhism this essentialisme is not recognizable. According to critics it doesn't really contribute to a real insight into buddhism :"'...most of them labour under the old cliché that the goal of Buddhist psychological analysis is to reveal the hidden mysteries in the human mind and thereby facilitate the development of a transcendental state of consciousness beyond the reach of linguistic expression."

Essence and Romanticism
This romantic idea of enlightenment as insight into a timeless, transcendent reality has been popularized especially by D.T. Suzuki, who, though known as a Zen Buddhist, was also influenced by Theosophist. Further popularization was due to the writings of Heinrich Dumoulin. Dumoulin viewed metafysics as the expression of a transcendent truth, which according to hin was expressed by Mahayana buddhism, but not by the pragmatic analysis of the oldest buddhism, which emphasizes anatta. This romantic vision fits into western romantic notions of self-realization and the true self, being regarded as a substantial essence being covered over by social conditioning. This romantic vision is also recognizable in the works of Ken Wilber.

The romantic notion of enlightenment as a timeless insight into a transcendental essence has been thoroughly critisized. According to critics it doesn't contribute to a real insight into buddhism: "'...most of them labour under the old cliché that the goal of Buddhist psychological analysis is to reveal the hidden mysteries in the human mind and thereby facilitate the development of a transcendental state of consciousness beyond the reach of linguistic expression."

Zen at war
The Japanse Zen-organisations supported the Japanese imperial strivings and it's endeavours during the Pacific War. According to Sharf, "'They became willing accomplices in the promulgation of kokutai (national polity) ideology-the attempt to render Japan a culturally homogeneous and spiritually evolved nation politically unified under the divine rule of the emperor.' "

This resulted in support for the war-activities of the Japanese imperial system by well-known teachers.

This support has been made widely known in the western world by Brian Victoria in his groundbreaking study Zen at war, though in Japan this was already more common known D.T. Suzuki too supported these endeavours. . This Japanese nationalism, and the Japanese uniqueness was also a reaction to the western imperialism, which in the 19th century conquered the world by means of militaristic force.

Teacher-scandals
The implementation of Zen in the is accompanied by problems, which seem to be connected to this "grand saga". The teacher-scandals which have occurred in western Zen have been explained as being caused by a misinterpretation of the meaning of dharma-transmission and the postion of a roshi.

In western Zen dharma-transmission is highly estimated. In the Japanese monastery-system dharma-transmission is a formal notification that someone is fully qualified to take a leading role in this system In the USA and Europe dharma-transmission is linked to the unofficial title roshi, older teacher. In the western world roshi's have been given an archetypal status as wise old man, someone who has realized an infallible insight into the true self, and a pefect personality. In daily life this appears to be an idealized view, give the repeated cases of power-abusal and financial and sexual misbehaviour.