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The writings of some contemporary Japanese Zen masters tend to suggest that these masters do not understand the doctrine of karma in quite the same way that it was traditionally understood in India; i.e. they do not seem to understand karma as the doctrine that deeds and choices of previous lifetimes (as well as one's past in this lifetime) contribute to the circumstances of present birth, present health, physical defects or advantages, and other things which we might interpret as being due to "good luck" or "bad luck." For example, some Japanese masters have given the doctrine of karma what I will call a "non-traditional" interpretation, often within a strictly psychological framework, e.g. "previous lifetimes" is a metaphor for previous thoughts within this lifetime. Considering this, I wondered whether this is a Japanese modification of Chinese Ch'an, or whether some of the early Chinese Ch'an masters might have understood the workings of karma in some non-traditional manner as well. This paper is the result of my preliminary investigation into this question.
The doctrine of karma seems to have been unknown in China prior to the entrance of Buddhism into China, sometime during the first century A.D. By the time of the initial beginnings of the Ch'an school, [1] Buddhism had been in China for over four hundred years, and by the time the Ch'an school had really established itself as a separate tradition, Buddhism had had perhaps seven hundred years of development in China. This makes it clear that the question of how the Ch'an master understood the workings of karma is a part of the broader question of how the Chinese understood karma. I will deal with the first question alone, recognizing, however, that an answer to the first question will not constitute a complete answer to the second.
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How does one go about determining the early Ch'an understanding of the philosophical doctrine of karma? The method which I have employed is as follows: first, an analysis of the various dimensions and implications of the karma doctrine in Indian Buddhism; secondly, an investigation to determine which of these dimensions seems to have been accepted or rejected by the Ch'an masters of the earliest period.
Understanding the nature of causal interconnections is central to Buddhist philosophy. This is clear when one considers the Buddhist theory of causality, pratiityasamutpaada, [2] often translated as "dependent co-arising." This Buddhist theory analyzes each complex event as dependent upon a large group of causes and conditions, and asserts that the same basic causal relationship holds in the psychological realm as in the physical realm. The doctrine of karma is really a special application of this more general doctrine of causality, for karma refers to certain kinds of volitional choices, and holds that these choices act as causes, generating effects which in turn rebound back upon the agent, and these effects may be in either the physical realm, the psychological realm, or in both.
The Indian Buddhists provided many different schemata for classifying the varying dimensions or aspects of karma, [3] however, for purposes of this paper it is convenient to point out implications and dimensions of karma in ways which are unlike the traditional classifications. It is often claimed that the doctrine of karma does the following:
1. The doctrine of karma gives a satisfactory solution to the problem of injustice in the world, and can explain why some people are more gifted than others, why some are born into poor circumstances and others not, why some people seem lucky and others unlucky, etc.
2. The doctrine of karma provides an easy answer to the question, "Why be moral? " for it points out that it is in one's own best interests to do so because it avoids evil consequences (a form of egoistic hedonism).
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At the same time, the Buddhists argue that leading a moral life is an essential precondition for beginning the path to Enlightenment, and that when one has made sufficient progress along this path, the egocentric motives become less and less important.
3. The doctrine of karma is of practical value because it helps people to bear the difficulties of life, knowing first of all that they themselves were the causal agent and thus are responsible for their own sufferings, and they also can be encouraged for they know that even their initial good efforts will be rewarded, and that this reward is somehow "built into the nature of things." [4]
As mentioned before, karma draws our attention to only one aspect of the total causally interconnected universe, for the law of karma describes that aspect which pertains specifically to self-centered volitional actions; [5] sometimes it is said that moral actions produce moral effects. To be more specific, karma is usually understood to imply three additional dimensions:
(1) the claim that the effect will be appropriately similar, in some way, to the causal situation out of which it arose; [6]
(2) the claim that the effects are reflexive, i.e., they will return to the agent like a boomerang.
(3) the claim that these moral effects might be realized in several different ways: (a) immediately following the action; (b) in the near future during this lifetime; (c) in the next life cycle; (d) in some future life cycle following the immediate next one.
These three dimensions of karma account for the ways in which karmic choices are supposed to produce their effects. Analysis yields six different ways in which this happens, three in the psychological (mental) sphere and three in the physical sphere.
(The Psychological Sphere)
1. One's previous self-centered volitional choices influence one by creating psychological states which modify subsequent choices, as guilt, and psychological pain (or joy).
2. One's previous self-centered volitional choices influence one
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by creating (latent) psychological tendencies, or habits (vaasanaa), which tend to perpetuate the same kinds of moral situations. "As one acts, so one becomes." [7]
3. One's previous self-centered volitional choices (in present and previous lives) can also create something stronger than mere habits and dispositions to act in certain ways -- mental states can be generated which actually interfere with our choices on the level of what we Westerners might label neurotic or compulsive behavior.
(The Physical Sphere)
4. One's self-centered volitional actions create or organize physical circumstances (in some unexplained manner) which are appropriately similar to the original action (we call it "reward" or "punishment"). One who causes physical pain in another, as a result of self-centered volitional activity, will experience physical pain which is somehow like the original circumstances which caused the pain. [8] Another explicit conclusion to be drawn is that the pattern of karmic consequences can determine the length of one's life. This is clearly present in the early teachings of Buddhism, for in the Majjhima Nikaaya, 135, we find: "He who kills and is cruel goes either to hell, or, if reborn as a man, will be short-lived.... In the contrary case, man will be reborn in heaven or reborn as a man, he will be long-lived. . . ." [9]
5. One's karma-generating choices in this life create conditions for one's next life in the following sorts of ways: they determine the social status and wealth of the family into which you will be reborn; they determine (some, all?) the potential talents one will have in the next life; determine the state of the physical body of the infant (defects, deformities, unusual features, etc.); determine other special qualities peculiar to the individual.
6. Finally, one's karma-generating choices have physical consequences by determining whether one will be reborn on the human plane, or on a lower level of existence (animal, ghost, or demon), or on a higher plane (as a deva, or god). [10]
Although the traditional Buddhist might not choose to classify the types of karmic results in the same way as was done here, the above listing
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is an attempt to provide and exhaustive enumeration of the ways in which karmic-consequence-generating activity can come to fruition. It may not be the case that every Indian Buddhist school of philosophy will subscribe to each of the effects as literally as outlined above, but our purpose is to enumerate all the various possible ways that karma was understood to effect consequences within the Indian Buddhist community (sa^ngha and laymen).
A few remarks should be made at this point concerning the details of the working out of karma. First of all, karmic consequences are generated as a result of ego-centered volitional action, whether it is a mental action, a verbal, or a physical act. In other words, an idea of hatred or anger (which is not physically or verbally expressed) generates karmic consequences (but not the identical karmic consequences) as surely as does the physical action which hurts another person.
Next, we should note that karma is supposed to function as a specialized application of a general descriptive law and as a causal explanation which attempts to take into account the fact that there are a complex combination of causes and conditions which give rise to effects. It is not the case that the volitional deed itself, in isolation, fully determines the total set of consequences. Rather, the resulting effect is determined by the volitional circumstances (for unintentional deeds bear no karmic consequences), by the nature of the person who commits the deed, and the circumstances in which it is committed. [11] In other words, the karmic consequences of one's deeds are not determined by some pre-established inflexible set of one-to-one correspondences, but rather are the results of the complex interaction between the deed itself and its tendencies, and the thoughts, previous choices, character, energies, physical constitution, etc. of the agent. [12]
The next question is, considering the various dimensions and implications of karma indicated in the previous pages, which do the Ch'an masters of the early period accept, and which might they reject? We shall begin by emphasizing the fact that Ch'an Buddhism is Buddhism, which means that the
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Ch'an followers subscribe to the essential insights of the Indian Buddhist traditions. These include central doctrines such as du.hkha, impermanence, anaatman, the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path, and, of course, karma. However, it is not at all clear that the early Ch'an masters understood these in exactly the same way that their Indian counterparts did. For example, a contemporary Japanese Zen teacher once wrote that "Zen has no idea of an individual soul crossing a line between this life and the next, or of human life and animal life." [13] If this is so, it would follow that Chinese Ch'an or Japanese Zen, are not identical in all respects to the Indian Buddhist traditions.
In fact, Ch'an Buddhism seems to have been the unique result of the converging influences of a number of different traditions, the three most dominant being: (1) the insights of the Praj~naapaaramitaa literature and the related Madhyamika thought of Naagaarjuna and his school; (2) the proto-Yogaacaara and Tathaagatagarbha ideas expressed in such texts as the La^nkaavatara suutra, the Nirvaa.na suutra, and the Ch'i-hsin lun ("Awakening of Faith"); [14] (3) the Taoist insights and terminology, especially from the Chuang-tzu. In addition to the above, the influence of other Chinese Buddhist schools was felt in the Ch'an tradition (such as the T'ien-t'ai and Hua-yen teachings), and other texts such as the Yuan-chueh ching ("Sutra of Perfect Awakening'') and the Chinese version of the `Suura^ngamasamaadhi suutra.
Considering the very strong grounding in Buddhist Mahayana texts, it would seem very unlikely that the Ch'an Buddhist masters would flatly reject any of the basic insights appearing in these texts as being false. [15] Even so, it does not follow that the early Ch'an masters will accept all of the factors and implications of the doctrine of karma as essential. Precisely how this doctrine was understood in the very earliest tradition is what we shall investigate next.
Bodhidharma (d. 532) has been accorded the honor of being the founder of Chinese Ch'an Buddhism. The legends of his life are very well known, and there is no need to recount them here. Inasmuch as Bodhidharma was an Indian Buddhist (perhaps from the South of India [16]), his understanding of karma would count as an Indian Buddhist interpretation of the doctrine.
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The precise nature of his interpretation is difficult to ascertain because there is only one text in existence which scholars feel actually does reproduce the ideas of Bodhidharma: the Erh-ju ssu-hsing lun ("Treatise on the Two Ways of Entrance and Four Practices"). In the earliest version, i.e. the Tun-huang text, "karma" is mentioned only twice. The first is the very traditional claim, "it is in accord with the mind (hsin [a]) that karma is created." [17] The second passage states:
Again, the monk asked, "If the attached mind creates karma, how can one cut it off?"
Bodhidharma replied: "Because of no-mind (wu-hsin [b]), there is no necessity to cut off [karma]. This mind does not arise and is not destroyed; the reason is that erroneous thinking produces dharmas. [18]
The first passage repeats the basic claim that karma is created by volitional actions, and not just the simple physical act in isolation. The second passage indicates that any kind of intentional activity will produce karma, including actions which are taken to try to eliminate karma. The only way out of this bind is to attain the state of "no-mind," or wu-hsin, a state in which there are no ego-centered thought-constructions or conceptual overlays to inhibit a spontaneous and total response to life situations. [19] This seems equivalent to what we have been calling "no ego-centered actions," and consequently actions taken with no conditioning by the ego generate no karmic consequences. But, just how karma functions to produce its consequences is not discussed by Bodhidharma.
The second Ch'an Patriarch was Hui-k'o (487-593), and we have no writings ascribed to him. The biographical entries on Hui-k'o in the standard sources [20] do not reveal any remarks concerning karma.
The third patriarch, Seng-tsan (d. 606) is a rather shadowy figure in Ch'an history, and the details of his life are not clear. We have one text attributed to him, entitled Hsin-hsin ming ("On the Faith-Mind"), but it is likely that this is not actually by Seng-tsan. According to the Li-tai fa pao
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chi and the Leng-chia shih-tzu chi two of the very earliest Ch'an histories, Seng-tsan is said to have left no writings at all. In addition, a monument was erected to Seng-tsan's honor in the year 771,and this did not contain any mention of a relationship between Seng-tsan and the Hsin-hsin ming. [21] In addition, the Hsin-hsin ming does not mention karma or transmigration, but rather stresses the non-duality of the enlightened mind which is free from misplaced conceptualization; however, this is relevant to karma in a way that we shall indicate in Part III of this paper.
The Fourth Patriarch of Chinese Ch'an, Tao-hsin (580-651), makes a reference to karma in the biographical passage on him in the Li-tai fa-pao chi, however, he is quoting from an Indian Buddhist sutra:
The P'u-hsien kuan sutra [22] says:
The seas of all karmic hindrances all arise from false thinking. If you are one who desires to repent, you should sit upright and contemplate the true character [of 'what-is' ].
This is called the Highest Truth. [23]
As we have seen before, the emphasis in the text is upon the source of karmic obscurations (here associated with "erroneous thinking"), rather than considering the actual workings of karma and its potential consequences. As we shall see, this does reflect one of the central features of the Ch'an Buddhist tradition which carries over into Japanese Zen and the teachings of the contemporary Zen teachers.
Hung-jen (601-674) is of pivotal importance in early Ch'an Buddhism because it was under him that the early school split into two lines of Ch'an, the Northern tradition and the Southern tradition. Some have argued that it is only with the Southern tradition that we have the real beginnings of what we think of as Ch'an Buddhism, with its very distinctive and unique techniques for arousing enlightenment.
There is one text attributed to Hung-jen (discovered in the Tun-huang collection of Chinese works), and it seems to be of an age which makes it not unlikely that it does reflect the actual ideas of Hung-jen himself. The
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text is entitled Hsiu-hsin yao-lun ("Treatise on the Essentials of Cultivating the Mind"). [24] In it there are three passages relating to karma and transmigration. In the first, we find:
A questioner asks: "How do you know that being aware of mind is necessary for entering Tao (enlightenment)?"
Hulng-jen replied: "Merely raising your finger to draw an image of the Buddha is sufficient to generate as much merit as the sands of the Ganges. However, this may be considered the Buddha's teaching for foolish unenlightened sentient beings, to get them to produce positive karmic conditions, and thus there will be conditions for seeing the Buddhahood [within one's self]. [25]
Another passage from the same text states:
[If you] desire and crave, seeking after fame and advantage, you will certainly fall into the midst of hell, and be the recipient of all kinds of pain and suffering. [26]
We also find a reference to future lifetimes stretching into the far future:
One who clearly understands and does not lose [sight of] his true mind, and who helps bring sentient beings to emancipation, is a very powerful Bodhisattva! I will make it clear for you in words. Maintaining awareness of mind is most important. If in this present lifetime you do not hear the suffering [of others], you will certainly reap misfortune for ten-thousand aeons (kalpas). [27]
Hung-jen certainly seems to be advocating that dimension of karma which maintains that karmic consequences extend into future lives. Not only that, but Hung-jen seems to accept the notion of the karmic destinies, one of which is hell. [28]
There is one more reference to rebirth associated with Hung-jen:
Hung-jen (602-675), the Fifth Patriarch, was an abbot's attendant in his previous life. After his transmigration, he was immaculately conceived by a woman named Chou from Hupei Province. [29]
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Hung-jen can be seen as accepting points four, five, and six (on page 402 of this paper), namely, the physical dimensions of karmic retribution. The previous Ch'an patriarchs have tended to stress the role of mind in the creation of karma, as does Hung-jen. But we have not seen a suggestion that karma is associated with the more contemporary psychological dimensions of guilt, unhappiness, neurosis, or compulsion by any of these masters. Although the evidence is admittedly very scanty, we are left with the impression that karma was seen more as a principle which related mental choices to the physical consequences than a principle operative in the psychological dimensions as well.
As is commonly known, the Fifth Patriarch had two important disciples, Hui-neng (638-713) and Shen-hsiu (606-706). Hui-neng seems to have taught an intuitive style of Ch'an which differed from the more intellectual approach of Shen-hsiu [30] and, as a result, Ch'an Buddhism became divided into a Southern style associated with Hui-neng and a Northern style headed by Shen-hsiu.
The Kuan-hsin lun ("Clear Observation of Mind"), another recently discovered Tun-huang text, is generally agreed upon as being by Shen-hsiu, and in this text we find several references to karma and its role. For example:
The defiled mind is [that which] constantly thinks evil [which in turn produces evil] karma. . . . If you are in accord with the defiled mind which creates karma, craving its entanglements, accordingly you are called an ordinary person who revolves throughout the Three Realms, accumulating layer upon layer of du.hkha. [31]
Later on, Shen-hsiu states:
[All suffering is due to the Three Poisons of] greed, anger, and confusion. . . . From the root which is these Three Poisons arise all evil karma. [32]
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The same discussion is continued, and Shen-hsiu states:
Due to these Three Poisons . . . all sentient beings become anxious and upset in body and mind, and wander in the realm of birth-and-death, transmigrating through the six karmic destinies, receiving suffering and pain. [33]
A monk questions Shen-hsiu about this, and he replies:
The Three Realms of karmic retribution arise solely due to mind. If fundamentally you are free from mind, then you are equally free from the Three Realms. Selfish craving is the Desire-realm. Anger is the Form-realm. Confusion is the Formless-realm. It is due to these three minds that one accumulates all evil karmic retribution and wanders through these cycles unceasingly. [34]
In the above passages, Shen-hsiu emphasizes the role of mind and volitional choices conditioned by anger, craving, and ignorance, as the cause of karmic consequences. He also stresses the result, which is the feeling of du.hkha ("unsatisfactoriness," "suffering") and continual wandering through cycles of birth and death.
In the same text, we find an extended discussion of the Six Karmic Destinies, which are divided into three "mild" or "light" destinies, and three "serious" destinations. Shen-hsiu explains them as follows:
I will explain the three mild realms [of rebirth]:
(1) If someone knows to cultivate the Ten Good Virtues [and yet] deludedly seeks pleasure, such a person has not escaped from the realm of desire, and will be reborn into the heavenly realms.
(2) If someone knows how to observe the Five Precepts and yet deludedly there arises [within one feelings of] attraction and aversion, such a person has not yet escaped from the realm of anger, and will be reborn into the human realm.
(3) If someone is confusedly attached to the conditioned (samsk.rta), believing falsehoods and seeking good fortune, such a person has not yet escaped from the
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realm of ignorance, and will be reborn as an Asura (Titan, demi-god).
These three types are called the "Three Mild" [karmic destinations].
Now I will explain the Three Serious [karmic destinations]. It is following in accord with the mind of the Three Poisons which alone creates evil karma. This is falling into the Three Serious [karmic] destinations:
(1) If there is serious craving-karma, you will fall into the realm of the Hungry Ghosts (preta).
(2) If there is serious anger-karma, you will fall into the realm of the hell-dwellers.
(3) If there is serious ignorance-karma, you will be reborn into the realm of the animals.
...Therefore, you know that all good karma arises due to your own mind. Simply be able to control the mind and you will be free from falsehood and evil. The karma working for rebirth in the Three Realms and Six Destinations of Rebirth will naturally and of itself cease and be extinguished. To be able to extinguish all duhkha is called liberation. [35]
As the above passages make abundantly clear, this Northern Ch'an master seems to have subscribed completely to the aspects of karma which involve rebirth in future lives, and rebirth in the six destinations which were traditional in the Indian Buddhist systems. However, our certainty that these should be interpreted literally is shaken by Shen-hsiu's tendency to provide metaphorical interpretations of seemingly literal statements. This is not uncommon in the early Ch'an tradition, and it became more common in later aspects of the Ch'an style. For example, a questioner asks Shen-hsiu about a passage in which the Buddha claimed to have strived for complete enlightenment for three kalpa, or aeons, and Shen-hsiu replies, "What the Buddha spoke of as "Three Great Aeons" is [just] the mind of the Three Poisons." He explains this further:
From within this thrice-poisoned mind are evil thoughts as numerous as the grains of sand of the Ganges; while thinking, thought after thought, each may be considered to be one kalpa. [36]
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This certainly can provide a different interpretation of the notion of transmigrating for ten-thousand kalpas (as Hung-jen said on page 407). If "kalpa" is in fact a metaphor for "thought-instant," the notion of future lives might also be reinterpreted along the lines of this metaphorical use of the technical terminology of Buddhism. In other words, the doctrine of karma can be given another, non-literal interpretation. Whether Shen-hsiu intends to reinterpret the entire doctrine as a metaphor, or whether he understood karma in its literal sense, is simply unclear in the texts at our disposal. This metaphorical interpretation of such terminology is also seen in the early founders of the Southern tradition of Ch'an. Let us examine their texts next.
Hui-neng (639-713) is treated as the founder of the Southern line of Ch'an, and his ideas are generally thought to be incorporated in a famous text known as the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch. [37] For purposes of this paper, we will assume this to be the case and proceed with an analysis of the references to karma and transmigration which appear in the Platform Sutra.
The first reference to karma appears in the famous poetry contest, where Shen-hsiu is in doubt about whether he should present a poem to the Fifth Patriarch as requested, he is represented as thinking to himself, "... and [if] there is a weighty obstacle in my past karma then I cannot gain the Dharma and shall have to give up." [38] Upon reading Shen-hsiu's poem, the Fifth Patriarch is supposed to have said that if the monks practice in accordance with the ideas expressed in the poem, "they will not fall into the three evil ways [of hell, hungry ghosts, or animals]." [39]
Later, Hui-neng remarks to an acolyte concerning Shen-hsiu's poem, "I also want to recite it so that I can establish causation for my next birth and be born in a Buddha-land." [40] Hui-neng seems to subscribe to the idea of cycles of transmigration, for he also says, "those who are not enlightened will for long kalpas be caught in the cycle of transmigration." [41] However, this understanding might be revised in light of the following statement found in paragraph 20:
If you think of evil things then you will change and enter hell; if you think of good things then you will change and
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enter heaven. [If you think of] harm, you will change and become a beast; [if you think of] compassion you will change and become a Bodhisattva. [If you think of] intuitive wisdom you will change and enter the upper realms; [if you think of] ignorance you will change and enter the lower quarters. The changes of your own nature are extreme, yet the deluded person is not himself conscious of this. [42]
This passage is open to a metaphorical interpretation. Hui-neng could be understood as saying that when one person thinks of harming another, such a person is at that moment living a life which could be compared to that of a beast and thoughts of compassion result in living a life of a Bodhisattva at that moment. This interpretation is strengthened by the last line which says that even though these changes are so extreme, the deluded person is not aware of them. This again provides for an interpretation of karmic consequences as taking place in an instant-to-instant sort of cause-effect sequence rather than a lifetime-to-lifetime cycle. The six karmic destinations would not be actual states following the physical death of the body, but rather would be metaphorical descriptions of a person acting under the influence of anger, or compassion, or wisdom.
This interpretation is further strengthened by considering the ideas of Hui-neng's most vocal and influential disciple, Ho-tse Shen-hui.
Ho-tse Shen-hui (670-762) [43] was the student of Hui-neng who was instrumental in having Hui-neng declared the official Sixth Patriarch of Ch'an Buddhism, in opposition to Shen-hsiu's disciples who were claiming that honor for their own teacher. Although Shen-hui was ultimately victorious, and Hui-neng is now officially recognized as the Sixth Patriarch, it is curious that Shen-hui's own line of disciples died out about a hundred years after his death, as did the followers of the Northern tradition established by Shen-hsiu. As a result, Shen-hui's historical importance to the development of the legends of Ch'an was forgotten for over a thousand years, until the discovery of the Tun-huang texts and their study by Hu Shih and D.T. Suzuki. There are several texts by Shen-hui, some translated into English, [44] and we find references to karma in most of them. Generally speaking, he
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treats karma and rebirth in the traditional way. For example, in his Platform Sermon, we find:
Friends, the mouths of ordinary people are filled with evil words, their minds are filled with evil thoughts, and [thus] for many long rounds of existence, [many long cycles of] birth and death, they will not be able to obtain emancipation. [45]
There are numerous other passages in this work which make the same point, such as the rather picturesque remark, "If you do not observe perfect morality, you will not even be reborn in the body of a scabby jackal, much less in the Dharmakaya which is the achievement of the Tathaagata." [46]
In Shen-hui's untranslated "Treatise Establishing the True and False According to the Southern Line of Bodhidharma," we find the following most interesting passage:
His words [Shen-hui's] had the most profound effect upon the stupefied assembly of monks and laymen, who said to themselves, "It is a later body [incarnation]of Bodhidharma!" [47]
In his "Discourses" (Shen-hui yu-lu), there are numerous statements about the movement from one lifetime to another lifetime. In the following passage, Shen-hui seems to echo Bodhidharma's original statement about karma:
Question: For one who sees the nature of man, if there arises ignorance (avidyaa), is there the production of the bonds of karma or not?
Shen-hui: Even if ignorance were to arise, there would be no karmic bonds.
Question: How is it that one obtains non-production [of karma ]?
Shen-hui: Simply see that original nature which is pure and clear itself and not obtainable, and this is "karmic bonds fundamentally and spontaneously no longer arising." [48]
The above passage seems like the others, except that it reflects Shen-
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hui's own personal concern with "seeing" (chien [c]). As a result of "seeing one's original nature," the ego-centered volitions are no longer operative and there is no longer any generation of karmic energies. Shen-hui also seems to accept the idea of physical incarnations preceeding this life, and following physical death. However, there is a passage in the Shen-hui yu-lu which suggests that the statements not be taken too literally. In response to a question about a passage in the Diamond sutra which refers to eliminating "the evil karma of previous lives," Shen-hui replies:
The "evil karma of previous existences" is a metaphor (yu [d]) for the mind in which previous thoughts arose erroneously. [49]
This statement provides further evidence that a literal interpretation of the Ch'an master's sayings is not always advisable. The founder of Northern Ch'an, Shen-hsiu, interpreted "one kalpa'' as "one thought," when he wrote that "...while thinking, thought after thought, each may be considered one kalpa. " [50] Hui-neng as well suggested that a thought of evil is metaphorically described as entering hell (one of the six karmic destinations). Finally, Shen-hui wrote that "previous existences" can be understood as a metaphor for one's previous thoughts. Further evidence for this can be found throughout the writings of other Ch'an masters who were roughly contemporary with Shen-hui and Shen-hsiu. For example, the same point is made even more explicitly by the famous Shih-t'ou Hsi-ch'ien (700-790). Shih-t'ou came to the Sixth Patriarch shortly before he died, which would have meant that Shih-t'ou and Shen-hui undoubtedly met one another. After Hui-neng's death in 713, Shih-t'ou continued his studies under Hui-neng's heir, Ch'ing-yuan Hsing-ssu (d. 740). In the entry on Shih-t'ou found in the large biographical collection of Ch'an masters entitled Wu-teng hui-yuan, we find the following sermon recorded:
The master ascended the High Seat and said:
My understanding has been transmitted on down to me from the ancient Buddhas of the past.... Mind is Buddha! [One may speak of] the mind of a Buddha and that of an ordinary person, or enlightenment and defilement -- the names are different but essentially they are one and the
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same. You must understand that your own mind is perfectly spiritual, totally free from [the heresies of] annihilationism or eternalism. Its nature is neither impure nor pure; it is deep, profound, perfect, and complete. It is just the same for the ordinary person and the Sage. Its functions are immeasurable and is totally free from conceptualization and rationalization (lit. citta, manas, vij~naana). The Three Realms [of desire, form, and formlessness] and the Six Karmic Destinies are mere appearances of your own mind, like the moon reflected in a puddle or the images reflected in a mirror. [51]
As with the other Ch'an masters, the emphasis is placed on the mind and not on the mechanisms of karma. And Shih-t'ou explicitly says that the Six Karmic Destinies where one is supposed to be reborn as a result of past karma are simply appearances (hsien [e]) of one's own mind.
On the basis of our investigation of the early texts, it seems to be the case that the majority of references to the doctrine of karma indicate a somewhat traditional understanding by the majority of masters. No speculation upon the mechanism by which karma acts was found, and little discussion pertaining to whether karma functioned in just the physical realm, just the psychological realm, or both, was encountered. In fact, the references to karma in the earliest writings often seem to be mere literary flourish, or quotations from Indian texts used to persuade the audience to live properly and not do evil deeds. Numerous references to past lives were found, focusing primarily upon being caught in an endless cycle of birth and rebirth. [52] We found no speculation on whether karma functioned in a psychological manner, such as creating habits or creating feelings of guilt, [53] or worse. The references were almost exclusively to only two points distinguished on pages 5 and 6 of this paper, namely point (4) (immediate reward or punishment as a consequence) and point (6) (rebirth in one of the six karmic destinations).
The major emphasis was upon the mind. Actions undertaken with the "defiled mind" [54] generate karmic consequences, whereas actions done with the "pure mind" do not. A most serious error is seeking for enlightenment,
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for this too creates karma and reveals that the seeker has made a most fundamental mistake. As is explained in such important Indian texts such as the Vajracchedikaa and Naagaarjuna's Muulamadhyamakakaarikaas, the notions of agent and action are co-relative, and, in truth, there is no agent (no aatman) and consequently, there can be no action-of-an-agent. When things are perceived as `suunya (empty of svabhaava-essence), non-dual perception results. The enlightened person simply lives in unconceptualized reality (`suunyataa, Tathataa) perceiving no essence either to actor or to act (karma). This insight is found in Lin-chi's (d. 866) Lin-chi lu:
Outside mind there is no Dharma, nor is there anything to be obtained within it. What are you seeking? Everywhere you are saying, 'There is something to practice, something to prove.' Make no mistake! Even if there were something to be obtained by practice, it would be nothing but birth-and-death karma.... As I see it, all this is just making karma. Seeking Buddha and seeking Dharma is only making hell-karma. Seeking bodhisattvahood is also making karma; reading the sutras and studying the teachings is also making karma.... Therefore, when I look back at the past twelve years for a single thing having the nature of karma, I can't find anything even the size of a mustard seed. [55]
Since his enlightenment. Lin-chi cannot find anything having the nature of karma because in a world of co-arising mutually interdependent process (the Hua-yen universe of shih-shih wu-ai), such concepts are no longer perceived as adequate for dealing with the state of what-is ('Suchness,' Tathataa).
This basic Madhyamika and Praj~naapaaramitaa insight seems central to early Ch'an as well, for Ch'an techniques attempt to break the person free from dependence upon conceptual schemes, freeing the mind from trying to live in a conceptual model of reality which will always be inadequate and misleading. The importance of this in the early Ch'an masters is seen very clearly in the Hsin-hsin ming, the text attributed to the Third Patriarch, Seng-tsan:
When you try to stop activity [karma] to achieve passivity
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Your very effort fills you with activity.
. . .
For the unified mind in accord with the Way
All self-centered striving [karmic causing activity ] ceases.
Doubts and irresolutions vanish,
and life in true faith is possible.
With a single stroke we are freed from bondage;
Nothing clings to us and we hold to nothing.
All is empty, clear, self-illuminating,
with no exertion of the mind's power.. . .
One thing, all things -- move and intermingle,
without distinction.
To live in this realization
is to be without anxiety about non-perfection.
To live in this faith is the road to non-duality,
Because the non-dual is one with the trusting mind. [56]
The Ch'an master guides the student to the state of seeing his nature (Jap. kenshoo [f]) wherein all there is is the pure seeing freed from subject-object duality and freed from all conceptual dichotomies. Although it is most strongly seen in the Ch'an masters such as Lin-chi, Chao-chou, Ma-tsu, and others, the refusal to conceptualize what-is, and the refusal to aid the student in his attempts to build grander and grander philosophical schemes, is almost definitive of the Ch'an teacher. And it is precisely in this context that we must note that karma itself is a way of conceptualizing Suchness; it is a way of philosophizing about what-is rather than living in it.
When this is taken into consideration, it is not so surprising that we find so few remarks about karma in the writings and sermons of the Ch'an masters. Nor is it surprising that we find ourselves unable to form a completely clear picture of the theoretical understanding of the doctrine of karma in early Ch'an.
The Japanese Zen monk, Nyogen Senzaki, wrote that "Zen has no idea of an individual soul crossing a line between this life and the next, or of human life and animal life. From one minute to the next you are always about to die." [57] We have already found the metaphorical interpretation of karma along these lines by Shen-hsiu and by Ho-tse Shen-hui. The implication
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is that there is no birth and rebirth into different karmic realms -- rather, there is birth and rebirth from instant to instant, and to the extent that a future instant is conditioned by past conceptual fabrication, by past ignorant-thoughts. by past angry-thoughts, or past craving-thoughts, that future instant has been conditioned by the karma of "previous lives" (or "previous thoughts'').
However, we need not see this metaphorical interpretation of transmigration as the special insight of the Chinese Ch'an masters. The idea can be found in the earlier Indian Buddhist texts, and especially in a Mahaayaana text which was very popular among Ch'an Buddhists, the Vimalakiirti suutra. Vimalakiirti quotes the Buddha, saying "Bhik.sus, in a single moment you are born, you age, you die, you transmigrate, and you are reborn." [58] This provides an interpretation of the doctrine of karma which many Westerners can feel very comfortable with, for it does not commit one to a literal interpretation of rebirth. There need be no implication of another physical life following the termination of the present physical body. This way of understanding the doctrine of karma can be found in some of the Western literature on Buddhism. [59]
In conclusion, we were unable to establish conclusively whether the doctrine of karma was understood literally or metaphorically by the early Ch'an patriarchs. In some of the early masters, the metaphorical interpretation is explicit and unquestionable. However, even though some of the early Buddhist texts do support such an interpretation of the action of karma, it is important to remember that what we are left with is still a conceptual explanation of the doctrine, and it is precisely this conceptualizing of human experience which goes so profoundly against Ch'an. One is free of karma just to the extent that one can operate from wu-hsin ("no-mind"), which is the mind freed from its dependence upon conceptual overlay. To speculate on the nature of karma is antithetical to the total practice of the Ch'an tradition, and the Ch'an and Zen masters usually refuse to be engaged in conceptual and theoretical discussions of Buddhist doctrines. The Ch'an masters drew from their own personal experience in an attempt to elicit from the student the liberating non-conceptual insight which frees one from theory-building. In a different context, D. T. Suzuki wrote:
When we see the moon, we know that it is the moon,
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and that is enough. Those who proceed to analyze the experience and try to establish a theory of knowledge are not students of Zen. They cease to be so, if they ever were, at the very moment of their procedure as analysts. Zen always upholds its experience as such and refuses to commit itself to any system of philosophy. [60]
One very likely hypothesis which could explain the absence of any theory of karma in early Ch'an is the one suggested above: to establish a theory is completely against the intention of early Ch'an Buddhism: the intention was to liberate the student from the bonds of conceptualization, subjectivity and objectivity. To establish a theory would require that the theory later be eliminated. This is unnecessary. Buddha-nature is to be seen, identified with, and that is all. To speculate or theorize on the nature of karma would seem totally unnecessary to a Chinese master of Ch'an Buddhism.
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
1. For purposes of this paper, the expression "early Ch'an" will refer to the period between the arrival of Bodhidharma to China and the end of the line of the six patriarchs. In other words, the historical period is approximately from A.D. 500 to A.D. 750. The author does not mean to imply that Ch'an was totally new to China with Bodhidharma's arrival. There were Ch'an-like monks prior to Bodhidharma's time whose biographies are included in traditional Ch'an histories such as the Ch'uan-teng lu ("Transmission of the Lamp"). Precursors to Ch'an would certainly include Seng-chao (384-414) and Tao-sheng.
2. The author does not wish to suggest that the following description of pratiitya-samutpaada is the teaching of the historical Buddha. The nature and status of the causal principle underwent interesting modifications throughout time, and my presentation reflects many of the later interpretations (through the Abhidharma literature).
3. For example, actions can be classified as those which bear karmic consequences and those which do not (lokottara, ahosi kamma). Karmic actions are classified as (a) those which produce consequences in this life, (b) in the next lifetime, and (c) in some lifetime after that. Karmic actions are also classified according to their function: (a) regenerative karma producing the five skandhas; (b) supportive karma which maintains already-produced karmic consequences; (c) counteractive
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karma which suppresses previous karmic effects;
(d) destructive karma which destroys the influence of weaker karma by over-riding
it. In addition, four kinds of karma are distinguished with regard to priority
of result: (a) weighty karma; (b) habitual karma; (c) death-proximate karma
(volitions at the moment of dying); (d) stored-up karma.
Most of these classifications can be found explained in the
Visuddhimagga, chapter nineteen. Cf. also Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary,
pp. 71-73.
4. One form of encouragement is specifically Buddhist. People can become discouraged when they realize how long it takes to achieve full and complete enlightenment. Karma ensures that even initial efforts will be rewarded.
5. Since karmic actions keep one bound to the cycle of birth-and-rebirth, it would seem that the only way to break out of the cycle would be to avoid as much action as possible. Jainism apparently taught such a doctrine. The Buddhists, however, recognize that some volitional actions carry no karmic consequences -- in fact, it is precisely these kinds of actions which allow for the attainment of release from these cycles of existence. The Buddhists hold that karmic consequences follow those volitional choices conditioned by such factors as desire, craving, anger, greed, and folly. They also claim that the ordinary person's choices are conditioned by these. On the other hand, one who has made progress along the Buddhist path has volitions which are not conditioned by self-centered ideas of advantage or disadvantage, and when these are gone the actions of such a person are free of karmic consequences. Cf. David Kalupahana, Buddhist Philosophy, Honolulu, 1975, pp. 44-68.
6. One of the significant philosophical difficulties with the doctrine of karma is found with this issue.
7. For example, the person who steals something is not just stealing once -- such sorts of actions create a disposition or tendency in the person to repeat the same kind of behavior in a similar situation in the future. This amounts to saying that we are creating the kind of person we will become by our present moral choices, and even one "thief-type" choice creates within us a disposition to behave similarly in a similar situation; thus all such choices tend to perpetuate themselves such that we may became thieves (and ultimately are treated as a thief by our society, receiving the kind of treatment accorded to thieves).
8. See L. de la Vallee Poussin, The Way To Nirvana, London, 1917, p. 93. The most obvious application of this is found in the situation where someone is run over by a truck, and it is not uncommon to find a Buddhist claim that one's previous karmic choices had resulted in this consequence. The situation can become even stranger, however, for during an earthquake several thousands of people can be killed, and karma is often invoked as an explanation, which implies that somehow, karmic conditions contrived to place each person in that place at that time so that they could receive the consequences which they had earned as a result of previous choices and actions. We must call attention to the fact that this is not necessarily implied by the correct understanding of karma's role in the causal network. As Dr. Kalupahana points out in his Buddhist Philosophy, physical situations like the earthquake can be fully accounted for by invoking causes which are strictly in the physical realm. In other words, dying in some sort of
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natural disaster or auto accident may have nothing at all to do with one's previous karmic choices.
9. Just how living a long life is "like" being generous in a previous life is unclear; just why it might be more "appropriate" than some other effect is also unclear. This is another difficulty with the philosophical justification of the doctrine.
10. Anguttara Nikaya III. 40: "Killing ... stealing ... unlawful sexual intercourse, lying ... slandering ... rude speech ... foolish babble, practiced, carried on, and frequently cultivated, leads to rebirth in hell, or amongst the animals, or amongst the ghosts." Cf. also Majjhima Nikaya 135. The "Six Karmic Destinies (Gati)" are (1) hell; (2) rebirth as an animal; (3) rebirth as a preta who inhabit earth as hungry ghosts; (4) rebirth as a human being; (5) rebirth as a titan (Asuras), or "demi-god"; (6) rebirth as a deva, or god. It is important to note that none of these are permanent. There apparently was some confusion over whether there were five karmic destinies or six.
11. Kalupahana, Causality: The Central Philosophy of Buddhism, Honolulu, 1975, p. 131.
12. Although it is a point in the favor of the theory of karma that it is not a simple one-to-one correspondence, and it does try to recognize the causal complexity of such situations, this aspect also allows for the utilization of ad hoc devices which can be invoked when the theory itself is challenged. For example, any prediction made on the basis of karma which does not result as predicted, can be explained by invoking other causes which were not apparent. The problem of the falsifiability of karma is a serious one for the Buddhist.
13. Nyogen Senzaki, The Iron Flute, Kyoto, Tuttle, 1961, p. 90. Although this quotation can be made to turn on the notion of individual soul [aatman], so that it can be read as a denial of the existence of an aatman, the context provides the stronger implication that it is the transmigration from one life to another which is being denied. This will be discussed at greater length in the conclusion of this paper.
14. We might note that the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch quotes from or alludes to the following Buddhist sutras: the Nirvaa.na; Vimalakiilrti; Lankavataara; Amitaabha; Bodhisattva`sila; Vajracchedikaa and Lotus. Ho-tse Shen-hui (670-762), the most influential disciple of the Sixth patriarch, quoted from the above sutras plus the following additional texts: the A.s.tassaahasrikaa Avata^msaka; Dharmatratayogaacaarabhuumi; Mahaapraj~naapaaramitaa-`sastra; Sapta`satikaa; Suviuraantavikraami; the Tao-te Ching of Lao-tzu. Shen-hsiu, the founder of the Northern line of Ch'an, used the Ch'i-hsin lun and the Visesacintaa-brahma-pariprccha suutra in addition to the Lotus, the Avata^msaka, the Nirvaa.na, and the Vimalakiirti sutras.
15. Even though these would not be declared false, the Ch'an masters could relegate many of these factors to the status of the lower, "worldly truth" (sa^mvrti-satya), and declare them not to be the "Highest truth" (paramaartha-satya). As such, the doctrines could be considered appropriate for people of low ability, but not to be taken as literally true by people with deep understanding. Consequently, it seems that the Ch'an masters could reinterpret the doctrines rather freely without having to commit themselves to an out-and-out rejection of what seems to be the actual words of the Buddha himself.
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16. Ho-tse Shen-hui (670-762) declared that Bodhidharma was "the third son of a king of a country in Southern India." This passage can be found in the existent writings of Shen-hui collected and edited by Hu Shih, in his Shen-hui ho-shang i-chi, Taiwan, 1971, p. 160 and p. 261.
17. By far the best version of this Tun-huang text is volume one of the Zen no goroku series, entitled Daruma no goroku ("Discourse of Bodhidharma"), edited by Yanagida Seizan, Tokyo, Chikuma Shoten, 1969. This passage appears on page 47.
18. Ibid,, p. 232.
19. For an extended discussion of this topic, see D. T. Suzuki, The Zen Doctrine of No Mind, London, Rider & Co., 1958. Also see my "The Concept of Li-nien in the Northern Line of Ch'an Buddhism" in Early Ch'an In China and Tibet, ed. by Lancaster and Lai, Berkeley Buddhist Studies, Vol. III, 1979.
20. The standard Ch'an biographical sources include the Li-tai fa-pao chi, Taishoo volume 51, text number 2075, the Ch'uan fa-pao chi, T. 85, no. 2838, the Leng-chia shih-tzu chi, T. 85, no. 2837, and the Ching-te Ch'uan-teng lu, T. 51, no. 2076.
21. Yi Chong-ik, "Chosasoon e issoosoouui muhim sasang" ("The Philosophy of No-mind in Chinese Patriarchal Ch'an"), Pulkyo hakpo, Vol. X, 1973, pp. 249-251. The author wishes to express his indebtedness to Dr. Jaeryong Shim who pointed out this article to the author, and who helped the author to read it.
22. Taishoo 9, no. 277, page 393b11.
23. Yanagida Seizan, Shoki no Zenshi, Tokyo, Chikuma Shoten, 1976, p. 192. A full translation of this text, by Professor David Chappell, appears in The History of Ch'an Buddhism in China & Tibet, volume 3 of the Berkeley Buddhist Series, 1979.
24. There are numerous versions of this test found in the Tun-huang texts. The version which I have utilized was collected and edited by Suzuki Daisetsu, and appears in his Suzuki Daisetsu zenshuu, Vol. II, pp. 303-309. There is a published translation of a slightly different edition by Pachow, "A Buddhist Discourse on Meditation from Tun-huang," University of Ceylon Review, vol. 21 no. 1, April 1963. I did not refer to it in making my own translation above. There is also a thorough study of the text and translation by John McRae, which, unfortunately, is unpublished at this time.
25. Suzuki, op. cit., p. 305, section 9.
26. Ibid., p. 307, section 13.
27. Ibid., p. 308, section 13.
28. One must recall that Buddhist hells are more like a purgatory, for one remains in them only until one's evil karma is worked out; then one is reborn again.
29. This passage appears in Sherman Lee, The Colors of Ink, New York, Asia Society, 1974, p. 113. The book gives no source for the quotation, and I have been unable to trace its Chinese origin so far.
30. For a study of the nature of these differences and their philosophical consequences, see my unpublished doctoral dissertation, "An Analysis of the Philosophical Criticisms of Northern Ch'an Buddhism," University of Hawaii, 1977. Some aspects of Northern Ch'an can be found in my "Methods for Achieving
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Awakening in Northern Ch'an," Buddhist and Taoist Studies, Vol. 11, University Press of Hawaii, 1980.
31. Taishoo vol. 48, no. 2009, page 367a. The version used in this particular translation is the P'o-hsiang lun, because the initial paragraphs of the Tun-huang text are missing, and have been provided by this later version of the same text.
32. Taishoo vol. 85, no. 2833, p. 1270c.
33. Ibid.
34. Ibid.
35. Taishoo 85, page 1271a.
36. This passage was taken from the Zokuzookyoo version of this text because the same passage in Taishoo 85 seems quite garbled. ZZ 2.15.5.412b2.
37. Whether Hui-neng was the author of this text is doubtful. There are many good reasons for supposing that the text has been altered often in its history, and its actual origins are obscure. Some scholars have suggested that Hui-neng's disciple, Shen-hui, was the real author of the text, or perhaps Shen-hui's own disciples could have created the text using the sermons of their own teacher to put into the mouth of Hui-neng. In all of Shen-hui's voluminous writings which exist, there is not a single mention of any text by Hui-neng nor any quotations from such a text. If such a text existed, it seems likely that Shen-hui would have been aware of it, and equally likely that he would have quoted from it often (which would have suited some of his political purposes). Yanagida has suggested that the text is actually from the Fa-yung line of Ch'an and is not even from the Southern school. An excellent English summary of Japanese research on the question can be found in Lancaster and Bielfeldt, "T'an Ching," Philosophy East and West, vol. 25, no. 2, April 1975.
38. All translations are from Philip Yampolsky, The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, Columbia, 1967, p. 129.
39. Ibid.. p. 130.
40. Ibid., p. 131.
41. lbid., p; 137.
42. Ibid., p. 142.
43. Most Ch'an history texts minimize Shen-hui's role, however, Yampolsky's Platform Sutra has a fine analysis of Shen-hui's role in the development of Southern Ch'an.
44. There are a few Shen-hui texts translated into
English:
(1) T'an-wu, translated by Waiter Liebenthal, "The Sermon of Shen-hui," Asia
Major, III, 1952.
(2) Hsien-tsung chi, translated by Robert Zeuschner, Journal of Chinese Philosophy,
vol. 3, 1976; translated by Wing-tsit Chan, "Elucidating the Doctrine," in Sources
of Chinese Tradition, Columbia, 1960.
(3) Ho-tse Shen-hui ta-shih wu, partially translated by Robert Zeuschner, "A
Sermon by the Ch'an Master Shen-hui," Middle Way, vol. 49, no. 3, November 1974.
(4) Some other excerpts of Shen-hui's writings ate found in W. T. Chan, A Source
Book in Chinese Philosophy, and E. Conze, ed., Buddhist Texts Through the Ages,
Harper Torchbooks, 1964, and D. T. Suzuki, Zen Doc-
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trine of No-Mind, ibid.
45. From Yanagida Seizan, "Koosha 'Nan'yoo oshoo toonkyoo gedatsu Zenmon jiki ryooshoo Dango' no taishoo hyoo" ("A Comparative Text of Three Versions of the 'Platform Sermon'") (unpublished manuscript, n.d.), p. 2. Cf. Suzuki Daisetsu, Suzuki Daisetsu zenshuu, vol. 3, pp. 290-317.
46. Ibid.. p. 5.
47. Hu Shih, Shen-hui ho-shang i-chi, Taiwan, 1971, p. 316.
48. Hu Shih, ibid.. pp. 113-114.
49. Ibid.. p. 128. The author would like to express his thanks to Professor Robert Gimello, with whom he discussed possible interpretations of this passage.
50. ZZ 2.15.5.412b2.
51. Wu-teng hui-yuan ("A Compilation of the Sources of the Five Lamps"), compiled by Shih P'u-chi in 1253, Taiwan, 1971, vol. 1, p. 406.
52. It is interesting that no Ch'an master speaks of recalling a previous life.
53. We should note that guilt is more of a Western phenomenon, whereas it seems to have been the more externally oriented feeling of shame which is stressed in Chinese and Japanese culture. It is interesting to speculate as to whether karma is coupled with shame to produce the same kind of effect upon the actor as the feeling of guilt does to a Westerner. Undiscovered actions can produce guilt but not shame.
54. For more on this, see my "The Understanding of Mind in Northern Ch'an," Philosophy East and West, vol. 28, no. 1, January 1978.
55. Sasaki, The Record of Lin-chi, Kyoto, Institute for Zen Studies, 1975, pp. 18-19. Original passage is Taishoo volume 46, no. 1985, p. 499b. However, the best Chinese text is Yanagida Seizan, Kunchu Rinzai Roku, Kyoto, 1961, p. 88.
56. Richard B. Clark, "On the Faith-Mind," Zen Bow, vol. 1, no. 2 (Feb '68).
57. See footnote 13.
58. E. Lamotte, L 'Enseignement de Vimalakiirti, Louvain, Institut Orientaliste, 1962, p. 192. With his usual thoroughness, Lamotte traces this quotation to the Samyutta Nikaya II, the Suttanipaata, the Digha Nikaya II, the Mahaavadaana, and the Lalitavistara. We might note that this same understanding is found in the later Ch'an master Han-shan Te-ching (1526-1624) in his commentary on the Heart Sutra, translated in Charles Luk, Ch'an and Zen Teachings, First series, London, Rider and Co., 1960, p. 214.
59. E.g., in the Middle Way, Arthur Blundell writes:
Each time that 'I' desire or reject an object, feeling, etc.,
it marks the birth of that 'I'. It lives as long as desire for or interest in
that object, feeling, etc., is sustained, then it weakens and dies. As the arising
of the next object, feeling, etc., another 'I' is born or the 'I' is re-born
and the whole 'sorry mass of uprising' begins again. These uprisings of the
'I' when seen in retrospect could be said to be 'former habitations' of the
'I' for the 'I' lived in those experiences and died at their ending. (Arthur
Blundell, "The power of the Past," Middle Way, vol. 45, no. 4, February 1971,
p. 279).
60. D. T. Suzuki, Zen and Japanese Culture, N.Y., Bollingen Foundation, 1958, p. 32.
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