Honors 390
Meyerhofer
And
now, here’s some background info congenially but somewhat haphazardly
transmitted from my brain to the page (or computer screen) in front of you…
There
are almost as many divergent branches of Buddhism (if not more) as there are
branches of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
However, scholars generally divide Buddhism into three distinct
traditions: Theravada (“The School
of the Elders,” the oldest tradition, originally found in India, widely
practiced in Sri Lanka and parts of Southeast Asia), Mahayana (“The Great Vehicle,” the second oldest tradition,
practiced in East Asia), and Vajrayana (“The
Diamond Vehicle,” the newest tradition, often called Tantric Buddhism,
associated with the Dalai Lama and mainly found in Tibet).
These
three branches share a great deal of similarity; they also exhibit some
profound differences in terms of ritual, practice, and belief. For instance, while all three emphasize the
Dharma (the teachings) and the Sangha (the community of fellow
enlightenment-seekers), plus the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path (more
on those later), there is a great deal of often-contentious debate over which
school proposes the proper methods for meditation and achieving enlightenment,
with adherents of the different schools obviously posing strong arguments on
the issue (just as you might imagine a heated debate between devout Catholics
and Protestants). This debate is further
complicated by the literally thousands upon thousands of pages of text that the
different schools adhere to (much longer than the Judeo-Christian Bible
used throughout much of Europe and the Americas). There are also subdivisions within each of
the tree branches; for instance, Mahayana Buddhism also contains Zen and Pure
Land Buddhism, with some scholars associating Tantric Buddhism with Mahayana
(while others separate it into Vajrayana).
I
encourage everyone to spend some time familiarizing her/himself with the basics
of these different schools/philosophies.
For the purposes of this class, though, we will primarily focus on Zen Buddhism, or simply, Zen.
Our primary vehicle for approaching Zen will not be historical and
scriptural study, but reading, discussion, and (eventually) emulation of Zen
mindfulness through the lens of poetry.
Full
disclosure: I am by no means presenting
myself as an expert on Buddhist doctrine.
I speak neither Pali (the original language of Buddhism) nor
Sanskrit. Particularly as it relates to
Zen, I don’t speak Chinese, and I don’t know more than a handful of Japanese
words used as poetic terminology. In
fact, my knowledge of Zen stems almost entirely from translations of Chinese
and Japanese poetry, as well as the Zen-based concepts and insights provided by
“western” authors, philosophers, and filmmakers. I am not seeking to present anything close to
an authoritative sermon in this course; I am simply offering this course as a
modern, creatively/artistically based meditation on the nature of Zen—what is
it, how do we get it, how do we keep it,
and how will it help us if we do?
Also,
as one who generally views the world through the lens of poetry, I want to
offer this course as an opportunity to cultivate a deeper, more enriched
appreciation of the world through the lens of Zen-inspired poetry, with no particular requirements or exclusions
based on religious of philosophical differences of opinion.
Put
another way…
My
interest in Zen began long before I knew what Zen was, before I had even heard
the word. I was raised in a rather
dogmatic Roman Catholic community; while there were some very positive aspects
to the teachings (including compassion and humility, which are also key tenets
of Zen), there were also some things (like the belief in Original Sin and the
necessity of praying to an outside deity for help) that did not mesh with what
I would probably call my own innate spiritualism.
During
my awkward adolescence, I happened upon some translated haiku by Basho, the
great Japanese haiku master, as well as the “Zen-influenced” work of American
fiction writer, J.D. Salinger (most famous for The Cather in the Rye). Both
showed devotion to imagery at the smallest detail, filled not only with sadness
and humor but the suggestion that a higher state of being can be attained
simply by living more deliberately… that to at least figuratively or partially
understand the universe, you don’t need seven PhDs and a dozen lifetimes; you
simply need to appreciate the true nature and beauty of what’s right in front
of you.
Who was the Buddha?
It’s
difficult to separate fact from myth but the Buddha (or “Awakened One”) is the
name given to Siddhartha Gautama, born around 400 B.C.E. Generally, the story goes that he was a
prince whose father so insulated him from the world that Siddhartha had no
knowledge of suffering in the world.
Siddhartha married and lived out his youth in a state of pure, ignorant
bliss; then, at the age of 29, he went out to meet his subjects. Despite efforts to prevent this, Siddhartha
saw and learned about sickness, aging, and death. This filled him with despair, as well as a
burning need to figure out why human
beings suffer and, if possible, find a way out.
Many
religions at the time spoke of reincarnation, as well as karma (the belief that
what we do affects what happens to us and/or how we are reborn). The thought was that by abstaining from
earthly indulgences and practicing a strict and punishing life, one might
cultivate good karma and free oneself of the same earthly desires that were
preventing true happiness. Reincarnation
enters into this because the prevailing notion was that human beings are born
again and again into a painful, suffering, ultimately unsatisfying world and
that these unhappy rebirths will continue forever unless we can find a way to
break the cycle.
With
that in mind, Siddhartha left the palace and went out into the wilderness to
find his answers. He tried studying
under various gurus, meditating, and starving himself; nothing worked. Although he recognized the merits of
temperance and meditation, he eventually realized that extreme deprivation was
not the answer. Thus, he formulated what
Buddhists call the Middle Way, or the Middle Path (a gentler philosophy that
avoids extremes).
The Four Noble Truths and the
Eightfold Path…
1. Siddhartha preached that the world is full of suffering (“dukkha”). Birth, aging, illness, death, sorrow, and separation are all examples of this suffering.
2. Suffering is caused by cravings, lusts, and desires that can never be wholly satisfied.
3. To eliminate suffering, you have to eliminate cravings (or unhealthy attachments).
4. The way (or, at least, one way) to achieve freedom from cravings is by following the Eightfold Path: that is, to practice proper intention, speech, view, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration.
1. Siddhartha preached that the world is full of suffering (“dukkha”). Birth, aging, illness, death, sorrow, and separation are all examples of this suffering.
2. Suffering is caused by cravings, lusts, and desires that can never be wholly satisfied.
3. To eliminate suffering, you have to eliminate cravings (or unhealthy attachments).
4. The way (or, at least, one way) to achieve freedom from cravings is by following the Eightfold Path: that is, to practice proper intention, speech, view, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration.
The Origins of Zen
Many
Zen practitioners trace Zen back to what is commonly known as the Flower
Sermon. One day, the Buddha appeared
before his students but instead of offering a lecture, he simply held up a flower. Everyone stared, confused. Then one monk, Maha Kashyapa, smiled. Seeing this, the Buddha said something along
the lines of, “I possess a deeper understanding of the universe, which I have
just passed on to Kashyapa.”
More
specifically, Zen was founded by Bodhidharma, a Buddhist monk who lived in the
5th and 6th centuries, C.E. Little is known about him; like the Buddha,
much of what we read is probably more myth than fact, though Bodhidharma is
credited with bringing Buddhism to China.
