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Zen Enlightenment: Origins And Meaning
Enlightenment, the cosmic experience of universal unity, is a notoriously elusive concept in Zen. Here, the renowned scholar Heinrich Dumoulin traces the development of Zen and the concept of enlightenment from its origins in India through its development in China to its fruition in Japan. Delineating the Buddhist origins, as well as the Taoist and yogic influences, he traces the historical path Zen has followed, with special emphasis given to the development of koan practice and the writings of the great Japanese Zen master Dogen (1200–1253). He then brings the experience to life by presenting, in his own words, the enlightenment experiences of a number of contemporary practitioners of Zen.
192 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1979
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 5, 2017
There's certainly more to Zen than the elevator pitch, "the fusion of Indian buddhism with Chinese culture." And Heinrich Dumoulin ought to know, as one of the world's leading scholars on the subject.
Zen Enlightenment is Heinrich's attempt to write a book about a subject that... really can't be written about. But we need the finger pointing at the moon, otherwise we miss the moon. I'm glad he wrote it, because it's probably as close as I'll ever get to a Zen monastery.
Some good background here, although the author clearly plays favorites. Two entire chapters focus on Dōgen Zenji, founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan. The other major Zen school, Rinzai, and it's founder Linji Yixuan gets much less attention. Likewise the influence of Mahayana Buddhism on Zen is profound, taking the majority of the book, while the importance of Taoism is mentioned only in passing. (Your homework is to compare/contrast Zen Enlightenment with Ray Grigg's The Tao of Zen.)
Warning! Chapters 8- 10 delve into religious metaphysics which are definitely hazardous to your reality, and your ability to stay awake. Do not operate heavy machinery while reading this book!
Lots of essential and useful info here, but I suspect the author may not be giving the whole, unbiased picture. Regardless, Zen Enlightenment is an essential addition to your Zen library.
Zen Enlightenment is Heinrich's attempt to write a book about a subject that... really can't be written about. But we need the finger pointing at the moon, otherwise we miss the moon. I'm glad he wrote it, because it's probably as close as I'll ever get to a Zen monastery.
Some good background here, although the author clearly plays favorites. Two entire chapters focus on Dōgen Zenji, founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan. The other major Zen school, Rinzai, and it's founder Linji Yixuan gets much less attention. Likewise the influence of Mahayana Buddhism on Zen is profound, taking the majority of the book, while the importance of Taoism is mentioned only in passing. (Your homework is to compare/contrast Zen Enlightenment with Ray Grigg's The Tao of Zen.)
Warning! Chapters 8- 10 delve into religious metaphysics which are definitely hazardous to your reality, and your ability to stay awake. Do not operate heavy machinery while reading this book!
Lots of essential and useful info here, but I suspect the author may not be giving the whole, unbiased picture. Regardless, Zen Enlightenment is an essential addition to your Zen library.
January 29, 2024
Caveats first: Published in 1979, the text exhibits some of the romantic idealism so prevalent in those first decades of Zen in the west, and is thus a bit dated as it comes before some really valuable critical scholarship undertaken since. That said, Dumoulin does quite a good job of contextualizing the Zen traditions.
He begins with a survey of "The Western View of Zen". Since this book was published, the idealization of D. T. Suzuki has been mostly corrected from the perspective offered here, but Dumoulin, writing when he did, expresses accurately how Suzuki was thought of until relatively recently. Dumoulin also looks at Rudolf Otto before spending time surveying so-called "Beat Zen, Psychotherapy, Esoterism" and then focusing on Japanese Zen Meditation and Pluralism and Zen Meditation for Christians.
From here, Dumoulin does a good job in examining "Indian Roots" and "The Birth of Zen in China." He then goes deeper into Chinese Zen (Chan) with chapters devoted to "Bodhidharma", "The Sixth Patriarch" which presents the doctrine or "sudden enlightenment", "The Zen Movement in China" which takes us up to Lin-chi and the 'Five Houses' before a chapter on "The Koan in Chinese Zen" which begins with a presentation on the origin of this unique Zen practice and ends with a view of koan practice from the viewpoint of the history of religions.
The remainder of the book focuses on Japanese Zen, as if the Zen traditions in Korea and Vietnam don't exist. This is an irony of history because the Japanese Zen tradition was the first to come to the West while Japan was actually the last of the four Asian Zen traditions to arise! Much of what we in the west think of as "zen" is actually Japanese aesthetics!
Be that as it may, Dumoulin introduces "Zen Buddhism in Japan" by presenting the different Zen Schools in Japan; followed by a section on the various "Way" (Dō) and Arts such as flower arranging, archery, poetry, etc. Two chapters devoted to Dogen follow: "Dōgen, The Master or Zazen" presents a bit on the life and character of this centrally important figure, and his emphasis on zazen as the focus of Buddhist Spirituality. Following this, Dumoulin presents "Dōgen's Religious Metaphysics: The Doctrine of Buddha-Nature". This is the philosophically densest chapter (as one might expect) and he does a good job of summarizing the key elements of Dōgen's teaching.
The last two chapters are the weakest. "The Zen Experience in Contemporary Accounts" and "Satori: Zen Enlightenment" most suffer due to the singular focus on Japanese Zen. The last chapter on satori looks at the reported experience of those practicing in the Harada tradition that comes from the teaching of Sogaku Harada (1871-1961) who combined elements of ther two principle forms of Japanese Zen, Rinzai and Sōtō and who strongly emphasized striving for "enlightenment." From here, Dumoulin focuses on Harada's most famous disciple, Ryōkō Yasutani and his students' experience of "satori". This is most problematic because it came to light after Dumoulin's book that Yasutani was a rabid militarist nationalist and anti-semite. In fact, Yasutani serves as a great warning and example about the mythos of "mind-to-mind" transmission and so-called "legitimacy" of having a master verify and authenticate one's "enlightenment." Within months of Yasutani's "authentication" he wrote a book using the teachings of Dogen to support the Japan's WWII efforts, deify the emperor, promote the superiority of Japan, foster anti-Semitism and encourage people to exterminate the enemy. Included in his commentary on the First Precept (which, may I remind you is the precept of ahimsa or "non-harm" is the following passage: “Failing to kill an evil man who ought to be killed, or destroying an enemy army that ought to be destroyed, would be to betray compassion and filial obedience, to break the precept forbidding the taking of life. This is a special characteristic of the Mahayana precepts.”
So, keeping that in mind, the first ten chapters are not a bad intro and survey of some aspects of the Zen tradition. Just keep in mind it is dated and completely ignores the extremely important contributions of the Korean (and perhaps to a lesser extent the Vietnamese) Zen traditions.
He begins with a survey of "The Western View of Zen". Since this book was published, the idealization of D. T. Suzuki has been mostly corrected from the perspective offered here, but Dumoulin, writing when he did, expresses accurately how Suzuki was thought of until relatively recently. Dumoulin also looks at Rudolf Otto before spending time surveying so-called "Beat Zen, Psychotherapy, Esoterism" and then focusing on Japanese Zen Meditation and Pluralism and Zen Meditation for Christians.
From here, Dumoulin does a good job in examining "Indian Roots" and "The Birth of Zen in China." He then goes deeper into Chinese Zen (Chan) with chapters devoted to "Bodhidharma", "The Sixth Patriarch" which presents the doctrine or "sudden enlightenment", "The Zen Movement in China" which takes us up to Lin-chi and the 'Five Houses' before a chapter on "The Koan in Chinese Zen" which begins with a presentation on the origin of this unique Zen practice and ends with a view of koan practice from the viewpoint of the history of religions.
The remainder of the book focuses on Japanese Zen, as if the Zen traditions in Korea and Vietnam don't exist. This is an irony of history because the Japanese Zen tradition was the first to come to the West while Japan was actually the last of the four Asian Zen traditions to arise! Much of what we in the west think of as "zen" is actually Japanese aesthetics!
Be that as it may, Dumoulin introduces "Zen Buddhism in Japan" by presenting the different Zen Schools in Japan; followed by a section on the various "Way" (Dō) and Arts such as flower arranging, archery, poetry, etc. Two chapters devoted to Dogen follow: "Dōgen, The Master or Zazen" presents a bit on the life and character of this centrally important figure, and his emphasis on zazen as the focus of Buddhist Spirituality. Following this, Dumoulin presents "Dōgen's Religious Metaphysics: The Doctrine of Buddha-Nature". This is the philosophically densest chapter (as one might expect) and he does a good job of summarizing the key elements of Dōgen's teaching.
The last two chapters are the weakest. "The Zen Experience in Contemporary Accounts" and "Satori: Zen Enlightenment" most suffer due to the singular focus on Japanese Zen. The last chapter on satori looks at the reported experience of those practicing in the Harada tradition that comes from the teaching of Sogaku Harada (1871-1961) who combined elements of ther two principle forms of Japanese Zen, Rinzai and Sōtō and who strongly emphasized striving for "enlightenment." From here, Dumoulin focuses on Harada's most famous disciple, Ryōkō Yasutani and his students' experience of "satori". This is most problematic because it came to light after Dumoulin's book that Yasutani was a rabid militarist nationalist and anti-semite. In fact, Yasutani serves as a great warning and example about the mythos of "mind-to-mind" transmission and so-called "legitimacy" of having a master verify and authenticate one's "enlightenment." Within months of Yasutani's "authentication" he wrote a book using the teachings of Dogen to support the Japan's WWII efforts, deify the emperor, promote the superiority of Japan, foster anti-Semitism and encourage people to exterminate the enemy. Included in his commentary on the First Precept (which, may I remind you is the precept of ahimsa or "non-harm" is the following passage: “Failing to kill an evil man who ought to be killed, or destroying an enemy army that ought to be destroyed, would be to betray compassion and filial obedience, to break the precept forbidding the taking of life. This is a special characteristic of the Mahayana precepts.”
So, keeping that in mind, the first ten chapters are not a bad intro and survey of some aspects of the Zen tradition. Just keep in mind it is dated and completely ignores the extremely important contributions of the Korean (and perhaps to a lesser extent the Vietnamese) Zen traditions.
March 13, 2019
Good examination of how the different branches of Buddhism have regarded one of its key subjects. I already knew some of the details going in, but the depth of understanding Dumoulin brings to all this is welcome. Not an introductory work; best for people who already know the territory to some degree and want nuanced nitty-gritty.
March 5, 2017
As my roommate said, "I feel like Zen Buddhism is a great way to practice, but this book has made me HATE it."
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews