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A Comparison of Theravada and Zen Buddhist Meditational Methods and GoalsAuthor(s): Winston L. KingSource: History of Religions, Vol. 9, No. 4 (May, 1970), pp. 304-315Published by: The University of Chicago Press

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Winston

L.

King

A

COMPARISON

OF

THERAVADA

AND

ZEN BUDDHIST

MEDITATIONAL

METHODS AND

GOALS

A

proposed

comparison

of

Theravada

and

Zen meditation

im-

mediately suggests

striking

contrast,

even

radical

dissimilarity.

And

how could

it be

otherwise,

with some

2,000

years

of

Theravada-

Mahayana divergencies

here

encapsulated

and with

special

Southeast

Asian and

Sino-Japanese

essences

added?

Taking Rinzai as our Zen model, we note the following contrasts

even at

first

glance:

Zen

calls

for sudden

enlightenment

(satori),

truth

received

in

its

instantaneous

wholeness,

whereas

Theravada

elaborates a

complex

array

of

stages

on the

way

to,

and factors

of,

enlightenment.

Satori seems

possible

to

all men

now because

every

man

has

within

him

the

true

Buddha

nature

crying

out

for

full

realization.

So

also

there are

numerous

individuals

now

living

who

are

certified both

outwardly

(by

a

roshi)

and

inwardly

(by

their

own awareness) as having achieved Zen satori. But in Theravada

countries

arahatship

is a

most

precious

and

very

rare

jewel

nowadays.l

By

way

of further

contrast,

Zen

speaks

"positively"

1

In

Theravada

the tradition is

strong

that

one

does not

speak

of

his

own

spiritual

attainments.

To claim

spiritual

states

greater

than

one has

was sufficient

cause

for

expulsion

from the

Sangha.

See

I.

B.

Horner,

Book

of

the

Discipline

Sacred

Books

of the

Buddhists,

vol. 10

(London:

Luzac

&

Co.,

1949),

1:159.

See

also

E.

J.

Thomas,

The

History of

Buddhist

Thought

(New

York:

Barnes

&

Noble,

1967),

pp.

16,

17.

304








Comparison

of

Theravada

and

Zen

Buddhist

Meditation

indirect

and

gently persuasive.

But

this

difference,

I

believe,

has

to

do

more with cultural mode than

with functional

reality.

For

in

both traditions the

pupil

shows to the meditation master the

highest

possible

forms

of

respect

known to his

society,

and

as

long

as

he remains under

a

master's

tutelage,

whether

in

Kyoto

or

Rangoon,

the

hard

discipline goes

on and

the

master's word

is

absolute

law.

One

can

only say

that

the Indian-Southeast

Asian

forms

of

respect

and control are more

intimately

personal

and

unstructured,

"softer"

in

their

feeling

and

tone,

than

the

Sino-

Japanese variety,

which-in its

contemporary

meditation-hall

form,

at least-is more

organizedly

impersonal

and which is

quite

consonant with the

strongly

authoritarian

context of

Japanese

family

life

and the

superior-inferior

modes

of

showing

respect.

Indeed,

the semimilitaristic subordination

of

the individual

to

the

monastery

routine

and

to

its master

is

the

quintessence

of

this

aspect

of

Japanese

social life.

And

it

is

in

this

context,

I

believe,

that

the

markedly

explosive quality

of

some satori

experiences

is

to

be understood.

For,

when

the

meditating

pupil

realizes

his own

satori

beyond

any

doubt, his newfound sense of individuality and

of

being

his own man and his own

independent spiritual

authority

is

overwhelming.

It

results

in

giving

back to

the master

and his

system,

so

to

speak,

as

good

as one

has been

getting.4

But

when

these dramatic contrasts of

style

have been

duly

noted,

it should

be added that the

functions

of

roshi and

guru

are identical: to

bring

the

meditator-pupil

to the

fullness of the

master's

experience

as soon

as

possible.

Each,

in his

own

cultural

way,

is

deeply

solicitous of the pupil's advance and welfare; even the Zen roshi

heartily

and

gladly

welcomes

a

pupil's

satori.5

More

important

is the contrast

between

the

Zen

"positive"

unity-of-self-and-nature

quality

of satoric

awareness

and the

Theravada

"negative"

emphasis

upon

no-self

and

impermanence

as the essence

of the

highest

realization.

Indeed,

with

regard

to

traditional Pali-Canon

Theravada,

one

may

well

speak

of

the

meditator's deliberate

self-alienation

from the sense

life

in

all its

4

Dr. Akihisa

Kondo,

a

Tokyo

psychoanalyst

who worked and studied with

Karen

Homey

and considered

himself

a

disciple

of

D. T.

Suzuki,

said in con-

versation that most

Japanese,

reared

in

the

compacted,

few-roomed

family

atmosphere,

have a

group-unit

awareness

rather than a

highly

individualized

self-

awareness.

This

latter,

when

developed through psychoanalysis,

sometimes

be-

comes

outrageous

and

arrogant

and

needs,

in

turn,

to be

brought

down

to

size

and

mutuality

of

feeling.

Surely

there

is a

partial

parallel

to

Zen

satori

awareness.

5

See

Winston

L.

King,

A

Thousand Lives

Away (Cambridge,

Mass.:

Harvard

University

Press,

1964),

pp.

202

ff.;

Suzuki,

Essays

in

Zen

Buddhism,

First

Series

(New

York:

Grove

Press,

1961),

p.

254;

Philip

Kapleau,

The

Three Pillars

of

Zen

(Tokyo:

Weatherhill,

1965),

chap.

5.

306








History

of

Religions

forms. One's

body

(we

are

told)

is

a

wound

open

to

samsaric

in-

fections,

and the sense life

is a

source of

great

spiritual

danger.

That a pleasant awareness of natural surroundings did sometimes

creep

into the meditative

consciousness

is

evidenced

in the

Thern-

gatha

and

Theragatha;6

and

contemporary

Southeast Asians

live

fully

as much

or

more

in

the consciousness of

nature than

the

Japanese.

Yet,

for orthodox

Theravada,

one

must

say

that

nature

as

such

is

related

to

primarily through

extra-Buddhist

channels

and

is

not viewed as a

direct or

desired

product

of

meditational

experience.7

Coomaraswamy's

comment about

the

Pali-Canon

forest-dwelling meditator is generally appropriate to Theravada:

"The

love of

lonely

places

is

most often for their

very

loneliness.

.

.

.

More

truly

in

accord

with

the monastic

will

to

entire

aloofness

is

the

coldness of

the

monk

Citta

Gutta,

of whom

the

Visshudhi

Magga

relates

that

he

dwelt

for

sixty years

in

a

painted

cave,

before which

there

grew

a

beautiful

rose

chestnut;

yet

not

only

had

he

never

observed

the

paintings

on

the roof of

the

cave,

but he

only

knew when

the tree

flowered

every year,

through

seeing

the

fallen pollen and petals on the ground."8 To this one must add the

emphasis upon

detachment

from

self-in-the-midst-of-life

which

breathes all

through

the

Pali

Canon and is

continued

in

modern

meditational

manuals.

According

to

the

Digha

Nikaya,

the

main

purpose

of

meditation

is to

strengthen

one's

mindfulness

(i.e.,

detached,

alert

awareness)

of

whatever he

does: "And

moreover,

bhikkhus,

a

brother,

when he is

walking,

is aware

of it

thus:-'I

walk';

or

when

he

is

standing,

or

sitting,

or

lying

down,

he

is

aware

of it. However he is disposing of the body, he is aware thereof....

In

going,

standing,

sitting,

sleeping,

watching,

talking,

or

keeping

silence,

he

knows

what he

is

doing....

And

he

abides

independent,

grasping

after

nothing

in

the

world

whatever."9 A

contemporary

meditation

manual

sets forth

still

more

vividly

this

motif

of the

desired

"inner

distance

from

things,

men

and

from

ourselves":

"In

the

course

of

practice,

one will

come

to view

the

postures

of

6

Psalms

of

the

Brethren,

trans.

Mrs.

C.

A.

F.

Rhys

Davids,

Psalms

of the

Early

Buddhists, vol. 2 (London: Oxford University Press, 1937), sts. 113, 115, 887, 1062;

Psalms

of

the

Sisters,

trans.

Mrs. C. A.

F.

Rhys

Davids,

Psalms of the

Early

Buddhists,

vol. 1

(London:

Oxford

University

Press,

1937),

sts.

24,

366 ff.

7

It

is

significant

that the

Burmese

Buddhist's

"religious"

and

efficacious

con-

tact with

nature

is

through

the

extracurricular nat or

nature

spirit.

See

King,

A

Thousand

Lives

Away,

pp.

50

ff., 60-61,

65-66.

8

A.

Coomaraswamy,

Buddha

and the

Gospel

of

Buddhism

(New

Hyde

Park,

N.Y.:

University

Books,

1964),

pp.

169,

170.

9

"MahF

Satipatthana Suttanta,"

Dialogues

of

the

Buddha,

trans.

T.

W.

Rhys

Davids

and

C. A.

F.

Rhys

Davids,

Sacred

Books

of

the

Buddhists,

vol.

3

(London:

Luzac &

Co.,

1966),

pt.

2,

p.

329.

307








Comparison

of

Theravada and Zen Buddhist

Meditation

his

own

body

just

as

one

unconcernedly

views

the automatic

movements

of

a

life-sized

puppet.

The

play

of

the

puppet's

limbs

will evoke a feeling of complete estrangement, and even a slight

amusement like that of

an

onlooker

at

a marionette

show.

By

looking

at

the

postures

with

such a detached

objectivity,

the

habitual

identification with the

body

will

begin

to

dissolve."10

This

may

be

sharply

contrasted

with the

positive-unitive

theme

in

Zen

by quoting

a

single passage

from

Zen: "When

the

mountains

are

seen

as

not

standing against

me,

when

they

are

dissolved

into

the

oneness

of

things, they

are not

mountains,

they

cease

to exist

as

objects of Nature. But [on the other hand] when they are seen as

standing against

me,

as

separate

from

me

...

they

are not

moun-

tains either. The

mountains

are

really

mountains

when

they

are

assimilated into

my being

and

I

am absorbed

in them."11

How

then shall we understand

this difference

between

the

Theravada

"estrangement"

from

nature

and the

Zen

mountain-in-

me

and I-in-mountain

awareness?

Zen has

obviously

been

deeply

influenced

by

Chinese

Taoist

and

Japanese

Shinto

naturistic

mystical aestheticism, whereas Theravada embodies a modified

Hindu

ascetic-monastic

conceptual

tradition-though

further

modified

in

practice

by

Southeast

Asian

tolerance

and

gradualism.

Yet be

it noted that

both,

as

Buddhist,

consider

ordinary

selfhood

and its modes of awareness

to be

empty

of

reality

(anattd,

or

sunyatd);

and

both

specifically

aim

at the

total

destruction

of

our

illusion

of

separate

individuality.

In its

Sino-Japanese

context

Zen

positively

and

"cosmotheistically"12

emphasizes

a

unifying

absolutist awareness and thus dissolves separative individualism,

while

Theravada,

working

within

its

traditional

terminology

of

sense-world

rejection,

speaks

in the

main

negatively

of

the

de-

struction

of belief

in

the

reality

of

things,

selves,

and

all

conceptual

entities

as its

experiential

goal.

But

by

this

very

destruction

of

such

beliefs

Theravada

also seeks

to

destroy

the

separativeness

that is

inherent

in

ordinary

self-consciousness

and to

dwell

"benevolent

in

mind,

compassionate

for

the

welfare

of

all

creatures

and beings." 13

10

Nyanaponika

(Thera),

The

Heart

of

Buddhist

Meditation

(London:

Rider

&

Co.,

1962),

pp.

43,

64.

11

D. T.

Suzuki,

Zen

Buddhism,

ed.

William

Barrett

(New

York:

Doubleday,

Inc.,

1956),

p.

240.

12

Heinrich

Dumoulin,

Ostliche

Meditation

und

christliche

Mystik

(Freiburg:

Alber

Verlag,

1966),

p.

64.

13

Middle

Length

Sayings,

trans.

I.

B.

Horer

(London:

Luzac

&

Co.,

1959),

3:181.

308








History

of

Religions

Thus,

in

the

end,

"negative"

Theravada also seeks

to

join

the

individual

in

nonindividualistic

and

compassionate

"unity"

with

all other

beings.

For us, then, it remains

only

to

judge

which of

these

modes of

realizing unity might

be

existentially

the

more

efficacious for the

majority

of

mankind.

II

But three

genuinely

major

comparative

problems

remain.

A. SUDDEN

VERSUS

GRADUAL ENLIGHTENMENT

Let it be said at once that Zen "suddenness" cannot be set

simply

and

diametrically

over

against

Theravada

"gradualness."

Zen

itself was

early

involved

in

its

own

internal

disputes

over sudden

and

gradual enlightenment,

as the

Platform

Sutra

of

the

Sixth

Patriarch

bears

witness.14

And in

one

sense

contemporary

Soto

and Rinzai

Zen

may

be considered

to

be

"gradualist"

and "sud-

den,"

respectively,

since the former

encourages

meditational

sitting

without

any expectation

of

suddenly enlightening

ex-

periences, while the latter takes them for granted. There is a further

complication

in

the

necessity

of

the roshi's external

authentication

of the

meditator's

experience

of

satori,

whereas the

arahats

in

Pdli

scripture

accounts knew

absolutely

for

themselves

when

they

had

arrived.

But

quite

dogmatically

we

may say:

When

enlightenment

comes,

either

in

Zen

or

Theravada,

it

is

always

sudden.15

In

support

of

this

it

may

be

observed that

Gotama

took

a vow not to

leave the

bodhi tree until he achieved enlightenment, and that in the third

watch

of

a

specific

night

he

saw

reality

"as

it

truly

is."

If

not

lightning-instantaneous,

his

enlightenment

can thus

be

pinpointed

within a

very

few

hours

at most.

So too do

the similar

vows

and

specific

experiences

related

in

the

Therigatha

and

Theragathal6

suggest experiential

suddenness. And there

is in

the

Theravada

tradition the

story

of

an

acrobat who received

his

enlighten-

ment

while

juggling.17

Indeed,

definiteness of attainment

is

very

14

This

Sutra

portrays

Hui-Neng,

the unlettered

apostle

of sudden

enlighten-

ment,

as the

correct and

successful

opponent

of

Shen-hsiu,

the

representative

of

the

gradualists,

in

the

seventh

century

A.D.

15

This

point

was

made

repeatedly

by

Walpola

Rahula at the

Buddhism Semi-

nar,

Carleton

College,

August,

1968.

16

Psalms

of

the

Sisters

[Therigatha],

sts.

27, 30, 37-47,

67-71,

72-76,

77

ff.,

120-21,

433,

et

passim;

Psalms

of

the

Brethren

[Theragatha],

sts.

104,222-24,311-

314,

408-10, 436,

510-517.

17

According

to

Rahula.

Cf.

this statement

by

Nyanaponika

(Thera)

in The

Power

of

Mindfulness,

Wheel Publication

no.

121/122

(Kandy:

Buddhist

Publi-

309








Comparison

of

Theravada

and Zen

Buddhist

Meditation

explicitly

present

within

the classic Theravada

tradition;

and

definiteness

inherently

implies

at least

some

degree

of suddenness.

With

regard

to Zen

satori,

we

may

note that it

appears

more

sudden

only

by

virtue

of

emphasis upon

the final

moment

itself,

for

in

Zen, too,

are

present

both

preparation

for

and

consequent

development

of

satori.

As

noted,

the roshi

may

refuse to acknowl-

edge

lesser

experiences

as

genuine

satori

and

slightingly

refer to

them as

kensho. He

relentlessly

pushes

the

meditator

on

to

a

deeper experience.

Indeed,

the

philosophy

of some

is that the

harder the

master

and

the

longer

withheld his certification

of

satori, the

greater

and

deeper

is that satori.18 Now, is not this

"gradualism" by

whatever name?

Further,

there are those

who

are

sparing

of

the

use

of

the term "satori"

itself,

or

speak

of

having

had several

satoris; or,

with the late Mrs.

Sasaki,

they suggest

that

while the

first satori is

a

unique turning

point,

it

needs

to be

"extended" or

"deepened"

or

"further

developed":

"The

practice

of

Zen is

just

like

making

a

fine sword

....

For

this reason

the

more satoris

you

have attained the

more

you

must

experience,

the

clearer your understanding becomes the more you must study."19

To

repeat:

"suddenness"

or

"gradualness"

of

enlightenment

then

appears

to

depend primarily

upon emphasis and/or

point

of

specification.

One

may

choose

to

emphasize

the

prior

preparation

(or

subsequent

development)

and

call it

"gradual";

or

one

may

stress

the

experiential

breakthrough

and call it

"sudden."

But

in

both

Theravada

and Zen there

are

development

and

pinpointed

breakthrough.

Why then the differing stress? After the early Buddhist days of

experiential

spontaneity-scripturally

indicated

by

the "thou-

sands"

reported

to

have become

arahats-monastic

scholasticism

took over.

Indulging

in the

Indian

penchant

for

classification

and

analysis,

this scholasticism

detailed

all of

the

steps

and factors

leading

to

enlightenment,

confined

meditational

possibility

largely

to the

monastery,

and this both

slowed

down

and rarified

successful

cation

Society, 1968),

p.

47:

"Many

instances

are

recorded

of

monks

where

the

flash of intuitive

penetration

did not strike

them

when

they

were

engaged

in

the

meditative

practice

of

insight proper,

but

on

quite

different

occasions:

when

stumbling,

when

seeing

a forest

fire,

a

fata-morgana,

a

lump

of

froth

in a

river,

etc."

18

This was Ruth

Fuller

Sasaki's

opinion.

19

Issha Miura

and

Ruth

Fuller

Sasaki,

Zen

Dust

(Kyoto:

First Zen Institute

of

America

in

Japan,

1966),

pp.

58-59.

Mrs.

Sasaki

liked

to

use

the

analogy

of one's

having

got

to a

mountaintop

suddenly

(by

the

first

satori)

but

needing

further

(by

continued koan

study

and

meditation)

to look

upon

the

way

by

which

he

had

arrived,

somewhat

mysteriously,

in

order

to

understand

it better.

310








History

of

Religions

meditation.20

However,

with

Nagarjuna,

even

Indian

Buddhism

had

already

arrived at

the conviction that

Nirvana

(the

goal

or

meditation)

is

implicit

in

present

reality

(sahmsra)

and is not to be

found

at

the far end

of a

long

journey.

This,

coupled

with

the

Sino-Japanese

impatience

with

metaphysical speculation

and

a

fundamental reliance

upon

intuitional

apprehension

of

existential

truth,

resulted in

an

attempt

to

bypass

all

methodological

elabora-

tion

and

gradualness

and

get

to the

experiential

heart of

the

matter at

once.21

And,

interestingly

enough,

some

observers see

in

contemporary

South

Asian

meditation

a

similar

impatience

with

the classical, tradition-encrusted, category-ridden, and monastery-

imprisoned

Theravada

meditational

process.

Writes

Nyanaponika

(Thera)

about the new

Burman

method

of

body-self

mindfulness:

"At

that

time

[early

twentieth

century]

a Burman

monk,

U

Narada

by

name,

bent

on actual

realization of

the

teachings

he had

learnt,

was

eagerly

searching

for

a

system

offering

direct access

to

the

Highest

Goal

without

encumberment

by

accessories ....

The

results he

achieved in

his own

practice

convinced

him

that he had

found what he was searching for; a clear-cut and effective method

of

training

the

mind

for

highest

realization."

22

The

urgency

of

rapid

attainment,

and

presumably

sudden

breakthrough,

is

the

more

striking

in

the

high-intensity

rough-breathing

(or

sunlun)

method

of

meditation

and

suggests

that

contemporary

Theravada

may

be

approximating

Zen in

its

emphases

upon

a

more

vigorous

method and

possibly

faster

results.

B. THERAVADA EQUIVALENTS OF ZEN KOAN USE

On the

face of it

Rinzai

Zen

is

unique

in its

use of

the

koan-but

only

on the

face

of it.

For,

going

directly

to

the heart

of

the

matter in

good

Zen

fashion:

What is

the

function

of the

koan?

This

nonconceptual,

nonintellectualizable

item

is

made

the sole

content

of the

meditator's

intellectual-emotional

diet

for

weeks,

with

only

his

own

sweat

and

agony

and

the

roshi's

comments,

non-

comments,

and

blows

to

season it. His total

existence is

centered

around "solving" the koan, whether in actual zazen or in working,

walking,

eating,

or

sleeping.

It

becomes his

"thing";

he

becomes

a

mass

of

existential

concern

wrapped

around

the

koan,

so

that it

is

like

a

red-hot ball

of iron

that

he

has

swallowed and now is

unable

20

But

most

meditation

masters

today

would

agree

with the

comment

of a

con-

temporary

Burmese

that

some

meditators

pass through

all these

steps

in

a

short

time.

21

See

Suzuki,

Zen

Buddhism,

pp.

48-58.

22

The

Heart

of

Buddhist

Meditation,

pp.

85,

86.

2

311








Comparison

of

Theravada

and Zen

Buddhist Meditation

to

regurgitate,

evacuate,

or

digest.

Around this center

gather

the

totality

of one's basic

anxieties,

not so much

in

the nature of

intellectual

questionings

and

doubts

as

in

the

experienced

Angst

of

a

human

being

on

the brink

of the

abysslike

threat of

nonsignifi-

cance

and

nonbeing.

Oneself

becomes the

koan

question

to be

answered,

as

Thomas Merton

puts

it;23

and

"solution"

must be an

existential

breakthrough

into

a new mode

of

awareness

and

life

orientation-following

the death

anguish

of the old conventional

selfhood.

What

serves

this function

in

Theravada meditation?

The atten-

tive mindfulness focused on breath,

body

processes,

thoughts,

and

emotions.

This

may begin

with

breath

mindfulness,

directed

toward

breath motion at nostril or

in the abdomen.

This breath

movement

or

breath

sensation

must

occupy

the

totality

of

con-

sciousness

(just

like the Zen

koan),

or

it

cannot

be

effective.

Beginning

here with his own "external"

body,

the

meditator seeks

to

perfect

the

power

of

one-pointedness

of mind

(or

attention),

which

subsequently

can be

focused

anywhere

at will.24

When his

one-pointedness of mind becomes sufficiently developed, he then

shifts to that

deeper

sort

of

meditation

known as

vipassand.

Here

the

aim is

to

go beyond

mere

one-pointed

mindfulness

to

a

fully

existential realization of

anicca-anatta-dukkha

(impermanence-

emptiness-suffering)

in one's

own

body-mind

totality,

a

totality

which includes

especially

the inner

man of

thought

and

emotion.

The

sunlun

intensification

of this

method

prescribes

a forced

pace

of

regular

intervals of

heavy

and sustained

breathing

throughout

longish periods (even up to twenty-four hours), and thereby hopes

to

produce

such

a vivid

sense

of existence

as

inherent

suffering,

now

intensified within

one's

own

body,

that

the meditator

actually

experiences

death

feelings

or

personality-dissolution

feelings.

He

literally

feels

himself to be

standing

on

the

edge

of

an

abyss

of

nonbeing.

Here

is a firsthand

report

from

a Burmese

meditator:

One

day

while I

was

practicing

at

home,

I felt

my body

was

dashing

away

at a

terrific

speed

toward

something,

but

I did

not know

what.

Like

a run-

away car crashing against a rocky hill, I thought I would be smashed to

pieces.

A

great

fear seized me and

I

jerked

myself

away

from

that

sensation.

Once

I

was

free from the clutches

of the

terrible

sensation

I

realized

that

I

had

missed a

great

experience.

I

should

have

faced that

terrible

sensation

without

fear,

with

mindfulness

as

my

only

stay....

Why

had

I

turned back?

The

reason

was

quite

simple.

I

did

not want to

be

free from

what

is

Suffering;

for the end

of

suffering

means

the

end of

life.

23

"The Zen

Koan,"

Lugano

Review

1

(1966):126.

24

King,

A

Thousand Lives

Away,

appendix.

312








History

of

Religions

Life and

suffering

cannot

be

separated....

I realized

that

my

clinging

desire for life had

made me

turn back from

the bound of

freedom.25

What have we here? Without any unduly strained

interpreta-

tion,

this

experience appears

to be

functionally

and

emotionally

equivalent

to

the

Great

Death threat

to

ordinary

selfhood in

Zen.

Here in the

body-mind

mindfulness

practice,

one is his

own

koan

in

which

are encountered in

existential

depth

and

first-personal

reality

all

of

the

tensions of life-death

existence,

of

being

and

non-

being,

of inner and outer

identity,

and

of

existence

as

both

deter-

mined and free.

C.

THERAVADA

EQUIVALENTS

OF

SATORI

I

come

last

to

the most

dubious

part

of

my enterprise:

the

attempt

to

equate

one

type

of

inner

experience

with

another.

Perhaps

making

such

comparisons

is

intrinsically

fruitless; for,

as

Walpola

Rahula has

rightly

suggested26

the

language

in

which

satori and

enlightenment

are

respectively reported

is

usually

culturally

and

traditionally

stereotyped

and

tells us

little or

nothing

about

the

true inner quality of the experience itself. For example, what does

it mean

experientially

to

say

with

the

Theravadin:

I

win,

I win

the

Triple

Lore

The

Buddha's

will is

done.27

Or

with

the

Zen-satoried individual

to

say

that

now

mountains

are

mountains,

trees

are

trees,

and

rivers are rivers

again?

One

may

wish

to

say flatly

that all

such

experiences

are

ineffable

in

essence; hence,

to

deal

with

their

reported

content

is but

to

analyze the respective cultural and traditional contexts.

There

is,

besides

this,

the

contemporary

Theravada

reluctance

to

speak

at all

of

one's

own

attainments,

especially

in

any

com-

parative

manner.

One

may suspect

a

degenerate-age

psychology

which

seeks to

cover

up

its

own

embarrassment at its

paucity

of

arahatship

with

appropriate

scriptural

warnings

against

pride.

But,

in

any

case,

to

his

meditation

master one

must

report

inner

happenings;

and the

master

definitely

has

some

sense of

where

the

meditator is along the way.28 Further, the classic Theravada

25

Khin

Myo

Chit,

"Buddhist

Pilgrim's

Progress,"

Guardian

Magazine (Ran-

goon)

(February 1963),

p.

17.

26

Buddhism

Seminar,

Carleton

College,

August

1968.

27

Psalms

of

the

Sisters,

st.

30,

p.

28.

28

Upon

reading

the

result of

E. H.

Shattock's

meditation

reported

in

his An

Experiment

in

Mindfulness

(London: Rider,

1958),

U

Ba

Khin

of

the

Rangoon

International

Meditation

Center

forcefully

indicated that it

was

a

very

meager

attainment

in

his

view.

313








Comparison

of

Theravada

and

Zen

Buddhist Meditation

tradition

clearly

categorizes

the

various

stages

of attainment

on

the

long

road

to

Nirvana

as

sotdpanna

(stream-enterer),

sakdde-

gamin (once-returner),

andgdmin

(nonreturner),

and arahat

(en-

lightenment-attainer).

So too

are

the various

accompanying

meditational states

carefully analyzed

and

graded.29

Thus,

our

comparison

may

seem to

be

one

of

asteroids

with asterisks.

But,

since Theravada

categorized-and-final

enlightenment

and

Zen

noncategorized-but-supreme

satori

both

profess

to be true

Buddhist

enlightenment,

they

invite

comparison

nonetheless.

Let

me

therefore

venture

a

highly

tentative

comparative

evaluation: First satori can be

equated

with the stream-enterer

(sotapanna)

experience

in the Theravada

tradition.

This

equivalence

I

shall

try

to

support,

not

so

much

by

an

analysis

of

what is said

in

stereotyped

format

about the

attainments,

but

by analysis

of

function

and

place

of the

experiences

within

the

respective

meditational

progressions.

For

Zen the

first satori

is

unique.

It is

an

initial

breakthrough

in

which

the conventional

mode of

subject-object

awareness

is

per-

manently

transcended. As with a

picture

puzzle

once solved, so

life

awareness,

once

satoried,

can never

be

the same

again-even

though

one

may

later

deepen

the

initial

experience.

So

also

the

sotdpanna

or stream-enterer

stage

is

the

Theravada

breakthrough.

For,

once

one enters

the stream

of

salvation,

he exists

in a new

dimension;

he is an

ariya;

he

cannot

lapse

into less

than

human

(i.e.,

less

than

Nirvana-possible)

states

of

existence

and

has

at

most

only

seven

rebirths before

his

final

Nirvana.

He now

lives

in

an

enduring

awareness of the

great

liberating truth of things as

they

truly

are and

of

his own

anattahood.

And the three

higher

stages

of

attainment,

including

arahatship,

are

actually

but

the

refinement

and

perfection

of

sotapannahood.

A

few

quotations

from

the

late

great

Ledi

Sayadaw

will

make

my

point

here:

When a

person

attains

Sotapattimagga

(the

Path

of

Stream-winning),

micchdditthi

(Wrong

Understanding)

and

vicikicha

(Sceptical

Doubt)

that

accompany

him

come to an end.

All of

his accumulated

old

unwholesome

kammas and those unwholesome actions that have been performed by him

.

.

. become

ineffective.

From the

moment

they

[sotdpannas]

attain

the Path

of

Stream-winning

.

.

they

have

thus attained

sa-upddi-sesa-nibbdna

(the

Full Extinction

of

Defilements

with

the

Groups

of

Existence

still

remaining)

. .

. the

inherent

qualities

of

the

Holy

Ones

[ariyas]

ever

exist in them

and

they

become

stronger

and

stronger

in

succeeding

existences.

The

Sa-upddi-sesa-nibbana

29

King,

A

Thousand Lives

Away, pp.

106

ff.,

222-23.

314








History of Religions

attained

by

Sotipannas

is never

destroyed

and so

it is

eternal. The state

of

the

Unoriginated,

Uncreated

is

...

enjoyed

by

Sotapdnnas.30

Structurally and functionally, therefore, satori and sotapanna-

hood are both

definitive

breakthroughs

into

the realm

of

enlighten-

ment. Both are

unique

for the

experiencer,

and both are

perma-

nent. But

Theravada,

with

its

view

of Nirvana as

the

great

goal

of

the

chronological

end

of

samsara,

conceives

its final attainment

as

now

only

a

very

few

lives

away;

and

Zen,

with

its

Mahayanist

"Samsara

is

Nirvana"

background,

conceives the final attainment

in

terms of

successive

this-life,

here-now

deepenings

of

satori. But

these

differences are cultural dressing rather than experiential essence.

Finally

we

may

ask: Is there

any

evidence

of satorilike ex-

perience

at

the sotdpanna level which

comes

through, stereotyped

formulas

notwithstanding? Though

it

must be taken for

granted

that

one knows when

he has

attained this level

(at

least with

the

help

of a

meditation

master),

Theravada

scriptures

and

tradition

have

little to

say directly

about

the

experiential quality

of

the

attainment

of

sotapannahood.

Perhaps

the

reasons

for

this

near

silence are the obsessive Theravada magnification of the final per-

fection

of

arahatship

at

the

expense

of

all

lesser

stages,

the scholas-

tic

elaboration

of those

stages,

and the de

facto confinement

of

direct

Nirvana

seeking

to monastic life.

Yet

once,

according

to

Theravada

scriptures,

arahatship

was

very

common

or

almost the

rule

for

monks.

Could

it have

been rather

sotapannahood

that was

meant?

But,

regardless,

when

meditation masters

today speak

of

"the

attainment of

Nirvanic

peace"as

the

goal

of meditation and

hold it out as possible even for laymen, I suggest that their intent

(spoken

or

not)

is

thereby

to

indicate

sotapannahood.

And

perhaps

the

report

of

the

final,

victorious

passing

of

our Burmese

meditator

through

the

jaws

of

the

deathlike

experience

can

be

considered an

account

of the

attainment of

sotapannahood.

One

night

I

lay

...

practicing

mindfulness of the

bodily

sensations....

My

whole

body

began

to

vibrate as

if

an electric shock

was

running

through

me....

The

vibrations

became

more and more violent....

Soon it

seemed

that

mindfulness

and

sensations had met in

a death

struggle

in which

fear

caused by the thought, "What shall become of me?" had no place. When

two

things, namely

the

sensation and

mindfulness

existed,

there was no

place

for

I. The illusion

of

I

was

broken.... I did

not know

how

long

this went

on.

The next

thing

I

knew I

was

sitting

cross-legs,

my

whole

body

wide

open

like

the

boundless

sky,

with

nothing

to

hang

on,

nothing

to

cling

to....

There

was

nothing

but

peace

in

my

heart.31

30

Mahathera

Ledi

Sayadaw,

The

Manuals

of

Buddhism

(Rangoon:

Union

Buddha

Sasana

Council,

1965),

pp.

157-59. It is to be

observed

that

the Ledi

Sayadaw

here

uses

sa-upddi-sesa-nibbana

Nirvana

in

this

life)

of

all four

of

the

ariya

stages

and

not

only (as

is more

usual)

with

regard

to

arahats

only.

31

Khin

Myo

Chit,

p.

19.

315

thervada zen comparison

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