I have seen so much discussion of Rinzai and Soto Zen, that I was unaware there was a third offshoot which was a nice blend of the others. Here's a good introduction should you not know of it.
From the Encyclopedia Britannica:
Ōbaku, Chinese Huang-po, one of the three Zen sects in Japan, founded in 1654 by the Chinese priest Yin-yüan (Japanese Ingen); it continues to preserve elements of the Chinese tradition in its architecture, religious ceremonies, and teachings. Although the methods of achieving sudden insight as developed by the Rinzai sect are practiced by Ōbaku monks, invocation of the name of the Buddha Amida (nembutsu) is also used. The head temple of the sect is the Mampuku-ji in Kyōto.
I had spent yesterday reading through Iron Eyes: The Life and Teachings of Obaku Zen Master Tetsugen Doko by Helen J. Baroni. I was most drawn to this passage which I share below:
Bodhisattvas transcend the twofold delusion of ordinary people, and see that this very body is the Tathagata, the Dharmakāya. [The Buddha] teaches this in the Heart Sutra, [saying] “Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form.” “Form” means this body. “Emptiness” means the absolute void; the absolute void is the Dharmakāya, and the Dharmakāya is the Tathagata. This means that this body is itself the Dharmakāya, and the Dharmakāya is itself this body. Not realizing that the four great elements are originally the Dharmakāya itself, those in the two vehicles believe that the [four elements] are insentient beings.
When you see with the eyes of a bodhisattva, the four great elements are all the true body of the Dharmakāya. Therefore, it explains in the Śūramgama Sutra, “The nature of form is emptiness, and emptiness is the nature of form.” “Form” is the [element] earth. “Nature” refers to “the nature of form” because earth is fundamentally the Dharmakāya itself. Since it is the nature of form, it is empty.
Again, in the same sutra it says of water that “the nature of water is emptiness and emptiness is the nature of water”; of fire that “the nature of fire is emptiness and emptiness is the nature of fire”; and of wind that “the nature of wind is emptiness and emptiness is the nature of wind.” This means that just as with earth, water is itself the Dharmakāya, and the Dharmakāya is itself water. Fire is itself the Dharmakāya, and the Dharmakāya is itself fire. Wind is itself the Dharmakāya, and the Dharmakāya is itself wind. Since this is the case, the four great elements are not essentially the four great elements, but are the Mysterious Body of the Tathagata, the Dharmakāya. Ordinary people and those in the two vehicles are deluded and so think that they are the four great elements.
If you understand that the four great elements are fundamentally the Buddha, then not only will you see that your own body is from the start the Dharmakāya, but that everything even down to the heavens, the earth, the sky, and all of the universe is the mysterious body of the Dharmakāya. We say of the time when this enlightenment is achieved that “all dharmas are ultimate reality” and “the grass, the trees, the nations, and the earth all without exception attain Buddhahood.”
Not only the grass, the trees, the nations, and the earth, but even the sky is the body of the Dharmakāya, but because we are deluded we think it is [just] the sky. When you achieve enlightenment, you will transcend the delusion of thinking it is [just] the sky and attain the enlightenment that all dharmas are one thusness. Therefore, the Śūramgama Sutra says, “When a person gives rise to the truth and returns to the source, the sky in all ten directions temporarily disappears.” The Perfect Enlightenment Sutra says, “The infinite sky is illuminated by enlightenment.” In the Zen school we say, “The universe sinks and the sky crumbles.” Even those that teach that ultimate bliss is a land of gold have changed the name for the sake of ordinary people. If you open up and see this enlightenment, while the self is [still] the self, it is fundamentally the Dharmakāya itself, and so is not born. Since it is not born, it does not die. This is called “nonarising and nonperishing,” and also “the Buddha of Immeasurable Light.” Seeing it as born and dying is referred to as the dream of delusion.
Since I am already like this, other people are as well. Since human beings are like this, even birds and beasts, grass, trees, earth, and stones are this way. The Amida Sutra says, “Water, birds, trees and forests call out ‘contemplate the Buddha, contemplate the Dharma, contemplate the Sangha.” When it says, “The Buddhas in all ten directions speak with the Buddha’s broad tongue to the three thousand great one thousand worlds, and teach the Dharma,” it is also speaking of the time [of enlightenment]. The Lotus Sutra says, “All dharmas from their very origin are themselves eternally characterized by the marks of quiet and extinction,” and “The endurance of the dharmas, the secure position of the dharmas, in the world ever abiding.” These are all places that express the attainment of enlightenment. By practicing zazen and kōans very diligently, you will attain this kind of enlightenment, and by transcending the delusion of the skandha of form you will awaken to the Dharmakāya, Ultimate Reality itself.
My notes:
The Dharmakāya is Vairocana (which is Cosmic Space, Emptiness). It is common that Vairocana and Amida Buddha are seen as one, both of whom make up the Dharmakāya - I believe this is as Vairocana's name means "He who is like the Sun", and of course Amida is "Infinite Light", and Amida in the Five Wisdom Tathagathas is the Buddha of the Fire element (which would make sense to correlate to the Sun).
Realizing the four elements are the truth body (Dharmakāya), is to realize the emptiness of form. This is mapped on the Five Dhyani Buddhas where the four elements surround Vairocana in the center, and the four elements are each given a transcendent Wisdom (meditation on formlessness), which is "Nothing". (As Case 74 of the Blue Cliff Record states, when one realizes their non-dual nature and the inherent bright, bliss and purity of their own nature, the Zen Master speaks the words of Vairocana (which is to speak truth).
I really enjoyed how Obaku mentions Zazen and Koans, it's like a healthy blend of Rinzai and Soto's strongsuits.
Obaku was founded by Yinyuan Longqi. Yinyuan authored several texts (Huangbo yulu, Hongjie fayi, Fushō kokushi kōroku, Ōbaku oshō fusō goroku, Ingen hōgo, and Ōbaku shingi... Hopefully I'll be able to locate these and investigate them should they be translated, they are noticeably absent from his Terebess page.)
Hakuin's followers seemed to have issues with the school of Obaku, the wikipedia page provides an interesting quote from T. Griffith Foulk:
The followers of Hakuin Ekaku (1687—1769) tried to purge the elements of Ōbaku Zen they found objectionable. They suppressed the Pure Land practice of reciting Amida Buddha's name, deemphasized the Vinaya, and replaced sutra study with a more narrow focus on traditional koan collections.
Submitted December 22, 2017 at 08:19PM by Dillon123 http://ift.tt/2BY4nGJ
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