What they believe: Critical Dogen Buddhism v/s the other Dogens via Pruning the Bodhi Tree

Stone, some reflections on Critical [Dogen] Buddhism, a review of Pruning the Bodhi Tree

THE INTELLECTUAL MOVEMENT known as “Critical Buddhism” began around the mid-1980s in [Dogen Buddhist] circles, led by Hakamaya Noriaki and Matsumoto Shiré, both Buddhologists as well as ordained [Dogen Buddhist] priests. Since then it has indeed raised storm waves on the normally placid waters of japanese academic Buddhist studies.

“Criticism alone is Buddhism," declares Hakamaya, by which he means the critical discrimination of truth from error. Aggressively normative, Critical Buddhism does not hesitate to pronounce on what represents “true” Buddhism and what does not.

By its definition, Buddhism is simply the teachings of non-self (anatman) and dependent origination (pratitya samutpada). Many of the most influential of Mahayana ideas, including notions of universal Buddha nature, (tathagata-garbha) original enlightenment, the nonduality of the Vimalakirti Sutra, and the “absolute nothingness” of the Kyoto school, are all condemned as reverting to fundamentally non-Buddhist notions of (atman), that is, substantial essence or ground.

Thus they are to be rejected as “not Buddhism”—the “pruning" of this volumc’s title. At stake is not merely a claim about doctrinal correctness but a reform of Buddhism’s social role. For Critical Buddhists, the proposition that all things participate in an innate, original enlightenment, far from being egalitarian, has in fact engendered and perpetuated social injustice by sacralizing the status quo.

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^(Welcome) ...ewk note: Stone's intro to Pruning is really concise, and it outlines essential issues in Dogen Buddhism and sets up the groundwork for catechism questions for Dogen Buddhists and Mahayana Buddhists in general. To wit, define the term and doctrinal statements for the following:

1. non-self (anatman)
2. dependent origination (pratitya samutpada)
3. universal Buddha nature
4. (tathagata-garbha) original enlightenment,
5. the nonduality as defined by the Vimalakirti Sutra

PS. Anybody who clicks the link to wikipedia's page can see how absolutely biased against Zen the page's "chan" section is.

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Next Up: What do Zen Masters teach regarding these Mahayana Catechism Questions?

Submitted December 16, 2019 at 06:38AM by ewk https://ift.tt/2tnK7fh