Historians agree Zazen was fraud... what about Silent Illumination?

I was pointed toward this text from Dahui as "proof" that silent illumination was somehow connected to Zazen prayer-meditation which scholars now agree was invented by Dogen and not by Bodhidharma as Dogen claimed.

Essential function of buddha after buddha,

Functioning essence of ancestor after ancestor –

It knows without touching things;

It illumines without facing objects.

Knowing without touching things,

Its knowing is inherently subtle; Illumining without facing objects,

Its illumining is inherently mysterious.

It’s knowing inherently subtle,

It is ever without discriminatory thought;

Its illumining inherently mysterious,

It is ever without a hair’s breadth of sign.

Ever without discriminatory thought,

Its knowing is rare without peer;

Ever without a hair’s breadth of sign,

Its illumining comprehends without grasping.

The water is clear right through to the bottom;

A fish goes lazily along.

The sky is vast without horizon;

A bird flies far far away.

Could silent illumination be related to Zazen prayer-meditation, in some other way if not historically?

.

Welcome! ewk comment:

1. Silent Illumination is non-methodical awareness.

   • Zazen prayer-meditation is a specific practice promising a benefit within the practice, and is described as primarily physical.

2. Silent Illumination never produced a "how to" manual

   • Zazen prayer-meditation is defined by Dogen's plagiarizing of a sitting meditation manual.

3. Silent Illumination is, like koan study, like dharma interviews, a spur for sudden enlightenment.

   • Zazen prayer-meditation is not only a gradual practice, it is the practice itself which is the object of desire for followers.

A little Goog-le provides this food for thought from the world on the other side of the academic paywall:

• Hongzhi primarily promotes and articulates his vision of silent meditation through poetic means, including his famous “Inscription of Silent Illumination” (Mozhao ming), as well as the images of the “withered tree” and “cold ashes” associated with the Caodong meditative ideal of absolute silence. Furthermore, when these texts and images are analyzed in their poetic contexts, “silent illumination” appears to be far more dynamic than usually conceived, thus, accounting for an active component that encompasses the vital role of words and letters. In this manner, Hongzhi depicts a vision of Caodong practice that synthesizes wordless meditation with poetic composition as two complementary sides of a single mode of religious cultivation. Furthermore, this paradoxical synthesis corresponds to the identification of the ultimate and conventional truths within Caodong Zen philosophy. In sum, contrary to the predominant perception of Caodong practice as simply identified with absolute silence, for Hongzhi, an active and dynamic engagement with poetic composition more accurately characterizes how he imagined the lineage’s teachings.

From this we can see that FukanZazenGi was not only a work based on plagiarism, not only a work that intentionally perpetrated fraud upon the uneducated Japanese monks who followed him, and not only was Zazen prayer-meditation entirely abandoned by Dogen after only a few years... it entirely eliminates both the sudden enlightenment purpose of silent illumination as well as the poetic expression of the enlightenment that was Hongzhi's result.

Submitted September 02, 2022 at 02:59PM by ewk https://ift.tt/QliSyUm