Cellulose production and genes involved

Dear Gail:

I’ll continue with the study of Zen. Its spontaneity became the ideal antidote for the Confucian rigidity of the social order. It acted as a marriage between extreme opposites, which is characteristic of the Japanese culture. Both came from China where Confucianism determined law, order, book-learning and convention. Taoism pointed toward the intuitive Way—the inner man and the ultimate reality. Zen probably owes more to Taoism than to Buddhism.

Zen took immediate roots when it came to Japan around the 12th century. By a feat of mental acrobatics, of which perhaps no other nation would be capable, the gentle, non-violent doctrine of the Buddha became the adopted creed of the murderous samurai. Later it became the dominant influence in painting, landscape gardening, flower arrangement, tea ceremony, firefly hunting, etc., on one hand—and on the other, it had its influence on swordsmanship, wrestling, Judo, archery, dive bombing, and so on. The secret was in a simple formula applicable to all of these diverse activities, the panacea of Zen: trust your intuition, short-circuit reflection, discard caution, and act spontaneously. It worked wonders with people tied in knots, conditioned to the reverse set of principles.

To brush aside all obstacles something of this type was needed—for Satori, or the enlightenment. Thus there came a time when the painter or the swordsman became the mysterious IT, and was no longer wielding the brush or sword, but rather, that force behind him, was doing so. When the final enlightenment was reached, the pupil lived as one dead that is, detached and indifferent to success or failure.

Satori is then emancipation of a moral, spiritual and intellectual nature. The doer has his freedom in its primary sense. In this state the mind discovers all sorts of values hitherto hidden from sight. Thus one works into what would be known in English as a well-balanced or integrated personality.

Zen was derived from Yoga and cultivates the use of Sanskrit terms, but it aims in the opposite direction.

Samadhi, the enlightenment of the Yogi is the elimination of the conscious self in the deep sleep of Nirvana; satori is the elimination of the conscious self in the wide-awake activities of intuitive living. The Yogi strives to drown himself in the universal unconscious or spirit; whereas the Zen practitioner strives to bring the submerged “It” from the depths to the surface. To make the point quite clear, samadhi means deep sleep, and satori means awakening. Mystically, then, deep sleep means entering into the Real Life, whereas the Awakened one lives like one already dead.

The main emphasis in Zen training is on complete indifference toward success or failure. The power or force (the Divine IT) will only enter into action when straining and striving have ceased and the action becomes effortless and automatic. Thus, the pupil learns an effortless art—through relaxation—he is relieved of the strain of winning, worry and undue effort. The goal of Zen like VARDAN is to get rid of tension!

Both Yoga and Zen aim at penetrating beyond the captive mind—the ‘beyond’ means in one case: trance-like sleep and death, in the other case: it refers to a more intense awareness of the Now and Here. Thus Yoga is a challenge to existence;

and Zen is a challenge to conventionality. The Yogi practices certain types of physical positions, etc. to make his mind and body acquiesce in its own annihilation. Zen uses the mental

contortions of the koan to stun reason and force its abdication. Just as in Hatha Yoga (the Yoga of the body) the asanas and mudras (the positions and exercises) have become physical substitutes for true meditation. In Rinsai Zen (the Zen of true mindness) the koans and mondos fill the spiritual vacuum.

Zen, therefore, was the most important of the Buddhist sects, in the earlier years. Today it still teaches the emancipation of the soul from a miscellany of worldly thoughts and its union with the truth of the world and life.

This doctrine is reflected in the choice of motif used by a few eastern painters. An Indian, named Daruma, went to China to teach the Zen Doctrine in the 5th century, and became the model for them. I’ll mention three others:

Sesshu, 16th century Japanese painter; Keishoki, same century and country; and Daito Kohushi, 14th century Japanese painter. Most of the monochromes (a type of Japanese painting with sections) show their characteristic lines symbolic of severity, sternness, and strength. These attained a high skill through the efforts of the Zen priests, and others who were strongly influenced by their Zen training between 1600-1800 A.D.

In Japan, the training of the Zen student takes place usually at the Semmon Dojo which is the seat of perfect wisdom—a training station in the Zen monasteries. A Zen monk is not considered a Zen monk unless he spends several years at such an institute, where he undergoes severe discipline. Most monks, who are ordained after the rite of the Zen School of Buddhism, are graduates of this school. Life in the Semmon Dojo is somewhat out of keeping with the modern way of life. Anything modern, and any symbolic idea of the pious life is absent here. Instead of labor-saving machinery, what might appear as labor wasting is

encouraged. Commercialism and self-advertisement are banned; scientific and intellectual education is interdicted.

Comfort, luxury, and womanly kindness are conspicuous for their absence. There is a spirit of grim earnestness, with which higher truths are sought; wisdom is courted as a means of putting an end to all woes and ailments of human life.

Also, the acquirement of the fundamental social virtues is stressed in order that the way will quietly be paved to world peace and the promotion of the general welfare of all humankind. The Zen life attempts to turn out good citizens as social members and individuals in addition to maturing the monk’s spiritual development.

The Zendo life may be roughly analyzed as: (1) A life of humility, (2) A life of labor, (3) A life of service, (4) A life of prayer and gratitude, and (5) A life of meditation. After his training and initiation into the Brotherhood, the monk is to be trained along these lines. Initiation refers to a monk being taken into the communal body of Zen Brotherhood connected with a given monastery.

Some preliminary steps must be taken before he can present himself as a novitiate: First, he must be provided with a certificate stating he is a regularly ordained disciple of a Zen priest, then be equipped with the necessary articles such as: a bamboo hat, deep and large over his head (you’ve seen these in the Japanese movies), a pair of sandals and cotton leggings. Then he travels to a special monastery for study.

His principle thought is now, ‘whence is birth and wither is death?’ For this is the object of his pilgrimage to the monastery, where he will learn the answers.

His education is on the wayside as he travels. He starts looking into his own nature in order to see life. However, after he arrives at the monastery he must learn that many things are possible, for the monastery can refuse him. If this

happens, he tries another until he can be accepted. Often he is thrown out bodily, but he can sit in meditation outside the door until accepted.

More later.

Sincerely, Paul

34. Indian Religions