Accounts of interactions between master Linji and his studentsare recorded in “Records of Linji”. Despite having a non-verbal nature, he is very active and spontaneous.The Records of Linji tell the story of Lin as told by his students where human interactions are used as a ways of self-awakening. Linji is depicted as a mas a good master who taught by example. He followed whatever teachings he taught. Linji is as well aware of each and every activity taking part in the school and therefore he is always in control. The book contains various themes as this essay explores.
Despite being the master, Linji’s live is simple but true. People whom he taught described master Linji as a true person who never pretends (Linji et al., 44). During his teachings, Linji is determined to guide the students in attaining self-realization and be real beings. The students are encouraged to do soul searching through meditation in an attempt to realize what ones heart feels. After attaining self-realization, the students are able to live a true life and not as expected by the society. Master Linji insists that when works towards being perfect in an attempt to fit in the set social structures, one loses himself. With this, he means that one loses direction and focus of one’s life. He urges them to accept that we all have flaws and the moment we learn to live with them, the simpler our life becomes.
Linji describes himself as a true man who does not have a rank. (Linji et al. 67) He does this despite the fact that he is a master whom his students looked up to. This teaches us that True Buddhism requires one to not exalt himself. One should be humble and not demand respect as respect is earned. The privileges that come with Linji being a master cannot be compared to the satisfaction he feels when living a simple life true to him. Additionally, being a Buddhist monk requires one to be humble in that the learners are taught in an environment where authority does not come with position but leading by example.
Master Linji has a gift of exhorting. He has an inherent ability to advice and mentors the students beyond ordinary human ingenuity and capability. He does this with little weariness and effectively. Nevertheless, his exhortations are very powerful. Linji guides the students in seeking personal liberation. A true Buddhist should be aware that there are vishayas that make one lose sight of the main goal in life, salvation (Linji et al., 5). Vishayas are those items that redirect ones attention from focusing towards self-awakening. A Buddhist who desires to attain personal liberation has to lock out all those vishayas that obstruct him. Linji concludes by saying that when one breaks away from any vishayas in life the journey towards self-realization becomes easy.
In the school master Linji is infamously known to use a rattan stick on his students. He always shouts towards the students when they are not toing the line. Whacks of the rattan Stick represent the hard part of learning. It is symbolically used to remove obstacles in the students that hinder them from being true Buddhist. With the obstacles in them, they cannot live a free and simple life. Master Linji does not use the rattan stick on all the students; he only whacks those students who are mature and but they have not attained self-liberation. There are ideas and concepts in one mind that hinder self-awakening. These are the obstacles master Linji talks about. Master Linji acknowledges that students do not always learn through listening and reading. Instilling discipline requires physical means and lenience should not be accepted as it makes students lazy. When Linji shouts, those who might be wondering in the world of fantasy shifts back to reality.
In life one should strive in achieving nothing to do. Having nothing to do does not mean being idle. On the contrary, it is a way of shutting the rest of the world out and focusing on what is important to a person. One should not be changed by the surrounding or any feeling in him that is incited by what he interacts with. Having nothing to do require one not to take charge of other people’s lives. One should focus on attaining individual liberation. When every person is liberated, the whole world becomes liberated.
A true Buddhist is urged to have doubt in life. Master Linji tells his students that to succeed in life; trust is good but not enough (Linji et al., 66). Through having doubt with something, one is driven to go all the way to the end to clears the doubt. Therefore, doubt acts as a driving force for one’s journey towards salvation. Doubt raises questions and since this questions demands answers, when searching for the answers one learns more. The doubt talked about by Linji is not that that causes one to give up in the conquest one is undertaking. Rather it is the doubt that motivates one to go forward without dithering. Zen Buddhism values doubt as much as it values trust. The two should be heeded to eliminate dithering. Dithering causes hesitation and eventual loss of confidence.
“Account of My Hut” written by KamoChomei is a poetic diary giving an account of a Buddhist’s life after renouncing the world, the Buddhist subjects himself to a solitude life in a small hut in the mountains. He uses mediation to reflect on life issues that made him renounce the world to live the life of a Buddhist monk. At the age of sixty, the Buddhist monk acknowledges that life is now fragile and seems like it can evaporate at any moment like dew. It is a moment of self-awakening where he becomes aware of what his life has become.
In the beginning,he was so determined to renounce the world to live as a Buddhist monk but now it has dawned to him that he cannot escape the word and the attachment to worldly things has crept back. The feeling of mappo indicates a situation where despite survival of the teachings of Buddhism, the practice dharma is no more and one fails to attain awakening. The author claims that through only his own efforts, attaining awakening was difficult and therefore one should seek other powers of Buddha (Chomei, 199). The feeling of mapposhows a transition in Buddhism. Since the traditional Buddhist practices were failing in awakening the Buddhist, another form of pure land Buddhism rose.
Towards the end, Chomei admits how attached he has become to his small hut despite working hard to renounce the world. This attachment becomes a hindrance for him to attain awakening and eventual salvation. Attachment to his hut has resulted into his lack of motivation where at the end of the day he desires nothing and his body feels as if it is a drifting cloud. He acknowledges that through attachment to his hut, he has lost direction and his main goal becomes blurred. He has also lost count of days and feels out of control of the direction and fate of his future. This is an indication of losing faith.
Chomei’s experience teaches that in order to attain awakening in Buddhism and eventual salvation, one should remain detached to worldly items. (Chomei, 205). These items serve as a distraction and drain our efforts that should be focused on attaining salvation, which is the main goal. Attachment may seem less of an obstruction as compared to other vices such as hatred and anger, but in the real sense, it is a bigger evil. Attachment to life and its pleasures is an inborn characteristic but it holds us prisoners of what we are attached to. In Buddhism discipleship, non-attachment gives one lucidity and sense of direction for one to attain salvation. Nevertheless, as one strives to be detached to the worldly items, one should not get disinterested with what happens around. Remain conscious of the surrounding.
In “The Narrow Road of Oku”, Matsuo Basho describes and gives an account of a 156-day journey in a poetic journey diary. When he started the journey Basho was ascetic and stern towards his trip. He did not allow extravagant farewell festival as he prepared to leave. On the contrary, he had quiet farewell festival.As the journey progressed, what had started as strained attitude towards his trip, eased. He became more objective towards himself and felt a feeling of heroism. Bash says “Another year is gone - A travel hat on my head, Straw sandals on my feet” (Basho et al., 372). The essence of the journey to Basho was not to have a vacation or a holiday.
Basho was on a Buddhist pilgrimage. The trip would help him cultivate Buddhist discipleship. That is why at the start the journey looked hard to him and he took is with utmost seriousness. As the journey progressed, he eased in to it. Being a Buddhist, detachment from his normal life and from his family is a virtual that ought to be cultivated. This is why during the trip he got used to life without his family and worldly items therefore becoming more at peace with him. It also serves as an encouragement to the Young Buddhists who are afraid to take on big challenges because at first they seem impossible to go through. Had Basho give up in the beginning due to the large task ahead, he would not have made it. Therefore, despite how big a challenge seems, the first step is always the most important. As time advances one eases into the challenge and the attitude appreciation to oneself sets in.
Throughout the trip, Basho did not regard the world as empty. As he says, “Every turn of the road brought me new thoughts & every sunrise gave me fresh emotions” (Basho et al., 364), it indicates that different landscapes aroused different feeling on him. He was completely aware what was around and appreciated it. He often recognized and interpreted various monuments he came across. He came across rocks with poems engraved in them and he took time to read them. This shows that his journey was filled with filled with wonders of the world.Nevertheless, since Basho had no permanent place to stay, he did not take any treasures that he found on the way. Despite all the treasure he came across Basho realized that humanity had neglected the wild. It as a c all Basho makes to humanity to heed and focus on the importance of taking care of the environment.
Work cited
Basho, Matsuo, et al. "The Narrow Road to Oku." Translated by Donald Keene.Illustrations by Masayuki Miyata. Tokyo: Kodanshi International (1996). 363-371.
Chomei, Kamo. "An Account of My Hut." Anthology of Japanese Literature (1955): 197-212.
Linji, Yìxuán, Jeffrey L. Broughton, and Elise Yoko Watanabe.The Record of Linji.Oxford University Press, 2013.
