A Life of Rinzai by John M Evans. In the Zen Masters Series.

The “True Man of the Way” has been defined in almost Taoist terms : “When the Dharma is truly, fully, and existentially … understood, we find that there is nothing wanting in this life as we live it. Everything and anything we need is here with us and in us. One who has actually experienced this is called a man of buji.”

In The Record of Rinzai, the man of buji, here rendered as the True Man of the Way is produced as an exemplar to the students :

Followers of the Way, you fail to conceive the
emptiness of (past, present and future), this is
the obstacle that blocks you. Not so the True Man of
the Way who…lets things follow their own course. He
dresses himself as is fitting; when he wants to go,
he goes; when he wants to stay, he stays. Not even
for a fraction of a moment does he aspire to Buddhahood.

Then Rinzai berates the “bald heads” in his audience for not following the True Man :

Venerable ones, time is precious! Yet you run about
hither and thither, studying Zen, learning the Way,
chasing names and phrases, seeking the Buddha and
patriarchs and good teachers, full of arbitrary
judgements. Do not commit such errors…You each have
a father and mother. So what more do you seek? Turn
round and look into yourselves.

The two most influential schools of Zen, which have come down to us in Japan, via China, are Rinzai and Soto. The Soto school was called, mo-chao Zen, or “silently illumined” Zen — this is dealt with more fully in the next chapter; and the Rinzai school, k’an-hua Zen, or “observing the anecdote”. A later master, Hakuin, codified the koan system for the Rinzai school as we know it today.

The Rinzai school was brought to Japan in 1191 by a Japanese monk, Eisai. It predated Soto by over thirty years and obtained royal patronage for establishments in Kamakura and Kyoto.

Despite the successes of the newly introduced schools, this was in fact the second flowering of Buddhism in Japan, which had received other lines from around 550.

Soon the two sects found their own niches in society: the Rinzai school became known as “Zen for the General” (somewhat unfairly perhaps), or Aristocratic Zen, and Soto as “Zen for the farmer”. In modern Japan, Soto is the bigger of the two schools, both being outnumbered by the Amida sects, a devotional form of Buddhism, often known as Pure Land Buddhism.

The cult of Bushido, or the “Way of Warriors”, was developed from the Rinzai teachings and, as Edward Conze puts it, “this close association with the soldier class is one of the more astonishing transformations of Buddhism.” Certainly it indicates as nothing else does the immense flexibility and vitality of the peaceful doctrine of the Buddha, with its principle of ahimsa — no harm. That it could be so transformed as to provide a training method for some of the most fearsome fighters the world has ever known is curious to say the least.

However, in partial mitigation it should also be borne in mind that these soldiers were also among the most honourable, and any defect found in themselves would result in a horrendous ritual self-disembowelment. Strange indeed are the events that occur when men of the world, with sophisticated ambitions, take up a spiritual doctrine for their own purposes.

Hakuin
The great Zen master Hakuin (1685-1768), gave a structure to the koan system of the Rinzai school and shaped it into the form which has come down to us today. He arranged the Zen training material into six stages, five of which utilise koan at increasing levels of difficulty. They range from beginners’ “entering the gate” problems, through “cunning barriers” and “investigation of words”, up to the Hua Yen, or Flower Garland koan. The final stage is a Zen-style understanding of the Buddhist precepts.

Over a thirty year training period a monk will pass through the various stages and be tested on his understanding at every level. It comes to mind that this gradualist approach does not accord in every respect with the words of Rinzai, the school’s founding father, who cajoled, threatened, and bludgeoned his followers into immediate enlightenment.

It is almost certainly the case, though, that not everyone appreciated the “short, sharp shock” treatment of wild Master Rinzai, as is borne out by the following story.

A monk called Ryuge asked Rinzai the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West (a common question in Zen mondo). By way of reply, Rinzai asked him to pass the arm-rest. When Ryuge gave him the object Rinzai promptly hit him with it. “You may hit me all you like,’ cried Ryuge, ‘but it is not the meaning!”

Later he went to another master, Suibi, and asked the same question. “Pass me that cushion,” said Suibi, whereupon he hit Ryuge.

“Hit away,” said Ryuge, beginning to get used to the treatment, “but it is not the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West!” In later years when he had his own temple, Ryuge was asked about these two — by now — famous encounters.

“Did you agree with them?” asked a student monk.
“However much agreement there was, it was still not the meaning,”

insisted the Abbot, faithful to his own understanding, but clearly not one of the great men of Zen.

No doubt here were the seeds of the more structured, gradualist approach that we see today in the Rinzai school. However, one is bound to say that, since any “meaning” is concept, the much-asked question about Bodhidharma’s coming was sure to provoke a violent response from Master Rinzai. Whether or not Rinzai would be happy with any formalised system of training is really beside the point, but perhaps to cap the discussion it is worth recalling an amusing anecdote:

Governor Wang one day came to visit the master (Rinzai).
When they happened to pass the monk’s hall, he asked,
“Do the monks in this monastery all study the sutras?”
“No, they don’t.” (said Rinzai) “Do they then practise
meditation?” “No, they don’t.” “If they neither study
the sutras nor practise meditation, what then do they
do?” The master said: “All are training to become
Buddhas or patriarchs.” The Governor said: “Though gold
dust is precious, in the eyes it clouds vision.” The
master remarked: “And I took you for a common fellow.”

Go to Part 3.