Suggested Topics for Final Paper, REL440/540 Zen Buddhism
Final Paper due Tuesday, March 8, in class.
Topics
Historically, it is said that when the historical Buddha Sakyamuni attained enlightenment, he hesitated to try to communicate his realization to others because it lay beyond words. Yet, urged by Indra to be compassionate towards all beings, he eventually began to use words to convey the teachings. These words purportedly were recorded as the "words of the Buddha," i.e., the Buddhist sutras, the first sacred scriptures of the tradition. Throughout the course, we have examined the tension between this purported realization beyond words and the words through which it is expressed.Philosophically, in Mahayana Buddhism, this tension was formulated in terms of the relation between form and emptiness, words and beyond words. As the two-fold truth, form and emptiness are seamlessly two sides of the same coin. Yet, due to their one-sided attachments, delusions and blind passions, human beings become entangled in a world of forms that should otherwise prove no hindrance to the realization of emptiness. When sentient beings are released from this entanglement, then they experience a release into emptiness without leaving the world of form except at the stage of attaining final nirvana.
In terms of practice, there are many forms of upaya or skillful means designed to lead each practitioner into a realization of the two-fold truth, of form as emptiness and emptiness as form, depending upon the various circumstances and capacities possessed by the individual. These include the likes of the four samadhis of Chih-i, Dogen's sitting-only, Myoe's Mantra of Light, and Shinran's nembutsu, or Namu Amida Butsu. There are also parables, myths, and legends such as the three illusory carts and the burning house (Lotus Sutra), the Goddess who conjures petals and the exchange of gender (Vimalakirti Sutra), and the tales of the illiterate woodcutter who needs no more than hear the recitation of lines from the Diamond Sutra or improvises the perfect verse of enlightenment (Platform Sutra).
A number of topics that follow include the possibility of using ideas from the Chuang Tzu. If you choose one of these topics, be careful not to confuse Buddhist terminology with Taoist terminology. The former speaks of emptiness, karma, and compassion; the latter of no distinctions, the transformation of things, and the oneness of the Tao.
1. Chuang Tzu and Buddhist Thought
The Taoist work Chuang Tzu came to be regarded as one of the main scriptures of the Taoist religion and also greatly influenced the development of East Asian Buddhism, especially Zen Buddhism. Yet Chuang Tzu himself (whoever he was) seems quite skeptical about seeing any finite set of ideas or practices as "the way" of the true Tao. Select one passage from the Chuang Tzu and one passage from a Buddhist primary source (such as the Lotus Sutra or the Shobogenzo) as emblematic of their respective approaches to language and practice, and then compare and contrast. You should draw in ideas from other parts of the text or other writings of the same Buddhist figure when applicable to fill out your account.
[Hint: One example of this kind of study is Mark Unno's "Zhuangzi and Myoe Koben: The Butterfly and the Mushroom," 1-18 (CR14)] .
2. Chuang Tzu and Shinran
In many ways the Taoist life of Chuang Tzu and the Pure Land life of Shinran have more in common than Shinran has with the classical renunciant monastic vision of early Buddhism. Like Chuang Tzu, Shinran married, had children, lived among the laity farming the land, and disavowed the founding of a religious institution based on an ecclesiastical hierarchy. Of course, there are many differences as well, involving view of karma, compassion, and the single-minded practice of the nembutsu. Compare and contrast the Taoist vision of Chuang Tzu and the Pure Land vision of Shinran. What strengths and weaknesses of each does this comparison help to bring into relief?
3. Turning Points along A Long Quiet Highway
Natalie Goldberg's A Long Quiet Highway is in some ways an account of her sacred journey through life and in this sense shares some characteristics with sacred scripture, in particular in its attempt to convey emptiness beyond words through words. The tension between these worlds is expressed in terms of the conflict she experiences between her writing practice and Zen practice. Identify three or four turning points in the development of this tension in her life and use either a) ideas from Dogen's "Genjokoan" (one possibility: first four lines) or b) Chuang Tzu's theories of language and living skillfully in the Tao to form a kind of narrative framework for understanding/reading A Long Quiet Highway.
4. Gender, Individuality, and Emptiness
One conventional modern view of social equality is based on notions of individual autonomy, individual rights, and a system of adjudicating justice legally and politically. Mahayana Buddhist notions of society often have their point of reference in equality in emptiness, in "no-self" rather than "strong self," as seen in the "Goddess Chapter" from the Vimalakirti Sutra. In this course we have read several articles that seem to reflect both notions of social equality to varying degrees (Paula Arai, Natalie Goldberg, Shinobu Matsuura). Take two or three readings and discuss the place and relation between these two notions. Is one right and the other wrong? Should there be a balance between the two? If so, how can they be balanced?
Several works we have read throughout the course deal with the issue of gender and Buddhism. In class and in your papers, one of the themes that has emerged concerns the relation between the Zen Buddhist emphasis on emptiness and enlightenment on the one hand and social equality and rights influenced by Western thinking on the other. Based on the Zen Buddhist readings we have read so far, what kind, if any, social vision should emerge out of the Zen Buddhist understanding of emptiness and awakening, and how should Western notions of social equality and individual rights criticize and help to reshape Zen Buddhist views of the individual self or selfhood?
6. Natalie Goldberg and Shinobu Matsuura
Suppose that Natalie Goldberg and Shinobu MATSUURA were contemporaries and that Matsuura finds herself in an internment camp as a Japanese American even though she has done nothing wrong. Write a series of letters between them expressing their sense of Zen and Pure Land Buddhist practice, respectively, of how their religious paths are helping them to meet the challenge of their situations and what they are trying to do in their spiritual practice and in their engagement with society. One can think of Goldberg as being transported back into the 1940's or the Japanese American internment as taking place in present day America. The challenge of this topic is to write in a voice that is faithful to the styles of expression found in the authors' works. Be sure to provide page references and/or direct quotations for your paper.
7. Sacred Story and Mundane History
The sacred story of Buddhism is presented through the sutras, legendary accounts of Zen masters and the like. The earthly history of Buddhism contains episodes of human corruption and failure. Based on two or three of the readings for the final week, discuss how one might balance the sense of sacred story with mundane history. Is there a time and place for each? Can the two co-exist? In what proportions? For those taking course for graduate credit (REL540), see also the following:
- Heisig, James and John Maraldo, eds., Rude Awakenings: Zen, the Kyoto School, & the Question of Nationalism. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1995.
- Victoria, Brian. Zen at War. New York: Weatherhill, 1998.
8. Wonhyo, "the Small Layman"
Wonhyo, perhaps the most popular and renowned Buddhist master in Korean history, came down from his mountain monastery to mingle with the people. He called himself a "small layman" and nicknamed his trousers "No Obstacle." Although the account of his life is brief, it contains essential points of both his philosophy (Everything is already contained in the mind. One should not be attached to purity. When the fawn is hungry, I am hungry - compassion) and his practice. In some ways he resembles the freewheeling style of a Chuang Tzu or a Hui-neng, yet he also differs from them. Unlike the others, Wonhyo greatly values scholarship, affirms sexuality, and emphasizes compassion. Compare and contrast either Chuang Tzu or Hui-neng with Wonhyo, discussing the strengths and weaknesses of their respective visions of religious life and practice. Alternately, do a comparison between Wonyho and Myoe or Wonhyo and Shinran.
9. Near Death
You have a terminal case of liver cancer. Several months have passed since the diagnosis and now the end is near. Your lover/partner is far away and is unable to share this time with you, caught in a foreign land with an invalid passport. You are writing a letter to your lover/partner expressing what the past has meant to you, what you have learned as you struggled with the illness and impending death, and how you now see life and death. Write this letter drawing on the works we have read. You may combine insights from more than one text if you like, but it is recommended that you restrict your sources to two or three sources and not try to do too much.