The Loss of the Origin in Soto Zen and in Meister Eckhart

Abstract

THE LOSS OF THE ORIGIN IN SOTO ZEN AND IN MEISTER ECKHART SEVERAL JAPANESE AUTHORS who have come into contact with the Western tradition have underlined similarities between key concepts in Zen Buddhism and in Meister Eckhart.1 Sometimes their statements, for instance Suzuki's, betray a rather superficial acquaintance with the schools of thought that intersectinEckhart'shighly syncretistic teachings. Nevertheless I trust that there are resemblances; that they have to be located very deeply, on an experiential level; indeed that they touch upon the core of Eckhart's mysticism and the core of Zen enlightenment. Such point-by-point comparisons as are sometimes undertaken do not lead very far here. Rather, some hypothesis of interpretation is needed for a re-seizure, at one's own risk, of the matter itself, that is, of the experience to which both Zen and Eckhart testify. Let me call this experience the way of releasement. What I mean by this term will hopefully be clear in the end, although a full appropriation is possible only from a personal standpoint; the point where the interpreter stands in his own quest. The true realm of encounter between· such foreign traditions as a £arEastern Buddhist sect of the twelfth century and our Medieval German late Scholastic is after all my own existence. " The reason why the Buddha so frequently refused to answer metaphysical problems," writes Suzuki, " was partly due to his conviction that the ultimate truth was to be realized in oneself through one's own effort." 2 And in Meister Eckhart: "He who 1 See the works by H. Dumoulin, H.-M. Enomiya, W. Heinrich, Dom Le Saux, T. Merton, M. Nambara, K. Nishitani, R. Otto, H. W. Schomerus, D. T. Suzuki, S. Ueda. See also my Meist(!ll' Eckhart, Mystic and Philosopher, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978, pp. 221-226. The four elements of Eckhart's teaching developed in the present article are exposed more in detail; ibid. pp. 84-121. 2 D. T. Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism, First Series. Grove Press: New York 1961, p. 61. 281 REINER SCHURMANN wants to understand (my teaching of detachment) has to be himself perfectly detached" (DW II, p. 109, 1) .3 "Now I beg you to be exactly as poor as I have said, so that you may understand my instruction, for if you do not resemble the truth we are talking about you will never be able to follow me " (DW II, p. 487, 5 f.) . "Do not worry if you do not understand what I say; indeed, so long as a man does not resemble that truth he will remain unable to grasp my speech" (DW II, p. 506, 1 f.). Thus there is no other way of responsibly dealing with the convergence noticed by these Japanese authors than to somehow involve oneself in the way of releasement. The impossibility of escaping one's own lived experience is even more patent in Soto Zen. As is well known, the two major Buddhist sects in Japan are Rinzai and Soto. Rinzai stresses abrupt means to obtain awakening, such as blows delivered by the master, shouts, question-and-answer sessions which a rationalist would qualify as absurd, and koans. Still Rinzai has produced an abundant literature, which is not the case with Soto. Indeed Soto simply follows one method, that of "just sitting" quietly in a rigorous posture called zazen. In Japanese za means to sit and zen means meditation. The seated meditation is the beginning, the end, and the essence of Soto, thus enforcing even more the anti-intellectualist slant that characterizes Zen in general. Rinzai and Soto correspond to two different intellectual temperaments, one relying on the concentration of the mind, the other on an intensely felt psychosomatic unity. A Rinzai master may eventually give metaphysical instructions , whereas a Soto master will hardly speak of anything more than the correct way to sit. He will show no interest for finding solutions, and he will be bored with speculations about nothingness. Here are some lines from a sermon entitled 'Zazen' by Master Meiho (rn77-1S50): • The abbreviation " DW " refers to Meister Eckhart, Die Deutschen und lateinischen Werke. Die deutschen Werka, Stuttgart 1936 fl'. The...