Unit 5: Study Guide

1. Buddhanature. As we have seen, Mahayana teaches that everything exists in interdependence with other
things. There is nothing that exists in and of itself. If something had “inherent nature” or “intrinsic
existence,” it would mean that it could exist completely on its own, without any kind of connection to
other things. Since all things lack that kind of existence, they are said to be empty.

Because we have no intrinsic nature, we can and do change. We are ignorant now, infected with
attachment; but we are not inherently or essentially so. We have the potential to become buddhas. Our
deepest, most fundamental nature—emptiness—is no different from the emptiness of a buddha. Thus, in
Mahayana, all beings are said to possess “buddhanature,” a fundamental nature that is not essentially
different from that of a buddha, and which can (and will) be expressed in our own awakening.

The term zazen refers to sitting “meditation” as practiced in the Zen Buddhist tradition. Zazen is a way to
realize or to express our fundamental buddha-nature. Sesshin is the Japanese term for a Zen meditation
retreat, a period of days during which a group of people practice zazen quite intensively under the
guidance of a roshi, or Zen teacher.

2. Background: Buddhism in China (BVSI 75-77). When did Buddhism reach China (BVSI 75)? What was
the dominant ideology of China at that time (BVSI 75)? What were some of the ways in which Buddhism
conflicted with Chinese culture (BVSI 75-76)? What attracted the Chinese to Buddhism (BVSI 76-77)?
What is Taoism (always pronounced and sometimes spelled “Daoism”) (BVSI 76)? What role does
Taoism play in the origins of Zen (BVSI 77)?

3. Background: Japanese Zen (BVSI 77-80). Where did Zen come from (BVSI 78)? What does the word
“Zen” means (BVSI 78)? What is satori or kensho (BVSI 80)? How does Zen tend to regard the use of
language, doctrine, and rational thought (BVSI 80)? If not in doctrine, types of Zen (BVSI 80)? What is
a koan (or ko-an) (BVSI 80)?

4. Forefathers of Zen: Shakyamuni. What did Shakyamuni Buddha (=Siddhartha Gautama) realize at the
moment of his enlightenment (TPZ 33-34)?

Zen teachers establish their legitimacy by the lineage of their teachers, and ultimately all lineages derive
from Shakyamuni. Zen sees itself as “a special transmission,” beyond words or letters, passed down from
generation to generation. A person to whom one passes on what one has received is called a “Dharma
heir” or “Dharma successor”.

Zen Buddhists believe that the origin of their lineages go back to one event. Buddha was preparing to
teach, and an assembly gathered. But instead of speaking, he simply held up a flower. While everyone
else waited for an explanation, one disciple, Kashyapa immediately smiled. Then Buddha spoke, “There
is a supreme Truth that words cannot teach, and I have just handed it to Kashyapa.”

5. Forefathers of Zen: Bodhidharma. About 1000 years later, Bodhidharma inherited this lineage of teacher-
student transmission. Why is he famous (BVSI 79)? About when did he live (BVSI 79)? About how
long had Buddhism been in China already (compare BVSI 77 with BVSI 78)?

Bodhidharma is counted as “the first Ancestor,” and all lineages of Ch’an and Zen derive from him.

As it developed in China, the Ch’an/Zen tradition acquired a reputation for being extremely iconoclastic.
Early masters in China, with merciless compassion, criticized attachment to anything, religious or
otherwise, that could be an obstacle to insight for a particular person. “If you meet the Buddha on the

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 road, kill him!” and “Bodhidharma was a dung-heap coolie!” are famous sayings. Many other Zen
sayings and stories ridicule devotional attachment to statue-images; intellectual or pious attachment to
scriptures; literalistic attachment to monastic rules and an image of oneself as a “good person” for
keeping them; and even attachment to the practice of zazen itself.

At the same time, in practice Zen life includes a huge amount of ritual. In one sense, everything is
“ritualized,” including work, bathing, and eating. How have Westerners going to practice in Japan
sometimes reacted to this ritualism (TPZ 236-237)? (Note that Mr. P.K. is now widely known to be
Philip Kapleau himself.) How have Japanese roshis responded to these concerns?

6. Rinzai and Satori. What are the two major types of Japanese Zen (BVSI 80)? The Rinzai perspective
takes satori as the purpose and essence of Zen. It can compared to the “aha” experience of solving a
problem, suddenly and intuitively realizing that the solution to a troubling problem was always in front of
you. In the case of satori, the problem is the matter of life and death itself, and experience of seeing this
problem dissolve profoundly changes the Zen practitioner. Look up the term “kensho” in the glossary in
TPZ. How does it relate to satori?

7. Dogen and Soto. Zen Master Dogen (thirteenth century) is considered one of the greatest geniuses of
Buddhism. He established the Soto tradition in Japan. What was the question that motivated his spiritual
search (TPZ 5)?

8. A Modern Soto Teacher. Shunryu Suzuki is one of the most influential modern Soto masters. He was a
married Zen priest who came to California from Japan to teach Zen meditation during the 1960s. Prior to
that time, most Americans had heard only of Rinzai-style satori-oriented Zen. When an interviewer asked
him why he never mentioned satori, his wife playfully interrupted: “That’s because he hasn’t had it!”
Laughing, he explained that satori simply isn’t important to talk about. Shunryu Suzuki taught that one
should “remain on the cushion (meditating) without expecting anything”. His famous book “Zen Mind,
Beginner’s Mind” praises the mind of someone starting out in Zen because a beginner does not fall into
the trap of thinking, “I have attained something.”

9. Soto and Rinzai (BVSI 80) In general, Rinzai emphasizes the need to strive to attain the kensho
experience. Great pressure is applied to the practitioner in order to provoke a sudden breakthrough.
Koans are almost always used.

Soto, on the other hand, emphasizes the need for faith or confidence in our perfect Buddhanature.
Everything we do right now should be regarded as an expression of that nature. Practice does not mean
striving to attain some special experience of awakening (kensho/satori); such experiences may come
along, or else awakening to our original enlightenment may happen gradually. Soto meditation only
rarely involves the use of koans. Instead, “just sitting” (shikantaza) is the usual way of meditating. (On
shikan-taza, there will be further explanation below.)

Soto teachers fault Rinzai for dualistically grasping after some future experience, some “special moment”
of experience instead of realizing every moment as an expression of buddha-nature. Rinzai teachers fault
Soto for failing actually to realize buddha-nature in kensho experience, and instead only sitting with faith
in it.

Philip Kapleau and his teachers, Harada Roshi and Yasutani Roshi, are officially part of the Soto lineage,
but they have adopted Rinzai-style techniques. They combine the teachings of the great Soto master
Dogen with an emphasis on the use of koans and pressing for kensho experience. This is quite unusual,
as in the history of Japanese Buddhism Soto and Rinzai have been quite separate.

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10. Rock Gardens, Koans, and Liberation. Ryoanji is a Zen temple in Kyoto, Japan, which features the
world’s most famous rock garden. It consists of fifteen medium and large rocks placed artistically on a
long bed of raked gravel. Traditionally, it is said that you cannot see all fifteen rocks from any point
around the garden.

We can think of this as a metaphor for how our own fixed perspective on the world always limits our
understanding. We always have a perspective (a standpoint at the edge of the garden) and we can know
many things that are worth knowing because of it. But no matter where we stand, there is always
something left out as well. Every perspective limits what we can understand at the same time that it
makes other things clear.

In the Buddhist understanding, we all start from the “conventional” perspective, legitimately seeing—and
at the same time mistakenly exaggerating the reality of—distinctions between you and me, good and bad,
enlightened and ignorant, etc. We are like people sitting, without moving, at one edge of the garden;
always seeing certain things and feeling very sure about them, never seeing other things that are also
there.

Zazen helps us “uproot our butts” from this one spot; it moves us around to the other side of the garden,
to the non-dualistic, or ultimate, perspective. Now we can see the non-dualistic point of view, but the
validity of conventional distinctions may be temporarily obscured. Then maybe another koan is needed,
to keep us moving.

In some interpretations, then, Zen is not about finding the one very best place from which to view the
garden, that is to say, the right way to view the world. Rather, it is about becoming free, free to adopt
whatever point of view or perspective allows one to respond, helpfully and compassionately, to each
situation as it arises.

“Being stuck” on one way of perceiving and responding to the world hurts us and hurts others. Here is a
modern Zen story: A Japanese housewife helped her family survive during war and economic depression
by being extremely frugal. Later, business conditions changed and her husband had an important
business position. He needed to entertain client and associates at the house, but things went poorly
because the housewife would only buy the cheapest food. He asked the local Zen priest to talk to his
wife. Instead of talking, the priest asked the wife to play “paper, scissors, rock” with him. But he was
always paper, no matter how may times they played. After the first few rounds, he lost every game.
Gradually, she realized that he was teaching her, in effect, that there is no right way to shop that is most
helpful for all conditions. We have to be open, and responsive to each situation.

In a similar way, zazen is a way to liberate oneself from programmed responses— to be free from fixed
ways of looking at and responding to the world.

11. Ox-herding pictures (TPZ, section 8: 332-345). Generally, what are the ox-herding pictures (TPZ 332-3?
What does the ox represent (TPZ 332)? Notice that the very first comment on the first picture reminds us
that “the ox” we are looking for is not really something “out there;” it has never gone astray because it is
our very nature.

Note that picture #8 represents the pinnacle, or apogee, of the spiritual quest, but not its end of the story.
It is like the moment when the Buddha, after years of searching, found enlightenment at dawn—with 45
years of teaching left before him. Or, we could say that it represents the moment when a person first
realizes nirvana, attaining perfect non-dualistic and non-conceptual wisdom.

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 Emerging from this direct experience of emptiness, one sees with pristine clarity the changing and
interconnected forms of nature. This is expressed in picture #9. In the tenth picture, the enlightened
person (like the Buddha) goes “back into the world” to help and teach others. Enlightenment does not
mean leaving the world behind, but seeing it for what it really is so that one can help others. Perhaps one
could compare this to someone who has walked all the way around a rock garden, returning to the place
she started, but only now really seeing it for the first time. Now she can show others how to get unstuck!

12. Who is that fat buddha guy, and why is he so fat? You most have noticed that enlightened person in the
final ox-herding picture has gained a large belly, like the “fat-bellied buddhas” you may have seen in
Chinese restaurants. When you tell people that you have taken this course, someone may test you: “Why
is Buddha so fat?”

Hotei (this is the Japanese form of the name) has been one of the favorite figures of East Asian popular
religion for almost 1000 years; he is known everywhere and to everyone. Entering Chinese Buddhist
temples today, Hotei is almost always the first image one sees—even though no such image was ever
known in India.

Hotei’s biographies report that he lived in the first half of the tenth century. He had no home; he lived as
wandering monk. Most sources describe him with a round head and an obese, uncovered belly. The
name “Hotei” literally means “hemp-bag”, but was also slang for a glutton. Some sources state that he
carried a hemp bag over his shoulder. When he received food by begging, he would immediately taste it
and put the leftovers in the bag. The bag also apparently contained various rubbish, bricks and stones.
Crowds of children would often crowd around him, drawn especially by curiosity about his bag.
Sometimes he would spread out the miscellaneous contents of the bag on the ground, pick up one object
at a time, saying “Look here, look here. What is this? What is this?”

A particularly famous story about him: He met a stranger on the road who asked him, “Why did
Bodhidharma come from the West?” (Since Bodhidharma came to bring the Zen lineage from India to
China, the question is code for “What is Zen?”) Hotei said nothing; he put down his bag and crossed his
arms. The stranger said, “Is there nothing else to it?” At that Hotei picked up his bag and walked off.
(See if you can understand this presentation. Clue: Think wisdom and compassion; think letting
go/taking on the burden.)

Hotei may be a composite figure, based not so much on one historical person as upon a “type”: the
eccentric or “mad monk” who wandered without practicing any obvious discipline or meditation.

East Asian Buddhists came to regard Hotei as Maitreya, the bodhistattva who will be the next Buddha of
this world. While, Maitreya is thought to reside in a Pure Land, the Chinese felt that the bodhisattva
would rather be engaged with the world that he would becoming to help. Today, Hotei is the only way
that the Chinese picture Maitreya and the image of Matireya as Hotei spread to other countries in East
Asia.

The function of Hotei in East Asian popular religion can be compared in several ways to the function of
Santa Claus in American Christianity. Both figures mediate (create a living connection) between popular
values in the society on the one hand, and the ideals of the “great tradition” elite on the other. Santa
Claus arrives, like Jesus, on Christmas day; like God, he knows who has been naughty and nice, so you
better watch out for Goodness sake. He embodies a spirit of selfless giving, or charity to all, the core
spirit of Christian values. Like Jesus is said to have done, he “suffers the little children to come unto
him”. But unlike Jesus, he connects the spirit of giving with the spirit of commercial selling and
spending, appearing most often in department stores. His rotund belly and wreaths of pipe smoke suggest
a joyful indulgence in an abundance of holiday treats—no fasting in the desert for this saint. And of

4 REL 320: The Buddhist Tradition:

 course the welcoming, hearty laugh—we can easily picture Santa Claus celebrating Christmas in a
marketplace or a saloon (why is his nose so red?), not just in a solemn church.

Likewise, Hotei has obvious connections to Zen. His habit of pointing out objects and asking what they
are is a Zen technique; his robes are Buddhist; and there are specific Zen stories about him. Yet he
doesn’t stay in a monastery away from the people—he enters the marketplace with helping hands, mixing
with fishmongers and barmaids and dirty street kids. He doesn’t seem to deny himself food, and he wears
his robes and holds his body in a very casual manner. To the Chinese, his fat belly clearly suggests
material abundance and prosperity, while his laughing smile is much more inviting than the stern rebukes
of a Zen master.

Santa Claus and Hotei: They both carry big bags over the shoulder, and in both cases children are eager
and curious about the contents of the bag.

13. How to Sit (TPZ 36-38). Za-zen means “sitting meditation,” that is, doing Zen meditation in a seated
position. Where should one sit (TPZ 36)? What elements of posture are ideally sought? How do body
and mind relate to each other in posture?

14. Breathing Meditation Instructions (TPZ 38-40). How should beginners practice breath meditation? How
does one count the breaths at first (TPZ 38)? Should one try to control the breath, forcing it into a certain
rhythm? How high should one count? What should one do after reaching this number? How should you
deal with various other thoughts that arise while you are meditating?

15. Walking Meditation (TPZ 39-40) What is kinhin? How is it practiced differently in Soto and Rinzai?
How should we think of the relationship between kinhin and zazen?

16. Precautions (TPZ 40-44). What kinds of sounds are most and least likely to be a problem? What about
room temperature? What time of day does Yasutani Roshi think is best for Zen?

For someone who is just starting out, how long should a session of zazen last? How long does he
recommend for those who are more experienced and capable of sitting for long periods?

How much should one eat when practicing Zen?

Does Yasutani Roshi recommend that people take notes on insights that arise during meditation?

17. Illusory visions and Sensation (TPZ 44-48). What are makyo? What are some of the more common
types? How does Yasutani roshi compare the Zen attitude toward these “altered states of consciousness”
to the attitude he sees in other religions? How should the Zen practitioner deal with makyo?

18. Varieties of “Zen” (TPZ 48-53). You do not have to know the names of these five types, but you should
see how the scheme works. Note how Yasutani Roshi here seems to use the word “Zen” as including any
practice to concentrate the mind. Note how the first three of the five types run from “non-religious,” to
“religious but not Buddhist” to “Buddhist but not Mahayana Buddhist”.

The fourth type basically corresponds to Rinzai (and Rinzai-influenced) practice: Your aim is to achieve
kensho and thus awaken to your true nature. You know that you have always had this pure buddhanature,
but you still are determined to awaken to it, to realize it, to know it, rather than just believe in it. The fifth
type, which Yasutani calls the highest, corresponds to shikan-taza; zazen not struggling for any goal, but
as a continuous expression of buddhanature in each moment. While this sounds Soto-like, note how

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 Yasutani balances this by criticizing “many in the Soto sect” and by emphasizing that the fourth and fifth
type are complementary.

The key move that Yasutani Roshi makes here (TPZ 53) is the text in italics. Even in the fifth, more
Soto-like, form of Zen, one has to have faith not only in that one is expressing one’s buddhanature in the
present, but also faith that the day will come in the future when you unmistakably realize and know this,
and exclaim, “This is it!”

19. Aims of Zazen (TPZ 53-56). What are the three aims of zazen (TPZ 53)?

As explained in earlier modules, there are two types of Buddhist meditation: (1) stabilizing meditation
which produces deep concentration (which Japanese teachers call joriki), and (2) attentive meditation
which produces insight. The breathing meditation described above is clearly aimed at developing
concentration.

Theravada meditators use introspective observation to reach insight, while some Tibetan meditators do
analytical meditation (using reason and logic) for that purpose. In Rinzai, koan meditation precipitates or
provokes insight in the form of the kensho or satori experience. In Soto, it is believed that insight will
naturally arise through the practice of shikan-taza, just sitting with great concentration but without any
fixed object.

Can kensho be of different degrees (TPZ 54)?

In Soto, great emphasis is laid upon the idea that—whether one has kensho or not—the very practice of
zazen from day to day is a full and complete manifestation of buddha nature. Practice, in Soto, is not to
be conceived as a device for reaching enlightenment; it IS enlightenment, right now. Sometimes it is said
that even the expression, “practice is enlightenment,” is too dualistic. Dogen devised a single word,
which we can nicely translate as: practicenlightenment, to express the primordial indivisibility of the two.

This is why Yasutani lists a third aim of Zen: Sitting not in order to attain, but in order to express
enlightenment in our lives.

How does Yasutani Roshi think that the three aims should relate to one another? How does he fault Soto
and how does he fault Rinzai?

20. Individual Instruction (TPZ 56-60 and glossary). What is a roshi? What is dokusan? Why is dokusan
private and even secret? How does Yasutani Roshi describe Soto and Rinzai monasteries in terms of their
practice of this tradition? How many times does one prostrate oneself in the formalities of modern
dokusan? What does the practice of bowing symbolize or express?

21. Shikan-taza (TPZ 60-62). In Soto, shikan-taza is practiced in place of koan meditation. Shikan-taza
means “just sitting”. In this practice one does not have any specific object of concentration, such as the
breath or a koan. Instead, one concentrates with extremely sharp but calm intensity upon whatever arises
in the mind, moment by moment. This has been compared to the mind of a warrior prepared to respond
to any possible attack.

22. Enyadatta etc (TPZ 62-69). If you have had trouble understanding the ideas of zazen, Buddha nature, and
kensho, I urge you to read these pages closely. Enyadatta having always had a head, of course, is like our
perfect buddhanature. Her friends tying her up is like zazen, immobilizing the mind-body. Her friends
comments (like the roshi’s teachings) ripen her for realization, and a sudden blow brings her to herself.
Her rapture is the happiness of someone who has had kensho, and who seems to find it amazing she has a

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 head (buddhanature), and her gradually becoming accustomed to this natural condition is like the maturity
of a person who has continued to ripen and deepen her zazen AFTER achieving satori.

Oneness and manyness are two sides of the same coin; cause and effect are two sides of the same coin.
Now we see things as different (many), but when we first realize kensho, we see them as one (empty of
difference). Eventually we realize that this oneness (or emptiness) does not wipe out different things, it
makes them possible.

Likewise, we may start with the idea that meditation is the cause and enlightenment is the effect. This is
how it seems from the conventional point of view, the many-different-things point of view or “side of the
coin”. While this is not completely wrong, there is another side to the coin too . . .

23. Three Essentials of Zen (TPZ 69-71) Through the years, the Rinzai tradition has emphasized that Great
Enlightenment is impossible without Great Doubt, while Soto has more often been associated with faith
or confidence in our perfect buddha nature. Yasutani Roshi argues that both faith and doubt have always
been necessary. He teaches that there are three essentials for Zen practice. What are these?

In Rinzai, koans are used to stir up, focus, and intensify existential doubt, until it feels like there is a ball
of molten metal stuck in your gut. Rinzai teachers say that without first experiencing such “Great
Doubt,” one cannot break through to the kensho experience. Is strong doubt, as Yasutani Roshi uses the
term, the opposite of strong faith—or is it the result of strong faith? Just what is it that one has doubt
about?
Zen is not unique in recognizing that doubt can be a vital part of an honest and deeply felt faith. The
Christian theologian Paul Tillich makes a similar point in his book, The Dynamics of Faith. Without
strong faith in buddhanature, Dogen could not develop great doubt about the need to strive for
enlightenment (see TPZ 5-7). And without this nagging doubt, he would not have the determination to
seek out teachers and meditation experiences that would move him past that doubt.
Q9

We could say that doubt without faith is paralyzing and destructive, but faith without doubt may become
static and self-satisfied. Strong faith and strong doubt react upon one another to produce a dynamic
spiritual energy. We have to believe that the Buddha was telling the truth when he said that we all have
the perfect buddhanature; and once we have that faith we will want to know: Why don’t I see this clearly
and experience the world in this way? Zazen, not philosophy, is the Zen approach to such questions.

Zen masters emphasize that we have only a short time to live and practice in this human body. We have
now a brief and precious opportunity. We should practice with the intensity and determination of a
soldier training for mortal combat, with sharp awareness and unflickering presence of mind, as though we
are sitting on the edge of a cliff. Determined practice initially heightens, but ultimately resolves, the
tension between doubt and faith.

24. Koan study (TPZ 71-94 and glossary). What is a koan (TPZ glossary)? Rinzai roshis often have their
students meditate on koans, beginning with the koan “Mu”. What is this particular koan (TPZ 82)?

Having repeated the story about Joshu and the monk asking about the dog, a roshi will demand of the
student, “What is Mu?” If the whole koan is like a joke or riddle, then “Mu” is the punch-line. The
meditator is pressed to use every ounce of his or her energy in order to “get it” and will be called upon to
present that insight in dokusan.

Like Kapleau, many Rinzai masters claim that everything in the Dharma, everything that there is to learn
in Buddhism, can be learned—directly and intuitively—through the study of koans. Some writers have

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mistakenly assumed that koans were just bits of nonsense designed to make us stop thinking rationally,
but this is not the case.

It is interesting to note that the Japanese word “Mu” (meaning “not” or “nothing”) is “Wu” in the original
Chinese. So when Joshu barked out his answer, he was actually making the sound of a dog! Negating the
yes/no dualism of the question, pointing directly at the dog. As Yasutani Roshi (TPZ 94) says, “Dog!” or
“Buddha!” Just seeing things as they are is enough. The word “buddhanature” is only an artificial device
to help us do that, like a finger pointing at the moon. If we say, “have buddhanature” or “don’t have
buddhanature” we have missed the point, like someone arguing about the finger instead of looking up.

25. Hara (TPZ 14-18 and glossary under “tanden” and “hara”). Where is the hara? What role does it
play in concentration? Some Zen teachers emphasize that everyone must intentionally place energy in the
hara first, and struggle with the koan from that point, “with the guts” rather than with the head. Some say
that psychological breakdown, rather than insight, will be the result of intense koan meditation that is not
centered in the body, in the belly, in this way.

Question 1
0 out of 1 points

In the story about the woman who thought that she had lost her head, we ordinary beings in cyclic existence are like
Answer

Selected
Answer: the woman tied to the pillar, unable to feed herself.

Correct
Answer: the woman crying that she has lost her head.

• Question 2
0 out of 1 points

Initially, the Chinese were attracted to Buddhism because of the monastic practice of renouncing family life.
Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Fals
Answer: e

• Question 3
1 out of 1 points

Yasutani Roshi suggests that people keep a notebook nearby so as to jot down notes on insights that might arise during zazen.
Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 4
1 out of 1 points

The saying “If you meet a Buddha on the road, kill him!” was meant to express that Chinese people initially felt toward Buddhism.
Answer
Selected Fals
Answer: e
Correct Fals
Answer: e

• Question 5
0 out of 1 points

8 REL 320: The Buddhist Tradition:

 Soto believes that Shikan-taza is the most natural practice, while Rinzai more often uses koans.
Answer
Selected Fals
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 6
1 out of 1 points

“Roshi” is the proper term for a Zen meditation hall.

Answer
Selected Fals
Answer: e
Correct Fals
Answer: e

• Question 7
0 out of 1 points

The three essentials of Zen practices are

Answer

Selected
Answer: posture, breathing, and stopping distracting thought.

Correct
Answer: faith, doubt, and determination.

• Question 8
0 out of 1 points

According to Yasutani Roshi, the three aims of zazen are

Answer

Selected
Answer: concentration (joriki), satori, and kensho.

Correct
Answer: concentration (joriki), kensho, and manifesting Buddha-realization in our lives.

• Question 9
1 out of 1 points

When working on a koan, Zen practitioners are advised to put their energy in their bellies--to solve the problem with their guts rather than
their heads.
Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 10
1 out of 1 points

Buddhism reached China by the middle of the first century.

Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 11
0 out of 1 points

Every effort must be made to forcefully suppress random thoughts that arise during zazen.
Answer

9 REL 320: The Buddhist Tradition:

 Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Fals
Answer: e

• Question 12
1 out of 1 points

A “zafu” is a Zen rock garden.

Answer
Selected Fals
Answer: e
Correct Fals
Answer: e

• Question 13
1 out of 1 points

Shikan-taza is "just sitting," Soto-style zazen, in which one concentrates upon whatever arises in the mind, without focusing on any specific
object such as the breath or a koan.
Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 14
0 out of 1 points

Dokusan is formal, public ceremony in which the dharma is transmitted from teacher to student.
Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Fals
Answer: e

• Question 15
0 out of 1 points

The Western idea/image of Zen as an iconoclastic tradition is utterly without any actual or historical basis.
Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Fals
Answer: e

• Question 16
0 out of 1 points

All schools of Zen today emphasize the primary importance of the satori experience.
Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Fals
Answer: e

• Question 17
1 out of 1 points

The hara is
Answer

Selected
Answer: the area of the belly, centered two finger-widths below the navel.

10 REL 320: The Buddhist Tradition:

 Correct
Answer: the area of the belly, centered two finger-widths below the navel.

• Question 18
0 out of 1 points

Yasutani Roshi suggests that the morning might well be best time for working people to do zazen each day.
Answer
Selected Fals
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 19
1 out of 1 points

Yasutani Roshi teaches students to practice kinhin at a moderate pace, neither too fast nor too slow.
Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 20
1 out of 1 points

Rinzai tends to emphasize doubt, while Soto emphasizes faith.

Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 21
0 out of 1 points

Many Zen sayings and stories ridicule devotional attachment to religious images and intellectual attachment to written teachings.
Answer
Selected Fals
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 22
1 out of 1 points

Yasutani Roshi instructs meditators to close their eyes when they do zazen.
Answer
Selected Fals
Answer: e
Correct Fals
Answer: e

• Question 23
0 out of 1 points

When Enyadatta’s friends tie her to a pillar, this is said to represent the practice of zazen.
Answer
Selected Fals
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 24

11 REL 320: The Buddhist Tradition:

 1 out of 1 points

Bodhidharma is famous as
Answer

Selected
Answer: the first person to bring the Zen lineage to China.

Correct
Answer: the first person to bring the Zen lineage to China.

• Question 25
1 out of 1 points

Yasutani Roshi teaches that koans are usually the best practice for those who are strongly motivated to realize their true nature.
Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 26
1 out of 1 points

In Rinzai, koans are used to intensify and focus our doubts into "Great Doubt" because we cannot experience kensho without having
"Great Doubt".
Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 27
0 out of 1 points

Soto and Rinzai have been very closely connected throughout Japanese history.
Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Fals
Answer: e

• Question 28
1 out of 1 points

The koan, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” is normally the first koan given to new Zen practitioners.
Answer
Selected Fals
Answer: e
Correct Fals
Answer: e

• Question 29
1 out of 1 points

The term "sesshin" refers to a Zen meditation retreat; a period of days devoted to very intensive group Zen practice.
Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 30
0 out of 1 points

12 REL 320: The Buddhist Tradition:

 Shunryu Suzuki was a twentieth century Rinzai master.
Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Fals
Answer: e

• Question 31
1 out of 1 points

According to Zen tradition, Shakyamuni passed the Dharma to his one heir by
Answer

Selected
Answer: silently holding up a flower.

Correct
Answer: silently holding up a flower.

• Question 32
1 out of 1 points

Yasutani Roshi’s instructions on breath meditation require one to count each breath up to the number 100 and then to start again.
Answer
Selected Fals
Answer: e
Correct Fals
Answer: e

• Question 33
1 out of 1 points

Many Zen masters claim that everything in the Dharma, everything that there is to learn in Buddhism, can be learned—directly or intuitively
—through the study of koans.
Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 34
0 out of 1 points

Joshu taught his students that humans have buddha nature, but dogs do not.
Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Fals
Answer: e

• Question 35
0 out of 1 points

Dogen was the First Ancestor of Ch’an/Zen in China.

Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Fals
Answer: e

• Question 36
0 out of 1 points

The purpose of zazen, according to Yasutani Roshi, is attain a vision of Buddha which is known as a makyo.
Answer

13 REL 320: The Buddhist Tradition:

 Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Fals
Answer: e

• Question 37
1 out of 1 points

Yasutani Roshi is part of the Soto-lineage.

Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 38
1 out of 1 points

Hotei is the popular form of Maitreya in East Asia.

Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 39
0 out of 1 points

Dogen established the Soto tradition in Japan after practicing in China.

Answer
Selected Fals
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 40
1 out of 1 points

Many Chinese came to accept Confucianism as their guide to this world, and Buddhism as their guide for the world beyond death.
Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 41
1 out of 1 points

Yasutani Roshi mentions that the sound of human voices is one of the most distracting sounds during zazen.
Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 42
1 out of 1 points

In practice, Zen Buddhist life is highly ritualized.

Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer:

14 REL 320: The Buddhist Tradition:

 e

• Question 43
1 out of 1 points

The eighth ox-herding picture is described as the “pinnacle” of the path—not necessarily the end of the journey. It shows
Answer

Selected
Answer: an empty circle.

Correct
Answer: an empty circle.

• Question 44
1 out of 1 points

Shikan-taza (just sitting) is the main form of zazen in Soto.

Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 45
1 out of 1 points

The Ch’an/Zen tradition is known as an “iconoclastic” tradition, which means that Zen Buddhism worships image of Buddha.
Answer
Selected Fals
Answer: e
Correct Fals
Answer: e

• Question 46
1 out of 1 points

Rinzai emphasizes the importance of satori.

Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 47
1 out of 1 points

"Practicenlightenment" refers exclusively to the condition of satori, in which our practice as at last become one with our enlightenment.
Answer
Selected Fals
Answer: e
Correct Fals
Answer: e

• Question 48
0 out of 1 points

Soto has criticized Rinzai for grasping after a special experience in the future instead of realizing that daily practice is the actualization of
enlightenment.
Answer
Selected Fals
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 49

15 REL 320: The Buddhist Tradition:

 1 out of 1 points

Zazan is a way to realize or express fundamental Buddha nature.

Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e

• Question 50
1 out of 1 points

Kensho can be of varying degrees of clarity, depth, or completeness.

Answer
Selected Tru
Answer: e
Correct Tru
Answer: e
Sunday, February 20, 2011 3:03:48 PM EST

16 REL 320: The Buddhist Tradition: