#2. How much does Japanese Zen owe to its Chinese roots?

Chinese Buddhism in general influenced most of the Buddhism in Japan, and Zen was no exception.  A great part of Japanese Zen is indebted to its Chinese Ch’an counterpart.  We can see evidence for this in three ways:

1. Japanese Zen monks visited China almost invariably—with the one exception of Dainichi Nōnin—, and relied on Chinese masters to receive a transmission of the Dharma,
2.  The Japanese Zen schools all have to inevitably trace themselves back to the lineage of Chinese masters like Huineng (J. Enō), in order to claim legitimacy of its lineage and rituals.  Not to mention that, its lineage also has to transmit Buddha-mind down all the masters, all the way to  Bodhidharma (J. Daruma), and the buddhas.
3. The Japanese schools looked to the Chinese for replicating Ch’an rituals, practices like kanna Zen and shikantaza, and even Chinese Five Mountain architecture.

Dogen, Gikai, and Keizan, for example, kept detailed records of monastic rituals that came from Song dynasty China.  Also, Five Mountain Zen in Japan served as a cultural bridge from which the Japanese would draw influence, not just from the architecture of their temples, but even in the studying Chinese-style poetry and Neo-Confucianism, all of which were permeated with Chinese thought.  It is clear that the “renewed contact with Song and Yuan China did more than just foster the growth of the new exclusive Zen movement”, and influenced many areas of Japanese religion and culture.

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Further Reading:

[1] Nanzan’s Guide to Japanese Religion, ed. Paul L. Swanson and Clark Chilson. (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press Honolulu, 2006), 164-180.

[2] Religions of Japan in Practice, ed. George Tanabe, Jr.  (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999), 502

#1. How is Japanese Zen different from Pure Land and Nichiren?

Along with Pure Land and Nichiren Buddhism, Zen was a school of Buddhism that arose during the medieval period in Japan, partly as a response to the Buddhist establishment of exo-esoteric Buddhism at the time.  Like the other two schools, the figures in Zen also started as Tendai monks.  However, although the three new movements of the Kamakura period began as a reaction to the establishment, they were by no means in agreement with each other.

The Zen, Pure Land, and Nichiren schools each had visions that differed from the kenmitsu establishment, and from each other—not only in their practice, but also in their philosophy.  The Pure Land sect had a more devotional approach in which they focused on chanting the name of Amitabha Buddha, so as to be reborn into his Western Land of Sukhavati and attain salvation.  The Nichiren sect had a more strict approach that centered on chanting the title of the Lotus Sutra.  Zen differed radically from the two in that it got away from scripture or chanting, and focused instead on cross-legged sitting (zazen) as its main practice.

Furthermore, Zen claims to provide a transmission beyond scripture—what they would consider “Buddha-mind”, as opposed to “Buddha-word”.  In other words, it claims to carry a special transmission of the dharma that comes from an unbroken line tracing back to Bodhidharma, the patriarch of Zen in China, and even back to Sakyamuni Buddha himself—a transmission that held more weight than that of the sutras, according to Zen practitioners.  This notion carried into Japan and no particular emphasis was given to the major religious texts in Japan at the time, like the Pure Land Sutras or the Lotus Sutra.

Also, when compared to Pure Land, Zen is different in that it encourages the practice of 自力 (jiriki, or self-power), while Pure Land emphasizes 他力 (tariki, or other-power).  The emphasis of zazen was viewed as the quickest way to salvation from suffering, and reliance on Amitabha or the bodhisattvas was not encouraged in Zen, according to texts like the Record of Rinzai. 

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Consulted Sources:

[1] William M. Bodiford “The Medieval Period: Eleventh to Sixteenth Centuries” in Nanzan’s Guide to Japanese Religion, ed. Paul L. Swanson and Clark Chilson. (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press Honolulu, 2006), 168-180.

[2] William M. Bodiford “Zen Buddhism” in Sources of Japanese Tradition: Volume I ed. De Bary et al. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001), 308-309.

Dear Anon,

My Tumblr is currently acting up, and not allowing me to reply to your question or format my posts nicely, but I’ll try it here:

“Hello. ^_^  Re the Strand article—I notice that he mentions Mahayana earlier in the article, and his notes on nembutsu are obviously from a Pure Land perspective; also the article itself is filed under ‘Tibetan’ and ‘Pure Land (Shin)’ But perhaps he could/should do more to stress more in the article that this is Mahayana (or even more specifically, Vajrayana, or PL?) Also, I’m new to Tricycle—do they have a general bias toward Mahayana that you’ve noticed? Just curious.”

Hello!

I actually had only read the quote posted when I wrote the comment.  Indeed, upon reading the article it becomes clear it is a Mahayana/Vajrayana article.  I made the mistake of commenting on only a piece of the article—sorry about that!

As for the labels, some scholars think of Vajrayana, or the Thundervolt Vehicle, as a separate one from the Mahayana.  Yet other scholars lump it as another form of Mahayana.  I don’t know which is more appropriate, but I’ve always thought of Vajrayana Buddhism as different enough to be considered its own branch—given their unique rituals and scriptures, for example.

No offense, but I prefer to refrain from making judgements or criticisms of other blogs and/or magazines in public to an anon.  In general, not judging others is a good practice.  I don’t intend to put anyone on the spot, or establish potential feuds.  

I was merely making a reference to American society interested in Buddhism, in general.  It is my observation that we have a bias towards Mahayana Buddhism, more so than Theravada Buddhism.  I think there are good reasons as to why that may be the case.  But that’ll have to wait until later.  Gotta go take a final!

If you’d like to chat about anything, just let me know!  Have a wonderful day!

Gassho,
Dan