The pragmatics of 'never tell too plainly': Indirect communication in Chan Buddhism

Asian Philosophy

Volumn 10, Issue 1, 2000, Pages 7-31

  Wang, Youru ^a  

^a CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG   (Hong Kong)

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EID: 2442544763     PISSN: 09552367     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09552360050001743     Document Type: Article

References (109)

1. See DELEUZE, G. & GUATTARI, F. (1988) A Thousand Plateaus, BRIAN MASSUMI, (Trans.) (London, The Althlone Press), ch 4;
2. LYOTARD, JEAN-FRANCOIS (1984) The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, G. BENNINGTON & B. MASSUMI (Transl.) (Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press), chs 6 & 7.
3. Also see LECERCLE, J. J. (1987) The misprision of pragmatics: conceptions of language in contemporary French philosophy, in A. P. GRIFFITHS, (Ed.) Contemporary French Philosophy (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press), pp. 21-40.
4. See COOPER, LANE (Trans.) The Rhetoric of Aristotle (1932) (New York, D. Appleton-Century), pp. 6, 8-9.
5. Aristotle demarcates three components of communication: the speaker, the message, and the receiver. The purpose of communication, as a transfer of information, is to persuade the listener to accept the information in a direction and manner desired by the speaker. This conception of communication is also related to his correspondence theory of language. See ARISTOTLE (1984) De Interpretations, in: JONATHAN BARNES (Ed,) The Complete Works of Aristotle (Princeton, Princeton University Press), Vol. 1, p. 25.
6. See KIERKEGAARD, SOREN (1941) Concluding Unscientific Postscript, D. F. SWENSON & W. LOWRIE (Trans.) (Princeton, Princeton University Press), p. 320.
7. See HEIDEGGER, MARTIN (1962) Being and Time, J. MACQUARRIE & E. ROBINSON (Trans) (New York, Harper & Row), pp. 197, 205;
8. DERRIDA, JACQUES (1982) Margins of Philosophy, A. BASS (Trans.) (Chicago, The University of Chicago Press), pp. 311-321;
9. WITTGENSTEIN, LUDWIG (1953) Philosophical Investigations, G. E. M. ANSCOMBE (Transl.) (New York, Macmillan), 83e-84e, 304e, 363e. Due to the limited space, I cannot discuss, in detail and respectively, all these philosophers' views in this essay. However, this should not lead us to ignoring the fact that these philosophers' exploration in the issue of indirect communication, as the integral part and result of their critique of Western metaphysics, deserve many more studies.
10. With his later discourse of sign, Kierkegaard's theory of indirect communication has been admitted as the precursor of the contemporary inquiries into the indirection of communication, despite his special reference to ethico-religious issues. See, for example, Roger Poole's recent study on Kierkegaard. POOLE, ROGER (1993) Kierkegaard: The Indirect Communication (Charlottesville, University Press of Virginia), p. 2.
11. Also see AGACINSKI, SYLVIANE (1988) Aparte: Conceptions and Deaths of Soren Kierkegaard, K. Newmark (Transl.) (Tallahassee, Florida State University Press), p. 20.
12. Kierkegaard's discourse of sign can be found in KIERKEGAARD, SORAN (1944) Training in Christianity, W. LOWRIE (Trans.) (Princeton, Princeton University Press), p. 124.
13. DE MARTINO, RICHARD (1983) On Zen communication, Communication, 8, p. 17. Italic is original.
14. SUZUKI, D. T. (1955) Studies in Zen (London, Rider & Company), p. 150.
15. HU SHI (1953) Philosophy East and West, 3(1), p. 21.
16. HU SHI (1953) Philosophy East and West, Ibid.
17. See Dongshan Liangjie Chanshi Yulu, in: Chanzong, Jicheng (1968) (Taibei, Yiwen Yinshu Guan), Vol. 13, p. 9024;
18. POWELL, WILLIAM F. (Trans.) (1986) The Record of Tung-Shan, (Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press), p. 28. Hu Shi's quotation is not a complete translation of this sentence.
19. SUZUKI, The Record of Tung-Shan, 1986, op. cit., note 8, p. 150.
20. SUZUKI, The Record of Tung-Shan, Ibid., pp. 158-159.
21. See SUZUKI, D. T. (1994) The Zen Koan as a Means of Attaining Enlightenment (Boston, Charles E. Tuttle)
22. originally published in SUZUKI, D. T. (1950) Essays in Zen Buddhism, 2nd series, C. HUMPHRIES (Ed.) (London, Rider & Company). I must point out that contrary to Suzuki's neglect of the study of Chan linguistic strategies, at least two Chinese scholars, Bao Hutian and Wu Yi, echoing Hu Shi one way or another, have done some significant studies in exploring these strategies, The present project of mine can be seen as a further step from their precursory works. However, the works of these Chinese scholars have not been widely known or studied by most of Western scholars in Chan Buddhism
23. See BAO HUTIAN (1971) A penetrating look at Chan gongan (Chanzong gongan zhi toushi), in: Yihai Weilan (Taipei, Guangwen Shuju), pp. 127-144
24. and his (1988) The necessary condition and knowledge for the person who studies Chan (Chanxue yanjiuzhe yinjuyou de tiaojian yu renshi), in: Changu Shixinji (Taipei, Dongda Tushu Gongsi), pp. 12-24.
25. Also see WU YI (1981) Ten essential types of Chan gongan (Chanzong gongan wenda de Shige jiben geshi), in: Zhongguo Zkexue De Shengming He Fangfa (Taipei, Dongda Tushu Gongsi), pp. 69-81.
26. SUZUKI, (1981) Ten essential types of Chan gongan (Chanzong gongan wenda de Shige jiben geshi), in: Zhongguo Zkexue De Shengming He Fangfa, op. cit., note 8, p. 144.
27. SUZUKI, Zhongguo Zkexue De Shengming He Fangfa, Ibid., p. 153.
28. Jiangxi Mazu Daoyi Chanshi Yulu, in: Chanzong Jicheng, 13, p. 8962.
29. Cf. CHENG CHIEN BHIKSHU (Trans.) (1992) Sun-Pace Buddha: The Teachings of Ma-tzu and the Hung-chou School of Ch'an (Berkeley, Asian Humanities Press), p. 65. As one may note, Cheng's translation of 'jiewu' as 'dealing with people as they come' goes too far from the original meaning of the Chinese words.
30. See SUZUKI, op. cit., note 8, pp. 66, 143, 147.
31. See DAZHU HUIHAI, Dunwu Rudao Yaomenlun, part II, Chanzong Jicheng, 1, p. 47
32. Cf. BLOFELD, JOHN (Trans.) (1962) The Zen Teaching of Instantaneous Awakening (London, Buddhist Publishing Group), p. 61.
33. LINJI LU, in: Guzunsu Yulu, fascicle 4, Chanzong Jicheng, 11, p. 7357;
34. WATSON, BURTON (Trans.) (1993) The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-chi, (Boston, Shambhala), p, 53
35. HUANGBO XIYUN, Chuanxin Fayao, Chanzong Jicheng, 13, p. 8980.
36. See also UI HAKUJU, (1990) Denshin hōyō, Ui Hakujū yakuchū zenseki shūsei, Vol. 2 (Tokyo, Iwanami Shoten), pp, 42-43;
37. BLOFELD, JOHN (Trans.) (1958) The Zen Teaching of Huang Po (New York, Grove Weidenfeld), pp. 59-60, The patriarch whom Huangbo Xiyun mentions here is the alleged Twenty-Third Indian Patriarch Haklenayasas.
38. UI HAKUJU, The Zen Teaching of Huang Po, op. cit., note 27, pp. 30-33.
39. Cf. BLOFELD, The Zen Teaching of Huang Po, op. cit., note 27, p, 126.
40. See Jingde Chuandeng Lu, fascicle 9, in: Taishō, 51, p. 273.
41. Cf. POWELL, op. cit., note 11, p. 25, Here I disagree with Powell's translation.
42. Jingde Ghuandeng Lu, fascicle 11, Taishō, 51, p. 284.
43. See HEIDEGGER, MARTIN (1971) On the Way to Language, P. D. HERTZ, (Trans.) (New York, Harper & Row), p. 123. The Chan Buddhist insight into the non-duality between speaking and listening is the foundation for their understanding of the role of listening in communication. This insight is inseparable from the pragmatic wisdom that guides the Chan soteriological practice. However, Heidegger's main interest is the search for an understanding of the essential Being that appropriates and calls forth human listening and speaking.
44. KIERKEGAARD, op. cit., note 3, p. 246. Nobody would deny the huge differences between the Chan Buddhist undertaking and Kierkegaard's, despite the parallel and similarity between their insights into indirect communication. For one thing, the Chan art of communication involves a naturalistic perspective that Kierkegaard obviously does not share. According to this perspective, indirect communication is the art of dao, and is the consequence of being an enlightened person who leaves what is as it is. Kierkegaard's notion of indirect communication is rooted in his Christian beleif and in the tradition of negative theology.
45. YANAGIDA SEIZAN, (1972) Rinzai Roku (Tokyo, Daizo Shuppan Kabushiki Kaisha), p. 69;
46. WATSON, Rinzai Roku, 1972, op, cit., note 26, pp. 21-22
47. Jingde Chuandeng Lu, fascicle 7, Taishö, 51, p. 254.
48. Cf. SOHAKU OGATA, (Trans.) (1990) The Transmission of the Lamp: Early Masters (Wakefield, NH, Longwood Academic), p. 240.
49. CLEARY, THOMAS (Trans.) (1978) Sayings and Doings of Pai-chang. (Los Angeles, Center Publications), p. 50.
50. Cf. T. CLEARY & J. C. CLEARY (Trans.) (1992) The Blue Cliff Record (Boston, Shambhala), p. 134. There is no strong evidence in the text to support the translators' interpretation that this statement is made by Deshan.
51. Dahui repeats, in his own teaching, this statement originally made by Yuanwu. See Dahui Pujue Chanshi Yulu, fascicle 14, Taishō, 47, p. 870.
52. The Chan notion and use of 'living words' have not been closely examined in the contemporary study of Chan thought. We find no discussion on the notion and use of 'living words' in the early studies of Chan koan, such as MIURA, ISSHU and SASAKI, RUTH FULLER, (1965) The Zen Koan: Its History and Use in Rinzai Zen (San Diego, HBJ)
53. and SUZUKI, op. cit., note 17. Baizhang Huaihai's important account of the use of 'living words' and the later development of the notion of 'living words' in Chan are neglected as well by those writings on the history of Chinese Chan thought, such as NUKARIYA KAITEN (1925) Zengaku shisōshi (Tokyo, Genkosha)
54. SEKIGUCHI SHINDAI (1964) Zenshü shisöshi (Tokyo, Sankibo Busshorin)
55. SUZUKI TETSUO (1985) Tō-godai zenshūshi (Tokyo, Sankibo Busshorin), etc.
56. Among American scholars, recently, Buswell [BUSWELL, R. E. J. (1987) The 'short-cut' approach of k'an-hua meditation: the evolution of a practical subitism in Chinese Ch'an Buddhism, in: P. N. GREGORY (Ed.) Sudden and Gradual Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought (Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press), p. 348]
57. and Gimello [GIMELLO, R. M. (1991) Marga and culture: learning, letters, and liberation in Northern Sung Ch'an, in: R. E. J. BUSWELL & R. M. GIMELLO (Eds) Path to Liberation: The Marga and Its Transformations in Buddhist Thought (Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press), p. 376] both refer to the notion of 'living words'
58. Buswell places the notion of 'living words', in another paper, within three Chan hermeneutic devices, although he discusses it mainly from a Korean Chan perspective [BUSWELL, R. E. J. (1988) Ch'an hermeneutics: a Korean view, in: D. S. J. LOPEZ (Ed.) Buddhist Hermeneutics (Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, pp. 246-248)].
59. However, two books recently written by Chinese scholars - PAN GUIMING (1992) Zhongguo Chanzong Sixiang Licheng (Beijing, Jinri Zhongguo Chubanshe);
60. DU JIWEN & WEI DAORU (1993) Zhongguo Chanzong Tongshi (Nanjing, Jiangsu Guji Chubanshe - have given more detailed studies than any others hitherto of the above-mentioned Chan notion and use of 'living words'.
61. In this regard, see CH'IEN, EDWARD T. (1984) The conception of language and the use of paradox in Buddhism and Taoism, Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 11 (4).
62. Ch'ien differentiates the Indian mode of serial, progressive negation, and Sengzhao's and Chan Buddhists' simplified uses of paradox. Also see SHOHEI ICHIMURA (1985) A determining factor that differentiated Indian and Chinese Madhyamika methods of dialectic as reductio-ad-absurdum and paradoxical argument respectively, Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies, 33(2). Ichimura points out that the difference between the methods of Indian Madhyamika and Sengzhao, on the part of the Chinese Buddhist world, 'was to be further made magnified in the Zen tradition in later periods'.
63. Cf. CHAN, WING-TSIT (Transl.) (1963) The Platform Scripture (New York, St. John's University Press), pp. 120-121.
64. CHAN, WING-TSIT, The Platform Scripture, The translation presented here is my own compromise, a combination and minor revision of Wing-tsit Chan's and Yampolsky's translations of the original Chinese sentences. Cf. Ibid., p. 127;
65. YAMPOLSKY, PHILIP B. (Transl.) (1967) The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch (New York, Columbia University Press), pp. 172-173.
66. See Heze Shenhui Chanshi Yulu, in: SHIJUN, LOU YULIE, et al. (Eds) (1983) Zhongguo Fojiao Sixiang Ziliao Xuanbian (Bejing, Zhonghua Shuju), 2(4), p. 89.
67. See YANAGIDA, SEIZAN & UMEHARA, TAKESHI (1969) Mu no tankyū: Chūgoku zen (Tokyo, Kakukawa Shoten), p. 128.
68. SASAKI, RUTH FULLER (Transl.) (1975) The Recorded Sayings of Ch'an Master Lin-chi Hui-chao of Chen Prefecture (Kyoto, The Institute for Zen Studies), pp. 9-10.
69. SASAKI, RUTH FULLER, The Recorded Sayings of Ch'an Master Lin-chi Hui-chao of Chen Prefecture, Ibid., p. 7357;
70. SEIZAN, The Recorded Sayings of Ch'an Master Lin-chi Hui-chao of Chen Prefecture, op. cit., note 40, p. 145.
71. Cf. SASAKI, The Recorded Sayings of Ch'an Master Lin-chi Hui-chao of Chen Prefecture , op. cit., note 60, p. 27;
72. WATSON, The Recorded Sayings of Ch'an Master Lin-chi Hui-chao of Chen Prefecture , op. cit., note 26, p. 55. It is alleged that this hymn is written by the Twenty-Second Indian Patriarch Manorhita. Probably, it is fabricated by Chinese Buddhists. In any event, the hymn quoted by Linji reflects Linji's own thought.
73. Jingde Chuandeng Lu, fascicle 7, Taishoq̄, 51, p. 253.
74. Cf. OGATA, Taishoq̄, op. cit., note 42, p. 231.
75. In this regard, Chung-ying Cheng's analysis of the principle of contextual reconstruction [CHENG, CHUNGYING (1973) On Zen (Ch'an) language and Zen paradoxes, Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 1 (1), p. 95] is still valid.
76. SUZUKI, D. T. (1964) An Introduction to Zen Buddhism (New York, Grove Weidenfeld), p. 58.
77. For more discussions of the liminology of language, its definition and its application in Chan Buddhism, see WANG, YOURU (1997) An inquiry into the liminology of language in the Zhuangzi and in Chan Buddhism, International Philosophical Quarterly, 37(2).
78. See Webster's Third New International Dictionary, p. 2344;
79. The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edn, Vol. 17, p. 672.
80. See the entry tautology in AUDI, ROBERT (Ed.) (1995) The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press), pp. 788-789.
81. WITTGENSTEIN, LUDWIG (1922) Tractatus Logico- Philosophicus, C. K. OGDEN (Trans.) (London, Routledge & Kegan Paul), 5. 5303, p. 139;
82. TOMS, ERIC (1962) Being, Negation and Logic (Oxford, Basil Blackwell), p. 55;.
83. KAINZ, HOWARD P. (1988) Paradox, Dialectic, and System (University Park, The Pennsylvania State University Press), p. 45; etc.
84. For a detailed examination of Heidegger's use of tautological expressions, see SCHOFER, ERASMUS (1972) Heidegger's language: metalogical forms of thought and grammatical specialties, in: J. J. KOCHELMANS (Ed.) On Heidegger and Language (Evanston, Northwestern University Press), pp. 287-301.
85. Juefan Huihong says: 'When there are words within the words (Yuzhong Youyu), these words are called dead words (Mingwei Siju); when there are no words within the words (Yuzhong Wuyu), these words are called living words (Mingwei Huoju). ' See Chanlin Sengbao Zhuan, fascicle 12, HTC, vol 137, p. 247.
86. Schofer, HTC, 137, op. cit., note 70, pp. 293-294.
87. Linji's verses are translated into English by Burton Watson as follows. For the procedure of 'taking away the person but not taking away the environment', Linji says: 'Warm sun shines forth, spreading the earth with brocade. The little child's hair hangs down, white as silk thread. ' For 'taking away the environment but not taking away the person', he says: 'The king's commands have spread throughout the realm. Generals beyond the border no longer taste the smoke and dust of battle. ' For 'taking away both the person and the environment', he says: 'All word cut off Ping and Fen - they stand alone, a region apart,' For 'taking away neither the person nor the environment' he says: 'The king ascends his jeweled hall; country oldsters sing their songs'. See WATSON, HTC, 137, op. cit., note 26, pp. 21-22 and his explanation of the verses in the notes.
88. Wanling Lu, Taisho, 48, p. 385;
89. UI HAKUJŪ, Taisho, 48, op. cit., note 27, pp. 70-71.
90. Cf. BLOFELD, Taisho, 48, op. cit., note 27, pp. 81-82. To experience the poeticity of Huangbo's sentences, we must read the original Chinese. My English rendering does not preserve the original poeticity well.
91. WATSON, BURTON (1988) Zen Poetry, in: K. KRAFT (Ed.) Zen: Tradition and Transition (New York, Grove Press), p. 106.
92. See DU SONGBAI (1976) Chanxue Yu Tangsong Shixue (Taibei, Liming Wenhua Shiye Gongsi), pp. 197-198;
93. ZHOU YUKAI (1994) Zhongguo Chanzong Yu Shige (Gao Xiong: Liwen Wenhua Gongsi), pp. 29-34;
94. IRIYA YOSHITAKA (1983) Chūgoku no zen to shi, in: Kyudo to etsuraku (Tokyo, Iwanami shoten), p, 77
95. WADDELL, N. A. (Trans.), (1973) Chinese poetry and Zen, The Eastern Buddhist, 6(1), p. 56;
96. Wawrytko, Sandra A. (1992) The poetics of Ch'an: upayic poetry and its Taoist enrichment, Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal, No. 5, pp. 344-347. Among various studies I have mentioned so far, Wawrytko's paper seems to be the only one that has paid attention to the theoretical issue of how Chan poetry contributes to Chan enlightenment experience.
97. HAJIME NAKAMURA (1964), P. P. WIENER (Ed.) Ways of Thinking of Eastern Peoples (Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press), p. 193.
98. I agree with Robert Gimello's opinion: '[O]ne must credit to poetry and the other modes of literary expression associated with Ch'an meditation an operative and transformative power'. See GIMELLO, ROBERT (1986) Poetry and the kung-an in Ch'an pratice, Ten Directions, 7 (Spring/ Summer), p. 11.
99. Deshan Shaoyan Chanshi, in: Wudeng Huiyuan, fascicle 15 (1984) (Beijing, Zhonghua Shuju), vol. 3, p. 969.
100. Robert Gimello has insightfully argued that Chinese Buddhism in general, and Huyan in particular, has moved toward a more kataphatic mode of discourse, which is a significant departure from traditionally Indian forms of conceptualisation and expression, See GIMELLO, ROBERT (1976) Apophatic and kataphatic discourse in Mahayana: a Chinese view, Philosophy East and West, 26(2), pp. 119, 122. Chan Buddhism can be regarded as a further move in the same direction through its poeticizing. However, the Chan use of poetic language involves both apophatic and kataphatic functions as I indicated in this discussion.
101. HEIDEGGER, (1976) Apophatic and kataphatic discourse in Mahayana: a Chinese view, Philosophy East and West, 26(2), op. cit., note 37, p. 192.
102. HEIDEGGER, MARTIN (1968) What is called thinking?, J. GLENN, GRAY (Transl.) (New York, Harper & Row), p. 71.
103. DU SONGBAI, What is called thinking?, 1968, op. cit., note 80, p. 1.
104. This poem is written to Zhaozhou by a learned monk. See Jingde Chaundeng Lu. fascicle 10, In: Taisho, 51, p. 277.
105. The English translation of this poem is from WU, JOHN C. H. (1996) The Golden Age of Zen (New York, Doubleday), p. 100.
106. I made minor corrections. Also see OGATA, op. cit., note 42, p, 349
107. For the explanation of the verses, see DU SOKGBAI, op. cit., note 80, p. 213.
108. Zhaojue Keqin Chanshi, in: Wudeng Huiyuan, op. cit., note 83, fascicle 19, 3, p. 1254.
109. The English translation of the verses is from WU, s Wudeng Huiyuan, op. cit., note 88, p. 204.