The kōan in Japanese Society at the Beginning of the Early Modern Period

Abstract

The teaching of the Japanese Rinzai school is, in its principles, relatively simple: the practitioner focuses on a kōan 公案, grasps its real meaning—that is, the one beyond the trivial meaning of the words—and then receives another kōan on which he focuses in turn, this process being repeated until there is attainment of complete awakening. The fundamental difference between the Japanese Rinzai school and the other Chan or Sŏn branches, in China and Korea, is that in Japan a series of kōan is seen as necessary to reach awakening, while in China and Korea going through one gong’an is considered the equivalent of awakening itself. Leaving aside this difference—despite its importance—such use of kōan by the Japanese Rinzai school is based on a practice originating in the Song dynasty, that of kanhua-chan 看話禅 (Jp. kanna-zen). From its introduction to Japan at the beginning of the 13th century and up to the present era, this kanna-zen—though in fact only one mode of kōan Zen and not (as often imagined) its totality—has been the Rinzai school’s very core, as indeed it is for the vast majority of all Chan or Sŏn practice in the world today.1 During the Edo period, from its very beginning, the teaching of Zen was spread to Japanese society at large, notably through texts written in vernacular Japanese that explained the principles of the Zen school easily and comprehensibly. Yet herein lies what can be seen as a paradox: how is it that such a school, whose stated teachings preach above all the need to go beyond words’ mere meaning, can produce texts like kana hōgo 仮名法語, specifically designed to be easily understood? Certainly one of the most common answers to this question would be that there are different levels to the presentation the school makes of itself: a profounder one, leading to awakening, suitable for monks or lay practitioners, and a more superficial one—the one seen in kana hōgo—that explains only the teaching’s main principles. In a sense, this answer would be correct, but The kōan in Japanese Society at the Beginning of the Early Modern Period: Kana hōgo and kanna-zen