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ZEN TECHNIQUE
133 Thousands of anxious students have asked why Bodhidharma came from the West, and who is the Buddha. Thousands have enquired as to the nature of Zen.
The answers have, of course, been classified, for of such is the human mind, though not the Kingdom of Zen. As early as the tenth century a Zen disciple made a list of eighteen types of question. They range from the question asked to clarify the pupil's mind to that which frankly tested the Master's own ability. Thus a pupil: “How is it that one who understands not, never cherishes a doubt?” Replied the Master, “When a tortoise walks on the ground, he cannot help leaving traces in the mud," which ought to have satisfied the doubts of that young man. But all the types have this in common, that the answer lies in the questioner's mind, and in the intuitive part of it. Always the attack is turned back on the attacker; always the avenues of escape are closed. “All things are such as they are from the beginning; what is that which is beyond existence?" The answer comes like a blow in the face, "Your statement is quite plain; what is the use of asking me?" This is not impatience, or impertinence. It is saying, but with far more force than saying it rationally ... well, surely it is obvious what it is saying.
Dr. Suzuki has attempted his own classification. His main division is into the Verbal and Direct Methods of demonstrating the truths of Zen, the former, or mondo, being subdivided into Paradox, Going beyond Opposites, Contradiction, Affirmation, Repetition and Exclamation. Examples of all will be found in the pages of his manifold writing on Zen. If it is right that “those who have
1 Essays II, p. 62.
