Abstract
This paper approaches the ontological and the epistemological problems of ineffability from the perspective of Dōgen’s non-dualism. Reading Dōgen’s non-dualism in the context of the “doctrine of emptiness” (śūnyatāvāda) prevalent in Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy, this paper explores the implications of a position that does not distinguish the immanent from the transcendent and the effable from the ineffable. Within this system, every predication is effective, in some sense, and imperfect, in another. This paper discusses the structure of what I call Dōgen’s “philosophy of expression” and investigates its implications for an application to current philosophical discourses.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
In his A Postmodern A/Theology, Mark Taylor (1984) argues that postmodern thought has to focus neither on “God” or the “self” but on the traces of the divine that are found in the border-region of the “divine milieu.”
- 2.
For a discussion of how Martin Heidegger and Jacques Derrida used the method of “crossing out” and “writing under erasure” see Spivak 1974, pp. xiii–xx.
- 3.
Here I follow convention for citing the Taisho Shinshū Daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經 (The Taisho Tripiṭaka), in listing the Taisho volume number, section number, and page number.
- 4.
In cases where the language of a given term may not be obvious from context, I use “S” to abbreviate Sanskrtit; “C,” Chinese; and “J,” Japanese.
- 5.
Suzuki Daisetsu 鈴木大拙 (1870–1966) suggests that the Diamond Sūtra advances a logical contradiction of the form “A equals not-A” (Suzuki 1968, pp. 380–381; Kopf 2005).
- 6.
The phrase used in this context is “unity” or “compound” (C. yihexiang 一合相), but the context identifies it with the “trichiliocosm” (C. sanqian daqian shijie 三千大千世界) (Taisho 8.235.752). Thus, “totality” seems to be an appropriate translation of the “unity of the trichiliocosm.”
- 7.
In his 1990 Critical Buddhism (Hihan bukkyō 批判仏教), Noriaki Hakamaya argued that Japanese Mahāyāna Buddhism was corrupted by the “thought of original enlightenment” (hongaku shisō 本覚思想) to form a what he calls topological philosophy.
- 8.
Zhiyi’s Commentary on Guanyin’s Righteousness (Guanyinyishu 觀音義疏) (Taisho 34.1728).
- 9.
Zhiyi’s The Great Cessation and Contemplation (Mohezhiguan 摩訶止觀) (Taisho 46.1911).
- 10.
Inoue suggest that “Buddhist philosophy” is inherently non-dual in character in his Buddhist Philosophy (Inoue 1987–2004, vol. 7, pp. 107–181) and his The Needlepoint of Truth (Shinri kinshin 真理金針) (vol. 3).
- 11.
The last of the non-dualities was a clear rejection of the political interpretation of the doctrine of the two truths by true Pure Land thinkers such as Manshi Kiyozawa 清沢満之(1863–1903), who attempted to implement a Buddhist version of Augustine’s two kingdoms theory, and left room for, if not invited, nationalistic interpretations of Madhayamaka philosophy.
- 12.
- 13.
Literally, “practice-and-actualization are one” (shushō kore ittō nari 修證これ一等なり) (Dōgen 1969–1970, vol. 1, p. 737).
- 14.
For a more detailed account of the relationship between practice and actualization, see Dōgen’s fascicle “Talk Negotiating the Way” (Bendōwa 弁道話) (Dōgen 1969–1970, vol. 1, p. 729–746).
- 15.
This short text is not included in all versions of the Shōbōgenzō and may not even have been authored by Dōgen himself. For more details about the history of this text, see Bodiford 2012.
- 16.
As I have explained elsewhere, “[i]n the Buddhist canon, the character ‘zheng’ 證 is frequently used in compounds such as ‘practice-and-actualization’ (xuizheng), ‘presencing actualization’ (xianzheng), and ‘attainment of actualization’ (zhengde). In his ‘Genjōkōan,’ Dōgen uses the character ‘證’ in five ways: (1) as verb ‘to actualize,’ (2) in the compound ‘practice-and-actualization,’ (3) in the phrase ‘actualizing buddhas’ [shōbutsu 證仏], (4) as verb ‘to actualize thoroughly’ [shōkyū 證究], and (5) in the phrase ‘to actualize through experience’ [shōken 證験]” (Kopf 2014b, pp. 147–148).
- 17.
For a more detailed discussion of the concept of “dharma-position” see Kopf 2001, pp. 144–153.
- 18.
See Muller 2008.
- 19.
Here I follow convention for citing the Manji Shinsan Dainihon Zokuzōkyō 卍新纂大日本續藏經 in listing the volume number, section number, and page number. I rely on CBETA’s online copy at http://tripitaka.cbeta.org/X73n1446_002). Accessed January 28, 2017.
- 20.
The Japanese word “kokoro” 心 is equivalent to both “heart” and “mind.”
- 21.
See http://tripitaka.cbeta.org/X73n1446_002. Accessed January 28, 2017.
- 22.
See http://tripitaka.cbeta.org/X73n1446_002. Accessed January 28, 2017.
- 23.
See footnote 3.
- 24.
Dōgen 1969–1970, vol. 1, p. 7.
- 25.
Shizuteru Ueda 上田閑照 illustrates this relationship of expression between the historical world and the individual based on a side comment by Nishida: “In short, England and I cannot be separated at all since England is the place in which I live and I am the self who reflects England insofar as I live in England … At this time, the fact that I reflect England insofar as I live in England implies that I reflect England as the place of my residence. This means that I am reflected as the person who reflects England while I live there. Consequently, the total relationship (between England and myself) implies that I reflect myself. Assuming this view, we can say that because what I who live in England am reflected when I reflect myself, England is reflected in this very reflection. Assuming that (England and I) cannot be separated, I reflect myself when I reflect England. Therefore, this situation (of this relationship) … implies that England reflects itself. I who reflect England live in England. Since I reflect England where I live, England reflects itself taking as the focal point the way in which I reflect England. This focal point wherein England reflects itself inside itself is I who am reflecting England. If we assume that there is no separation, England reflects itself inside of itself insofar as I reflect England” (Ueda 1991, p. 309).
References
Bodiford, William. 2012. Textual genealogies of Dōgen. In Dōgen: Textual and historical studies, ed. Steven Heine, 15–41. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dōgen. 1969–1970. Dōgen zenji zenshū 道元禅師全集 [Complete works of Zen master Dōgen], ed. Dōshū Ōkubo, Vols. 2. Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō.
Hakamaya, Noriaki 袴谷憲昭. 1990. Hihan bukkyō 批判仏教 [Critical Buddhism]. Tokyo: Daizō Shuppansha.
Hakeda, Yoshito S. 1967. The awakening of faith: Attributed to Aśvaghosha. Trans. with a commentary. New York: Columbia University Press.
Hyers, M. Conrad. 1989. Once born Zen – Twice born Zen: The Soto and Rinzai schools of Japanese Zen. Wolfeboro: Longwood Academic.
Inoue, Enryō. 1987–2004. Inoue Enryō senshū 井上円了撰集 [Selected works of Inoue Enryō], 25 vols. Tokyo: Gakkō Hōjin Tōyō Daigaku.
Kopf, Gereon. 2001. Beyond personal identity: Dōgen, Nishida, and a phenomenology of no-self. Richmond: Curzon Press.
———. 2010. Language games, selflessness, and the death of God: A/theology in contemporary Zen philosophy and deconstruction. In Continental and Japanese philosophy: Comparative approaches to the Kyoto School, ed. Bret Davis, Brian Schroeder, and Jason Wirth, 160–178. Bloomington: Indian University Press.
———. 2014a. Philosophy as expression: Towards a new model of global philosophy. Nishida tetsugakkai nenpō 西田哲学会年報 [The annual review of the Nishida Philosophy Association] 11: 181–155.
———. 2014b. “When all dharmas are the buddha-dharma”: Dōgen as comparative philosopher. In Dōgen and Sōtō Zen: New perspectives, ed. Steven Heine, 138–164. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
———. 2014c. Zen, philosophy, and emptiness: Dōgen and the deconstruction of concepts. In Nothingness in Asian philosophy, ed. JeeLoo Liu and Douglas Berger, 246–262. New York: Routledge Press.
Lyotard, Jean-François. 1984. The postmodern condition: A report on knowledge. Trans. Geoffrey Bennington and Brian Massumi. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Manji shinsan dainihon zokuzōkyō 卍新纂大日本續藏經. 1975–1989. Edited by Kawamura Kōshō. Tokyo: Kokusho Kankōkai. http://tripitaka.cbeta.org/X. Accessed 28 Jan 2017.
McRae, John. 2000. The antecedents of encounter dialogue in Chinese Ch’an Buddhism. In The kōan: Texts and contexts in Zen Buddhism, ed. Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright, 46–74. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Muller, Charles. 2008. Xuansha 玄沙. Digital dictionary of Buddhism, ed. Charles Muller. http://buddhism-dict.net/cgi-bin/xpr-ddb.pl?73.xml+id(‘b7384-6c99’). Accessed 16 Dec 2016.
———. 2010. Maming 馬鳴. Digital dictionary of Buddhism, ed. Charles Muller. http://www.buddhism-dict.net/cgi-bin/xpr-ddb.pl?99.xml+id(‘b99ac- 9cf4’)/. Accessed 16 Dec 2016.
———. 2014. Sandi 三諦. Digital dictionary of Buddhism, ed. Charles Muller. http://buddhism-dict.net/cgi-bin/xpr-ddb.pl?q=三諦. Accesed 16 Dec 2016.
———. 2015. Dasheng qixin lun 大乘起信論. Digital dictionary of Buddhism, ed. Charles Muller. http://www.buddhism-dict.net/cgi-bin/xpr-ddb.pl?59.xml+id(‘b5927-4e58-8d77-4fe1-8ad6’). Accessed 16 Dec 2016.
Mutai, Risaku. 2000–2002. Mutai risaku chosakushū 務台理作著作集 [Collected works of Mutai Risaku], 9 vols. Tokyo: Kobushi Shobō.
Nishida Kitarō. 1988. Nishida kitarō zenshū 西田幾多郎全集 [Complete works of Nishida Kitarō], 20 vols. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. 1974. “Translator’s preface.” In Of grammatology, ed. Jacques Derrida. Trans. Gayatri C. Spivak, ix–xc. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Suzuki, Daisetsu 鈴木大拙. 1968. Suzuki daisetsu zenhū 鈴木大拙全集第5巻 [Complete works of Daisetsu Suzuki], 32 vols. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. 1968–1971).
Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經 [The Taishō Tripiṭaka]. 1961. Edited by Junjirō Takakusu and Kaigyoku Watanabe. Tokyo: Taishō Shinshū Daizōkyō Kankōkai.
Taylor, Mark. 1984. Erring: A postmodern a/theology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Ueda, Shizuteru. 1991. Nishida kitarō wo yomu 西田幾多郎を読 [Reading Nishida Kitarō]. Toyko: Iwanami Shoten.
Watsuji Tetsurō. 1961–1963. Watsuji tetsurō zenshū 和辻哲郎全集 [Complete works of Watsuji Tetsurō], 21 vols. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.
Acknowledgement
It is a honor to be included in this series of The Comparison Project. I would also like to thank the Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association (CBETA) and the Digital Dictionary of Buddhism for their invaluable online resources.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kopf, G. (2017). When Expression Is Expressed, Non-expression Is Not-Expressed: A Zen Buddhist Approach to Talking About the Ineffable. In: Knepper, T., Kalmanson, L. (eds) Ineffability: An Exercise in Comparative Philosophy of Religion. Comparative Philosophy of Religion, vol 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64165-2_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64165-2_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-64163-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-64165-2
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)