Kenshō

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Kenshō (見性) is a Japanese term that means "see one's nature."[1][2] It is an expression used in the Japanese Zen tradition to refer to recognizing one’s buddha-nature (J. busshō).[3]

According to some sources, kenshō is an initial insight or awakening, not full Buddhahood.[4] It is to be followed by further training to deepen this insight, and learn to express it in daily life.[5][6][7]

Etymology

Kenshō is the Japanese form of the Chinese term jianxing (見性):

  • jian 見 "see, observe, meet with, perceive";
  • xing 性 "(inborn) nature, character, personality, disposition, property, quality, gender".

Literally, "see [one's] nature".[2][8][9]

Descriptions of kenshō

Encyclopedic and dictionary definitions

Some encyclopedia and dictionary definitions are:

  • Muller (2010): To see one's own originally enlightened mind. To behold the Buddha-nature within oneself, a common saying of the Chan school, as seen for example, in the phrase 'seeing one's nature, becoming Buddha' 見性成佛.[10]
  • Baroni (2002): "Seeing one's nature," that is, realizing one's own original Buddha Nature. Kenshō is a Japanese term commonly used for an enlightenment experience; in many cases, it is used synonymously with satori. In the Rinzai school, it most often refers more specifically to one's initial enlightenment experience attained though kôan practice.[8]
  • Fischer-Schreiber (1991): Lit. "seeing nature"; Zen expression for the experience of awakening (enlightenment). Since the meaning is "seeing one's own true nature," kenshō is usually translated "self-realization." Like all words that try to reduce the conceptually ungraspable experience of enlightenment to a concept, this one is also not entirely accurate and is even misleading, since the experience contains no duality of "seer" and "seen" because there is no "nature of self' as an object that is seen by a subject separate from it.[11]
  • Soothill (1934): "To behold the Buddha-nature within oneself, a common saying of the Chan (Zen) or Intuitive School."[12]

Definitions by Buddhist scholars

Buddhist scholars have defined kenshō as:

  • D.T. Suzuki: "Looking into one's nature or the opening of satori".[13]
  • Dumoulin (1988/2005): "Enlightenment is described here as an insight into the identity of one's own nature with all of reality in an eternal now, as a vision that removes all distinctions. This enlightenment is the center and the goal of the Zen way. Hakuin prefers the term "seeing into one's nature", which for him means ultimate reality. The Buddha nature and the cosmic Buddha body, wisdom (prajna), and emptiness (sunyata), the original countenance one had before one was born, and other expressions from the rich palette of Mahayana terms were all familiar to him from his continued study of the sutras and Zen literature."[14]
  • Peter Harvey (1990): "It is a blissful realization where a person's inner nature, the originally pure mind, is directly known as an illuminating emptiness, a thusness which is dynamic and immanent in the world."[15]
  • G. Victor Sogen Hori (2000): "The term consists of two characters: ken, which means "see" or "seeing", and sho, which means "nature", "character", "quality." To "see one's nature" is the usual translation for kensho".[2]

Harvey (1990) also states:

Kenshō is not a single experience, but refers to a whole series of realizations from a beginner’s shallow glimpse of the nature of mind, up to a vision of emptiness equivalent to the ‘path of seeing’, or to Buddhahood itself. In all of these, the same ‘thing’ is known, but in different degrees of clarity and profundity.[15]

Kensho and satori

The term kenshō is often used interchangeably with satori, which means "comprehension, understanding".[16]

According to Fischer-Schreiber, kenshō and satori are nearly synonymous, with a customary distinction of using kenshō for an initial enlightenment experience that still requires deepening, and satori for the Buddhahood enlightenment of a Buddha or Zen patriarch.[11] Hakuin uses the word "satori" for initial insight, synonymous with kensho.[17]

Generally speaking, the Japanese Zen tradition has a rich vocabulary of terms related to "enlightenment," such as: awakenening (kaku), true awakening (shōgaku), perfect awakening (engaku), insight (sei), attaining the Way (jōdō), becoming Buddha (jōbutsu), opening the eye (kaigen), liberation (gedatsu), aythetication (shō), the great death (daishi), self-enlightenment without a teacher (mushi dokugo), great satori with full penetration (taigo tettei), and peerless perfect enlightenment (anokutara sanmyaku sanbodai).[18] The list is not exhausted with these terms.[18]

Notes

  1. ↑ Kapleau 1989.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Hori 2000, p. 287.
  3. ↑ Robert E. Buswell Jr., Donald S. Lopez Jr., The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Princeton: 2014), s.v. jianxing
  4. ↑ Sekida 1985, p. 226.
  5. ↑ Sekida (translator) 1996.
  6. ↑ Yen 1996, p. 54.
  7. ↑ Kraft 1997, p. 91.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Baroni 2002, p. 188.
  9. ↑ Fowler 2005, p. 115.
  10. ↑ Muller 2010, s.v. 見性.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Fischer-Schreiber 1991, p. 115.
  12. ↑ Soothill 1934, p. 244.
  13. ↑ Suzuki & 1994-B, p. 259.
  14. ↑ Dumoulin 2005b, p. 380.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Harvey 1990, p. 275-276.
  16. ↑ Denshi Jisho — Online Japanese dictionary
  17. ↑ Hakuin 2010.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Kraft 1997, p. 90.

Sources

  • Baroni, Helen J. (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Zen Buddhism. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. ISBN 0-8239-2240-5. 
  • Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005b), Zen Buddhism: A History. Volume 2: Japan, World Wisdom Books, ISBN 9780941532907 
  • Fischer-Schreiber, Ingrid; Ehrhard, Franz-Karl; diener, Michael S. (1991), The Shambhala dictionary of Buddhism and Zen, Translated by M. H. Kohn, Boston: Shambhala 
  • Fowler, Merv (2005), Zen Buddhism: Beliefs and Practices, Sussex Academic Press 
  • Hakuin, Ekaku (2010), Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin, Translated by Norman Waddell, Shambhala Publications 
  • Harvey, Peter (1990). An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-31333-3. 
  • Hori, Victor Sogen (2000), Koan and Kensho in the Rinzai Zen Curriculum. In: Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright (eds)(2000): "The Koan. Texts and Contexts in Zen Buddhism, Oxford: Oxford University Press 
  • Kapleau, Philip (1989), The three pillars of Zen 
  • Kraft, Kenneth (1997), Eloquent Zen: Daitō and Early Japanese Zen, University of Hawaii Press 
  • Sekida, Katsuki (1985), Zen Training. Methods and Philosophy, New York, Tokyo: Weatherhill 
  • Sekida (translator), Katsuki (1996), Two Zen Classics. Mumonkan, The Gateless Gate. Hekiganroku, The Blue Cliff Records. Translated with commentaries by Katsuki Sekida, New York / Tokyo: Weatherhill 
  • Soothill, William Edward; Hodous, Lewis (1934), A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms, Motilal Banarsidass 
  • Suzuki, D.T. (1994), An Introduction to Zen Buddhism, Grove Press 
  • Suzuki, D.T. (1994), Essays in Zen Buddhism, Grove Press 
  • Yen, Chan Master Sheng (1996), Dharma Drum: The Life and Heart of Ch'an Practice, Boston & London: Shambhala 

Further reading

Rinzai

  • Low, Albert (2006), Hakuin on Kensho. The Four Ways of Knowing, Boston & London: Shambhala 
  • Hori, Victor Sogen (2006), The Steps of Koan Practice. In: John Daido Loori,Thomas Yuho Kirchner (eds), Sitting With Koans: Essential Writings on Zen Koan Introspection, Wisdom Publications 
  • Mumon, Yamada (2004), Lectures On The Ten Oxherding Pictures, University of Hawaii Press 

Soto

  • Dogen (2000), Enlightenment Unfolds. The Essential Teachings of Zen Master Dogen, Shambhala Publications Inc 

Sanbo Kyodan

  • Maezumi, Hakuyu Taizan; Glassman, Bernie (2007), The Hazy Moon of Enlightenment: Part of the On Zen Practice Series, Wisdom Publications 

External links

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