1/20/2024 0 Comments Define zen writing![]() The stories that have the most profound consequences in “real” life are often the ones we ourselves don’t always recognize. The problem with this assumption - which contemporary scholars of Buddhism have taken great pains to point out - is that stories are not simply conscious artifacts we can analyze and control, or choose to use or not they are structures we accept and assimilate automatically and unconsciously. The ideal here is one of a kind of linguistic transparency: through the words (or through the story) to the meaning. Of course, the use of such story structures in Zen presents a logical problem: how can the inconceivable be represented through a repeated formula? If Zen practice involves abandoning all mental constructions, how can it be represented by means of a story? Which part is “Zen”, and which is “the story of Zen”? The standard answer for this has to do with upaya, or “skillful means”: the idea, omnipresent in Mahayana Buddhism, that the dharma has to be transmitted through whatever means are available. They are, in a sense, the promise that the Zen tradition makes to its followers. They become part of the language of the practice, part of the conversation between student and teacher. Story-koans present a schema, a plan, a process, in which the student can locate him or herself. This is undoubtedly one reason why koans with a narrative component (often included in traditional biographies which follow their own rather strict narrative formula) are so popular in the teaching and transmission of Zen. It describes a story as a period of time that begins with a conflict, imbalance, or unfulfilled desire, proceeds as a series of attempts to address that initiating conflict, results in a climactic incident in which there is some successful overturning or reversal, and then depicts a world which is both changed and restored.Īccording to Freytag’s formula, the Juzhi koan is a “good” story: it involves risk, obstacles, sacrifice, tension, and, finally, return and reassurance. This formula - a diagram which really looks more like an upside-down checkmark - is often used to explain certain basic assumptions about all narratives, from Grimm’s fairy tales to Ulysses. The boy became enlightened.Īnyone who has taken a course in fiction writing or the novel has likely encountered the teaching device known as Freytag’s Pyramid. When the boy turned out around, Juzhi held up one finger. The boy fled the room screaming, but Juzhi called out to him. ![]() When Juzhi heard about this after returning to the temple, he promptly called the boy to his side and cut off his finger. One day, Juzhi was gone from the temple, and someone asked his young attendant about the nature of his master’s teachings. Zen Master Juzhi was known for answering all questions by holding up his index finger.
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