The Zen Doctrine of No-Mind: The Significance of the Sūtra of Hui-Neng by D.T. Suzuki

The Zen Doctrine of No-Mind: The Significance of the Sūtra of Hui-Neng Reviews

• 
  Anthony Buckley

  Hui-Neng, known as the Sixth Zen Patriarch, established the idea that enlightenment came suddenly and that it should not be sought by slowly and progressively cleaning the mirror of one's mind. Suzuki's free-flowing exploration of the Sutra of Hui-Neng is not nearly as obscure as one might expect. I read it a long time ago, and in looking at it again, I find that it had more of an impact on me than I had realized.
• 
  Lysergius

  Suzuki's writings have a clarity that helps to illumine what is a difficult subject. Well worth the effort. This is an intro to the more complex Essays.
• 
  J Benedetti

  Fu kicked a dog which happened to be there, and the dog gave a cry and ran away. The monk made no response, whereupon Fu said: 'Poor dog, you were kicked in vain.'
• 
  Ji Song

  So while it is always pointing at that universal transcendent thing, on the surface Suzuki spends much of the book talking about the historical conflicts that emerged between some of the early Chinese Buddhist schools. And while it's always wonderful to have access to the words of the old masters - and Suzuki is a delightful guide through their humour and their wisdom - what I found the most interesting is the parallels between Buddhism integrating into China and Buddhism integrating in the West now.
  
  It's not an easy thing to turn into a religion. At it's core, it is beyond dualities, beyond good/evil, and so what the hell are you supposed to do with that haha... and so.. there is temptation to turn even non-dualism into a purist thing... to turn sitting into another trap... to turn the sutras into another delusion..
  
  Suzuki hits us with the lightning of Hui-neng, whose compassion broke the purity of those practicing in ancient China, and it has the power to break our purity now :) It's a fun book. Enjoy :)
• 
  Michael

  Some parts were quite repetitive and others were difficult to grasp as a student in the West. However, I think there is much more tangible knowledge and history of the different types of Zen in this book which is more useful than the other Suzuki text on the Beginner's Mind. Nice for anyone wanting to learn more about Buddhism.
• 
  Jason Comely

  'No Mind' doctrine is deep and dense.
• 
  Florinda

  Una lettura non facile per me, probabilmente non sono abbastanza in sintonia con questa filosofia. Ci sono passaggi interessanti, molti però per me sono stati privi di significato.
• 
  Angelo Montinovo

  Agito, ergo sum.
• 
  Sam Hicks

  "...the unattainability of all things is reality itself." Yep.
• 
  Peter

  This is a wonderful exploration of the ideas of Huineng (638-713), who is one of the most important figures in the history of Zen Buddhism. It gives the reader a solid understanding of how he changed the trajectory of Buddhism in China—especially with regard to meditation.
  
  Many of Huineng's contemporaries saw meditation as a deliberate exercise aimed at "clearing" the mind in order to find deeper purity within. The most famous expression of this view occurs in a short verse written by Shenxiu (one of the senior students of Hui-neng's master):
  

  The body is the bodhi tree
  The mind is like a bright mirror's stand.
  At all times we must strive to polish it
  and must not let dust collect.

  
  On this, Suzuki comments,
  

  This dust-wiping attitude of Shenxiu and his followers inevitably leads to the quietistic method of meditation, and it was indeed the method which they recommended. They taught that entering into a Samadhi by means of concentration, and the purifying of the mind by making it dwell on one thought. They further taught that by the awakening of thoughts an objective world was illumined, and that when they were folded up an inner world was perceived. (p. 18)

  
  To Hui-neng, this view was one fraught with attachment to intellectual constructs. He says,
  

  When you cherish the notion of purity and cling to it, you turn purity into falsehood. ... Purity has neither form nor shape, and when you claim an achievement by establishing a form to be known as purity, you obstruct your own self-nature, you are bound by purity. (p. 27)

  
  For him, enlightenment is found neither by deliberately grasping at concepts, nor by striving to create mental states; these are nothing but more subtle forms of attachment and clinging.
  
  Suzuki criticizes Shenxiu's "dust-wiping attitude" toward meditation for its quietism, calling it "the exercise of killing life, of keeping the mind in a state of torpor and making [its practitioners] socially useless" (p. 32). Unfortunately, he never elaborates on the role of social action in Huineng's thought. I do not think the word "compassion," for example, occurs even one time in this book. But in Huineng's
  own writings, we encounter statements like,
  

  Respecting all living beings is where you conquer your own mind. (Cleary, p. 92)

  
  And,
  

  Confused people who sit in meditation fanatically trying to get rid of illusion and do not learn kindness, compassion, joyfulness, equanimity, wisdom, and expedient skills, and so are like wood or stone, without any function, are called nonthinking. (Cleary, p. 93)

  
  And,
  

  When ordinary people practice charity, they are just seeking personal dignity, or enjoyment of pleasure: that is why they plunge back into the three mires when their rewards are used up. The [Buddha] is very kind, teaching the practice of formless charity, not seeking personal dignity or pleasure; he just has us inwardly destroy the attitude of stinginess while outwardly helping all beings. (Cleary, p. 95)

  
  Because it neglects this dimension of Huineng's teachings, Suzuki's book feels incomplete. It is well worth reading for anyone interested in Zen Buddhism, but its limitations should be kept in mind (or no-mind!).
  
• 
  Tony

  This is a fascinating book that brings us back to the seventh and eighth centuries in China to Hui-Neng and the Zen concept of No Mind. Wonderful for its spiritual insights and historical scholarship. Highly reccommended.
• 
  Jughead

  The gentleman who introduced the West to Zen Buddhism. A great intro to the 6th Patriarch. D. T. Suzuki is often overlooked these days (mostly in favor of that other Suzuki,) but D. T.s books quietly wait those who want to understand Zen and are tired of 'just sitting'.
• 
  Trung

  Lần đầu tiên đọc 1 tác phẩm theo hướng luận nên nhiều chỗ chẳng hiểu gì hết, chỉ thấy thú vị.
• 
  Travis Martin

  From the first not a thing is.