Seeing through Zen

In this book John McRae intends to write a history of Chan Buddhism in a manner different from his predecessors. He begins with a short list of rules he has come up with for studying Zen. These rules involve reading stories for content instead of truth, being untrusting of lineage assertions, taking facts and details as tell-tale signs of inaccuracy, and reading stories through realism. These rules create the basis for how he will write the rest of the book, and help lead him to his conclusion and main point at the end of the work. He takes the entire book to lead up to his main point, which is finally stated in full in the last chapter, "Climax Paradigm". In this chapter he pieces together all of the history and stories he has told throughout the book to claim that it was in fact the Song-dynasty instead of the Tang (which most writers assert) that was the climax and ultimate stability of Chan.Not being a scholar on Chan or really any other Asian history, I cannot evaluate McRae's conclusions and assertions based on historical accuracy. I wish to merely look at whether he follows his own rules which he laid out before the book began. For this we will need a good break-down of what he does in his first five chapters, the ones leading up to his argument and conclusion. In chapter one he discusses Chan lineage and how to properly use it to view Chan history. One of his biggest claims in this section is that we must avoid the "string of pearls fallacy" (McRae 9), which means not telling simply in terms of a list of important people and what they did. He says we need to look at the bigger picture of ideas and overall changes.In the second and third chapters he talks about Chan in different historical time periods and the developments and changes made during those times. He discusses which people were important to that time and what they did. The fourth chapter diverges from this slightly, in that it follows one type of structure in Chan, which is encounter dialogue. He follows this type of practice through the people who developed it, and the ways it was used with each person and time period. In the fifth chapter he discusses "Zen and the Art of Fund-Raising", which really turns out to be a discussion of the political connections that allowed Chan to flourish above other forms of Buddhism in the Song-dynasty.I think McRae's final chapter did a great job of showing Chan Buddhism and a different light than previous writers (at least based on what he says other writers did). He shows reasons why the Song-dynasty was the peak of Chan's influence, power, and stability with specific reason as well as larger concepts. His argument is well-formed and coherent. My problem, however, is with the first five chapters of the work. For the most part, he does not even follow his own rules when writing. He repeatedly gives specific details in his stories, which he originally claims implies inaccuracy. In addition, he takes the time to explain the "string of pearls fallacy" and then commits this very crime throughout the book. The simple fact is that there is no way to tell a history without talking about the individual important people involved. It seems that he was simply trying to make his book appear different from others at the beginning in order to make his argument at the end stronger. This is unnecessary; his argument is already strong, and he does not to prove himself to anyone by trying to make the rest of his book appear new and innovative as well.

As a long time practitioner of Zen, I found this a refreshing confirmation of what I have increasingly come to accept: that much of what is taught in the Zendo is parochial, historically inaccurate and a distorted version of what Buddha taught. McRae attacks this primarily through his deconstruction of the validity of Chan/Zen lineage charts, and as a consequence, the idea of "transmission" of some "special understanding" is a metaphor for maintenance of authority and structure within Buddhism.McRae's book is not easy reading, but is well worth it for a practitioner who has begun to "see through" the veil of what we are taught as students, and wishes for "corrective lenses" to help him or her pierce through the idea of authority in Zen Buddhism, whether in the form of our own teacher, or in the form of the stories that have accreted themselves to the practice of Chan meditation over millennia.While this book could be of use to a scholar of religion, and may well have been intended for such, it can also be helpful for Zen students whose doubts might well lead them to stop practicing. The "content" of Zen is beside the point. Enlightenment is beside the point. The essence of Zen is inner exploration through quiet meditation.

I didn't get too far into this book before getting pissed off. And that's a GOOD thing! John McRae , as a zen student, has taken on the task of looking at the history and hagiography of zen and tried to sort out fact from fiction, uses of the fiction, implications for practice, and much more. As you read this book, if you are a zen student like I am, you will find some of your most cherished beliefs challenged in regard to zen. I find this a refreshing book. The early part on lineage is particularly interesting as most zen groups I am aware of place heavy emphasis on lineage and "proving" how they are descendant from Shakyamuni himself. This was a very rewarding read and I look forward to reading more by this author on Northern school of Zen.

The title of this book may suggest it is meant to debunk Zen, but that did not seem to be the intention. I found that it made me more enthusiastic about practice again. Any religion that survives through the centuries has successfully come to support the power structure of its time - in the case of Zen, Japanese feudalism. In a practice so subtle and tinged with such a culture, how do you find the true core of understanding? This book takes us to the time of the religion's introduction into Chinese society and describes the beginnings of political accommodation. To me, it was inspiring and it led me to read more about the early Chinese masters and also about Taoism, and to start developing aspects of self in ways free from overtones of peasant farmer or samurai.

Good