Perfecting Mind and Its Qualia of Silence in Korean Sŏn Poetry
(Synopsis)
Korean Sŏn poetry displays many formal traits and contents profundity, in highly condensed poetic ideas, paradoxically more expressive by omission of sundry epithets. Its ideational quantum is so speedy and reductive gisty[y1] but powerful as to strike out sparkling imagery. Its aesthetic elegance is a little rough and tough, but its enlightenment resounds its vast seismic vertical depth silently to its origin. Its frequent use of the rhetorical condensation, conceit, disconnection, paradox, parallelism, physical figurization[y2] , the union of opposite qualia, indefinite reality, and transcendental metaphors makes Sŏn poetry strike down to the essence of the mind, usually called the Buddha’s Nature.
(Key Words)
Korean Sŏn Poetry, Zen, Buddhism, Zen Cognitive Poetics, Enlightenment discourses, Narrative
I. Introduction
All poems have conducted an expressive act on the things to represent human mind. Throughout the literary history, poetry shows autobiographical narratives. Poetic process is an interplay between the formative process of personal experience and the structuring process of it for its own uniqueness. In poetic creativity, the poet’s personal intentionality can be reflected in the poem’s narratives.
Poetry is not silence. It can represent some qualia of silence, but cannot be the silence itself, nor depiction of it as it is. In it an intelligent act abstracts the meaning of life in causal relation to the expressing poet. Zen[i] poetry proclaims that one of its primary tenets is “Direct Transmission of Mind,” or mindless transfer, or wordless representation of mind itself. For Zen poets, life always its Zen-like narratives and poetic representations.
Zen strives to embody the reality of man in inevitable life pains. It is [y3] mental process to attain such an impossible project. Is it possible to express the religious truth without verbal representation? Zen masters are well aware of this difficulty, but always toil to grasp a concrete way to see such a state of mind. Many have achieved a right mind and right action in the process of meditation. Zen’s intentionality can predestine the topological features of peninsular Korean Sŏn., which is different from the continental Chinese Ch’an or the insular Japanese Zen.
This essay studies the poetic consciousness of Korean ŏn poetry, with its distinguishable literary properties. The Zen poetry of Korea, China, and Japan is phenomenologically similar, since they are founded on similar ideas and practices for hundreds of years. However, people have different minds and different temperaments and show different poetic responses. I delineate the unique features of Korean Sŏn poetry by focusing on three domains of mind: cognition, affection, and action.
Characteristics of Korean Sŏn
1) History
Korean Buddhism is a part of the East Asian Mahāyāna Buddhism traditions. In the fourth century, Koguryŏ (37 BC-618 AD), one of the Three Kingdoms (Paekch’e and Silla), introduced Chinese Buddhism into the Korean peninsula and the early Korean Buddhism “developed with it very closely (with the neighboring countries) and also influenced the development of Buddhism in Japan”(Keown 448) since then. It has many aspects of new development in sophisticating philosophy of Buddhism, winning over the consenting minds of ordinary people as well as the noble ruling classes, absorbing the indigenous religious tradition of shamanism, and harmonizing all the traditional ideas including the Confucian ways of life, too.
Korean Sŏn has been recognized as a coherent and cogent subitism, a school of Sudden Enlightenment one and defined as a unique denomination to its regional features. When Korean Sŏn Masters have displayed their peculiar traits so long, their collective narrations can have continuously formed certain national traits self and religious meanings congruent to Korea. I can say it would have functioned as the foundations of Korean Sŏn poetry and formed its unique poetic self. So I’d like to locate and value those properties, based on the context of the past poetic experience and their represented works. They can surely imply new aspects of Korean Sŏn, still strongly underlying in the Korean culture.
Let’s see briefly the Korean Sŏn history which can provide an overarching narrative context: The first Sŏn master who introduced Ch’an Buddhism to the old Korea is recorded as Pŏmnang [ii] (法郞632-?), who was ordained by the 4th Patriarch Daoxin(道神) in China. [iii] Pŏmnang is known to have gone to Tang Dynasty, cierca[y4] 647-54 AD during the reign of the 27th Queen Sŏndŏk, Silla Dynasty.[iv] At that time when he came back from China to spread out his Sŏn practices, the Kyojong(敎宗, Scholastic School) was so prevalent. At last he led an ascetic life and taught his disciples. Among them, Sinhaeng(愼行704-779) went to Tang dynasty to study further and founded one of the 9 Mountains in Korea. It is also said that the full-fledged Sŏn Buddhism was “officially introduced around late Koryŏ dynasty (13th C) (Keown 697).
However, nowadays the recognized founder of Korean Sŏn School of Sudden Enlightenment is academically claimed to be Toŭi(道義), who was ordained by Chijang(地藏) in 813 AD and became the Patriarch of Kaja Mountain School. Since the later part of Silla Dynasty (BC57-925AD) and the early Koryŏ dynasty (918-1392), 9 mountain schools of Sŏn Buddhism were founded. Among them, the 8 schools follow the teachings of 6th Patriarch Huineng’s teachings of Sudden Enlightenment.
Among many masters, Chinul (知訥 1158-1210) introduced hwadu (話頭, huatou) meditation “as the fastest way to attain enlightenment, but reserved it for the high-capacity practitioners” (Keown 453). Hyesim (慧諶 1178-1234) wrote Sŏnmun Yŏmsong (禪門捻염 頌The Collection of Cases and Verses of the Sŏn School, 1226), a basic text of Korean Sŏn, compiling 1125 verses and prose verses, or kongan. Other masters are Kyŏnghan (景閑 1299-1375), Ch’ungchi (沖止1226-92), Powu (普愚1301-82), Hyekŭn (惠勤 1320-76), Tŭkt’ong (得通 1376-1433), Sŏljam (雪岑 1435-93), Powu (普雨 1515-65), Hyuchŏng (休靜 1520-1604), Taenŭng(1562-1649), Myŏngcho (1593-1661), Wandang (Kim, chŏng-hŭi 1786-1856), Ch’oŭi (草衣 1786-1866), Sŏngwu (惺牛 1849-1912), Yongsŏng (龍城 1864-1940), Mangong (滿空 1871-1946), Sŏngch’ŏl (性徹 1912-93), and other modern masters. They are in the line of Linji (?-866/7) and Mazu (707-86) of the Southern Ch’an Buddhism schools. Most Korean Sŏnnists Masters focus on Kanhwa Sŏn (懇話 kanhua) which emphasizes to practice the ultimate way to reach awakened enlightenment as well as an equal emphasis on doctrinal teachings.
Most of the Korean Sŏn masters display the tradition of Sudden Enlightenment, whose origin of this teaching can be started from Pojo Chinul. His teachings constituted “the dominant form of Sŏn Buddhism in Korea since the thirteenth century.” (Keown 461) To most masters, our human nature is originally perfect and has undamaged original wisdom. Therefore, enlightenment means realizing their own nature and sustaining its enlightenment state throughout lifetime. The initial sudden awakening (解悟 hae’o) cannot sustain continuously as they hope, and naturally needs gradual cultivation of it. Most Korean masters, especially Sŏngch’ŏl, denies such a gradual transition of Gradual cultivation after sudden awakening, for which Chinul claimed “the follower of intellectual knowledge is the heretical and wrong way of practicing Sŏn Buddhism.”(Keown 461)
Korean Buddhism is defined as syncretic Buddhism (會通 hoet’ong), state-protecting Buddhism, and Minjung (Grass roots) Buddhism. Syncreticism signifies unification, appropriation, harmonization, or “interdenomination”(Keown 455) to reconcile the imported ideas (usually from China) within the existing thoughts, such as Hwarang spirit (Cadets’ code of conduct), Sonbi (scholars) spirit, Confucianism, shamanism, and other mentality. This syncretic spirit has been so strongly promoted throughout the Korean history as well as the Buddhists’. [v]
[i] Here I use Zen, a Japanese translation of禪, when I signify the generic properties of Zen Buddhism in the Far East, since it has been historically introduced to the western readers that way. However, I’ll use Ch’an for the Chinese Zen; Sŏn for the Korean Zen; Zen for the Japanese Zen, when I signify specific regional distinctions.
[ii] The Korean writing system is known as Hankŭl, which uses the standard Roman alphabet pronounced as in English, with the exception of the two vowels ŏ (as in cot) and ŭ (as in burn). In addition to it, I used MacKeun-Reishauer System here.
[iii]According to “The Monument to Chijeung Monk,” Tomb Epigraphs of Four Mountains(四山碑銘) by Ch’oe, Chi-won(857-?), Pŏmnang’s ordained pedigree is Toshin--Pŏmnang —Sinhaeng—Chunbŏm—Dohŏn who is called the National Monk Chijeung. Dohŏn founded his own mountain school. See Song, Jun-young, The World of Zen Poetry: Reading with Modern Language, p. 525
[iv] The exact personal information on his birth, death, and other personal activities are not known to us now,but Chong, Yak-yong(1762-1836) clearly recorded Pŏmnang’s name in his work, The Study of Son Buddhism in Korea(大東禪敎考), Daedun-sa Chronicles, Vol.4, Asia Culture Pub. 1983, p. 3 See Bulgyosa, Buddhism, V.37. Bulgyosa, 1927.(page) For example: Lawrence Buell, “The Ecocritical Insurgency.” New Literary History 30(1999):701.See also Yi, Neung-hwa, The Complete History of Yi-Dynasty Buddhism(조선불교통사), annontated by Research Institute of Buddhism Culture, Dongkuk University Presees: Seoul, 2010, vol. 1, 12, (Yi, Neung-hwa, Sinmungwan, 1918).page. Snelling writes in The Buddhist Handbook, “the Chan school was introduced (to Korea), traditionally around 630 AD.” (149).
[v] Hoet’ong syncretism in Korean Buddhism can be found in most masters’ analects; Hyuchong says, “the Kyo Scholastic Buddhism is the Buddha’s words and the Sŏn Meditational Buddhism is the Buddha’s mind.” Tŭkt’ong tries to break down the boundaries of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism.