Sudden or Gradual?

One of the debates that has enlivened the Zen school for centuries is the debate between sudden enlightenment and gradual cultivation. The Rinzai school of Zen is famous for working with koans and for emphasizing the power of achieving a sudden flash of understanding that is called enlightenment. The Soto school is usually associated more closely with ‘just sitting’ and with the ongoing nature of practice. Rinzai practice traditionally focuses on the notion that there is something to accomplish, some realization to be had. While Soto practice maintains that we are already awake and that any effort we make to achieve something is based on our deluded thinking.

You can see what a delicious and endless argument this could be. Each side can easily stand in the fullness of their position and look down on those poor people with incorrect understanding and inferior practice. And, as you may have observed, we human beings sometimes save our harshest judgments for people who are closest. The feelings that arise between committed partners can swing quickly from great fondness to strong aversion. The criticism and judgments that appear between different branches of the same religion can be especially energized as well.

One great Zen master of 13^th century Korea, Chinul, settled these seeming polarities in this way: sudden awakening leads to gradual cultivation. He maintained that enlightenment is not something you practice Zen to achieve, but rather that you would not begin a meditation practice like Zen unless you had had some kind of realization.

The Zen way asks that we take on the practice of sitting still and being present with what is here. Anyone who has tried this, even for ten minutes, has a sense of what difficult work this is. So much of what arises in the mind and so much of life is unpleasant. Why would anyone want to sit still and feel what is here? Better to be busy running around distracting yourself or trying to fix what is wrong.

Chinul maintained that those who are willing to try this arduous path have had some moment when they have seen through some of the illusions of daily life. These moments of seeing through can be very brief – just a moment of walking out into the coolness of a spring morning, or when a toddler runs toward you with delight and throws his arms around you with unreserved love and trust, or while sipping tea reading a book with a beloved pet curled up nearby. These are moments when the endless struggle of life drops away and we are touched by the fullness of life itself.

Every human being has moments like this, but often we are looking the other way. We are too busy to even notice these micro-joys that appear spontaneously. Some of these moments of intimacy with life are so strong we are stopped in our track. But mostly they come and go, like fragments of a dream.

But some of us notice these moments of ease and peace and want more. We begin to see that our usual strategies of effort and accumulation don’t work in this field. Because the habit force of the human mind is strong, our daily worries quickly overwhelm any moments of intimacy and freedom we have. This is where gradual cultivation is necessary. This is where Zen practice begins. Only by looking deeply into the matter can we begin to find a sustainable way of living the freedom that is our birthright.

A moment of insight, even a life-changing experience of the oneness of all life, quickly fades into memory—becomes something we talk about, think about, and even torments us with its necessary passing. What is left to us is to commit ourselves to the path of gradual cultivation.

Hongzhi, the Chinese Zen master who lived a few centuries before Chinul, put it this way: “The field of boundless possibilities is what exists from the very beginning. You must purify, cure, grind down or brush away all the tendencies you have fabricated into apparent habits. Then you can reside in the clear circle of brightness.”

Daily Practice: Noticing moments of ease and intimacy. As you move through your day, see if you can tune your attention to the moments ‘in between.’ We all have a narrative of what we are doing moment to moment, but what if our day is actually filled with moments of ease that are not included in the story we are telling ourselves and our situation? Let the sights and sounds, the smells and textures of your life come to you. The sound of the cars going by on the street. How the eyes blink of their own accord. How the breath comes in and out as if God himself were watching out for us. Notice the generous life that surrounds you—that is you.