'The Sound of the One Hand'
Ancient Mysteries (Sort of) Revealed
BY MEGAN VOLPERT
27 February 2017
CAN A RELIGIOUS TEXT BE REVOLUTIONARY IF IT'S ALSO INSCRUTABLE?
THE SOUND OF THE ONE HAND: 281 ZEN KOANS WITH ANSWERS
YOEL HOFFMANN
(NYRB CLASSICS)
US: DEC 2016
AMAZON
The Sound of the One Hand is a subversive book. Its very existence is controversial. If you want to become a Zen Buddhist monk, you’ve got to spend between one and five years in a monastery learning from the masters. The study of Zen is a highly complicated endeavor that for centuries has been accomplished solely through direct one-on-one conversation with one’s master. You can take notes, but these notes are extremely private and not to be shared.
In 1916, a student of Zen published a set of these notes, which represent basically the entire complicated curriculum map of Zen Buddhism. This process of how an aspiring monk would be questioned by an elder master through koans was a closely guarded secret; the nearest Western equivalent might be the release of the Church of Scientology’s byzantine map of all the requirements for its levels of spiritual ascendancy, although Scientology is a very young American cult compared to the thousand years that Buddhism has been in comparatively respectable circulation.
When the manuscript by an unknown authors was first published in Japan, it went by the title of A Critique of Present-day Pseudo-Zen, strong words from someone who had clearly graduated to the status of master but was simultaneously unsatisfied with the loose, more rock star, modern Zen pedagogies that began to proliferate in the early 20th century. This critic was hoping to restore a sense of accountability to 300 or more years prior, to the proper ancient way of educating subsequent generations of monks, and knew he would be considered a sort of whistleblower.
Of necessity then, the manuscript was published under a pseudonym, Hau Hoo. In English, that’s “The Arch-Destroyer of the Existent Order”, and indeed, that’s how the book was greeted. In the last hundred years or so, those interested in Judaism have often sought to augment their own spiritual practice with elements of Buddhism. In 1975, this yielded a Hebrew translation of The Sound of One Hand by Yoel Hoffman. In 2016, Hoffman additionally provided this English translation.
That alone is quite a bit to think about. But now, why might someone read this book? Without the aid of direct instruction from a master, there’s simply no way that the text itself contains enough wisdom to carry forward a novice’s quest to advance far along the path of Zen. If this book cannot produce a master of Zen, who else might want to read it or what else might it accomplish? This is where we must examine the contents of its four parts, which are each meant to serve a distinct purpose.
Part One contains two differing translations of the two most important koans, the sound of the one hand and the nature of mu. The sound of the one hand is essentially a proof of what Westerners might call transcendentalism, or the interconnectedness of all things. Mu is nothingness, or emptiness, or death. These are not one-question-one-answer koans, but an extended meditation that digs increasingly deeply on the concepts of the one hand and mu as the master proceeds.
The two slightly different but generally parallel methods of questioning come from the Inzan School and the Takuju School, which Westerners might think of along the lines of differing sects of Christianity, like Presbyterians and Baptists. Monks raised in one school do not necessarily agree with those of another school, and so examining the most essential two koans side by side from two schools may be valuable to get a feel for the concreteness of these differences.
For example, Inzan says, “It’s said that if one hears the sound of the one hand, one becomes a Buddha. Well then, how will you do it?” But Tajuku says, “If you’ve heard the sound of the one hand, can you be absolutely delivered from life and death, or can’t you?” These questions have the same answer, but their differences in tone and even in instructional content are hardly insignificant.
Part Two contains miscellaneous koans. Frankly, I found this part quite useless. Based on the half dozen Eastern philosophy courses I took as an undergrad and the half dozen books on Buddhism I’ve read since then, I was not able to make anything but the barest sense of the meanings behind these koans. Here are two random examples from page 45:
15. Master: Without using your hands, make this old monk get up.
Answer: “Ahhh.” With heavy sigh, the pupil imitates an old man getting up.18. Master: In the middle of a duck egg, grind the tea mill.
Answer: The pupil walks in a circle around the room.
The idea of koan 15 is that the pupil and master are one, so making the master get up is free to mean that the pupil can get up. No hands are required. The idea behind koan 18 may be similar, in that the room is meant to be of one interchangeable piece with the tea mill and the duck egg, so grinding the tea mill is free to mean that the pupil can circle the room. No actual tea mill or duck egg is required.
But do the duck egg and the tea mill have a special significance? Why not a chicken egg? Why not a pepper mill? Can this lesson be given outdoors, or must it be contained within a room? I have no clue. I am untrained in the details and this book is not interested in providing commentary on the humor here, or the rules and procedures that govern these answers, or their cultural context. Does it matter when the master references Kyoto instead of some other city? Must the mountain always be Fuji? Western readers likely won’t have an instinctive connection to the symbolism or baggage of many specific references in these koans, which necessarily limits their instructive power.
Part Three contains 144 more well-known, standard koans. For example, the world is a grain of rice, the mind as it is, use the air as paper, and which one is real. These koans tend to be a little longer in form and somewhat more oriented toward story-telling in their scope. This section reads more like mythology, where the meanings may generally be discerned with more ease than in the second section.
Part Four provides notes and commentary on the previous three sections. Here are the notes on koans 15 through 18 from above:
The pupil disregards the condition of ‘not using hands’ and simply refers to his or the master’s ‘getting up.’ He disregards ‘Mt. Fuji’ and simply ‘walks’; he cannot ‘grind a mill in a duck egg’ but he can do the grinding. The four questions are of the same pattern—demanding an action yet posing an absurd condition. The pupil performs only the desired action. Through the immediacy of his response, he makes the absurdities vanish” (202).
What?! This explanation poses perhaps just as many questions as it answers. Monks may spend their entire lives in conversational contemplation of the wisdom contained within these 300 pages. Serious English-speaking practitioners in the West will no doubt be pleased by this written companion to their formal study. I found some value, some interest or insight, some Zen surrealism as I turned each page. The Sound of the One Hand is filled with answers—just not easy ones.
我的好友吳國精先生與童元方教授事舊識， 我很喜歡他輔仁大學註冊時，童元方代替感冒的妹妹來註冊.....好幾十年之後，吳先生在新竹請客：陳之藩和童元方。
2013年歲末，童教授的兒子要到我的住處附近的"女巫店"開唱，吳先生趁機來台北，請我們一群朋友大快朵頤；他知道我與東海的關係，託我辦事.......。
2016.12.3，我又有機會聽童元方教授主持的會議，共同參加大會的晚餐，她坐在我隔座，所以可以多談。
簡單地說說此次"會談"的部分故事：首先，談台中學者的交遊圈，必須包括孫立人將軍的部屬：東海的柳作梅教授、童元方的父親 (北京大學畢業) ......
童教授談與天下文化出版公司的緣分。
他也談五月初爾雅出版社的餐會：客人有白先勇和廖先生等。
他不認識的簡白兄邀她寫中國時報"三少四壯"專欄......
我與談談近日的開課和她的腰傷......
我在會議之後想起幾月前為了童元方 在《為彼此的鄉愁》引巴壺天的詩的"異文"，忙了一陣，如今可以當面請教，她的答覆大出我意外。
2016.12.3
鍾漢清： 請問童元方老師， 您在《為彼此的鄉愁》中引巴壺天的詩，根據的是哪一版本？
童元方 ：這是陳之藩先生曾背給我聽的詩，我們都很喜歡。我請陳先生再背誦，我挑出"窗外薄陰非日暮，池邊吟詩與花開。"當《為彼此的鄉愁》的"部分"之引詩......。 (讀者或許知道童教授的第一本書：《一樣花開︰哈佛十年散記》，(台北：爾雅出版社，1996年)；我認為這本書個章蘊釀久，都很可觀。同教授笑說："你是說，我近年的書不夠好？"，我說，冤枉啦，我迷信作家的第一本書！
2016.9.19
林老師：請問出處？
"窗外薄陰非日暮，池邊吟詩與花開。"--巴壺天的詩 出自童元方《為彼此的鄉愁》(香港：牛津，2005，頁126)。
~~~2016.9.19
林義正 此乃巴師早年詩稿《亦廬賸稿》中「辛卯上巳臺北賓館禊集得杯字」詩中的句子。原詩作於1951年，「萬變猶存此海隈，不然無地著吾哀；未孤氣類仍成世，已醉玄言那待杯；簾外輕陰非日暮，池邊吟思與花開；來年可有西流水，一為神州祓劫灰。」今收入《禪骨詩心集》（台北：東大1988.9 ），頁265。按童元方所引詩句與原稿有些出入，但「吟思」恐是「吟詩」之訛，出版時未校出，依詩意當作「吟詩」。
Hanching Chung 林老師，三民版《禪骨詩心集》只有181頁。何來265頁？......頁173找到！
林義正 我引用的是初版，直排大字版，全274頁。若橫排，則頁碼已改移了。
Hanching Chung 了解：還有薄陰與輕陰
林義正 簾外與窗外的差異。
Hanching Chung 童元方似乎特別注意"花開"，他的第一本書書名似為"一樣花開"。
~~~~~
此次翻巴壺天著《禪骨詩心集》，注意到有《魯拜集》第29、第68兩首的翻譯和譯註 (略)，頁175
XXIX
Into this Universe, and Why not knowing
Nor Whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing;
And out of it, as Wind along the Waste,
I know not Whither, willy-nilly blowing.
墜地如水流，自家主難作；未知何從來，亦未悉何故。去時如風吹，欲住不得住；吹過荒漠間，知復向甚處？
LXVIII
We are no other than a moving row
Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go
Round with the Sun-illumined Lantern held
In Midnight by the Master of the Show;
宇宙魔燈耳，其焰為晴曦；吾儕僅一隊，燈上幻影兒，憧憧來與往，但繞燈焰馳；而燈復有主，中夜持戲之。
http://classics.mit.edu/Khayyam/rubaiyat.html
The Rubaiyat
By Omar Khayyam
2016.7.23
林義正："師常言作品問世，在精不必多......." (頁180)
讀東海時1971-75，聽過巴壺天 (1905-1987)老師名字，也知道他教禪學相關科目。
今天CBETA會後，從台北中山堂附近走往二二八公園，我提議到桃源街吃牛肉麵，台大退休的林義正老師說，要將胃口留給家人，所以我們邊走邊物色商家......過重慶南路，聊許多買書的經驗、故事，提到三民書店，他堅持要過去那兒，買一本他為恩師編的書《骨詩心集》送我： (我們登了4樓層，一些協商，才買到)：
巴壺天著《禪骨詩心集》林義正編，台北：東大圖書公司， 1988，1990再刷，2004年2版這本書有意思，林老師說，從直排改成橫排，他不知道，有點生氣。
最有意思的是，我發現書內一張貼紙，蓋印，文曰：
"本書中任何違反一個中國原則
的立場和內容詞句一律不予承認"
我跟林老師說，此書可能從中國旅行歸來。
林老師再扉頁提了："漢清同道存念。" 真的非常感謝。