satori

is a nonsensory state which, once grasped, is to be laid down'But how can one lay down an absence' Well, what you can't lay down, carry away.

A monk once asked Master Zhao Zhou, 'What happens after a person finally grasps the nonsensory state'' Master Zhao Zhou replied, 'He lays it down.' The monk did not understand. So this quandary became his Hua Tou. 'How can one lay down the absence of something'' He worked on this and worked on this and still he could not understand. So he returned to Master Zhao Zhou and asked, 'How can one lay down the absence of something'' Master Zhao Zhou answered simply, 'What you can't lay down, carry away.' Instantly the monk was enlightened. (XU YUN 'empty cloud teachings' : 47)

is to be like the moon nestling in inches of water. It remains dry, the water remains unbroken. The entirety of the orb and arching sky both nestle even in the dew on a reed, nestle even in a single drop of water. Just as the moon does not pierce the water, satori does not rend the person.

A person gaining satori is like the moon nestling in water. The moon remains dry, the water unbroken. A broad, intense glow nestles in inches of water... the entirety of the orb and arching sky both nestle even in the dew on a reed, nestle even in a single drop of water. Just as the moon does not pierce the water, satori does not rend the person. Just as the dewdrop does not obstruct the moon, the person does not obstruct satori. [One is] deep to the extent [the other] is high. The longer you probe the shallows and depths, the broader the moon you should discern in the heavens. (First Dogen Book: 45)

is no more than a panic suspension of language, the blank which erases in us the reign of the Codes, the breach of that internal recitation which constitutes our person.

and perhaps what Zen calls Jatori, which Westerners can translate only by eertain vaguely Christian words (ztl~tminationJrevelation, intuition), is no more than a panic suspension of language, the blank which erases in us the reign of the Codes, the breach of that internal recitation which constitutes our person; and if this state of a-language is a liberation, Jt is beeause, for the Buddhist experiment, the proliferation of seeondary thoughrs (the thollght of thought), or what might be ealled the infinite supplement of supet­ numerary signifieds-a eirde of whieh language itself is the depository and the modeJ-appears as a jamming

is not at all the illuminative descent of God, but “awakening to the fact” apprehension of the thing as event and not as substance.

Deseription, a Western genre, has irs spiritual equivalem in comemplarion, the merhodieal inventory of the attriburive forms of the diviniry or of the episodes of evan­ gelieal narrative (in Ignatius Loyola, rhe exercise of eon­ templarion is essemia11y deseriprive)' rhe haiku, on the contrary, arriculated around a meraphy:ies wirhour subjecr and withour god, corresponds tO the Buddhist Mt.t, to the Zen satari, which is not at a11 the i11uminative descem of God, but "awakening to the fact," apprehension of thc thing as cvem and not a~ substance, attaining co that amerior share of language, wntiguous tu the (altugether reuosp<.:crivl, recon­ stituteJ) d?attentss <JE tht advennm: (what happem tO language, rather than tO rhc subjeet).

satori, n.Definitions

satori