Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen": SITTING AND THE KOAN

In the pursuit of the Way [Buddhism] the prime essential is sitting (zazen). . . . By reflecting upon various 'public-cases' (koan) and dialogues of the patriarchs, one may perhaps get the sense of them but it will only result in one's being led astray from the way of the Buddha, our founder. just to pass the time in sitting straight, without any thought of acquisition, without any sense of achieving enlightenment -this is the way of the Founder. It is true that our predecessors recommended both the koan and sitting, but it was the sitting that they particularly insisted upon. There have been some who attained enlightenment through the test of the koan, but the true cause of their enlightenment was the merit and effectiveness of sitting. Truly the merit lies in the sitting.

From the Shobo genzo zuimonki, pp. 98-9, translated in De Bary (ed.), Sources of Japanese Tradition, op. cit., P. 253

Books by Mircea Eliade:

• Mircea Eliade, Willard R. Trask “Yoga : Immortality and Freedom”
• Mircea Eliade, Jr., Fred H. Johnson “Journal II, 1957-1969 (Journal)”
• Mircea Eliade “Essential Sacred Writings From Around the World”
• Mircea Eliade, Diane Apostolos-Cappadona “Symbolism, the Sacred, and the Arts”
• Mircea Eliade “The Sacred and The Profane: The Nature of Religion”
• Mircea Eliade “Two Strange Tales”
• Mircea Eliade “Autobiography, Volume 1: 1907-1937, Journey East, Journey West”
• Mircea Eliade “The Forge and the Crucible: The Origins and Structure of Alchemy”
• Mircea Eliade “Autobiography, Volume 2: 1937-1960, Exile's Odyssey (Autobiography / Mircea Eliade)”
• Mircea Eliade, Alf Hiltebeitel, Diane Apostolos-Cappadona “A History of Religious Ideas: From Muhammad to the Age of Reforms (History of Religious Ideas) Vol.3”
• Mircea Eliade, Philip Mairet “Images and Symbols”

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