Great Construction

The Two Kinds of Satori

     In the spoken language we use the word satori, but it can be written in two ways with Chinese ideograms. One way is to write satori with the ideogram meaning “perception,” and the other way is to use the ideogram for “learning.” These two types of satori greatly differ, indeed they are opposite.
     It is fair to say that “perception” is passive and “learning” is active. Buddhist teachings refer to various forms of “learning” satori, such as “degree learning,” “true learning,” and “original learning,” but these do not necessarily represent the reality. Most prevalent in Buddhism seems to be “perception” satori. This is because Buddhism speaks of “this world of endurance,” “to dislike and seek to leave this defiled world,” that this world is a “burning house,” and asserts that human beings cannot escape from the four sufferings of birth, old age, sickness, and death. These assertions are not mistaken, but in spite of the fact that it should be the role of religion to work positively to eliminate suffering, transform this world, and create a paradisical world, Buddhism says that the sufferings in this world must be endured, that there is nothing but to resign oneself. “Perception” satori is truly passive and regressive, but this has come to be the essence of Buddhism.
     The cause for the decline of the Indian nation more than anything else probably lies in the influence of this philosophy. Another manifestation of this influence is the perilous situation that Buddhism in Japan finds itself today. From our perspective, however, what has lasted and survived until now represents the age of night, and the time has now come for the transition to the age of daylight where individuals will not be saved unless they have reached the state where they awaken themselves as soon as possible to reach the level of learning, knowledge, that is, self-knowledge.

Chijôtengoku, Issue 8, page 12, September 25, 1949
translated by cynndd