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A Philosophical Endeavour: The Practice of Time in Dōgen and Marcus Aurelius

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Abstract

The Buddhist monk Dōgen (1200-1253), a major religious figure of his time, was also considered as one of the first philosophers in Japan. The way to a philosophical reading of Dōgen’s texts was paved by Meiji intellectuals. Other voices raised however the question of whether this is a proper approach to Dōgen’s texts. Was Dōgen really engaged in a philosophical endeavour or was he rather oriented by an extraphilosophical scope? In order to tackle this question, I propose to consider Dōgen’s case as pertaining to a larger issue present in Buddhist Studies: the problem of a tenacious refusal to qualify as “philosophical” a certain literature of the Buddhist canon. Nevertheless, several attempts were made to parallel Buddhist texts and philosophical texts from the Hellenistic period, notably those of the Stoic school. My argument is consistent with this kind of comparative approach and will probe a paradigmatic example of spiritual training – that I call practice of time – focused on the idea of impermanence (mujō 無常) and change (μεταβολή) such it appears in some of Dōgen’s writings and in the Meditations of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180). This comparative asceticism will show how similarities in their practice of time allow to consider their respective endeavours as philosophical.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Watsuji, Shamon Dōgen, in Nihon seishinshi kenkyū, 9th ed. Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, 1998.

  2. 2.

    Tanabe, Shōbōgenzō no tetsugaku shikan (正法眼蔵の哲学私観) (Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, 1939). On this point see Müller (2006, 2009).

  3. 3.

    LaFleur, ed. Dōgen Studies (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1985).

  4. 4.

    Bielefeldt, “Recarving the Dragon: History and Dogma in the Study of Dōgen”, Dōgen Studies (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. 1985), 49.

  5. 5.

    Kasulis, “The Incomparable Philosopher: Dōgen on How to Read the Shōbōgenzō”, Dōgen Studies (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1985), 83.

  6. 6.

    Kopf, “’When All Dharmas Are the Buddha-Dharma’ Dōgen as Comparative Philosopher”, Dōgen and Sōtō Zen, ed. Heine (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press; 2015).

  7. 7.

    (Steineck 2018).

  8. 8.

    Kapstein, “’Spiritual Exercise’ and Buddhist Epistemologists in India and Tibet”. In A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy, 2013a) 270–89; and idem., “Stoics and Bodhisattvas: Spiritual Exercise and Faith in Two Philosophical Traditions”. In Ancients and Moderns: Essays in Honor of Pierre Hadot, 2013b), 99–115.

  9. 9.

    I borrow this expression from John Sellars, The Art of Living: The Stoics on the Nature and Function of Philosophy. 2nd ed. (London: Bristol Classical Press, 2009).

  10. 10.

    An expression that Pierre Hadot takes from the Jesuit father Ignatius of Loyola and re-actualises in a specific way. See Hadot, Exercices spirituels et philosophie antique (Paris: Albin Michel. 2002).

  11. 11.

    Eltschinger, “Pierre Hadot et les ‘exercices spirituels’: Quel modèle pour la philosophie bouddhique tardive?”, Asiatische Studien / Études Asiatiques, 62(2) (2008), 485–544.

  12. 12.

    Steineck present volume, 222.

  13. 13.

    Steineck, “A Zen Philosopher? – Notes on the Philosophical Reading of Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō ” (2018), 582.

  14. 14.

    Steineck present volume, 224.

  15. 15.

    Steineck, “A Zen Philosopher? – Notes on the Philosophical Reading of Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō ” (2018), 597.

  16. 16.

    Steineck, “A Zen Philosopher? – Notes on the Philosophical Reading of Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō ” (2018), 580.

  17. 17.

    Steineck present volume, 217.

  18. 18.

    Hadot, Pierre Hadot: L’enseignement des antiques, l’enseignement des modernes. ed. A. I. Davidson and F. Worms, (Paris: Rue d’Ulm. 2010b), 21.

  19. 19.

    Hadot, Qu’est-ce que la philosophie antique? (Paris, Folio, Essais. 1995), 21.

  20. 20.

    On this point see below.

  21. 21.

    Kapstein, Reason’s Traces: Identity and Interpretation in Indian and Tibetan Buddhist Thought (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2001), 4. This question is addressed in extenso by Wrisley in his “Dōgen as Philosopher, Dōgen’s Philosophical Zen” presented at the workshop, “Dōgen’s texts: Manifesting philosophy and/as/of religion?” January 21–23, 2021. Available at: https://www.georgewrisley.com/Do%CC%84gen%20as%20Philosopher,%20Do%CC%84gen%E2%80%99s%20Philosophical%20Zen-Wrisley.pdf

  22. 22.

    See for instance Bouquet, “Stoics and Buddhists”, Philosophical Quarterly, no 33 (1961), 205-21; Gowans, “Medical Analogies in Buddhist and Hellenistic Thought: Tranquillity and Anger”, Roy. Inst. Philos. Suppl. Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 66 (2010), 11–33; and Kapstein, “’Spiritual Exercise’ and Buddhist Epistemologists in India and Tibet”. In A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy, 2013) 270–89; and idem., “Stoics and Bodhisattvas: Spiritual Exercise and Faith in Two Philosophical Traditions”. In Ancients and Moderns: Essays in Honor of Pierre Hadot, 2013b), 99–115.

  23. 23.

    Maraldo Japanese Philosophy in the Making 1: Crossing Paths with Nishida (Nagoya: CreateSpace, 2017), 29.

  24. 24.

    Sellars, The Art of Living: The Stoics on the Nature and Function of Philosophy. 2nd ed. (London: Bristol Classical Press, 2009), 1.

  25. 25.

    From the Greek word βίος which primally means ‘manner of life’. See Sellars, The Art of Living: The Stoics on the Nature and Function of Philosophy. 2nd ed. (London: Bristol Classical Press. 2009), 1, n. 6.

  26. 26.

    Sellars refers to Aristotle, Metaphysics 981b5–6.

  27. 27.

    This does not mean however that Aristotle neglected philosophical training. On the contrary he also insisted on the importance of cultivating the virtues in order to lead a good life.

  28. 28.

    Sellars, The Art of Living: The Stoics on the Nature and Function of Philosophy. 2nd ed. (London: Bristol Classical Press, 2009), 50 sqq.

  29. 29.

    Ibid., 54.

  30. 30.

    Ibid., 9.

  31. 31.

    Ibid., 171.

  32. 32.

    Regarding the way of considering philosophy from an Aristotelian perspective in relation to Dōgen’s approach, cf. Wrisley, “Dōgen as Philosopher.”

  33. 33.

    Bowring, “Biography of Dōgen”, Brill Encyclopedia of Buddhism II (2019), 933–40.

  34. 34.

    See for instance Hōkyōki (寳慶記) and Bendōwa (辧道話).

  35. 35.

    Faure, Chan Insights and Oversights: an Epistemological Critique of the Chan Tradition (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1996), 248, n. 4.

  36. 36.

    Sellars, The Art of Living: The Stoics on the Nature and Function of Philosophy, 2nd ed. (London: Bristol Classical Press. 2009).

  37. 37.

    On this point see Sellars, “Marcus Aurelius and the Tradition of Spiritual Exercises”. Forthcoming in Garani, Konstan, and Reydams-Schils, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Roman Philosophy (New York: Oxford UP, 2021).

  38. 38.

    See Vesperini, Droiture et mélancolie : Sur les écrits de Marc Aurèle (Lagrasse: Editions Verdier, 2016).

  39. 39.

    Vesperini assertion that Chinese medicine is peculiar to Taoist philosophy remains however highly problematic. See Vesperini, Droiture et mélancolie : Sur les écrits de Marc Aurèle (Lagrasse: Editions Verdier, 2016), 23.

  40. 40.

    In this respect, Epictetus would appear to be a better candidate for such a comparative analysis between Buddhism and Stoicism. Indeed, though he never wrote any philosophical texts, he taught Stoic philosophy to a community of disciples. But, as I have no knowledge of any contestation in the history of Western philosophy of his statute of representative of Stoic philosophy, I think that for the sake of the present argument the case of Marcus is a better choice, as doubt was raised when it came to the question whether to count him among the Stoic philosophers or not. See infra.

  41. 41.

    However, this aspect will not be insisted upon in the present paper.

  42. 42.

    On this point cf. Wrisley, “Dōgen as Philosopher.”

  43. 43.

    There he writes: “Yoko Orimo a étudié avec une grande finesse et une grande subtilité la manière d’écrire de Dôgen. Elle dit notamment: ‘L’écrit, l’action transformatrice de l’écriture, n’a pas pour Dôgen une valeur simplement descriptive, prescriptive ou doctrinale – il s’agit d’un acte performatif ou plus simplement d’une pratique qui est aussi un geste d’actualisation par lequel la tradition appartient au présent…’ Nous pouvons comprendre cela, si nous nous rappelons qu’une telle action formatrice et transformatrice de l’écriture se trouve par exemple dans l’écrit de l’empereur Marc Aurèle adressé à lui-même. Lui aussi reprend parfois les dits des philosophes qui l’ont précédé, mais aussi et surtout le dogmes traditionnels du stoïcisme, pour créer en lui la disposition intérieure qui l’entraînera à vivre selon la Raison.” See Hadot in Orimo, Le Shōbōgenzō de maître Dōgen (Vannes: Sully. 2004), 15.

  44. 44.

    Steineck present volume, 212.

  45. 45.

    The Buddhist credo is to believe that the one who becomes Buddha is able to realise the dependent arising of all things under the form of a chain of twelve causes (jūni innen 十 二 因 縁).

  46. 46.

    Dependent arising is equated to emptiness especially in the Mādhyamika school (Nāgārjuna, Mk. 24.18).

  47. 47.

    According to Saṃyutta-nikāya (II, 94–95), one of the oldest texts, the causal sequence begins with ignorance (mumyō 無 明)

  48. 48.

    Yorizumi, Dōgen: jiko, jikan, sekai wa dono yōni seiritsu suru no ka (Tōkyō: Nihon Hōsō Shuppan Kyōkai. 2005), 48, 71.

  49. 49.

    Kawamura (ed.), Dōgen zenji zenshū (here after DZZ) I, 24 sqq (Tōkyō: Shunjūsha. 1988). Translation: Bielefeldt, Sōtō Zen Text Project 2010.

  50. 50.

    DZZ 1, 25. Translation modified.

  51. 51.

    DZZ 1, 280. All the other translations of DZZ are mine.

  52. 52.

    This notion which translates the Sanskrit bodhicitta and refers to the thought/intention of enlightenment (cittotpāda) that the future bodhisattva formulates when taking his vows and which consists above all in the tenacious will to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all. This state of mind translates the primary aspiration to bring about and develop a profoundly altruistic attitude towards all living beings. But only through the practice of virtues and constant training, the thought/intention of enlightenment matures and the bodhisattva can attain perfect enlightenment (anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi) (Cornu 2006).

  53. 53.

    DZZ 5, 15.

  54. 54.

    DZZ 3, 263.

  55. 55.

    DZZ 2, 403.

  56. 56.

    MS. IX, 19. All the translations of the Meditations (here after MS) of Marcus Aurelius are from Long, tr., The Thoughts of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Boston: Little Brown, and Company, 1889).

  57. 57.

    MS. IX, 28.

  58. 58.

    MS. IX, 29.

  59. 59.

    MS. X, 18.

  60. 60.

    MS. X, 34.

  61. 61.

    MS. II, 17.

  62. 62.

    MS. X, 11.

  63. 63.

    MS. X, 31.

  64. 64.

    Hadot, La philosophie comme manière de vivre (Paris: Albin Michel), 2001.

  65. 65.

    See above.

  66. 66.

    See Plato, Apology of Socrates (Harvard University Press. 2005), 38a.

  67. 67.

    MS. II, 2.

  68. 68.

    DZZ 7, 19.

  69. 69.

    By putting these notions together, I do not suggest a collusion between them. The question of their similarities and differences will be however set aside in this study.

  70. 70.

    MS. XI, 7.

  71. 71.

    Goldschmidt, Le système stoïcien et l’idée de temps (Paris: J. Vrin. 1998), 168.

  72. 72.

    Ibid., 169.

  73. 73.

    MS. X, 20.

  74. 74.

    MS. V, 11.

  75. 75.

    Goldschmidt, Le système stoïcien et l’idée de temps (Paris: J. Vrin. 1998), 169.

  76. 76.

    As pointed out by P. Hadot: “La philosophie était pour eux un acte unique, qu’il fallait pratiquer à chaque instant, dans une attention (prosoché) sans cesse renouvelée à soi-même et au moment présent. L’attitude fondamentale du stoïcien, c’est cette attention continuelle, qui est une tension constante, une conscience, une vigilance de chaque instant. Grâce à cette attention, le philosophe est sans cesse parfaitement conscient, non seulement de ce qu’il fait, mais de ce qu’il pense – c’est la logique vécue – et de ce qu’il est, c’est-à-dire de sa place dans le cosmos – c’est la physique vécue.” See Hadot, Qu’est-ce que la philosophie antique? (Paris, Folio, Essais. 1995. 215).

  77. 77.

    MS. XII, 35.

  78. 78.

    MS. IX, 32. Cf. MS. X, 15.

  79. 79.

    MS. III, 1.

  80. 80.

    MS. IX, 41.

  81. 81.

    Gill, “Le moi et la thérapie philosophique dans la pensée hellénistique et romaine”, Le moi et l’intériorité (Paris: J. Vrin. 2008), 92.

  82. 82.

    DZZ 5, 29.

  83. 83.

    DZZ 3, 11.

  84. 84.

    DZZ 4, 81

  85. 85.

    DZZ 7, 72.

  86. 86.

    DZZ 7, 97.

  87. 87.

    DZZ 1, 302.

  88. 88.

    Leighton, “Dōgen Approach to Training in Eihei ko-roku”, Dōgen: Textual and Historical Studies, ed. St. Heine (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 124.

  89. 89.

    Nakimovitch, Dōgen et les paradoxes de la bouddhéité (Genève-Paris: Droz, 1999), 103.

  90. 90.

    DZZ 1, 18.

  91. 91.

    DZZ 1, 155.

  92. 92.

    Nakimovitch, Dōgen et les paradoxes de la bouddhéité (Genève-Paris: Droz, 1999), 128.

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  1. Philosophies et Rationalités – Université Clermont-Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France

    Laurentiu Andrei

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  1. Department of Philosophy, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Ralf Müller

  2. History, Anthropology, & Philosophy, University of North Georgia, Gainesville, GA, USA

    George Wrisley

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Andrei, L. (2023). A Philosophical Endeavour: The Practice of Time in Dōgen and Marcus Aurelius. In: Müller, R., Wrisley, G. (eds) Dōgen’s texts. Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures, vol 35. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42246-1_14

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