P.77

　　   In the Zen school  great significance  is attributed
　　   to the realization of emptiness (`suunyataa) through
　　   meditation  (zazen).  In this article I will discuss
　　   the relationship  between  such realization  and the
　　   concept  of  karman.  In  the  first  section,  this
　　   relationship  will be dealt  with  on a more or less
　　   theoretical　　 level;　　 in　　 the　　 second,　　 the
　　   characteristically  Zen move will be made away  from
　　   the theoretical  toward  the level  of practice  and
　　   spiritual attainment.

　　   I

　　   It would seem plausible to suppose that if the scope
　　   of  the  realization   of  emptiness  is  completely
　　   unrestricted, then  it must  extend  to the fact  of
　　   karman, in which case karman  must be seen as empty,
　　   like all other dharmas. Although this thesis appears
　　   unexceptionable, it turns out to be the source  of a
　　   good deal of controversy  within  the Zen school.  A
　　   Zen  figure  of  no  less  stature  than  Dogen, for
　　   example, emphatically  denies that karmic hindrances
　　   are empty.(1) He even claims that the belief  in the
　　   emptiness  of  karman  should  be  characterized  as
　　   "non-Buddhist."(2)  On  the  other  hand,  many  Zen
　　   masters  subscribe  to the  view  expressed  by Yoka
　　   Daishi   in  his  "Song   of  Enlightenment":  "When
　　   awakened  we find  karmic  hindrances  fundamentally
　　   Mu./But  when  not awakened, we must  repay  all our
　　   debts."(3)

　　　　  Dogen  has  two  kinds  of  objections   to  the
　　   emptiness   of  karman.   His  first  objection   is
　　   ontological: karmic hindrances  cannot be considered
　　   empty because  "something  we have produced"  cannot
　　   "have  emptiness  as its essential  nature."(4) This
　　   would  seem to exclude  from the scope  of emptiness
　　   everything   associated   with   agency,  will   and
　　   action--a  quite  significant  restriction   indeed.
　　   Since the root meaning  of "karman"  is action, this
　　   objection  amounts  to the  insistence  that  karman
　　   cannot be empty because action is something  we have
　　   produced, and something  we have produced  cannot be
　　   empty.  The  second  objection  is  moral: if karman
　　   (construed  now as the law of causation) were empty,
　　   then the necessary  practical  consequence  is moral