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Satori (Japanese:悟り) is aJapanese Buddhist term for "awakening", "comprehension; understanding".[1] The word derives from the Japanese verbsatoru.[2][3]
In theZen Buddhist tradition,satori refers to a deep experience ofkenshō,[4][5] "seeing into one's truenature".Ken means "seeing,"shō means "nature" or "essence".[4]
Satori andkenshō are commonly translated as "enlightenment", a word that is also used to translatebodhi,prajñā andBuddhahood.
Satori means the experience of awakening ("enlightenment") or apprehension of the true nature of reality.[3][6] It is often considered an experience which cannot be expressed in words.[6] While the termsatori is derived from the Japanese verb "to know" (satoru), it is distinct from the philosophical concept of knowledge as it represents a transcendence of the distinction between one that knows and knowledge.[3]
D. T. Suzuki, a Japanese author of books and essays on Buddhism, Zen and Shin that were influential in the West, described "... looking into one's nature or the opening of satori";[7] and said "This acquiring of a new point of view in our dealings with life and the world is popularly called by Japanese Zen students 'satori' (wu in Chinese). It is really another name for Enlightenment (anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi)".[8][note 1]
Satori is often used interchangeably withkenshō.[4]Kenshō refers to the perception of theBuddha-nature oremptiness. While the terms have the same meaning, customarilysatori is used to refer to full, deep experience of enlightenment (such as of the Buddha), whilekenshō is used to refer to a first experience of enlightenment that can still be expanded.[10]
Distinct from this first insight,daigo-tettei is used to refer to a "deep" or lasting realization of the nature of existence.[4]
According to D. T. Suzuki,
Satori is theraison d'être ofZen, without which Zen is not Zen. Therefore every contrivance, disciplinary and doctrinal, is directed towardssatori.[11]
This view is typical ofRinzai, which emphasizessatori. TheSōtō school rejects this emphasis, and instead emphasizes "silent illumination" through the practice ofzazen.
In Japanese Buddhism,satori is a "first step" or embarkation towardBuddhahood:
Ch'an expressions refer to enlightenment as "seeing your self-nature". But even this is not enough. After seeing your self-nature, you need to deepen your experience even further and bring it into maturation. You should have enlightenment experiences again and again and support them with continuous practice. Even though Ch'an says that at the time of enlightenment, your outlook is the same as of the Buddha, you are not yet a full Buddha.[12]
The student's mind must be prepared by rigorous study, with the use ofkoans, and the practice ofmeditation to concentrate the mind, under the guidance of a teacher. Koans are short anecdotes of verbal exchanges between teachers and students, typically of theSong dynasty, dealing with Buddhist teachings. TheRinzai school utilizes classic collections of koans such asThe Gateless Barrier.The Gateless Barrier was assembled by the early 13th-century Chinese Zen masterWumen Huikai.
Wumen struggled for six years with koan "Zhaozhou's dog", assigned to him by Yuelin Shiguan (月林師觀; Japanese: Gatsurin Shikan) (1143–1217), before attainingkenshō. After his understanding had been confirmed by Yuelin, Wumen wrote the following enlightenment poem:[13]
A thunderclap under the clear blue sky
All beings on earth open their eyes;
Everything under heaven bows together;
Mount Sumeru leaps up and dances.
Satori: Jap.; Zen term for the experience of awakening (enlightenment). The word derives from the verb satoru, "to know"; however, it has nothing to do with "knowledge" in the ordinary or philosophical sense because in the experience of enlightenment there is no distinction between knower and known.
Semanticallykenshō has the same meaning assatori and the two terms are often used synonymously. Nevertheless it is customary to use the wordsatori when speaking of the enlightenment of the Buddha or the Zen patriarchs and to use the wordkenshō when speaking of an initial enlightenment experience that still requires to be deepened.
Satori...In Japanese Zen Buddhism an intuitive apprehension of the nature of reality that transcends conceptual thought and cannot be expressed through 'words and letters.'
Semanticallykenshō has the same meaning assatori and the two terms are often used synonymously. Nevertheless it is customary to use the wordsatori when speaking of the enlightenment of the Buddha or the Zen patriarchs and to use the wordkenshō when speaking of an initial enlightenment experience that still requires to be deepened.
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