Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy in Zen

'Orthodoxy' and 'orthopraxy' are funny words. The former of the two is more familiar to everyone even though its presence is sparse in our vernacular. Conventionally speaking, orthodoxy means a conformity to an establish doctrine. This word with this meaning is typically not equated with Zen, seeing as it gains authority not from doctrinal sources, but from a patriarchal lineage leading back to Sakyamuni Buddha. I would like to submit that orthodoxy has everything to do with Zen, but how could it be if Zen is patriarchal rather than doctrinally founded? To understand how Zen is connected to orthodoxy we have to understand these words 'orthodoxy' and 'orthopraxy' etymologically.

Orthodoxy is derived from two Greek words orthos and doxa. Orthos translates into English as 'true', 'right', 'correct' or 'straight' (like an Orthodontist straightens and corrects teeth) and Doxa translates as 'belief', 'opinion', or 'praise'. So here we have something a bit different from our conventional understanding of this particular term. It turns to out to actually call for a correct belief rather than conformity to a catechism or a set of doctrinal truths. I think that this correct belief could be better articulated as 'right faith'. If this faith doesn't come from conformity to a set of doctrinal truths, it has to come from something more experiential - what better, in my opinion, than the Buddhas words themselves? I would like to posit that this orthodoxa or right faith as we've just described is founded on four of the fold in Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path, namely: Right View, Right Effort, Right Thought and Right Awareness. These four within the fold of path are interconnected, sharing a causal relationship - one causing another causing another. Right View which umbrellas the Four Noble Truths and the Three Seals of Existence causes Right Awareness. Right Awareness causes Right Thought. Right Thought causes Right Effort. And from Right Effort spring the next four which brings us to the next term.

Orthopraxy also comes from two Greek words, again, orthos meaning 'true', 'right', 'correct', and 'straight' and praxy is derived from praxis meaning 'practice' which comes from prassein meaning 'action' or 'doing'. This can be said to mean 'right practice' that comes not from a strict legalism but again from the experiential wisdom of the Buddha. This orthopraxis or right practice is founded on the final four of the fold in the Noble Eightfold Path and these like the four before them share a causal relation to each other and they also carry a causal relation to the first four of the eightfold. Right Effort causes Right Speech, Right Speech causes Right Action, Right Action causes Right Livelihood and Right Livelihood causes Right Samadhi. Now If right faith is in fact the founded on the first four of the eightfold and right practice is the founded on the final four of the eightfold and all of the eightfold in concert share a causal relationship starting with right view and ending with right samadhi, then it may well be fair to say that our orthodoxa is the cause of our orthopraxis - faith inspires practice.

So with this outline of how right faith inspires right practice in the Buddhist tradition on the whole, are there some finer points that need to be made within the Zen tradition to properly understand right faith and right practice? Yes, there are some finer points. Finer points which Eihei Dogen, the founder of Soto Zen in Japan, very clearly and concisely articulated in his work entitled Guidelines for Studying the Way or Gakudo Yojinshu:

"Those who practice the Buddha way first of all trust in the Buddha way. Those who trust in the Buddha way should trust that they are in in essence within the Buddha way, where there is no delusion, no false thinking, no confusion, no increase or decrease or no mistake. To arouse such trust and illuminate the way in this manner, and to practice accordingly, are fundamental in studying the way."

Dogen also brings up this same message in a passage from On the Endeavor of the Way or Bendowa:

"If you practice with right trust, you will attain the way regardless of being sharp or dull."

And a more recent display of this message comes from the Traditional Zen Spirit chapter of Shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind:

"Instead of having a deep understanding of the teaching, we need a strong confidence in our teaching, which says that we originally have Buddha-nature. Our practice is based on this faith."

Now the above quote show that Soto Zen clearly has an orthodoxa that initiates and allows for orthopraxis. Our faith in already possessing Buddha-nature allows us to practice without thoughts of gain, which is at the heart of Soto Zen. This foundation of faith that I'm pointing out here may be unsettling for some, even the word faith makes some angry and uneasy. But there is no reason to fret, I think, this isn't promoting blind faith or obedience. Right faith is founded on experiential wisdom of the first four of the fold rather than the product of adherence to specific doctrines and right practice (the final four of the eightfold) is based on this right faith. These aspects of Buddhism - Right Faith and Right Practice - compose the mind of the Buddha that is handed down to us from the Ancient Buddhas and Patriarchs of the Zen lineage. For Zen, faith alone doesn't justify someone, faith must be enacted through practice of zazen, bowing, chanting, repentance and offering. Faith is not merely something subjective or mind oriented, but is necessarily the dropping off of a person in both mind and body and this dropping off of body and mind is right faith and right practice.