Catechisms are doctrinal manuals often in the form of questions followed by answers to be memorised. A christian example:
Q. What is the chief end of man?
A. To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
Q. How may we glorify and enjoy him?
My next question might have been: Who is god? What is man? Where is woman? Those questions were not in the book. Wikipedia tells me catechisms were devised to initiate the hearers into the fullness of Christian life, but I think one of the objects must have been to ignore and suppress certain questions. The questions and answers are to be remembered and recited like a string of beads, without thinking. Surely this calms the mind, but would you get any wiser?The following series of questions and answers are quoted from John Blofeld’s translation of the zen teachings of Huang Po. He died in 850, was one of the successors of Hui Nêng and is considered as one of the founders of Lin Chi (Rinzai) zen.
Is this important? Probably not. Many followers of zen think the origin of the sect can be retraced to the time when buddha held up a flower and Mahakasyapa smiled. They take this as the first in a series of wordless dharma transmission, that includes zen masters like the First Patriarch Bodidharma, who supposedly brought (zen)buddhism from India to China, Hui Nêng, the Sixth Patriarch, Huang Po, Rinzai and onwards, to present day zen masters. However, all of these authorities would have strongly objected to you taking their word for it!These teachings have been written down by P’ei Hsiu, his successor, in the year 858. He pretends to ask the questions himself, but it could have been anyone present at this talk. Please don’t try to memorise what follows:
Q. What is the Way and how must it be followed?
A. What sort of THING do you suppose the Way to be, that you should wish to FOLLOW it?
Q. What instructions have the Masters everywhere given for dhyana (=meditation) practice and the way to study the Dharma?
A. Words used to attract the dull of wit are not to be relied on.
Q. If those teachings were meant for the dull-witted, I have yet to hear what Dharma has been taught to those of really high capacity.
A. If they are really men of high capacity, where could they find people to follow? If they seek from within themselves, they will find nothing tangible; how much less can they find a Dharma worthy of their attention elsewhere! Do not look for what is called the Dharma by preachers, for what sort of Dharma could that be?
Q. If that is so, should we not seek for anything at all?
A. By conceding this, you would save yourself a lot of mental effort.
Q. But in this way everything would be eliminated. There cannot just be nothing.
A. Who called it nothing? Who was this fellow? But you wanted to SEEK for something?
Q. Since there is no need to seek, why do you also say that not everything is eliminated?
A. Not to seek is to rest tranquil. Who told you to eliminate anything? Look at the void in front of your eyes. How can you produce it or eliminate it?
Q. If I could reach this Dharma, would it be like the void?
A. Morning and night I have explained to you that the Void is both One and Manifold. I said this as a temporary expedient, but you are building up concepts from it.
Q. Do you mean that we should not form concepts as human beings normally do?
A. I have not prevented you; but concepts are related to the senses; and, when feeling takes place, wisdom is shut out.
Q. Then should we avoid feeling in relation to the Dharma?
A. Where no feeling arises, who can say that you are right?
Q. Why do you speak as though I was mistaken in all the questions I have asked Your Reverence?
A. You are a man who does not understand what is said to him. What is all this about being mistaken?
The zen teaching of Huang Po, translated by John Blofeld, 1958, Grove Press, New York