Korean Journal of Buddhist Studies ISSN:1598-0642(Print) 불교학연구

This study analyzes the essence of Seon (Chan/Zen) Buddhism through the structural concept of the “positioning (定位) of ultimate reality” and offers a phenomenological reconstruction of Seon as a system grounded in the “holistic oneness (全一性) of first-person consciousness.” The question “What is Seon?” has long remained unanswered because it conflicts with Seon’s self-definition, which resists literal formulation; since the Hu Shih–Suzuki debate, historicism and experientialism have each proved unable either to state or to analyze Seon’s essence. Locating this impasse in the form of the question, the study asks instead: “Where does Seon position ultimate reality?” Using Hick’s Reality-centrism as a common basis for comparison, it derives an “intentional positioning structure” from Streng’s definition of religion: the subject is separated from ultimate reality and directed toward it as something beyond. This structure is shared by the Learning of Principle (理學) and theology, which represent ultimate reality as principle and as the Other, respectively. Seon teachings, by contrast, reveal a non-separative structure of positioning. In “Mind is Buddha” (卽心卽佛), ultimate reality is positioned in first-person consciousness here and now, making awakening a realization rather than an arrival; in “cultivation of non-cultivation” (無修之修), practice depends on reality already positioned, rather than on a journey toward it; and in “All is Mind” (一切唯心), even the myriad dharmas fall within this positioning. These three aspects necessarily converge on numinous awareness (靈知), the single term that names both ultimate reality and consciousness as it now operates, and in which the six structures of holistic oneness are articulated. Seon Buddhism is thus defined as a system grounded in the true self (眞我) as the holistic oneness of first-person consciousness. The question of its essence is reconstructed as an object of scholarly analysis without appeal to the ineffability of experience.
This study analyzes the essence of Seon (Chan/Zen) Buddhism from the structural perspective of the “positioning (定位) of ultimate reality,” and reconstructs Seon phenomenologically as a system grounded in the “holistic oneness (全一性) of first-person consciousness.” The question ““What is Seon?” has long remained unanswered, as it conflicts with Seon’s self-definition, which refuses literal formulation; since the Hu Shih–Suzuki debate, historicism and experientialism have each proved unable either to state or to analyze the essence of Seon. Diagnosing this impasse as rooted in the form of the question itself, this study reformulates it: “Where does Seon position ultimate reality?” Taking Hick’s Reality-centrism as the common ground of comparison, the study extracts from Streng’s definition of religion an “intentional positioning structure,” in which the subject, separated from ultimate reality, intends toward it as lying beyond—a structure shared by the Learning of Principle (理學) and theology, which represent ultimate reality as principle and as the Other, respectively. Seon teachings, by contrast, reveal a structure of identity. In “Mind is Buddha” (卽心卽佛), ultimate reality is positioned in first-person consciousness here and now, so that awakening is realization rather than arrival; in “cultivation of non-cultivation” (無修之修), practice relies on reality already positioned rather than journeying toward it; and in “All is Mind” (一切唯心), even the myriad dharmas lie within this positioning. These three aspects necessarily converge upon numinous awareness (靈知), the one term naming both ultimate reality and the very consciousness now operating, in which the six structures of holistic oneness are articulated. Seon Buddhism is thus defined as a system grounded in the true self (眞我), and the question of its essence is reconstructed as an object of scholarly analysis without appeal to the ineffability of experience.