Katsu (Zen)


Katsu is a shout that is described in Chan and Zen Buddhism encounter-stories, to expose the enlightened state of the Zen-master, and/or to induce initial enlightenment experience in a student. The shout is also sometimes used in the East Asian martial arts for a variety of purposes; in this context, katsu is very similar to the shout kiai.

Etymology

The word in Chinese means literally "to yell" or "to shout". In Japanese it has also developed the meaning of "", "to scold", and "hoarse".
In the context of Chan and Zen practice, the word is not generally used in its literal meaning, but rather—much as with the martial arts shout of kiai—as fundamentally a means of focusing energy. When the Chan and Zen practice of the katsu first emerged in Jiangxi province in the south of Tang dynasty China in the 8th century CE, the word was pronounced roughly as /xat/, a pronunciation that is largely preserved in the Japanese on'yomi reading of the character as, as well as in Cantonese and Southern Min Chinese.

Use

The katsu shout, insofar as it represents a kind of verbal harshness and even violence, can be considered a part of the Mahāyāna Buddhist doctrine of "skill-in-means", which essentially teaches that even an action or practice which seems to violate Buddhist moral guidelines—in this case, the Noble Eightfold Path's injunction against "abusive speech"—is permissible, and even desirable, so long as it is done with the aim of ultimately putting an end to suffering and introducing others to the dharma, or teachings of Buddhism.
The most celebrated and frequent practitioner of the katsu was the Chinese master Línjì Yìxuán, and many examples of his use of the shout can be found in the Línjì-lù, or Record of Linji, the collection of Linji's actions and lectures:
The use of the katsu stands in a tradition of antinomian methods, such as striking disciples with a stick or a fly whisk, which developed within the Mǎzǔ Dàoyī lineage. Linji greatly developed and used the katsu technique. In one of his lectures, often termed as "Linji's Four Shouts" he distinguished four different categories of katsu:

Death poems

The Rinzai school continued the practice of the katsu, as can be seen through the examples of the death poems of certain Rinzai priests: