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Galuth (Exile) and its Meaning

Exile (Galuth in Hebrew) became not only a part of Jewish life but also a major feature after the destruction of the Second Temple by Romans in the year 70 of the first century. The nation of Israel lost its home. All Jews - those who were abroad and those who remained in the Holy Land- suffered the same loss and tasted the bitterness of Exile. By the Exile of Israel, Judaism believes, even the Shekhinah, the Divine Presence Herself, was forced into exile with Her people. Jews were challenged by the bitter reality of the past two thousand years. They waited for the restoration of their home and prayed for the return of the Shekhinah to Jerusalem, the Holy City.

Wandering seems to have been a characteristic reflecting the basic nature of the Jewish people. Their first patriarch, Abraham, wandered about in the three lands: Mesopotamia, Egypt and Canaan. And their forefather (Jacob) was called a "wandering Aramean" (Deuteronomy 26:5). But Galuth was not mere wandering; it was the separation of the Jewish people from the promised land. Galuth was a compound of three elements: physical separation from the land, psychological bitter-ness, and yearning to return. Jews were separated three times from the promised land: the slavery in Egypt, the exile in Assyria and Babylonia, and the present Exile, which began at the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 and which has been partially restored by the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.

The Bible did not explain the purpose of Galuth but gave the reason: Israel had to go into exile because of their sins and transgressions against God. In the Talmud the Sages explained, "Exile comes upon the world because of idolatry, incest and the shedding of blood." They maintained that Galuth was purgation as well as punishment for Jews; it would refine them so that in the end they would learn the significance of the Torah. The Talmud says, "Exile makes atonement for iniquity." "The Holy One, blessed be He, exiled Israel to Babylonia so that they will eat date-honey and engage in the Torah. " Some of the Sages thought the Galuth was also a good opportunity for proselyting the Gentiles to Judaism: "Israel went to exile in order to gain more converts." Furthermore, they concluded that the Dispersion was indispensable to the continuance of the world because, by virtue of Torah and worship, Israel in exile provides the source of existence to every corner of the world. "The world cannot exist but owing to the Torah, which the Holy One, blessed be He, gave Israel." The world would collapse without Israel. This notion was shared widely by rabbis. For instance, Rabbi Yehudah Halevi, a Spanish Jewish philosopher and a Hebrew poet in the early twelfth century, was the author of Sepher HaKuzari. In this book, he argued the superiority of Judaism over other religions and compared Israel's function in the world to that of a heart in the body: "Israel amidst the nations is like the heart amidst the organs: it is the most healthy of them all [when the organs are healthy] and the most sick [when they are sick]."

In addition to the role of Israel in exile, the idea of the exile of the Shekhinah was developed by Rabbi Akiba after the destruction of the Second Temple: "The Shekhinah rests on the Jews wherever they go into exile." This idea was a source of consolation and strength to the dispersed people throughout the generations. Though the Shekhinah was invisible, people were convinced of Her constant abiding with them wherever they traveled.

The concept of the Shekhinah-in-exile preoccupied the author of the Zohar. The Zohar maintained three different explanations regarding the cause of Her exile: (1) the Shekhinah, the feminine power of the Divinity, voluntarily went into exile with Israel because of Her maternal love towards the children of Israel; (2) the Shekhinah was sent by God to Israel in exile as the token of His covenant; (3) the Shekhinah was captured by the Evil Impulse, which became mighty after the destruction of the Second Temple. The third view "the captivity of the Shekhinah in hands of the Evil Power" was further developed by the Lurianic Kabbalah into the doctrine of the evil kelippoth and the captivity of the nitzotzoth (divine sparks).

Hasidism did not differ basically from traditional Rabbinic and Kabbalistic views of the cause of Galuth (Exile). But it explained the problem of Galuth with a different nuance befitting the spirit of Hasidism. Rabbi Ya'akov Yoseph considered the following two issues as the major cause of Galuth: (1) social disharmony between the leaders and the masses; (2) the lack of mystical knowledge and repentance.

"The destruction of the First Temple was brought because they abolished My Torah"(Nedarim 81) and "The Second Temple was destroyed because of hatred without cause"(Yoma 9).... As long as there was unity between the masses and the scholars, the latter engaged in the study of Torah - even though there was senseless hatred between the scholars [themselves] - and the Torah used to shield and protect all of them alike. However, when the hatred of the masses increased against the scholars and the two parties disintegrated, the masses could no longer support those who engaged in the Torah. This is the meaning of "they abolished My Torah."

The exile in Egypt was essentially caused by the lack of knowledge- it was called the spiritual galuth, namely, oblivion- and they [the people of Israel] did not know their defect. From spiritual galuth came physical galuth. However, if people knew of their own defect by power of knowledge, they would repent and mend their defect. Only then would the beginning of redemption [finally] come.

These two issues were actually his criticism of the social and ethical disintegration of the people of his time. Although not the immediate cause of the historical Galuth, Ya'akov Yoseph was convinced that the desperateness of Galuth was accentuated by the people's haughtiness and vulgarities. He saw that the real cause of Galuth was the deterio-ration of spirituality rather than the loss of the homeland: "A physical exile comes from a spiritual one."

Therefore he repeatedly urged people to awaken to their own situation in the presence of God. If they awaken they would learn of their unworthiness, became humble, and eventually restore a correct relationship between the leaders and the masses. The people were dispersed into exile because of vulgarity, which was a result of a lack of knowledge. Grasping the spiritual deterioration as the essence of Galuth, Ya'akov Yoseph called it galuth ha-yetzer ha-ra' (the exile of the Evil Impulse): "The final Galuth has been [brought] by the vulgar people, who [themselves] are in galuth yetzer ha-ra' (the exile of the Evil Impulse)." Conversely, the end of exile would come if they learned about themselves by power of knowledge and repented from evil. Ya'akov Yoseph predicted, "When the vulgar people (gassey ha-ruach, lit., the vulgar souls) would be terminated and be released from the exile of the Evil Impulse, then, [as said in the Bible] 'Draw near to my soul, redeem her'(Psalms 69:19), truly there will be the [final] redemption [of Israel], may it come soon in our days, Amen, for ever, Sellah, and ever."

A similar view was maintained by Rabbi Nahman of Bratzlav. He said, "Galuth is a result of the lack of faith." In Hasidism, everything was ultimately resolved through the dimension of faith. And without the right approach to faith, Hasidism believed, there could be no restoration of the original order throughout the heavenly worlds as well as in this world.

Affirmation of reality is fundamental to Hasidism's approach to life. Sanctification of life is impossible without affirming the positive aspects within negative forms. The life of Galuth - no matter how painful and bitter -must have some merit which can benefit the life of Jews.

The Great Maggid found a great advantage in being in exile. Namely, one can more easily reach the holy spirit (the Shekhinah) and comm-union with God in exile than in the Holy Land.

Behold, today in Galuth it is easier to reach the holy spirit than in the days of the Temple. This is like a parable of a king. When the king is at his royal palace, it is impossible to come very close to him. When he is on a journey, everybody who wants [to see him] can come close to the king; even a peasant, who is unworthy of having an audience with the king at his royal palace, can visit him and talk to him at his hotel. In the same manner, today in Galuth, when a man thinks of the Holy One, blessed be He, in devequth He immediately rests on him and dwells in him.... Therefore it is appropriate for a man to keep himself at a distance from cravings and strange thoughts in order not to depart from God. Man should perform his deeds only for the sake of His Name, blessed be He.

The Great Maggid saw the Galuth as ideal for achieving a close relation-ship between man and God. One of his students, Shneur Zalman, pointed out that "the great Zaddikim in the Holy Land [in the age of Galuth] are now capable of attaining deeper insight than ancient Zaddikim who lived before the destruction of the Temple. For instance, there was no one before like the Ari [Rabbi Isaac Luria] who attained such great understanding."

Rabbi Levi Yitzhak believed that Jews were dispersed all over the world in order to lift up those divine sparks fallen into the darkness of the kelippoth. He said:

The essence of Galuth is in the uplifting of the sparks which fell in the midst of the kelippoth with the sin of Galuth until the end of time when every wickedness shall be consumed. And when those sparks ascend [to heaven], then, surely the redemption will arrive immediately.

All the journeys that the children of Israel went through the great and awful desert, resulted from the Lord. It was for the sake of picking the divine sparks, which had fallen in the midst of the kelippoth, and of releasing them exclusively from the mouth of the kelippoth. This is the reason that the people of Israel camped in some places longer and in another places briefly [during the journey in the Sinai desert after the Exodus from Egypt], in accordance with how long they needed to pick the sparks in each place.

The Talmudic verse "Israel went into exile in order to gain more converts" was interpreted by Rabbi Elimelekh of Lezajsk from the same view point:

It would be more desirable for nations to come to the land of Israel of themselves and to convert to Judaism there. This process shall be carried out by the divine spark which is within them, for the divine spark incites them to conversion. However, the divine spark which is within the nations is too tiny and weak to awaken their hearts so that they will voluntarily go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land and convert to Judaism. Only when they look at Jews and see [how they are devoted to God], see how Jew's holiness provides strength, might and stimulation to the divine spark [which is in the nations], then the nations will convert. For this reason, Jews were forced to go into exile.

Hasidism taught the masses the mystical aspect of Galuth and encouraged them in building meaningful lives in exile. Hasidism took the theoretical stand in its approach to Galuth from Lurianic Kabbalah. Originally, Galuth was a problem for Jews and they anxiously anticipated the early arrival of the Messiah, who would redeem them from exile. Introducing the doctrine of the uplifting of the divine sparks from the kelippoth, the Lurianic Kabbalah reversed Galuth from a problem to a dimension in which man can participate in the process of Messianic fulfillment. The uplifting of the divine sparks and the conversion of the Gentiles will not be carried out without the Jews in the Dispersion. Jews had to go into exile in order to fulfill a part of the Messianic preparation.

Despite the constant pains and bitterness of Galuth, Hasidim rarely had time for thinking of their own needs. They always thought of the needs of God and the Shekhinah. The Besht taught his disciples this:

　

All of things which people lack are due to the loss [of the divine sparks], which was happened to the Shekhihan [with the Breaking of the Vessels]. Man must pray for the recovery of Her loss there and for the tiqqun [the repairing] above.... If, may Heaven forbid, some serious sorrow happens to man... this sorrow [resulted] from the Shekhinah.... Thus the individual should remind himself that he must leave his own things [for a while] and pray for the sake of the Shekhinah [first of all].

Elimelekh of Lezajsk said: "The Shekhinah is tired and exhausted in the bitter exile. And we give vitality to Her for Her pleasure through prayer, the study of Torah, and the performance of commandments and good deeds." Thus the works of Hasidim benefit the Shekhinah in exile. This thinking is a complete reversal of the Kabbalistic explanation that the Shekhinah went to exile in order to take care of Her children, the people of Israel. Hasidim now take care of Her survival. Quoting the famous phrase of the Zohar, "the awakening below stimulates the awakening above," the Great Maggid, the teacher of Elimelekh, taught anthropocentricism:

Heavenly beings have no awakening unless assisted by Jews who are the root of everything. Simply, they cannot utter any word without Jews, who are the root of the whole [creation including the angels]. For instance, when Jews begin to sing a song, angels also gain strength to sing songs. This is the meaning of 'the song of songs,' namely, the song of Jews causes more songs in heaven.

Anthropocentricism of Hasidism did not mean man's domination over other creation but man's responsibility to them as well as to God. By taking this responsibility most seriously, Hasidim virtually dis-regarded their own concerns.

In the middle of the twentieth century, the early Hasidic approach to Messianism has been disputed by scholars. G. G. Scholem once states in his book Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, which is a collection of his lectures at the Columbia University in 1938, that "Hasidism tried to eliminate the element of Messianism... without renouncing the popular appeal of later Kabbalah. Perhaps one should rather speak of 'neutralization' of the Messianic element." His view was supported by J. G. Weiss and Rivkah Schatz-Uffenheimer. In contrast with this, Ben-Zion Dinur and Isaiah Tishby are convinced of the vital Messianic element in early Hasidism. Dinur thinks that Hasidism attempted to hasten the arrival of the Messianic era by sublimating the way of life of the individual Jew to meet the conditions required for the universal redemption. And Tishby, while flatly denying Scholem's neutralization of the Messianic element in early Hasidism, also criticized the position of Dinur. The dispute has reached a stalemate, for the time being, by Scholem's rebuttal of Tishby's argument.

Since all parties built their arguments on essentially the same source, the issue of whether Hasidism neutralized the Messianic element or not is a matter of interpretation. One of their disputes is focused on the letter written by the Besht around 1751 to his brother-in-law, Rabbi Abraham Gershon, in which the Besht recollected his visionary 'ascent of the soul' to heaven in September 1746.

I went up stage after stage until I entered the palace of the Messiah where the Messiah studies Torah with all the Tannaites and the Zaddikim and I became aware of very great rejoicing of which I did not know the meaning. And I thought that it might be because of my decease from this world. But later it was intimated to me that I was not yet to die, for they in heaven enjoy it when I perform acts of unification on earth by meditating on their teachings. But the true nature of this rejoicing I do not know to this very day.

And I asked the Messiah, "When will you come?" and he answered: "By this you shall know it: when your doctrine is widely known and revealed throughout the world and what I taught you is divulged outwards from your own resources. And they too will be able to perform acts of meditative unification and ascents like you. And then all the kelippoth will perish and the time of salvation will have come."

And I was bewildered because of this answer and I was greatly aggrieved by the enormous length of time until this would be possible.

The letter says that the Messianic fulfillment will not occur until the Besht's teaching spreads throughout the world. Dinur and Tishby understood from this that the Besht was called by the Messiah for a Messianic mission.

But Scholem opposed their view:

On the contrary, Messianism as a driving power and immediate hope can no longer be reckoned with. The coming of the Messiah is rejected to a distant future. The answer, far from encouraging the Ba'al Shem's Messianic expectation - if he had any at all- saddens and depresses him. It is a promise which holds out no Messianic fulfillment whatsoever for the Ba'al Shem's own times.

The words of Scholem are very persuasive. Yet we must remember that the letter never says, despite the Messiah's disappointing answer to the Besht, that there would be no Messianic fulfillment in the lifetime of the Besht. Scholem's argument sometimes seems to be built on his own paraphrases. Regarding another saying of the Besht, "Only when everyone attains individual redemption will there be universal redemption and the Messiah arrive," Scholem comments as follows: "This statement implies a tremendous postponement in the actual date of the arrival of the Messiah." If this comment were correct, that the Besht's words implied the neutralization (or postponement) of the Messianism, it would be better for him to say that Messianism was neutralized from the outset, for the ancient Sages have said:

The son of David will come only in the generation which is either completely without blemish or completely guilty.

The son of David will not come until haughty people vanish.

The King Messiah will not come until all the souls which [God] contemplated creating have been created.

All these words imply that the advent of the Messiah is simply impossi-ble in the human society because the fulfillment of any one of these conditions is most unlikely on earth.

Although the Besht was rather disappointed by the answer of the Messiah, the remoteness of the Messianic Advent was not new to him. There is no doubt that he knew it from the rabbinic teachings. In addition, the failure of Sabbatianism also had proved to him the truth of the remoteness of the Advent. The focus of the Besht's letter is not on the remoteness of the Messianic days but the Besht's own deter-mination and willingness to spread his teaching. In the continuation of the same letter the Besht said:

I realized that by using what I learned there people of my time too will be able to attain a rank and level similar to mine. That means, they, being as they are, can elevate their souls, and study and understand as I do.

It must be noted that the Besht told his grandson Moses Hayyim Ephrayim that he had not met, thus far, any person who had attained the same supreme level where he stood; therefore he could not materi-alize the immediate coming of the Messiah. Perhaps, some of his highly secret teaching was never revealed to the public because of the potential danger of the unskilled religious practitioners. But the fact that the spread of his basic teaching was not possible without his dedication to the movement shows the Besht's response to the Messiah's request. By edifying the individual, the Besht prepared the road for the Messianic fulfillment.

After all, the religious life is in continuous self-improvement towards the supreme goal of perfection regardless of whether the Advent of the Messiah is felt to be near or not. The stronger the Messianic expectation becomes, the more intensified the effort of perfection is. It was not extraordinary to a pious man to assume that individual redemption precedes universal redemption. If Scholem places only a sort of mass fanaticism like Sabbatianism under the category of "Messianic attempt," it would be his misunderstanding of Messianism. To the religious mind, "history is a circuitous way for the steps of the Messiah," and "the time for the Kingdom may be far off, but the task is plain: to retain our share in God in spite of peril and contempt."

Silence of the early Hasidic masters about Messianism does not necessarily mean that they turned their eyes away from it. It seems to me that they kept silence about Messianism because of a precaution against people's suspicion about Sabbatianism. Messianic expectation was indispensable to those oppressed Jews in exile. Whenever they felt the insecurity of their lives and humiliation in the midst of hostile nations, they yearned for an early arrival of the Messiah. Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav said:

Now the Glory is in exile because the essence of glory is under the hands of the idolaters and we, the children of Israel, are humiliated and despised. But in the future when his Glory will be revealed from the darkness, as written, "All flesh shall see it together" (Isaiah 40:5), everybody will "serve Him with one accord" (Zephaniah 3:9).

Throughout the past generations many people speculated about the time of the Advent, but nothing happened. To calculate the time of the Advent was not the concern of Hasidim. They still remembered the horrible result of such superstitious calculations of the Sabbatian Mes-sianic movement. Nahman of Bratslav confessed he had no idea how to read such speculation:

Although we see hints for the end [of exile] and the beginning of redemption in the book of Daniel, its words are unclear [for us] as written, "For the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end" (Daniel 12:9). Indeed no one knows how the time of the redemption is hinted there. But in the future, if the Lord decrees, when the words will be realized and the edge of truth will be revealed, and our Messiah comes, then people will learn retrospectively how the time of the end was hinted in its words.

Hasidism showed its soundness in the fact that it did not speculate about the arrival of Messiah. Instead, it took a realistic approach to the world. Rabbi Elimelekh of Lezajsk admitted the perpetuity of evil in the world:

It is impossible to remove all evil nature [from the world] in order to be qualified for seeing the great vision [of the Burning Bush] until the arrival of our righteous Messiah. He will completely remove filth from the four directions of the earth.

The reality surrounding the life of Hasidim was contradictory to the condition required for the coming of the Messiah. It was full of filth which was impossible to be removed, while its removal was prerequisite for the Advent. Should Hasidim wait for the arrival of the Messiah and do nothing to reduce evil? Or should they make every endeavor to purify their surroundings? They chose the latter. Rabbi Zeev Wolf of Zhitomir (d. 1800), a student of the Great Maggid, emphatically expressed the necessity of one's awareness of being in exile: "The account of the Exodus from Egypt must be taken as [one's] constant subject [to be aware of] at every moment." According to him, every one must learn from the redemption at the Exodus how to attain his own redemption:

Every Jew must associate the redemption from Egypt with the ultimate and essential redemption. The redemption from Egypt gives an insight to its solution. You should understand its mysteries. If a man's [mystical] intelligence and knowledge are disclosed [to know that there is no place empty of Him], the man can stand [even in exile], like a very strong pillar, without tottering from worship because of temporary accidents or mishaps. Whether it is good or bad, the man should believe wholeheartedly that everything comes from God, and that it [that is, a mishap] was brought by individual providence in order to refine one's tiqqun.... The man should believe firmly that the Holy One, blessed be He, sends him such [troublesome] things with good intention for man's benefit. God [will] give him a double reward because he lifts up the divine sparks. These divine sparks are incorporated in the kelippoth in order to give them life.... As at the beginning of redemption at the Exodus from Egypt [be-yitziath mitzrayim] Moses rescued Israel from their distress [meitzar, pl. meitzarim], so, now in every generation after generation until the ultimate redemption, [mystical knowledge] of the enlightened person rescues himself from his own personal distress.

In exile Jews learn steadfastness of faith, how to withstand trial of suffering. Galuth challenges them as to whether or not they are capable of lifting up the sparks from the darkness. It is the precious chance for the individual to perfect his own tiqqun. Galuth perfects him so as to be worthy of God's reward. Belief in God's omnipresence enables him to accept even distress as discipline for his benefit. By this mystical knowledge about God he eventually releases himself from his own hardships and enters into the realm of God's presence. This is the practical side of the individual redemption (geulah peratith). The ethical side of the individual redemption was called "the redemption of the soul from the Evil Impulse" by Ya'akov Yoseph. Hasidism believed that individual redemption - whether ethical or practical- becomes available only through knowledge (or awareness) of God, namely, devequth through faith.

However, this does not mean that Hasidism was content with individual redemption alone, without asking further universal redemption. On the contrary, it regarded individual redemption as the very beginning of a series of redemption which will bring the final and universal one in the end:

When [God] 'draws unto my soul, and redeems it' (Psalms 69:18)- this means the redemption of the soul from the Evil Impulse-, then universal redemption of the body and the homer [material] from slavery and exile in [foreign] nations immediately follows.

It was exactly with the same spirit that the Besht said, "The essence of prayer for redemption must be focused on the redemption of the individual which is the redemption of soul," because "only when everyone attains individual redemption will there be universal re-demption and the Messiah will arrive." Obviously, individual redemption was regarded by Hasidism not as the final redemption but as its prerequisite.

One of the important Messianic elements in Hasidism was the institution of the Zaddik. Rabbi Elimelekh of Lezajsk declared: "The model of redemption, namely, of everything which will be at the time of the [universal] redemption in future, must now be with the Zaddik."

The Messianic function was performed by the Zaddik in two aspects --mystical and social. In its mystical aspect, the Zaddik was believed to have the charismatic power of speech by which he could bring proper actions for both heaven's and man's sake. But this was the hidden aspect of the Zaddik, one which might not have any immediate social impact in terms of salvation. The Zaddik was important to the masses because he voluntarily took almost unlimited responsibility for their social welfare. The Zaddik took care of widows and orphans, arranging the weddings of poor girls, supporting penniless students, paying the ransom for the captives and so on:

No single penny whatsoever remained at their [the Zaddikim's] home in night. They spend all monies only for the need of Israel.

　

They are called the eyes of community..., asking God for mercy on behalf of the people for their spiritual as well as their bodily needs.

But the ability of the individual Zaddik is limited, no matter how deeply he devotes himself to the needs of the people. "If there were a [great] Zaddik like Moses, he could save the entire world from the Galuth," sighed Rabbi Elimelekh. He realized that the collective force of the Zaddikim was essential in order to carry out the universal task of salvation: "A Zaddik who wants to bring emanation to the world must do so through uniting with other Zaddikim."

Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav suggested that the Zaddik comes within the category of Messiah: "Every Zaddik, as for his own generation, is within the purview of Moses the Messiah." This view was developed from an idea of the Zohar, which says that Moses was considered to be a Messiah in the function of 'savior.' However, it was a bold statement to say that the Zaddik was in the category of 'Moses-Messiah.' Throughout most early Hasidic writings 'Zaddik' was understood only in association with Moses as the man of mystical knowledge, without any reference to the Messiah. It seems to me that the social responsibility of the Zaddikim was a rather later development when Hasidism became accepted by people at large in the community. In the early period, the major function of Zaddik was limited to the spiritual, therefore mystical, aspect alone. Rabbi Ya'akov Yoseph repeatedly emphasized the significance with the Zaddikim (he often used the term 'talmidei hachamim '[scholars] instead):

The community leader must edify the people both physically and spiritually for the sake of Heaven, [namely,] not only in the worship and the sermon of chastisement and ethics but also in contemplation. He should tie himself and the people of his time to God in order to elevate them and bind to Him, blessed be He.

The unity of the Zaddik and the masses is indispensable to the latter because it is a sure way for them to attain devequth with God. The verse "You shall love the Lord your God..., and cleave to Him" (Deuteronomy 11:26) was commented on by the Sages as follows: "It means to cleave to the sages and to their students." Based on this comment, Ya'akov Yoseph argued that those who cleave to the talmidei hachamim virtually attain devequth with God by virtue of the latter's devequth. In a sense, Hasidism was a religious movement whose entire community was built around the central figure called the Zaddik by whose power the emanation of devequth reached every body and every corner of the community.

It was the primary concern of Hasidim to attain devequth because, as Scholem comments, "the man who has found God by way of Devequth has worked out his own salvation. He has actually forestalled redemption ﾑon a strictly personal level." And since the redemption of the individual was regarded as the prerequisite for the ultimate redemption of the whole world, by attaining devequth Hasidim fulfilled part of the Messianic process. In terms of hastening the Messianic process, certainly "the experience of Devequth destroyed exile from within" and more or less hastened the advent of the Messiah despite its remoteness. By developing Zaddikism in order to solve social and spiritual problems of the people - even though it was a temporary solution until the final justice which could be brought by the Messiah-, Hasidism strengthened the structure of Judaism and guarded the survival of Jewish people in exile with the hope of Messianism. It is wrong to say that Hasidism has neutralized the Messianic element. On the contrary, it has furthered the fulfillment of Messianism.

Shoji (Birth and Death) according to Zen Buddhism

Buddhism expresses the insecurity of human life in terms of shoji 生死, birth and death) or rinne (輪廻, transmigration). Sentient beings continue perpetual repetition of birth and death in the three worlds-- the world of desires, whose inhabitants are dominated by appetite and sensual desires; the world of form, whose inhabitants have neither appetite no desire; and the formless world, whose inhabitants have no physical formsﾑ, and in the six realms of existence-- hell, the realm of hungry spirits, animals, asuras (devils of jealousy), men, and heaven. Fluidity is the essence of their life and brevity is its form. Insecurity of life in transmigration produces attachment to life and fear of death. Shaba, a Buddhist term for "this world" from saha in Sanskrit, is translated as "the world of forbearance." Man cannot live in this world without bearing all kinds of pains, anxieties, desires and afflictions. However, abstention from pains and desires cannot be a permanent solution because abstention itself increases pains and desires.

The Buddha answered that when there is a complete stopping of craving, the problem will be no longer a problem. He explained the relationship of craving and Nirvana by an allegory of the flame. A fire blazes because of firewood. But it cannot be detected when the flame has gone. In the same manner, people are inflamed with greed, anger and ignorance, and suffer from their own flame. Once the fire is extinguished, it will not be rekindled, so craving and passion will not afflict man if they are completely extinguished. The extinction of craving was called Nirvana by the Buddha.

Nirvana is the goal of Buddhism. Zen Buddhism makes every effort to attain it, mainly by practice of meditation. However, for Zen the goal is enlightenment. As Daisetz Suzuki stated, to the Buddha "Nirvana was nothing else in its essence than Enlightenment, the content was identical in either case. Enlightenment was Nirvana reached while yet in the flesh, and no Nirvana was ever possible without obtaining Enlightenment." Therefore Zen speaks much of enlightenment and little of Nirvana.

In order to extinguish the impure flame of passions and delusions Zen teaches its students to wash away all thoughts from the mind. As Muso pointed out, the world (shaba) is not only the land of forbearance but that of 'lack': The Sanskrit word 'saha' was translated by 'lack.'

In this world no one can be satisfied with things. A desire gives rise to another one in the manner of a chain reaction. It tantalizes man without end. If he wants to abolish desires in order to attain Nirvana, the yearning for Nirvana becomes a new obstacle to its attainment even when other desires have been eliminated. "You only think of seeking the Buddha, then Buddha becomes a mere name," said Lin-chi.

The mind does not filter real thinking from delusive thinking; all thinking is equally real. Therefore the only effective way to attain Nirvana (or enlightenment), according to Zen, is to wipe out all conceptual activities. Huang-po, the teacher of Lin-chi, stated the essence of Zen practice as follows: "Only if you forget the mind and become one with the Dharma-world [that is, the Absolute Reality], can you attain freedom. This is the essence [of Zen practice]."

Zen Buddhism finds truth and freedom in the realm of the Absolute Reality, which is neither limited nor defined by any kind of external concept. According to Zen Buddhism, truth determined by logic and conception is not yet fully true. Abstract thought is the same as delusion. Truth must penetrate one's reality, be demonstrated by one's deeds, and be elevated from mere language to a real situation.

Walter Kaufmann made the following comment on Zen: "Zen masters have come to the conclusion that a slap in the face may lead to a sudden awakening and that a provocatively irrelevant answer, meditated upon, may lead to satori.... Nietzche's ultimate concern is with truth. The Buddhist's is not." Kaufmann was incorrect. No Zen master assumes that a slap in the face may lead to a sudden awakening. As an example of Zen's irrelevant cruelty, Kaufmann retells how Hakuin got his nose twisted and how he was severely beaten and thrown to the ground by his master. We could agree that his master's treatment was not logical. But it was not irrelevant. The young Hakuin was thrown by the master because of his attachment to concepts and his dogmatic convictions about truth. It was the delusion of dogmatism. At the time, Hakuin already had mastered the fundamental doctrines of Zen Buddhism in terms of intellectual understanding. And his concep-tualization of Zen blocked him from the immediacy of truth. Therefore his master said to him, "You poor hole-dwelling devil! Do you think somehow that you have sufficient understanding?" In the same manner, Kaufmann cannot penetrate the absolute reality of truth because of conceptualism blinding him.

Zen Buddhism believes that real wisdom comes when all thinking has been eliminated. The Awakening of Faith (大乗起信論), which is one of the basic texts of Chinese Buddhism in the T'ang dynasty period, analyzes the process of human thinking as follows:

On the ground of the essence of Mind there is movement. If the essence of Mind were to cease, then people would have no support. But since the essence does not cease to be, the mind may continue. Because only stupidity ceases to be, the marks of the [stupidity of the] mind cease accordingly. It is not that the wisdom [that is, the essence] of Mind ceases.

According to Lin-chi, "If your whole mind becomes nothing, you are emancipated wherever you stand." Nirvana does not mean 'heaven' or 'hereafter.' It is here and now if the mind ceases. It is in enlightenment. Nirvana and enlightenment are equated in Zen Buddhism. Bodhidharma said:

The mind which has no alien form is called tathata [suchness]; the mind which is unchangeable is called the Dharma-nature; the mind which has no position is called emancipation; the nature of the mind that is not disturbed is called enlightenment; and the nature of the mind that is annihilated is called Nirvana.

Nirvana was originally understood as the nullification of passions or as the annihilation of troublesome life. But Mahayana Buddhism re-versed the quietistic character of Nirvana by introducing a positive appreciation of passions and life. It says, "Passions are enlightenment, birth and death are Nirvana." In the world of dichotomy, passions and life are obstacles to the attainment of religious goals. However, once the Absolute Reality is manifested, such distinction between passions and enlightenment, or life and Nirvana, is no longer bothersome because the Absolute Reality not only includes both defilement and purity but is immanent in both. Enlightenment is revelation of truth, while passions are its concealment. Life is fluidity of existence, while Nirvana is its serenity. Behind the polarity of the phenomena there is the wholeness of truth.

In theory, Zen Buddhism does not differ from the mainstream of the Mahayana doctrine. On the contrary, it assiduously makes every effort to demonstrate the validity of fundamental Mahayana doctrines by means of practice. And the practice of Zen is the struggle to find the middle way between life and enlightenment. By doing so, Zen Buddhism discovered that beyond relinquishment of dichotomy there is the dynamism of polarity. What, then, is the way of life of the enlightened person?

As a man cannot take a pile of gold bars while he holds a stack of brass in his hands, so in the same manner, "If you yourself would gain the True, separate from the false, there the mind is free," said the Sixth Patriarch. The basic approach of Zen practice is relinquishment and separation. In these words of the Sixth Patriarch there is the impression of the old quietistic elitism: only a man who can distinguish between truth and falsehood can leave the falsehood. But it is not so for the deluded. How can a deluded man gain freedom? The answer of the Sixth patriarch was suggested in the comprehension of both purity and impurity. He said,"The licentious nature is itself the cause of purity, [and] outside of licentiousness there is no pure nature." In order to extract purity and truth from the impure ore of truth one must first take hold of the defiled ore. We must note this comprehensive, therefore affirmative, attitude towards reality, a characteristic which later became a dominant feature of all Zen Buddhism.

Huang-po, one of the distinguished masters in the growth of Zen during the eighth and the ninth centuries in China was no longer concerned with the distinction of truth and falsehood, the divine and the secular, literacy and illiteracy, or being and nothing. He, like other students of Ma-tsu, found an undeniable manifestation of the Universal Truth in the complete abandonment of categorical definition. He boldly claimed: "The fundamental doctrine of the Dharma is that there is no Dharma; yet the doctrine of no-Dharma is also the Dharma." He explained further:

　

The eighty-four thousand Dharma teachings versus the eighty-four thousand passions are merely gates of edification and guidance. Originally all things have no existence, [therefore] the relinquishment [of every thing] is the Dharma. And a man who knows relinquishment is a Buddha.

That is to say, there is no permanent existence in the world. Existence of things is a temporary mode in the stream of transmigration. Therefore truth must be sought in nothingness, or at least in the relinquishment of existence. Since things have no existence, there is no need of defining truth. And by relinquishing oneself from oneself as well as from external things, one becomes a part of the true reality. The relinquishment is not a denial of reality but the acceptance of truth which encompasses everything within one great harmony.

Only those who have been emancipated through relinquishment are truly able to promote the cause of Buddhism. We learn the ideal of the Buddhist life from the image of Boddhisattva (the one who is enlightened). The doctrine of the Boddhisattva ideal is one of the central subjects in Mahayana Buddhism. From the Mahayana viewpoint, all good Buddhists are regarded as Boddhisattvas in the making. When Bodhidharma was asked what is the practice of Boddhisattva, he answered:

　

The practice of Boddhisattva is neither like the practice of the sages nor that of the ordinary person. When you learn the [way of] Boddhisattva, do not follow the custom of the world, yet abandon it not. If a person really penetrates the Way through the mind and consciousness, such a person really cannot be measured [even] by the [Buddha's] audience as well as by ordinary people. That is to say, all affairs, all corporealities, and all evil doings, all these can a Boddhisattva use; he makes all of them Buddhist affairs and all this to be in Nirvana; everything becomes the great Way [of Buddhism in him].... When [facing] birth and death he turns it to be a subject of Buddhism, at [meeting] delusion he makes it a Buddhist cause.

Boddhisattva is a divine savior who postpones the final attainment of Nirvana in order to assist sentient beings in their enlightenment and salvation. Therefore it is essential for Zen practitioners who have already attained enlightenment to follow the example of the Boddhisattva ideal.

In the ultimate stage of Buddhist practice, man is no longer concerned with a preference for the divine over the secular, nor life to death; he learns how to sublimate everything for the supreme cause of Buddhism. Fluidity of life is then no longer a problem but becomes a precious occasion to devote himself to the noble work of Buddhismﾑthe salvation of sentient beings.

Neither fluidity of life nor fear of death bothers the enlightened mind. But what is birth? What is death? We learn a typical Buddhist approach to birth and death from Dogen. He explained birth and death as the vessel of Buddhism. Birth is first of all the rare chance of pursuing Buddhism:

Over long eons we have on innumerable occasions gone through the process of being born and dying, yet rarely have we had the chance of obtaining a human body and becoming acquainted with Buddhism. If we do not save ourselves now, in what world can we expect to do so? 　It is impossible to retain this body no matter how we treasure it. Since in the end we all must die, if we dedicate our bodies to Buddhism for a day or even for a moment, we lay the basis to eternal peace.

But this does not mean life is the only place to study Buddhism. Dogen criticized as false the opinion, which monopolizes Buddhism only for mankind. He believed that the practice of Buddhism should be maintained even in heaven:

Those who claim that the Buddhas manifest themselves only in the world of the human have not yet reached the essence of the Buddhas and the Patriarchs. You must truly know it. Although the human Shakyamuni [the Buddha] had passed away after teaching [sentient beings] at the final Nirvana, the heavenly Shakyamuni who is now there edifies [the beings of] the heaven.

Buddhism must be pursued even before birth and after death. It is the central subject throughout all three worlds of the transmigration:

Do not say that the listening to the Dharma is of no avail unless it touches the mind and the consciousness. Even one whose mind and body have perished should gain the Dharma through listening to it. One who has neither mind nor body [also] should learn the Dharma. Every Buddha and every Patriarch [finally] became a Buddha and a Patriarch after spending long periods [of such unyielding study].

To Dogen, the study of Buddhism is an everlasting subject, and the process of becoming Buddha is ongoing throughout the worlds of transmigration. But Dogen made no reference to the possibility of so-called 'eternal life' which is compared to the earthly mortal life. To him, since the devotion and practice of Buddhism is eternal, being a Buddhist is naturally eternal. What is called shoji (birth and death) is merely a process of this everlasting effort. Dogen said, "Don't love life vainly, nor fear death recklessly. They are the place of the Buddha-nature." This is the stage higher than the basic Mahayana idea that "Birth and death are [the place of] Nirvana," because Nirvana is a serene state, but Buddha-nature is the vital essence of the universe. By grasping life and death as the vessel of the universal essence, Dogen removed the concept of impermanence from the concept of shoji:

Buddha is in what is called birth and death; therefore there is nothing to be called either life or death.... If a person seeks after Buddha outside birth and death, he can be compared to one who looks for the Great Dipper while facing towards the south.

Dogen, however, did not mean also that life is immediately eternal. Life without purpose is vain. Life is empty and worthless unless some meaning is given to it. Dogen compared life with a boat:

Life is compared with someone's being in a boat. Although I control the sail, rudder and oars, the boat carries me and there is nothing except for the boat which is myself. I board the boat and [by doing so] I make it the [real] boat.... Thus I make life to be [real] life and life makes me to be [really] myself.

A vegetative life is not a full realization of life; it is like an empty boat floating without a sailor. Life becomes meaningful through personality, and personality is vivified by life.

Furthermore, it must be remembered that a boat cannot sail without a complete unity between itself and its captain. A good captain operates the boat smoothly without any artificial contrivance. It might be better to say that he does not handle the boat, but just follows the nature of the boat and the conditions of the sea. In the same manner, the practice of Buddhism must be carried out with complete unity between man and the Buddha:

When you relinquish and forget your own body and mind and entrust them to the House of Buddha, things will be done by Buddha. And when you follow this, you will leave birth and death, without intention and effort, and become Buddha.

At the ultimate stage, the practice of Zen - which stands on the principle of self-reliance - is transformed into complete reliance on Buddha. By attaining unity with Buddha, man finally realizes why it is necessary to relinquish all things including himself. According to Dogen, our life, our shoji, is the life of the Buddha:

Our shoji [birth and death] is the life of the Buddha. If you despise and reject it, you consequently lose the life of the Buddha. But if you remain in it, being attached to shoji, again you lose the life of the Buddha.

By this Dogen meant that we should honor our life for the sake of Buddhism.

Comparison：

The Hasidic Approach to Exile & The Zen Approach to Birth and Death

　The problem of Exile (Galuth) in Hasidism and the problem of birth and death (shoji ) in Zen Buddhism are not exactly the same. Obviously, it would be more desirable to treat each of them separately as an entirely independent subject. But I have brought them together here under one framework in this chapter because it was my aim to show how religious persons resolve the problem of insecurity, uncertainty, or fluidity of life - whatever it may be called.

Hasidism regarded the lack of faith as the cause of Exile. Theoretically, the problem would be solved by Israel's return from Exile to the Holy Land. But it was the reality from which no Jew was able to escape until the universal redemption by the Messiah. In contrast to the Hasidic problem of Exile, the cause of birth and death was not explained by Zen Buddhism. Birth and death were taken for granted as a fact of life. The problem posed by birth and death was the problem of attachment. Therefore, theoretically speaking, it must be solved by detachment. But how could one detach oneself from birth and death, for it is the fundamental reality of sentient beings?

Both Hasidism and Zen Buddhism solved their problems by taking an affirmative approach to reality. Each found a constructive meaning for the problem and consequently transformed the problem into a necessary condition for the attainment of final goals. Exile was now considered an ideal situation for attaining the holy spirit, and the presence of Jews in exile was believed to be indispensable for the survival of the Shekhinah, who was also in exile. On the Buddhist side, through regarding birth and death as the essential condition for enlightenment or as the vessel of Buddhism, birth and death were no longer considered a problem.

The problem of Exile was also accompanied by the Messianic expectation. Originally, the coming of Messiah meant the end of Galuth. But the delay of the Advent and failures of several Messianic attempts in history influenced Hasidism to develop a gradual approach to the Messianic fulfillment: individual redemption precedes universal redemption. As a result, Hasidism encouraged people to attain their own redemption, mainly through devequth. Awaking the individual to his own ethical and religious fulfillment, Hasidism eventually created an unprecedented mass revival movement in Judaism. Hasidism also developed Zaddikism as an auxiliary Messianic means in order to respond to various social and human needs of the Jewish community.

I do not see traces of Messianism in Zen Buddhism. The Buddhist version of Messianic faith is called Miroku (bosatsu) Shinko (the faith in Maitreya the Boddhisattva). Maitreya was designated as in the final Nirvana; Shakyamuni the Buddha was the first. But he postponed it in order to save sentient beings. He is now in heaven, edifying the heavenly beings and is expected to come back to the world of humans about five billion six hundred and seventy million years later, before the attainment of his final Nirvana. This element of the Maitreya expectation is seen among other Buddhist sects except for Zen Buddhism. The lack of a Messianic element reflects at least the following two facts: (1) the practice of Zen stands on the principle of self-reliance; therefore its practitioners do not expect a rainfall of salvation from heaven; (2) Zen Buddhism believes that everybody can attain enlightenment in life if he or she assiduously continues the practice of Zen.

Religion teaches human beings how to strive with life. Religion awakens us to the real meaning of the paradox of human life. Religion teaches human beings to strive with life. It awakens us to the real meaning of the paradox of human existence. As Martin Buber once expressed it to me, "The difficult means that you must go over it [sic]," one must encounter the difficulties in life and over come them. And it is in this divine-human encounter that the goal is attained.

{the End of the Chapter : Insecurity of Life in Zen and Hasidism}

1: Introduction

2: Zazen and Devequth

3: Problem of "Strange Thoughts"

4: Annihilating Selfhood and Attaining Ecstasy

5: Concept of Man

6: Insecurity of Life