Note f40 — ZEN AS CHINESE INTERPRETATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

The rendering is by Rhys Davids who states in the footnote: “The word I have here rendered ‘earnest contemplation’ is Samadhi, which occupies in the Five Nikayas very much the same position as faith does in the New Testament; and this section shows that the relative importance of Samādhi, Paññā, and Śīla played a part in early Buddhism just as the distinction between faith, reason, and works did afterwards in Western theology. It would be difficult to find a passage in which the Buddhist view of the relation of these conflicting ideas is stated with greater beauty of thought, or equal succinctness of form.” But why conflicting?