In part 6 of the analysis, it was stated that Butch has, upon awakening from his flashback of Captain Koons handing him a gold watch (that formerly belonged to each of his three patriarchal ancestors), reached the stage of enlightenment. This is explained in more detail below.
The question of sudden versus gradual enlightenment has been an ongoing concern in East Asian Buddhism. This question was taken up in Korea by the monk Chinul (1158-1210), in his Secrets of Cultivating the Mind (Susim kyol):
"Now, there are many approaches to the path [to enlightenment], but essentially they are included in the twofold approach of sudden awakening and gradual cultivation. Although sudden awakening/sudden cultivation has been advocated, this is the entrance for people of the highest faculties. If you were to probe their pasts, you would see that their cultivation has been based for many lives on the insights gained in a previous awakening. Now, in this life, after gradual permeation, these people hear the dharma and awaken: in one instant their path is brought to a sudden conclusion. But if we try to explain this according to the facts, then sudden awakening/sudden cultivation is also the result of an initial awakening and its subsequent cultivation. Consequently, this twofold approach of sudden awakening and gradual cultivation is the track followed by thousands of saints. Hence, of all the saints of old, there were none who did not first have an awakening, subsequently cultivate it, and finally, because of their cultivation, gain realization..." [a](emphasis in original).
The above passage expresses in detail, Chinul's belief that all paths are, at bottom, composed of sudden awakening and gradual cultivation. Applying this idea to Butch, a kind of initial awakening occurs for him when he first hears the story of the gold watch from Captain Koons, and grabs the watch from Koons' hand. (We use the phrase "a kind of initial awakening" here because Captain Koons is not a member of Butch's patriarchal family lineage. This will be addressed later in the analysis.) Butch cultivates this awakening during the subsequent years. Then, just before his boxing match with Floyd Wilson, Butch gains realization (i.e., he achieves enlightenment) at the moment that he awakens (in the literal sense) from his flashback to Koons' visit and the snatching of the watch.
Above left: Butch snatches the gold watch from Koons' hand. Above right: Butch rises after his flashback to the handing of the watch.
a. Chinul, Susim kyol, in The Korean Approach to Zen: The Collected Works of Chinul. Trans. Robert E. Buswell, Jr. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1983. pp. 143-145.
