No Temples on Ssukungshan

Past the lakes and swamps I journeyed

with the moon on my shoulders I reached Ssukung

where a cloud partch holds my robe together

and the snow fills me up when I'm hungry

--Hui-k'o - The Second Patriarch of Ch'an

Record of the Masters of the Lankavatara Sutra

Translated By Red Pine

How To Practice Ch'an Meditation

Ch’an practice attracts shallow and deep interest in the world. The world is a reflection of the mind and the Ch’an method is nothing other than the instant and profound realisation of this fact. There is nothing else to it. The mind realises its own essence and in so doing no longer perceives itself and the outer world as two separate and unconnected realities. Such a realisation has profound philosophical implications, but these implications must not cloud the ordinary mind with excessive intellectual concerns. These implications are understood with a natural ease free of effort. Effort is only required by the unrealised mind striving to understand some thing that lies beyond its reach. This is why the Ch’an masters of old advised their students to ‘lay it all down’ and ‘have no concern for the world’. It is true that examples abound in the Ch’an literature of people becoming enlightened through a word, a phrase or an act, usually delivered by a master at the appropriate moment, but much of this activity is the product of a long and sustained meditative practice where through hours of meditation the practitioner has previously built-up the inner potential so that at the right moment a break through can occur. This break through may happen whilst sitting in meditation, or it may occur in ordinary life moments that happen between meditation sessions.

Whatever the case, a break through in the mind can not happen if the ordinary mind is not brought firmly under control. The ordinary (ignorant) flow of mind that goes about its everyday existence merely perpetuates itself without end, and does not possess an ability to calm itself and put an end to suffering. This type of ordinary mind merely follows a cycle of suffering from which it can not escape. Therefore it is essential that part of the day is used to reign in the mind so that it does not do what it wants, when it wants to do it. The mind is use to doing what it wants ever since it occupied a baby’s body – the habit is difficult to break, but broken it must be. The Ch’an method does not engage the ordinary conscious flow of the mind, as that would be piling an illusion upon an illusion – instead the Ch’an method seeks the empty Mind Ground by directly looking for it with no hesitation whatsoever. The human mind, the body it occupies, and the world it inhabits, are all products of the ordinary, unenlightened state of mind and should be given no attention at all. The mind must be disengaged from the attachment to the ordinary mind, the body and the environment. The Ch’an practitioner must turn the gaze firmly within, away from externals toward the empty Mind Ground so that its essence can be fully realised and integrated with, thus eradicating the illusion of duality and attaining the realisation that all things exist within a great and profound, all-embracing emptiness.

When You Truly Travel the Way

"What you call the Buddha, that is your heart in its purity.  What you call the Dharma, that is your heart in its radiance.  What you call the Way, that is when in sheer light there is nowhere any obstruction.  The three are one; but they are empty names and have no real existence.  When you truly travel the Way, you keep them ever present in your heart."

-Master Lin-Chi from the "Lin Chi Lu"

 

Pure Land/Ch'an Meditation Practice

T'ien-t'ai master, Chih-i

Combined Practice 

The unified practice of Ch'an and Pure Land is the unified practice of Compassion and Widsom. Pure Land practice allows one to open up the heart, thus developing Compassion; Ch'an practice shows one how to concentrate the mind, thus developing Wisdom. When Compassion and Wisdom combine in a dynamic relationship, our True Mind is realized, our True Heart comes forth, and Enlightenment is assured.  This form is practiced in contemporary Ch’an monasteries around the world.  The combination of Ch'an and Pure Land has existed since the eighth century C.E.  Awakening to one’s true nature shows us how we’re linked with universal compassion and wisdom, and becoming one with universal compassion and wisdom shows us our true nature.  There really is no inherent conflict.

Pure Land Hua-T'ou Practice

The Ch'an form which is most widely used in combination with Pure Land is hua-t'ou practice.  The term "hua-t'ou" literally means "the head of a thought" and refers to the mind which exists before we turn it into so-called "thought" or "thoughts."  Hua-t'ou practice usually centers around a "who?" question such as, "Who is this?" or "Who am I?"  Eventually, the question simply becomes, "Who?"  The hua-t'ou method produces a sustained meditative inquiry into one's true nature.  This sustained meditative inquiry leads to a feeling of "doubt," which in turn intensifies one's meditative inquiry until a breakthrough occurs.

Pure Land hua-t'ou practice generally centers around the question, "Who is reciting the Buddha's name?"  As in other hua-t'ou practices, the question eventually becomes, "Who?"  However, instead of simply asking the question setting up the meditative inquiry, Pure Land hua-t'ou practice adds the practice of Buddha-Recitation.  Practitioners are instructed to engage in Buddha-Recitation for several minutes before beginning to ask the question, "Who is reciting the Buddha's name?"  When the meditative inquiry sparked by the question begins to fade, the practitioners go back to Buddha-Recitation until they are ready to inquire again (It should be noted that anyone who engages in this or any Ch'an-based practice should do so under the guidance of a qualified teacher who can assist the practitioner along the way).

This practice is also known as Self-Nature Buddha Recitation since the realm which is revealed by the mind of meditation is the Pure Land itself.  The eminent contemporary Ch'an master Hsuan-Hua addressed this when he said, "As we recite 'Namo Amitabha Buddha' we each create and adorn our own Land of Ultimate Bliss.  We each accomplish our own Land of Ultimate Bliss which is certainly not hundreds of thousands of millions of Buddhalands from here.  Although it is far away it doesn’t go beyond one thought.  It’s not hundreds of thousands of millions of Buddhalands from here; it’s right in our hearts.  The Land of Ultimate Bliss is the original true heart, the true mind, of every one of us.  If you obtain this heart, you will be born in the Land of Ultimate Bliss.  If you don’t understand your own original true heart, you will not.  The Land of Ultimate Bliss is within our hearts, not outside.  Amitabha Buddha and living beings do not discriminate between this and that, for the Land of Ultimate Bliss is not so far away.  In one thought, turn the light within.  Know that you are the Buddha, and your original Buddhahood is just the Land of Ultimate Bliss."

In the book "Road to Heaven," Bill Porter interviewed Abbot Hsu-Tung of Hsiangchi Temple, the most famous Pure Land temple in China. Venerable Hsu-Tung, when asked about the difference between Zen and Pure Land practice, said the following: "In Zen, we keep asking who's chanting the name of the Buddha.  All we think about is where the name of the Buddha is coming from.  We keep asking,until we find out who we were before we were born.  This is Zen.  We sit with one mind.  And if the mind runs off somewhere, we follow it wherever it goes, until the mind finally becomes quiet, until there's no Zen to Zen, no question to question, until we reach the stage where we question without questioning and without questioning we keep questioning.  We keep questioning, until we finally find an answer, until delusions come to an end, until we can swallow the world, all its rivers and mountains, everything, but the world can't swallow us, until we can ride the tiger, but the tiger can't ride us, until we find out who we really are.  This is Zen.

"In Pure land practice, we just chant the name of the Buddha, nothing more.  We chant with the mind.  We chant without making a sound, and yet the sound is perfectly clear.  And when we hear the sound, the chant begins again.  It goes around and around.  the chant doesn't stop, and the mind doesn't move.  The sound arises, we hear the sound, but our mind doesn't move.  And when our mind doesn't move, deulsions disapper.  And once they're gone, the one mind chants.  The result is the same as Zen.  Zen means no distinctions.  Actually, Pure Land practice includes Zen, and Zen practice includes Pure Land.  If you don't practice both, you become one-sided."

[SOURCE]

History of Meditative Pure Land Practice

The unified practice of Ch'an and Pure Land, known in Chinese as "Ch'an-ching I-chih," has a long history. As early as the 4th century C.E., Master Hui-Yuan (334-416), considered to the be first Pure Land Ancestor, incorporated meditative discipline into Pure Land practice.



Master Hui-Yuan (334-416)

 Tao-Hsin (580-651), the Fourth Ancestor of the Ch'an school, taught what he called the "Samadhi of Oneness," utilizing the recitation of the Buddha's name to pacify the mind. It should be noted that since this practice involved reciting the name of any Buddha (a practice dating back to the origins of Buddhism) it was not specifically designed to produce rebirth in the Realm of Bliss, but it did act as a bridge linking Ch'an and Nien-Fo practices. Tao-Hsin taught that the Pure Mind is the Pure Buddha-Land.

The unified practice was also advocated by the Fifth Ch'an Ancestor Hung-Jen (601-674) who saw recitation as a good practice for beginners. Hung-Jen also advocated the visualization practices laid out in the Visualization Sutra.



Tao-Hsin (580-651)

Buddha recitation not concerned with rebirth was taught by a number of Hung-Jen's disciples including Fa-Chih (635-702), the Fourth Ancestor of the Ox-Head School of Ch'an. It was also put forth by the Ching-Chung School which was descended from Chih-Hsien, one of the Fifth Ch'an Ancestor's 10 eminent disciples, in the early 8th century C.E.

Descendents of Chih-hsien who advocated the unified practice included Wu-Hsiang, a former Korean prince who made invocational Nien-Fo practice a key part of the Dharma Transmission Ceremony. Although the practice was still not centered around Buddha Amitabha or rebirth in the Realm of Bliss, it marked the first time that Nien-Fo practice was explicitly adopted as part of a Ch'an school. Subsequent schools which taught Nien-Fo as part of their training included the Pao-T'ang School, the Hsuan-Shih Nien-Fo Ch'an School and the Nan-Shan Nien-Fo Ch'an School.

Ancestor Tz'u-Min (679-748) is said to have been the first Pure Land Ancestor to advocate harmonizing Pure Land practice and Ch'an. Tz'u-min developed his Pure Land faith after a pilgrimage to India, where he was inspired by stories centered around Buddha Amitabha and Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara.

The Ch'an Training

By Venerable Hsu Yun

From the Hsu Yun Ho Shang Fa Hui

Edited, Translated and Explained by Lu Kuan Yu [Charles Luk]

MASTER HSU YUN'S DISCOURSE IN THE CH'AN HALL

(Dear friends,) you have been coming frequently to ask for my instruction and I really feel ashamed (of my incompetence). (Every day) from morning to evening, you have been all hard at work splitting fire-wood, tilling the fields, moving earth and carrying bricks. In spite of this, you still remember your religious duties; this earnestness of yours does indeed warm the heart of other people. I, Hsu Yun, feel really ashamed of my incompetence in religion and lack of virtue. I am not qualified to give instruction and can only pick up a few sentences left behind by the ancients in reply to your questions.

PRELIMINARIES TO THE METHOD OF TRAINING

There are many kinds of method but I will deal briefly with them.

PREREQUISITES OF THE PERFORMANCE OF RELIGIOUS DUTY

(1) Firm belief in the (law of) causality

Whoever One may be, especially if striving to perform one's religious duty, one should believe firmly in the law of causality. If one lacks this belief and does whatever one likes, not only will one fail in the performance of religious duty, but also there will be no escape from this law (of causality) even in the three unhappy ways.[1] An ancient master said: 'If one wishes to know the causes formed in a previous life, one can find them in how one fares in the present life; if one wishes to know the effects in the next life, one can find them in one's deeds in the present life.' He also said: 'The karma of our deeds will never be wiped out even after hundreds and thousands of aeons (but) as soon as conditions become ripe, we will have to bear the effects ourselves.' The Surangama Sutra says: 'If the causal ground is not a true one, the ripening (fruit) will be distorted' Therefore, when one sows a good cause, one will reap a good fruit (and) when one sows an evil cause, one will reap an evil fruit; when one sows melon (seeds) one will gather melons (and) when one sows beans, one will gather beans. This is the plain truth. As I am talking about the law of causality, I will tell you two stories to illustrate it.

Prerequisites of the Ch'an Training

By Venerable Hsu Yun

From the Hsu Yun Ho Shang Fa Hui

Edited, Translated and Explained by Lu Kuan Yu [Charles Luk]

The object of Ch'an training is to realize the mind for the perception of (self-) nature, that is to wipe out the impurities which soil the mind so that the fundamental face of self-nature can really be perceived. Impurities are our false thinking and clinging (to things as real). Self-nature is the meritorious characteristic of the Tathagata wisdom which is the same in both Buddhas and living beings. If one's false thinking and grasping are cast aside, one will bear witness to the meritorious characteristic of one's Tathagata wisdom and will become a Buddha, otherwise one will remain a living being. For since countless aeons, our own delusion has immersed us in the (sea of) birth and death. Since our defilement has (already) lasted so long, we are unable instantly to free ourselves from false thinking in order to perceive our self-nature. This is why we must undergo Ch'an training. The prerequisite of this training is the eradication of false thinking. As to how to wipe it out, we have already many sayings of Sakyamuni Buddha and nothing is simpler than the word 'Halt' in His saying: 'If it halts, it is Enlightenment (Bodhi)'.[1]

The Ch'an sect from its introduction by Bodhidharma after his arrival in the East until after the passing of the Sixth Patriarch, spread widely all over the country and enjoyed great prosperity, unknown before and after that period. However, the most important thing taught by Bodhidharma and the Sixth Patriarch was only this: 'Expel all concurrent causes; do not give rise to a single thought.' To expel all concurrent causes is to lay them down. [2] Therefore, these two sentences: 'Expel all concurrent causes. Do not give rise to a single thought', are the prerequisites of Ch'an training. If these two sentences are not put into actual practice, not only will the training be ineffective, but also it will be impossible to start it, for in the midst of causes which rise and fall, thought after thought, how can you talk about Ch'an training?

Buddha Mind

By Bankei

When we look back on this life, we see that when people are born, no one has thoughts of joy, sadness, hatred, or bitterness. Are we not in the state of the buddha mind bequeathed by our parents? It is after birth that intelligence develops, and people learn bad habits from others in the course of seeing and hearing them. As they grow up, their personal mental habits emerge, and they turn the buddha mind into a monster because of biased self-importance.

People are born with nothing but the unconceived buddha mind, but because of self-importance they want to get their own way, arguing and losing their temper yet claiming it is the stubbornness of others that makes them mad. Getting fixated on what others say, they turn the all-important unique buddha mind into a monster, mulling over useless things, repeating the same thoughts over and over again. They are so foolish they will not give up on things even if getting their own way would in any case prove to be futile. Folly is the cause of animality, so they are inwardly changing the all-important unique buddha mind into a paragon of animality.

Everyone is intelligent, but through lack of under- standing they turn the buddha mind into all sorts of things hungry ghost, monster, animal. Once you've become an animal, even if you hear truth you don't listen, or even if you do listen, being animal-like, you can't retain what you've heard.

Going from one hellish state to another, from one animalistic state to another, from one ghostly state to another, from darkness to darkness in an endless vicious cycle, you go on experiencing infinite misery for the bad things you have done, with never a break.

This can happen to anyone, once you've gone astray. Just understand the point of not turning the buddha mind into something else.

As soon as a single thought gets fixated on some- thing, you become ordinary mortals. All delusion is like this. You pick up on something confronting you, turn the buddha mind into a monster because of your own self-importance, and go astray on account of your own ego.

Whatever it is confronting you, let it be. As long as you do not pick up on it and react with bias, just remaining in the buddha mind and not transforming it into something else, then delusion cannot occur. This is constant abiding in the unconceived buddha mind.

Everyone makes the mistake of supposing that acquired delusions produced by selfish desire and mental habits are inborn, and so they are unable to avoid confusion....

As I listen to the people who come to me, all of them make the mistake of turning the buddha mind into thoughts, unable to stop, piling thoughts upon thoughts, resulting in the development of ingrained mental habits, which they then believe are inborn and unalterable.

Please understand; this is very important. Once you have unconsciously drifted into delusion, if your state of mind degenerates and you flow downward like a valley stream in a waterfall, there is no way back after you have fallen into vicious cycles.

Again, suppose that you have developed mental habits based on selfish desires. When people criticize things that suit your selfish mentality, you become angry and defensive since they are, after all, bad things and you rationalize them as good. When people praise things that do not suit your selfish mentality, you reject them being, of course, good things and you retort that they are bad.

Everything is like this. Delusion can make a defect seem like a virtue. Having fallen into ignorance, you go through all sorts of changes, degenerating further and further until you fall into hell, with precious little chance of regaining your humanity.

The most important thing is not to be self-centered; then you cannot fail to remain in the buddha mind spontaneously.

To want to be at least as good as others in every- thing is the worst thing there is. Wanting to be at least as good as others is called egotistic pride. As long as you don't wish to be superior to others, then you won't be inferior either.

Also, when people mistreat us, it is because we have pride. When we consider mistreatment from others to be due to our own defects and so we exam- ine ourselves, then no one in the world is bad.When angry thoughts arise, they turn the buddha mind into a monster. But anger and delight both, being self-centered, obscure and confuse the lumi- nous buddha mind, so that it goes around in vicious circles. Without subjective bias the buddha mind remains unconceived, so it does not revolve in circles. Let everyone understand this.

From: "Teachings of Zen" Ed. Thomas Clear

[JUMP TO SOURCE]

Mind To Mind

教外別傳
不立文字
直指人心
見性成佛

A special transmission outside the scriptures;
No dependence upon words and letters;
Direct pointing to the human mind;
Seeing into one's own nature and attaining Buddhahood.