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-- Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma, Fo-yen Ching-yuan, Hui-neng and Buddha --
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1. Bodhidharma's Sermons: (excerpts)
(Red Pine, "The Zen
Teaching of Bodhidharma". North Point Press,
New
York, 1987.)
1.1 "Outline of Practice":
"Many roads lead
to the Path, but basically there are only two:
reason
and practice. To enter by reason means to realize the essence
through
instruction [scriptures] and to believe that all living things
share
the same true nature, which isn't apparent because it's shrouded
by
sensation and delusion. ... Without moving, without effort, they
enter,
we say, by reason.
To enter by practice
refers to four all-inclusive practices:
suffering
injustice, adapting to conditions [karma], seeking nothing,
and
practicing the Dharma. ... "
1.2 "Bloodstream Sermon":
"Everything that
appears in the three realms [worlds of desire, form
and
formlessness] comes from the mind. Hence
future
teach mind to mind without bothering about definitions [words
and
letters]. ...
As long as you look for
a
that
your own mind is the
To find a
Whoever sees his nature
is a
But if you can find your buddha-nature apart from your mortal nature,
where
is it? Our mortal nature is our buddha-nature. Beyond
this nature
there's
no
this
nature. ...
To attain enlightenment
without seeing your nature is impossible. ...
But this mind is subtle
and hard to see. It's not the same as the
sensual
mind. Everyone wants to see this mind, and those who move their
hands
and feet by its light are as many as the grains of sand along the
Ganges, but when you ask
them, they can't explain it. They're like
puppets.
It's theirs to use. Why don't they see it?
The Buddha said people
are deluded. This is why when they act they
fall
into the River of Endless Rebirth. ... And all because they don't
see
their nature. If people weren't deluded, why would they ask about
something
right in front of them? Not one of them
understands the
movement
of his own hands and feet. ... Deluded people don't know who
they
are. ...
Our nature is the mind.
And the mind is our nature. ... Buddhas of
the
past and future only transmit this mind. Beyond this mind there's
no
mind
is the
Even if a
there's
no need for reverence. This mind of ours is empty and contains
no
such form. ...
Seeing your nature is zen. Unless you see your nature,
it's not zen.
... But someone who
sees his own nature finds the Way, even if he
can't
read a word. ...
... Buddhas
of the past and future only talk about seeing your
nature.
...
Your real body is
basically pure. It can't be corrupted. Your real
body
has no sensation, ... It's only because you cling to this material
body
that things like hunger and thirst, warmth and cold, and sickness
appear.
Once you stop clinging
and let things be, you'll be free, even of
birth
and death. ...
In India, the
twenty-seven patriarchs only transmitted the imprint
of
the mind. And the only reason I've come to China is to transmit the
instantaneous
teaching of the Mahayana: This mind is the
Buddhas
of the past and future only talk about transmitting the mind.
They teach nothing else.
If someone understands this teaching, even if
he's
illiterate he's a
But this mind isn't
somewhere outside the material body of four
elements
[earth, water, fire and air]. Without this mind we can't move.
The body has no awareness.
Like a plant or stone, the body has no
nature.
So how does it move? It's the mind that moves.
... Motion is the
mind's function, and its function is its motion.
Even so, the mind neither
moves nor functions, because the essence of
its
functioning is emptiness and emptiness is essentially motionless.
Motion is the same as the
mind. And the mind is essentially motionless.
Hence the sutras tell
us to move without moving, ... to see without
seeing,
... to hear without hearing, to know
without knowing, ... And
the
sutras say, "Go beyond language. Go beyond thought." Basically,
seeing,
hearing, and knowing are completely empty. Your anger, joy, or
pain
is like that of a puppet. You can search, but you won't find a
thing.
... But once you know
that the nature of anger and joy is empty and
you
let them go, you free yourself from karma. If you don't see your
nature,
quoting sutras is no help. ... "
1.3 "Wake-up Sermon":
" ... Not thinking
about anything is zen.
... The impartial
Dharma is only practiced by great bodhisattvas and
different
from stillness is to be partial. To be impartial means to
look
on suffering as no different from nirvana, because the nature of
both
is emptiness. By imagining they're putting an end to suffering and
entering
nirvana arhats end up trapped by nirvana. But
bodhisattvas
know
that suffering is essentially empty. And by remaining in emptiness
they
remain in nirvana. ... When the mind stops moving, it enters
nirvana.
Nirvana is an empty mind.
... When a thought
begins, you enter the three realms. When a
thought
ends, you leave the three realms.
... Mortals keep
creating the mind, claiming it exists. And arhats
keep
negating the mind, claiming it doesn't exist. But bodhisattvas and
The mind and the world
are opposites, and vision arises where they
meet.
When your mind doesn't stir inside, the world doesn't arise
outside.
...
When the mortal mind
appears, buddhahood
disappears. When the
mortal
mind disappears, buddhahood appears. When the mind
appears,
reality
disappears. When the mind disappears, reality appears. ...
Every suffering is a buddha-seed, because suffering impels mortals
to
seek wisdom. ... Your body and mind are the field.
Suffering is the
seed,
wisdom the sprout, and buddhahood the grain.
...Whoever wants to see
a fish sees the water before he sees the
fish.
And whoever wants to see a
the
Mortality and buddhahood are like water and ice.
... Eliminate ice
and
there's no more water. Get rid of mortality and there's no more
buddhahood. Clearly, the nature of ice is the nature
of water. ... And
the
nature of mortality is the nature of buddhahood. ...
Mortals liberate
what's
meant by impartiality. Mortals liberate
affliction
creates awareness. And
awareness
negates affliction. ... When you're deluded,
mortals.
When you're aware, mortals liberate
regard
delusion as their father and greed as their mother. ... "
1.4 "Breakthrough Sermon":
" ... The most
essential method, which includes all other methods, is
beholding
the mind.
... The mind is the
root from which all things grow. If you can
understand
the mind, everything else is included. ... Those who
understand
the mind reach enlightenment with minimal effort. Those who
don't
understand the mind practice in vain. ...
If you can just
concentrate your mind and transcend its falsehood
and
evil, the suffering of the three realms and six states of existence
[gods,
demons, humans, animals (and plants), hungry ghosts, and hell]
will
automatically disappear. ...
You should realize that
the practice you cultivate doesn't exist
apart
from your mind. ... [The sutra says, "If your mind is impure,
sentient
beings are impure. If your mind is pure, sentient beings are
pure."]
... Thus by overcoming the three poisoned states of mind the
three
sets of precepts are automatically fulfilled. ...
The sutras of the
Buddha contain countless metaphors.
Because
mortals
have shallow minds and don't understand anything deep, the
Buddha used the tangible
to represent the sublime. ...
Our true buddha-nature has no shape.
And the dust of affliction has
no
form. How can people use ordinary water to wash an intangible body?
It won't work. When will
they wake up? To clean such a body you have to
behold
it. ...
If you cling to
appearances while searching for meaning, you won't
find
a thing. Thus, sages of the past cultivated introspection and not
speech.
This mind is the source
of all virtues. ... The eternal bliss of
nirvana
comes from the mind at rest. Rebirth in the three realms also
comes
from the mind. The mind is the door to every world and the mind
is
the ford to the other shore. ...
If you can simply concentrate your mind's
inner light and behold its
outer
illumination, you'll dispel the three poisons [greed, anger and
delusion]
and drive away the six thieves [six kinds of consciousness]
once
and for all. And without effort you'll gain possession of an
infinite
number of virtues, ... and doors to the truth. Seeing through
the
mundane and witnessing the sublime is less than an eye-blink away.
Realization is now. Why
worry about gray hair? ... "
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2. Sermons by Chinese Zen Master Fo-yen Ching-yuan (1067-1120): (excerpts)
(Thomas Cleary,
"Instant Zen: Waking Up in the Present".
North Atlantic Books,
Berkeley, 1994)
" ... There is no particular pathway into it ... If your own
self is clear
and
everything is It, when you visit a teacher you do not see that there
is
a teacher; when you inquire of yourself, you do not see that you have
a
self. ... When you see in this way, are you not independent and free?
" ... Here, I am thus every day, thus all the time. But tell
me, what
is
"thus"? Try to express it outside of discriminatory consciousness,
intellectual assessments, and verbal formulations. This reality is not
susceptible to your intellectual understanding. ... How can you think
of
your original mind? How can you see your own eye? ... What can be
seen
by the eye or heard by the ear can be studied in the scriptures ...
but
what about the basis of awareness itself -- how do you study that?
" ... I will settle something for you right now: the ultimate
rule is
to
see your own mind clearly. ... An ancient said, "The mind does not
know
itself, the mind does not see itself." So how can you see it
clearly? ... Mind does not see mind; to get it, you must not see it as
mind.
" ... Do you want to understand? Just discern the things
perceived; you
cannot
see the mind itself.
" ... All that is necessary is that there be no perceiver or
perceived
when
you perceive [no separation of perceiver and perceived], ... no
thinker
or
thought when you think [no separation of thinker and thought]. Buddhism
is
very easy ... Just let go, then step back and look ...
" ... How about when they say the sound of the rain has given
you a
sermon?
Is that correct? I do not agree; the sound of the rain is you
giving
a sermon. But do you understand? Clarify it directly; then what
else
is there?
" ... There is nothing in my experience that is not true. If
there were
anything
at
all untrue, ... how could I presume to guide others? As for you,
obviously there is something not true; that is why you come to someone
to
find certainty.
" ... Where is your mistake? ... Fundamentally not
understanding [nobody
does
originally], you then seek understanding. ... Since you basically
do
not understand, what are you capable of doing? ... Look to see where
the
not understanding comes from. Do you want to know? This nonunder-
standing of yours basically comes from nowhere. Since it comes from
nowhere, how could this not understanding be? And when you understand,
the
nonunderstanding goes nowhere.
" ... If you know that falsehood is fundamentally the path,
then there is
no
falsehood in it. Therefore those who master the path have no attain-
ment. ... Just do not seek elsewhere, and realize there is no
confusion
or
falsehood; this is called seeing the path. ... The path is
...
inherently
always
out in the open. ... Thus for those who attain the path, there is
nothing that is not it. ... "
-----------------------
Another book has a chapter on Zen Master Fo-yen:
(Thomas Cleary,
"Zen Essence: The Science of Freedom".
Shambhala
Publications, Boston, 1989)
" ... Scripture also says [Diamond Sutra], "All
appearances are illusory.
If you see appearances are not the same as true characteristics,
you
see where enlightenment comes from [you see the Tathagata]."
An ancient Zen master said, "if you
deny appearances as you see them,
you
do not see where enlightenment comes from [you do not see the
Tathagata]."
Just step back, stop mental machinations, and try to become aware
of
all
the implications of these sayings. If you suddenly see through,
how
can you be affected by anything?
" ... When you see, let there be no seer or seen; when you hear,
let there
be
no hearer or heard; when you think, let there be no thinker or thought
[no separation of seer and seen, of
hearer and heard, of thinker and
thought].
Buddhism is extremely easy and saves the most energy. It's just
that
you
yourself waste energy and cause yourself trouble. ... The ancients
saw
people helpless, and told them to try meditating quietly. This was
good
advice, but later people didn't understand what the ancients meant,
and
closed their eyes, suppressed body and mind, and sat like lumps
waiting for enlightenment. How foolish! [You must not just sit: you
must
also realize that the one sitting, i.e. you, is your only teacher.]
... "
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3. Hui-neng's First Sermon: (Buddhadharma and Buddha-nature,
or
"What was transmitted between the Fifth and Sixth Patriarchs?")
(Master Hsuan Hua,
"The
Sixth Patriarch's Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra".
The Buddhist Text
Translation Society,
San
Francisco, 1977. ISBN 0-917512-19-7.)
... One day Hui-neng thought, "The time
has come to spread the Dharma.
I cannot stay in hiding forever." Accordingly, he went to Fa Hsing
Monastery in Kuang Chou where Dharma
Master Yin Tsung was giving lectures
on
The Nirvana Sutra.
At that time there were
two bhikshus who were discussing the topic of
the
wind and a flag. One said, "The wind is moving." The other said,
"The
flag
is moving." They argued incessantly. Hui Neng stepped forward and
said,
"The wind is not moving, nor is the flag. Your minds, Kind Sirs,
are
moving." Everyone was startled.
Dharma Master Yin Tsung invited him to take a seat of honor and sought
to
ask him about the hidden meaning. Seeing that Hui Neng's expositions
of
the true principles was concise and to the point and not based on
written words, Yin Tsung said, "The
cultivator is certainly no ordinary
man.
I heard long ago that Huang Mei's [Fifth Patriarch's abode] robe
and
bowl had come south. Cultivator, is it not you?"
Hui
Neng said, "I dare not presume such a
thing."
Yin Tsung
then made obeisance and requested that the transmitted robe
and
bowl be brought forth and shown to the assembly.
He further asked,
"How was Huang Mei's doctrine transmitted?"
"There was no transmission,"
replied Hui Neng. "We
merely discussed
seeing
the nature [kensho, enlightenment - seeing the
original nature
of
self]. There was no discussion of Dhyana samadhi [Zen meditation] or
liberation."
Yin Tsung
asked, "Why was there no discussion of Dhyana samadhi or
liberation?"
Hui
Neng said, "These are dualistic dharmas. They are not the
Buddhadharma.
THE BUDDHADHARMA IS A DHARMA OF NON-DUALISM."
Yin Tsung
asked further, "What is this Buddhadharma which
is the
Dharma of non-dualism?"
Hui
Neng said, "[The Dharma Master has been
lecturing The Nirvana
Sutra so one can clearly see the Buddha-nature: that is the Buddhadharma
which
is the Dharma of non-dualism. For example, as] Kao Kuei
Te Wang
Bodhisattva said to the Buddha, 'Does violating the four serious
prohibitions, committing the five rebellious acts, or being an icchantika
["of incomplete faith"] and the
like cut off the good roots and the
Buddha-nature?'
"The
permanent; the second impermanent. The Buddha-nature is neither permanent
nor
impermanent. Therefore it is not cut off.'
"That is what is
meant by non-dualistic. The first is good and the
second
is not good. The Buddha-nature is neither good nor bad. That is
what
is meant by non-dualistic. Common people think of the heaps [forms,
feelings, perceptions, impulses and consciousness] and realms [six sense
organs,
plus their six objects and their six associated consciousnesses]
as
dualistic. The wise man comprehends that they are non-dualistic in
nature.
THE NON-DUALISTIC NATURE IS THE BUDDHA-NATURE."
Hearing this explanation,
Yin Tsung was delighted. He joined his
palms
and said, "My explanation of Sutras is like broken tile, whereas
your
discussion of the meaning, Kind Sir, is like pure gold." ...
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4. Buddha's Teaching on Meditation: (excerpts)
(Walpola Rahula, "What the Buddha Taught", Grove Press,
New York, 1974.)
... There are two forms
of meditation. One is the development of
mental
concentration (samatha or samadhi),
of one-pointedness of mind
(cittekaggata,
Skt. cittaikagrata), by various methods prescribed in
the
texts,
leading up to the highest mystic states such as 'the Sphere of
Nothingness' or 'the Sphere of
Neither-Perception-nor-Non-Perception'.
All these mystic states, according to the Buddha, are
mind-created,
mind-produced, conditioned (samkhata). They have
nothing to do with
Reality, Truth, Nirvana. This form of meditation existed before the
Buddha. Hence it is not purely Buddhist, but it is not excluded
from the
field
of Buddhist meditation. However it is not essential for the
realization of Nirvana. The Buddha himself, before his Enlightenment,
studied these yogic practices under different teachers and attained to
the
highest mystic states; but he was not satisfied with them, because
they
did not give complete liberation, they did not give insight into
the
Ultimate Reality. He considered these mystic states only as 'happy
living
in this existence' (ditthadhammasukhavihara), or
'peaceful living'
(santavihara),
and nothing more. (See Sallekha-sutta (no.8), of
Majjhima-nikaya.)
He therefore discovered
the other form of 'meditation' known as
vipassana (Skt. vipasyana or vidarsana),
'Insight' into the nature of
things,
leading to the complete liberation of mind, to the realization
of
the Ultimate Truth, Nirvana. This is essentially Buddhist 'meditation',
Buddhist mental culture. It is an analytical method based on mindfulness,
awareness, vigilance, observation. ...
The most important
discourse ever given by the Buddha on mental
development ('meditation') is called the Satipatthana-sutta,
'The
Setting-up of Mindfulness' (No. 22 of the Digha-nikaya,
or No. 10 of the
Majjhima-nikaya).
...
It should be clearly borne in mind that whatever the form of
'meditation'
may
be, the essential thing is MINDFULNESS OR AWARENESS (sati), attention
or
observation (anupassana). ...
Notice that all the
spiritual and mystic states, however pure and
high
they may be, are mental creations, mind-made, conditioned and
compound (samkhata). They are not Reality, not
Truth (sacca). ...
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[ The
essential content of Mindfulness/Awareness is: To live observing
the
activities of the body and mind. ("Watch over your body and mind.") ]
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5. Liberation and Awakening:
The following texts were quoted to serve as our "Zen
story":
(Alan W. Watts, "The
Way of Zen". Vintage Books, New York, 1957.)
5.1 Peace of mind:
<< ... Hui-k'o [486-593, Second Zen-Patriarch] again and again
asked
Bodhidharma for instruction, but was always refused. Yet he continued
to
sit in meditation outside the cave, waiting patiently in the snow
in
the hope that Bodhidharma would at last relent. In desperation he
finally cut off his left arm and presented it to Bodhidharma
as a
token
of his agonized sincerity. At this Bodhidharma at last asked
Hui-k'o what he wanted.
"I have no peace of
mind," said Hui-k'o. "Please pacify my mind."
"Bring out your mind
here before me," replied Bodhidharma, "and
I
will
pacify it!"
"But when I seek my
own mind," said Hui-k'o, "I cannot find
it."
"There!" snapped
Bodhidharma, "I have pacified your mind!"
At this moment Hui-k'o had his awakening ... >>
5.2 Liberation (Moksha):
<< ... The Fourth
Patriarch, following Seng-ts'an, is believed to
have
been Tao-hsin (579-651). When he came to Seng-ts'an he asked,
"What is the method of liberation?"
"Who binds you?"
replied Seng-ts'an.
"No one binds
me."
"Why then,"
asked Seng-ts'an, "should you seek
liberation?"
And this was Tao-hsin's satori [Awakening].
>>
5.3 Awakening (Bodhi):
If you have closely followed the above stories, then you would
have
no difficulty in "figuring out" what Awakening is all about.
So, what IS Awakening?