佛法在世间（英文版）

耕云导师

ＧＥＮＧ　ＹＵＮ

Buddhadharma Lives in the Earthly World

Mr. Geng Yun
March 29, 1991
Taipei College Activity Center

[ I.The Style and Characteristics of Ch'an] [II. Essentials of Ch'an Practice][III.Conclusion]

The transmission of the essence of Ch’an beyond mere doctrines began with Buddha Shakyamuni holding a flower at Mountain Ling, and smiled wordlessly.  Since Bodhidharma arrived from India in the West, the essence of the Dharma had been transferred to the Chinese successor at the Shaolin Temple.  It was Master Hui-neng, the sixth Patriarch of the Ch’an School, at Tsao-hsi, to cause the precious seed of Bodhi widely sown in China to germinate and bloom.  This, in turn, caused the Chinese culture to sparkle with unprecedented brilliance.  As a result, literature which contains the essence of Ch’an becomes both earthly and transcendent; life becomes both ordinary and extraordinary; and art, both  figurative and abstract.  

During Sung (960-1279) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties, Confucianism had become rigid.  The injection of the Ch’an thoughts into Confucianism created the School of Reason, that advocated “Mind Is Reason”; thus giving Confucianism a new life and new features.  In turn, it interprets the fact that any academic theory, no matter how great, practical or useful it may be, must be rooted in our daily lives.  Otherwise, it is merely an exhibit in an “ivory tower” and unable to improve our lives, let alone solving the issues of birth, death, suffering and happiness.

I. The Style and Characteristics of Ch'an

Speaking of Ch’an, many people regard it as a privilege for those high-ranking monks living in the deep forest monestaries; or as an amusing source of   postmeal chats for academicians, rather than something closely connected with the public.  Ch’an seems like a gigantic wall, too high to reach, or a wall of brass or steel without any access to enter.  Why?  It is because we do not understand the spoken and written languages of Ch’an, nor can we realize the connotations of many Ch’an cases, even after having spent all our lifetime on studying them.  Why is it so?  It is because we do not view Ch’an with an ordinary mind.  In fact, we must realise that truth is intrinsic and universal; thus, it is unlikely to apart Ch’an from our everyday lives.  As the Sixth Patriarch, Huei-neng, stated,  “Buddhadharma lives in the earthly world; a hermit cannot realize it.  That being distant from the earthly world to look for Bodhi is likened to looking for a rabbit horn."  The Diamond Sutra also claims that "All laws are Buddhadharma."  Therefore, if we leave the earthly world to search for the Buddhadharma, we can never find it and it is meaningless to do so.

 Ch’an is very hard to understand.  The reason is not the eccentricity of those Ch’an masters, but it is Ch’an’s sense of humor.  When one has been personified by the Dharma to become fully self-aware, free and easy, one can naturally and vividly express Ch’an’s sense of humor.  However, why can't we understand it?

 (1). Ch’an applies a speech to interpret speechlessness

Before Master Yun-men Wen-yen attained his enlightenment, he always chased after Master Chen Mu-chou to ask about the Dharma.  On purpose, Master Chen often hid himself from Yun-men. One day, while Master Chen was closing the door, Yun-men came in time to step his foot in.  But Master Chen still closed the door and hurt Yun-men's foot.  Yun-men said, "It's alright to have my foot injured, but you have to tell me what Buddhadharma means."  Master Chen uttered five words: "chin,  shih, du, li, tsuan."  No matter how you arrange these five words, you definitely cannot figure out what they mean.  However, Yun-men realised it immediately.  What did he realise?  He realised that the speech interpreted the speechlessness.  If you all can realize the connotation of the incident, you must have truly realised it.  In addition, someone once asked Master Chao-chou: "Why did Bodhidharma come from the West?"  "The cypress in the courtyard," he answered.  Master Yun-men was also asked by someone, "What is Buddha?"  "Dry shits," he replied.  These are both examples of applying a speech to interpret speechlessness.

 (2). Ch’an applies speechlessness to interpret a speech

“What is Buddha?”  A blow on your head is the answer.  "Why did Bodhidharma come from the West?"  A raised thumb is the answer.  These are examples of interpreting a speech by speechlessness.  Although there is only a raised thumb, it deserves you to write a thesis of one-hundred-thousand words to explain it.

 (3). Ch’an is a Common Humor

Someone asked Master Chao-chou: “It is said that you have learned Buddhadharma from Master Pu-Yuan, haven’t you?"  He replied: "Chen-chou produces big radishes.“  It is a simile, telling that everyone knows it and needless to ask this question.  It is just a humorous statement.  Nevertheless, many Ch’an practitioners take it as a case to contemplate.  After all, what can they attain even though they thought they had realised it?  Hence, it is very crucial to choose right Ch’an cases to contemplate.  Otherwise, it is simply a vain attempt.

 When Tang dynasty was in its prime, the Ch’an School was also in its full flourish, like a flower with its five petals widely open.  It was because at that time the country was strong, and the society was prosperous.  The sound environment was extremely favorable for practitioners, as there were many successful monks and sages available, and not short of great spiritual mentors.  Under such a pressure-free condition, everyone surely was full of sense of humor.

 From Sung dynasty on, the country became weaker and weaker, and they had to pay other countries to assure their security.  As a result, people lived in poverty.  How could people be humorous under such circumstances?  In the nineteenth century, before the year of 1949, China had been consistently exploited by foreign powers and waiting to be demolished.  No wonder, Chinese people had no idea of humor.  Therefore, it was very difficult for people at that time to realize the mentality of those Ch’an Patriarchs.

 There were many Ch’an sages in the ancient time, such as the Sixth Patriarch.  Though he was illiterate, he still could attain his enlightenment, and all his speeches are regarded as scriptures.  In fact, Master Hui-neng, the Sixth Patriarch, was the only Chinese whose speeches had been claimed as a Buddhist Sutra.

 Referring to the above analyses, we realise that Ch’an is not unreachable; it is just because of its possession of a great and profound sense of humor.  If we can perceive Ch’an with an ordinary mind, we find it is universal and is deeply rooted in our everyday lives.  Indeed, we can find  the trace of Ch’an in the modern literature and art.  Meanwhile, we should discover our selves in the realistic life, because Ch’an is the true self.

II. Essentials of Ch'an Practice

Ever since we were born, our original mind has been gradually covered by the Six Dusts to eventually form our present superficial consciousness; namely,  the differentiating mind.  Meanwhile, the true mind, that never differentiates and changes, has been buried.  How to remove the dust covering our true mind to unveil the true self is the main subject of practice for people who are unwilling to have their true selves buried.  In fact, it is also the essential mission of our lives.  Thus, how to practice Ch’an in our everyday lives to make it rooted, germinated, blooming and fruitful, here are some essentials we must grasp: 

1.     To Genuinely Believe in Causality Is the Basis of Ch’an Practice

Speaking of causality, everyone scorns it as those ignorant old people’s cliche, saying it is too simple and too common.  In fact, causality is truth.  What does "to genuinely believe in causality" mean?  For example, we go to temples to worship deities, and ask for winning a lottery, having a better luck, or getting a speedy recovery from an illness.  It is a superstition, not a genuine belief in causality.  “To genuinely believe in causality” means one should learn how to become a Buddha from Buddha’s teaching.

What did Buddha Shakyamuni realise under the bodhi tree?  It was causality.  He escaped from the palace to learn the Dharma from some other religions but found that their doctrines were irrelevant and not true.   Then, he dragged his very ill body to bathe in the Ni-Lien river, and drank the goat milk given by a shepherdess.  Afterwards he meditated under a bodhi tree and attained his enlightenment by eventually realizing the law of dependent origination; namely,  starting from the degeneration of life, the conduct of the Unknown Ignorance, ...., then the cycle, loss, and unretrieval of life, which is called the twelve links of dependent origination (the cycle of rebirth).

Buddha Shakyamuni observed all the phenomena of the universe to discover that the universe virtually consists of countless dependent origination.  A "cause" is a motive, and an "effect" is resulted from the integration of many conditions.  Then, the effect is the cause of another effect, and so on.  Consequently, causes and effects are continually dependent on one another, and the whole universe is filled with the phenomena of causes, conditions and effects.  In other words, all the phenomena in the universe are resulted from the combination or dependence of various conditions.  Nevertheless, when all the conditions are taken apart, there is nothing permanent.  That is the reason why "Nothing has its own nature".  To take a house as an example.  If we take away its concrete, sands, stones, woods, steel bars and even human labor, we can no longer find the house.  And all these  different conditions will also disappear gradually.  Human body is composed of 60,000,000,000,000 (sixty-trillion) atoms; so if these atoms are taken away, we cannot find the person.  Thus, Buddha claimed: "All the phenomena resulted from the dependent interaction of causes and conditions virtually mean nothing to me."  It is because when all the conditions are taken apart, nothing would exist.

As the universe is composed of various conditions; therefore, the universe itself is void.  Though it is void, human beings living within still have to recognize its laws and rules, i.e. the law of dependent origination.  In logic, it is named the law of natural consistency.  Buddha Shakyamuni applied “the law of dependent origination” to refute the concepts advocated by the six heretics, and they are as follows:

 (l) One-cause theory –

They claimed that everything in the universe was created by Brahma, which was the only cause.  Then Buddha Shakyamuni asked: "Who created Brahma?"  The heretics could not refute a word, thus Buddha Shakyamuni used the law of dependent origination to rebut their theory.

 (2) No-cause theory –

They claimed that everything had no reason at all.  There was no doers or recipients, nor laws or rules.  Buddha Shakyamuni again applied the law of causality to make them speechless.

 (3) Evil-cause theory –

They claimed that if people felt content with their spiritual and material lives, they could be immediately liberated and free from worries.  It sounded logical; however, where to gain something without paying off in the earthly world?  In fact, it is impossible to satisfy one’s spiritual needs, because one’s desires are endless.  As for material needs, one has to work for getting them.  As the saying goes, “no pains, no gains”.  What do you rely on to deserve your material satisfaction?  Thus, if one’s dependent origination is not ready, one’s fantasy will never come true.  

 (4) Fatalism –

They claimed that all of the law, existence, change, and development in the universe were predestined by the deity and no one can change them.  Buddha Shakyamuni stated that if a cause was changed, its effect would subsequently be changed.  Buddha refuted the advocators of the fatalism as self-denial, anti-progressive, and deserting self-esteem.  If you ever read The Four Teachings of Yuan Liao-Fan, you would know that an effect could be changed when its cause was changed.  Fatalism only makes sense to those who are unwilling to work hard or would rather give themselves up.  In fact, some people realistically believe in it.  What is fatalism?  When one was born, one’s living environment starts being affected by the genes, social status, occupations, and educational background of one’s parents.  After having been raised for years, a child’s personality has primarily formed at the age of seven or eight.  As a result, the child’s future has almost been planned, which is fatalism.  However, to someone who is very intelligent, highly aware and anti-fatalistic, like Yuan Liao-Fan, he definitely can change his fate.

(5) Skepticism –

Buddha Shakyamuni criticized skeptics brainless and lack of analytical attitude.

 (6) Sitting Meditation –

They thought that by motionless sitting to sweep away all the thoughts would make one achieve one’s liberation immediately.  Buddha Shakyamuni criticized such a concept as mistaking the means for the goal.  Can people just sit without eating or working, and merely enjoy their rights but not fulfilling their obligations?  Consequently, Buddha Shakyamuni said that sitting meditation was a means, not a purpose.  One must possess right views to be able to eliminate one’s doubts.  Then, one can truly possess the true views to precisely guide one’s conduct.

Why do we say that Buddhadharma is the law of the earthly world and also universally applicable?  It is because the law of dependent origination lectured by Buddha Shakyamuni is an organization.  Everything existing in the universe is a form of organization; whether it is a whole or an individual, nothing can exist just by itself.  If we apply the modern language to interpret the spirit of the Buddhadharma, we can conclude that an organization is the common cause of all things and creation is the sole means.  As far as "an organization is the common cause of all things" is concerned, from the boundless galaxy to a little tree and grass on the earth, or even a micro atom, nothing exists solely.  Everything is presented by different forms of organization to show its individual form and function.

As far as "an organization is the sole means of creation" is concerned, musicians use several notes to compose great pieces; artists use simple lines and paints to create fantastic paintings; scientists implant three neutrons into Uranium 235 to produce Uranium 238 and hence generate nuclear chain reactions; and architects apply the theories of lever and structural mechanics to construct grand buildings.  Therefore, we can conclude that all creations are resulted from the structure and change of an organization.  If someday our wisdom and technology can change the component of gold; namely, to change the quantities of the electrons, protons, neutrons, and quantums in the gold atom, as well as their moving speed and directions, we will be able to produce gold.  Ancient people failed to achieve the alchemy; whereas, we can make it successful.

A dependent origination is an organization.  If you are a chief executive or a high ranking leader and know nothing about a dependent origination or an organization, you can never succeed.  An organization can be divided into visible and invisible forms.  By a visible form, it aims to achieve the function of balancing to inspire and encourage people.  With regard to an invisible form, it makes you present some great ideals for people to dream and believe, and be willing to sacrifice for them.  Even though these ideals may never be achieved in 100 or 1,000 years, they must be there.  

If you can present a latest goal, which is the most disgusting, unusual and unbearable, for everyone to work together to fight against it, it is the function of an organization.  If you do not project a grand ideal, there is no way to inspire people’s passions.  Without setting a latest goal, you cannot unite people to act to show the power of an organization.  When something fails to express its strength, it has lost its function to exist.  After having lost the function of its existence, it is unlikely to survive.  For example, if someone puts a bouquet, a microphone or a tea-cup on this table, they can stay.  However, if someone puts a brick here, whoever seeing it will throw it away because it is meaningless to have it here.

Consequently, we discover that Buddha’s law of dependent origination teaches us that everything must have its function and organization.  We can change its conditions to upgrade its function.  Morevoer, it also inspires us that everything must have the value and meaning of its existence.  Therefore, we must live within our responsibilities and obligations.  Even Master Pai-Chang, an ordained monk, persisted with his rule of “no work, no food.”  Thus, the true Buddhadharma is not a philosophy; it is living in our everyday lives and cannot be separated from the earthly laws.  

2.     By Introspecting Oneself and Eliminating One’s Faults to Start One’s Ch’an Practice

If one intends to practice Ch’an for pursuing the liberation of life, but does not work on eliminating one‘s mistakes, it is likened to climbing a tree for fish.  The law of causality is not a game of concept; it requires us to progressively implement it in our everyday life.  First, we must realise that "mistakes are the causes of worries and destruction results from committing crimes."  If we want to avoid being destroyed, we must get away from crimes; if we want to avoid being worried, we must get rid of mistakes.  That is why I always say that "worries and mistakes coexist, whereas crimes and destruction are synchronous."   If you live with mistakes, it is unlikely for you to live without worries.  When you are heading towards crimes, you are inevitably doomed to have a destructive destiny.  Therefore we have to constantly introspect ourselves to discover the contents of our lives.  For example, in terms of the display of human nature, the newborns in the obstetrical nursery are all the same.  They cry when they are hungry and sleep when they are full.  However, why do they become so different when they have grown up?  It is because during the process of growing they continuously absorb the substance from form, sound, smell, taste, touch and mental formation to form their superficial consciousness and bury their original mentality.  As a result, various personalities are then formed, so we can see every different person has his own personality.

By means of introspection, we can discover what biased personalities and factors we have to form our superficial consciousness.  Besides, we also can find the factors that cause the failure of our careers.  If we do not get rid of them, we cannot live better, and will be doomed to fail.  Only by undergoing a continuous introspection to reach a seemingly dead end, we then can surprisingly see an unexpectedly beautiful landscape appear.  If we can introspect back to the moment of our birth or even further back, and the introspection is thorough and complete enough to sweep away all the dust and obstacles on our minds, we then can reach the state of “Yoga” to unite with truth, Buddhadharma, and the truth of the universe.  At this time, one can see oneself before one’s birth; namely, "the original face” claimed by the Ch’an School.

One’s original face is the truth of the grand universe.  As you do not conflict with the universe; consequently, the universe is you, and vice versa.   Many people are unwilling to introspect themselves to find the answer within, no wonder they cannot keep their worries at bay.  Try to recall if it was not because you did something, said something, or realized something wrong, would you have worries?  Certainly not.  There were two persons talking in the room, but they stopped when they saw you come in.  You thought they were criticizing you; actually, they stopped to show you their respect.  If they continued talking and ignored your presence, you would blame them for their arrogance.

There are more similar scenarios.  If we always intend to change outside conditions to suit our needs, we will surely become more and more agonized and turn it into a vicious cycle.  Only by searching the origin of worries inwardly, making a most thorough introspection, and applying the law of causality to evaluate, realize and demand oneself, can one be claimed as an authentic Buddhist practitioner.  Till then, one will be likely to live a life without worries, and be sound and safe in every day and every year.

3.     “To Solely Pursue a Clear Conscience” is One’s Life Goal

A true Ch’an practitioner does not aim to show off his or her wit or sense of humor, even though it is harmless to do so.  In fact, the most beneficial and realistic way of living is to solely pursue a clear conscience as one’s life goal.  Life must have a direction for everyone to go for.  Both the concepts of "To overcome one’s desires to stick to norms;" and "To have disadvantages equals to having advantages;" are not ultimate.  The only basic principle we must assure and persist with is “the sole pursuit of a clear conscience.”

A friend, who I had not seen for a long time, came to visit me and told me he planned to retire earlier.  He started complaining that he felt so frustrated because he peeped at the report his deputy supervisor made on him, and found a lot of misunderstanding and negative comments on his performance etc. etc….  I told him that he exactly displayed the effect of the statement I made before: “Worries are at the heels of mistakes.”  In fact, he was not allowed to read the evaluation report.  Since he peeped it, he deserved the woe.  That was the result of his misconduct!

I often say what one should only pursue in one’s lifetime is to live with a clear conscience.  The meaning and value of one’s life is not built on the favors or disfavors of few subjective and biased people.  If one does not have the persistence and the self-directed attitude, one will live in constant frustration. Therefore, one should solely pursue a clear conscience, conduct without any guilt, and fully fulfil one’s responsibilities and obligations, as the first Patriarch Bodhidharma stated: "Neither to plan in advance, nor to regret afterwards, and no attachment to the present."  It is the true liberation!  We should neither take chances to misconduct, nor misbehave to make our minds anxious; otherwise, we are cheating our own minds.  Cheating one’s mind equals to cheating the Heaven.

What is the difference between Ch’an and "Mind is reason", advocated by the ideology of Reason in Sung and Ming dynasties?  If the mind is the original mind and the reason is the original reason, which deviates from the six dusts, then Ch’an equals to the ideology of Reason in Sung and Ming dynasties, and vice versa.  If we can possess such a mind, we surely can live with a clear conscience and feel free and settled.

Bodhidharma came from the West to sit in front of a wall at the Shaolin Temple for nine years; he simply waited for the second Patriarch to arrive.  The second Patriarch,  Master Hui-ke, went to see Bodhidharma.  What was his purpose?  He asked for nothing but a clear conscience.  He said, "Master, my mind is restless, would you please settle it for me?”  “Give me your mind!  I will settle it for you!”  “How come I can’t find it!”  "Then, I have already settled it for you."  The dialogue between them highlights the essential goal of a Ch’an practitioner is to pursue a clear conscience.

It also tells us when one cannot find one’s mind, the mind is settled.  In other words, being conscious of one’s mind’ means one’s mind is restless; whereas, ‘being unconscious of one’s mind’ means one’s mind is settled.  When your superficial consciousness stops acting, and so do all your delusions, your original mind starts revealing, then surely your mind is safe, easy and ultimately settled.  If one’s Ch’an practice does not aim at pursuing a clear conscience, one is doomed to fail.

4.     To  Implement the Mean to Guide One’s Mind and Conduct

The Mean means a moderate course of action.  The conduct of mind includes one’s mental thoughts and physical behaviors.  All our physical actions reflect the thoughts of our minds, as Buddhist sutras state, “When one’s mind starts acting, one’s original mind vanishes.”; therefore, one’s mind is more important than one’s behavior.  Many people think it does not matter to just have a thought without taking real actions; however, by doing so, one’s mind has already been polluted.  Delusions will make one’s mind trapped in a gloomy state, which attribute is negative.

What is the Mean?  Someone said that he would give his own bowl of rice to others and let himself starve, is it the Mean?  No, it is not.  Another one said, “I am selling eggs.  My price is $1.00 each, though others’ is $2.00 each.”  Then, how long could his business survive?  Get ready to close his business soon!  This is not the Mean.

In addition, someone also said, “When people have arguments and ask for my opinions, I would say nothing to offend either sides and get ready to bear the blame.”  Is that the Mean?  The person has no sense of true or false or right or wrong, and he/she is called a fence-sitter.  What is the true Mean?  Basically, it is "harmless."  For example, when we put some soda in the bottle of vinegar and lightly shake it, the vinegar becomes neutral after having been heated and cooled down, and people with or without a stomachache can drink it.  Moreover, when doing business, we make profits, so do the oppsite, and no one else is ever harmed.  It is the ture Mean.

One day, I talked with Mr. Yeh Teng-hui about the Mean.  I asked him, “What are you?”  He replied, “Selling lunch boxes.”   I told him that the lunch boxes he was selling should not be more expensive than others’ and he could also eat them himself.  That is the Mean.  If he dare not eat them, he is wicked.

Throughout our lifetime, we should always follow the Mean to benefit both others and ourselves.  We should not sacrifice ourselves to benefit only others.  If we can truly implement the Mean within our lifetime, we surely can attain the enlightenment of life through the Mean.  One should not easily sacrifice oneself, and must balance between righteousness and benefits.  When one’s country has been defeated, should one survive to be a captive?  No, one should sacrifice under the circumstances.  That is the Mean.  However, it is not right to constantly say that one can sacrifice for others.

5.     Home is the Site for One’s Ch’an Practice

Ordained practitioners practice at the temple, whereas lay people can only practice at home.  To regulate a family equals to setting up a site, and then one can practice there.  A home serves as the demarcation between savagery and civilisation.  In ancient times, there were no homes but tribes, and people lived together and had incest, knowing only their mother but not father.  Personal self-awareness and human dignity never existed.  Only after families had been formed, did human nature begin to awake and life had its purpose and meaning.  Since then, there was love between fathers and sons, and righteousness between husbands and wives.  Moreover, fathers became caring, sons were filial, and brothers turned friendly and respectful.  As a result, everyone knew his own role and responsibility.  Generally speaking, a happy and healthy family is likened to a greenhouse where sages and saints can be successfully nurtured.

Life is not always like a smooth sailing; therefore, we often encounter frustration and disturbance.  A home is a safe harbour for us to retreat and get support.  No matter what mistakes you have made, you can always gain sympathy and tolerance at home.  When our confidence is shaken and our will wavered, our families always provide us with proper support to help us bring back our courage and continue the journey.  However, there are some miserable families, as newspaper reports.  They are so-called “key-chained children”; though they have parents, they do not have the parental care.  If they have any problems, they can only go to their teachers for help.  Some parents are even divorced or separated....  Obviously, it is impossible to practice in such kind of families, where there are quarrelsome couple and demonic karma.

In order to prevent one’s home from turning into a demon’s den; firstly, one should modify one’s own behavior.  One must take others as a mirror to reflect one’s own misconduct, and try hard to rectify it.  Some people, when they are at home, not only scold their children, but also abuse their wives.  Besides, they blame their parents for being out-of-date and widen the generataion gap.  All these behaviors are wrong.  When we see the faults of our family, we should avoid behaving like them, but not just criticize them.  

The greatest mistake Ch’an practitioners aften make is that they always try to transform others to satisfy their own expectations.  It is wrong and selfish, and is a tyrant’s thought and Asura’s mentality.  A practitioner should not behave like this.  If you intend to make your home as a site for Ch’an practice; first, you should modify yourself rather than others.  By doing so, your family will naturally turn better.  You may quickly see its effect in half a year, or at latest it will not be over two years.

On the contrary, if you do not follow this way, and always give orders and complain about their eating manners or sitting poses, your presence makes everyone headache.  Aren’t you turning yourself redundant to your family?  Therefore, we must well manage our family.  Then, when you are benevolent, so are your whole family; when your family is modest, so surely is your whole country.

Thus, a single individual can influence a whole family, then, good families can interact with one another to build up a healthy society.  Therefore, an An-Hsiang (peace and composure) country can be formed through a harmonious society.  This can exactly be claimed as “making the land sacred and nurturing the man.”  It starts practicing from one’s family.  To make the land sacred means to make the Buddha land sacred, and to nurture the man means to mature the sentient beings.

Human beings are not mature enough in both their emotions and reasons, and also lack of right views and benevolence.  A society without benevolence will be full of contradiction, conflict and hatred.  Moreover, a society without right views can be misled to crimes and chaos.  In order to mature sentient beings, we have to advocate Buddhadhamar to help sentient beings develop right views and build up their reasons.

Most ordinary people devote themselves to pursuing power and material pleasure, that is a biased attachment.  In fact, what human beings need most are a habitation for their true reasons and the development of  their true emotions.  If these two needs cannot be satisfied, even an enormous supply of material is unlikely to fill the void of one’s life, as the valley of one’s desire is too deep to fill.

Why do we particularly present the need of managing one’s family?  It is because to some people, “A home equals to a prison;”.  Indeed,  one’s family is a very heavy burden, and also an obstacle to one’s Ch’an practice.  The main reason is people always apply their strong wills to particularly require others instead of themselves, and use their eyes to particularly watch others’ faults but not their own.  This is the origin of worries.  As a modern being, one should clearly realize that, without a caring family, it is unlikely to nurture a healthy new generation.  Moreover, the future of our nation and the prospect of human beings will also become gloomy.

If a couple often make quarrels, it will cause their children to have nightmares and cry at night.  Originally, their children can be nurtured to be sages and saints.  However, their minds have been tortured and personalities have been split since their childhood.  In order to adapt to their parents, they have to be hypocritical, telling lies etc….  In fact, the parents should have no excuse to deny their faults.  By saying that “a home is likened to a greenhouse, where sages and saints can be nurtured,” I do not mean that parents should spoil their children.  What I actually mean is, though, a greenhouse can cultivate flowers in all seasons, it can not cultivate cedar or pine trees.  We should continuously encourage our children and strengthen their courage to enable them to face the reality instead of escaping from it.  In this way, a home can truly serve as the site for our Ch’an practice.

Some people asked: “If one can practice at home, then why did Buddha Shakyamuni escape from the palace?” It is not totally true.  As the Sixth Patriarch stated, "If one intends to practice, one can practice at home; not necessarily to practice at the temple.”  Indeed, to practice at home is the same.  Throughout the history, we have seen many Buddhist practitioners (namely grand Bodhisattvas), who all practiced at home.  In Buddhism, there were many Bodhisattvas, who dressed themselves elegantly and gracefully with long hair resting on their shoulders.  Obviously, we can tell that they also practiced at home.

In essence, whether we practice for ourselves or for sentient beings, we should first well regulate our own family.  Be strict to ourselves and not to our family.  If we can completely fulfil our own responsibilities and obligations in  the family, we will naturally have influence on them, as the saying goes, “Though peach and pear trees do not speak, they will naturally grow their ways to fruit.”  Indeed, if a leader does good deeds, who dares not to follow?  If a leader advocates righteousness, who dares to be unrighteous?  When one is benevolent, one’s whole family will be benevolent; when every family is modest, the whole nation will be modest.  Consequently, a style or a trend can be formed only by means of one‘s realistic implementation to make it happen.

6. To Take One’s Responsibility and Obligation as the Focus of One’s Life

Everyone of us must have a focus for our life; otherwise, life may turn messy and chaotic.  Our responsibilities and obligations are the focus of our lives.  We must fulfil our obligations and duties towards individuals, our family, society and nation.  Many people are very interested in getting their pays, and even more interested in having their annual bonus; however,  feeling headache to work.  Thus, working becomes an unavoidable punishment to them.  On the contrary, if you work with a thankful mind, regard your work as legitimate and meaningful, feel the purpose of your life, and develop your passion, then, you can drive your passion to develop your creativity, and apply your wisdom to improve and lift the quality and productivity of your work.  Eventually, you will realise that harvest comes after cultivation and making contributions must earn respects.  Nevertheless, if you are unwilling to contribute, you will end up losing your honour.  If you simply expect gains without pains, responsibilities and obligations will become great mental burdens to you.  To avoid working will result in a great depreciation of the value of your life.

We talk about the statements of 「the preciousness of dependent origination;」「all conditions are originated from the void;」, and 「the nature of the void originates all conditions to happen.」  They claim everything does not have its identity of self, and there is nothing but the composition of various conditions.  All conditions are interdependent and mutually beneficial to be able to coexist.  Identically, to be a member of a group, one needs to make contributions.  If you want to gain, you must make efforts first.  If you work the other way around, you definitely will live with regrets.  It does not just apply to us, the lay people, even Master Pai-Chang, who I just mentioned, followed the rule of “no work a day; no food a day.”  When he was in his eighties, his disciples felt pity for him and took away his working gears, then, he simply refused to eat on that day.

A Ch’an practioner not only should possess a mind that can view the whole universe, but also the virtue of implementing a realistic practice.  Indeed, apart from implementing a realistic practice, it has nothing but empty talks.  If you do not create the value of life, you will live without value.  Therefore, if you cannot make yourself an integral part to your work team, you will feel bored and meaningless.  If you escape from your duties and obligations to simply focus on Ch’an practice, your practice will be doomed to fail.  Someone told me that he planned to retire because he had saved enough money.  I told him that even though he could survive without working, he could not stop working.  If people in our society are all like him, namely, “only few people are working to feed the majority,”  the country will definitely become poor.

Everyone should be engaged in production, a country, then, will become wealthy.  Everyone loves his country, the country will become strong.  If everyone tries to avoid working; eventually, all have to suffer from hunger.  Similarly, if no one loves one’s nation, finally the nation will vanish from the human history. Consequently, we practice Ch’an to be role models of our society, and do not escape from our duties and obligations to become useless.  That is very important.

7.     To Search for the Very Origin is the Subject of Ch’an Practice

Water comes from its origin and timber from its root.  The true is the intrinsic.  Truth can only be discovered, but not created, and it is sole.  Therefore, Ch’an’s feature is to transcend, to transcend both religions and philosophies.  On the contrary, if it cannot transcend, and can only use one’s superficial consciousness to discover and weave to explain ontology, cosmology, epistemology and methodology, and then extend further from the universe to one’s life to create the vision of life and history…etc., all these are called a game  of concepts or useless knowledge.  That is to say, either knowing or not knowing them does not make any difference to you at all.

However, Buddhadharma is totally different.  It requires you to search for the very origin of everything.  What is the origin of everything?  What is the true essence of all beings?  Where do they come from and head to?  Someone said, “Master, I know the answer!”  “What do you know?”  I asked.  "Everything is void!”  he replied.

He was simply joking!  Why did a master give his disciple a blow when he heard his disciple talk about the void?  What was the purpose of the blow?  What should the disciple sense when he was given the blow?  If you can clarify the confusion, I  am sure you truly realise what the void is and have attained the enlightenment.  However, if you can only verbalize the void, your understanding equals to useless knowledge.  To you, there is no difference between knowing and not knowing the void.  The purpose of taking education is to modify our temperaments.  Wang Yang- Ming (a philosopher who advocated the theory that action corresponds with knowledge) stated: 'My conscience is like a magic gold pill, and it can turn iron into gold."  Had his conscience been so powerful, then if the grand enlightenment of Ch’an School cannot transform ordinary people into saints, how can Ch’an be claimed as a methodology (dharmaparyaya) of an instant realization or that of a complete and instant realisation?   I reckon you need a blow when you speak of the void.  Therefore, one must practice to realize, and attain a true realization.  Indeed, one must persist with the search till one has reached the state, where reason has not been formed, and nothing yet has happened.  Yes, what is the state that before every reason and thing happen?  In fact,  Ch’an is forbidden to be fully interpreted.  99 percent of its interpretation is the limit; I can say no more.  If I tell you everything about it, you will have no chance at all to realize it?  To block your way to realize it is sinful.

When I first time lectureed about “Ch’an, Ch’an Study and Ch’an Practice” in Tainan,  how did I define Ch’an?  I said, “It is the original state of mind, the basic attribute of life, the common phenomenon of life, and the reason why one and others are not dual, and Buddha equals to sentient beings.”  This is ninety-nine point nine nine percent of the interpretation, and it is your turn to complete it.  If I say more to complete it, I should take the blame.  However, if someone insists on asking, I can only supplement with an act to help.  The main point is that you have to personally reach that state.  I never deceive you; indeed, it is true that one can breakthrough oneself.  To breakthrough oneself means that one has completely verified and attained the ultimate yoga.  Yoga is corresponding, and ultimate yoga is ultimate corresponding; realistically, to completely correspond with the universe.  This is the most superb state of the Esoteric Buddhism; namely, Mahamudra.

No matter what Buddhist School you are practicing, if you cannot personally realize and verify it, you are simply cheating yourself and wasting your time.  I particularly interprete Ch’an as the combination of both Genuine View and Genuine Perception.  What is Genuine View?  It means that one can see the most authentic and original state of the universe, where the heaven and the earth have not been separated, nor have billions of galaxies been formed.  Then, what is Genuine Perception?  That is a dramatically different kind of perception!  When you are talking, I can clearly hear what you say, coming straight in and out of my ears.  Once you stop talking, I cannot find any delusion, either.  Now, at this very moment, all of you try to find a delusion or an idea in your mind!  I believe you cannot find anything.  Why?  It is because a mind of no thought truly displays the full content of itself.  Indeed, it is very difficult for one to stop thinking.  If you can demand your thoughts to stop, you are dominating yourself.  If you can sense every thought coming into your mind, it means your mind is in the state of constant peace and composure (An-Hsiang).

As the lyrics of The Way to Enlightenment states, "Directly to search for the root of the origin the Buddha acknowledged, I do not intend to look for just its leaves and twigs."  It also states, "When you have attained the origin, needless to worry about its end.  It is likened to enclosing a precious moon in a piece of immaculate glass.”  When you have read my lectures and some Buddhist scriptures, you start preaching to whoever you meet.  It is wasting your life, not making a merit.  In fact, you are making a negative karma.  You are adding the dust of the Dharma onto people who have been buried by Six Dusts, and make them never be able to reveal their true selves.  It is truly good if you can reach the origin of all reasons.  Otherwise, you can simply maintain the Genuine Perception.  In other words, if you can maintain the state to clearly hear and speak and be free from any thought when there is no listening or talking, you are exactly possessing the Genuine Perception.  The Genuine Perception is the correct sensation.

 Master Bodhidharma once said that there were two ways to attain one’s enlightenment; one was by theoretical practice, and the other was by realistic practice.  If you can constantly maintain the Genuine Perception, you are doing the realistic practice.  As long as you can keep on the right way, sooner or later, you will reach the destination.  If you have neither the Genuine View nor the Genuine Perception, there is no way for you to practise Ch’an.  It is because the Genuine View and the Genuine Perception are Ch’an’s two wings.  One needs them to go upwards.  Once you have attained the Genuine View,. the Genuine Perception will soon arrive.  Moreover, if you can attain the Genuine Perception through someone else, and can keep and maintain it, you are doing the realistic practice.  In the long run, you eventually can attain the Genuine View, and it is the most effective practice.

Why didn't I encourage you to attain the Genuine View by meditating Ch’an verses or cases?  It is because the present time is different from the past time.  In the past, it was safe for you to see mountains as not seeing mountains, and waters as not waters.  But now, if you cannot view a car as a car, nor a train as a train, you put yourself in a very aweful situation.  Therefore, you do not need to particularly meditate on certain verses.  You only have to meditate it in your spare time, and leave it when you are busy.  Nevertheless, the only thing you cannot let go is the mentality of An-Hsiang.  If you can constantly keep it, you are guaranteed to accomplish the grand task in this life.  Even though you are working now and can only make the final dash after your retirement, I assure you that it will not be too late then.

Many people comment that "An-Hsiang" (peace and composure) sounds fabulous.  As the Lotus Sutra states: "Buddha Shakyamuni rose from the profound meditation with absolute An-Hsiang."  Only Buddha can possess An-Hsiang, which is such a perfect description.  Some other people disagreed with the comment, saying the radical of “Hsiang” should be “言”(yen), not “示”(shih).  If it is the radical of “言”(yen), it means talking.  However, Buddha did not talk at that time; therefore, it was improper to use Hsiang with the radical of “言”(yen).  An-Hsiang is referred to being auspicious when one’s mind is clear and guiltless.  If one can constantly maintain the mentality of An-Hsiang, one’s life will be auspicious, smooth and successful.  Moreover, one can achieve one’s Buddhahood.   

If your work does not allow you to meditate on verses, nor can you constantly maintain An-Hsiang, your option is to sing Ch’an songs as often as possible.  Children of people who often sing Ch’an songs will not have nightmares and stay healthy.  Buddha Shakyamuni once said: "All sentient beings possess the wisdom and virtues of Buddha Tathagata.”  If you can discover the reason why all beings and Buddhas are equal, you can attain your enlightenment and will never have any doubt about all the creatures and matters in the universe.  If you cannot discover it, you had better fulfill the realistic practice to constantly maintain An-Hsiang.  At present, someone still can offer An-Hsiang to you, which you should really cherish.  People, who live with An-Hsiang, do not have yesterday or tomorrow in their minds, and there is nothing but the present time.  Moreover, they are free from worries, and no one can take away their mental delights.  Therefore, the major subject of Ch’an practice is to search for the very origin, the common phenomenon and the original face of every matter and reason.  When one achieves it, one has attained a grand realization and enlightenment.  It will bring a earthshaking change to transform one from an ordinary person to a saint, and attain the completeness and eternity of one’s life.

8.     To Constantly Meditate is One’s Sustainable Genuine Conduct

The meditation we refer to is not the sitting meditation practiced by the advocators of the meditative theory.  Instead, the meditation was originated from the Patriarch Ch’an of the Ch’an School.  It means that one does not attach to any external forms, nor disturbed is one’s mind.  

There are three stages in An-Hsiang Ch’an’s meditation.  The first is the "detached meditation."  When we have attained An-Hsiang, even though we are walking in the West-Gate Mall with loud and packed masses around, we feel like walking alone without seeing anyone or remembering anything.  This is the detachment from the adherence.  As the lyrics of The Way to Enlightenment states: "Walking along and strolling along, whoever achieving it can get together to head for the way of Nirvana (enlightenment)."   By walking and strolling alone, I do not mean to ask you to walk alone in the deep forest.  Rather, you should walk to a cross road and feel merely being with yourself.   The outside world cannot disturb you at all, nor any delusion arises in your mind, that is exactly the state of "the detached meditation."

Though one does well with one’s detached meditation, one’s past Unknown Ignorance and accumulated karma still exist.  Therefore, even sometimes you do not go out, you are still disturbed by many chaotic thoughts, such as what will happen next year, the year after next, or one hundred years later?  To be frank, you are unlikely to live that long.  In fact, this adherence results from the karma accumulated from all the past years, as the saying describes: "Even after hundreds and thousands of transmigration, one‘s accumulated karma can never vanish."  Hence, we have to eliminate it and detach from the adherence.  To detach from one’s adherence is subject to the efforts one makes with one’s introspection.  By anti-clockwise introspection from today to yesterday, this year to last year; if one’s introspection is done thoroughly and correspondingly, one can return to the painful moment when mom gave one’s birth, and how relunctant and helpless one was to be born.  

Among our members, some have already known who they really were in their previous lives, either human beings or otherwise.  I never make any statements that I cannot fulfil personally.  When I underwent my introspection, I also returned to the moment of my birth and even earlier.    When you have detached yourself from all the adherences, you become fully sensible of the mistakes you make, and also alert to the mistakes you are going to make.  Therefore, you can stop yourself to avoid making mistakes, and can sense every arising thought, that is so-called self-dominating.  Generally, nine out of ten persons cannot dominate themselves.  The decisions they made in the morning can be changed in the afternoon.  Who makes them change?  There is no one else but themselves.  At present, everyone of you is in the state of “the detached meditation”.  If you tell me otherwise; unfortunately, you have wasted the whole afternoon being here.

Doing one’s introspection in the detached meditation is called “the adherence-eliminating meditation”.  One must undergo one’s introspection thoroughly, attentively and correspondingly.  Needless to do it in haste; rather, to do it precisely.  Eventually, one will reach the state of “the zero-adherence meditation”.  When there is free of any adherence, it is genuinely the leakage-free (zero errors) state.  When one has come to this state, one will never be stricken by worries again and totally unlikely to make any mistakes in one’s future life.  Wherever one goes, An-Hsiang is spread and so is brightness, and one makes the society more harmonious, the country more powerful, and the world more peaceful.

Deviating from the genuine conduct of the meditation, one will always differentiate and adhere, which is not the genuine conduct of a Ch’an practitioner.  The authentic Dharma is ordinary and earthly; it is not special, nor just belonging to the minority.

The mission of every Buddhist is to make the Buddha land sacred and the sentient beings mature.  Wherever there are sentient beings, there is the Buddha land.  To make all beings mature means to help them possess Genuine View and conduct genuinely, and help them expand their personal love to be the grand benevolence and compassion.  The grand benevolence refers to the unconditional sympathy; whereas, the grand compassion refers to feeling others’ sorrowness and pains as one’s own.  If everyone can do so, the whole universe, our lives and the earth will all turn into a pure land.

III. conclusion

Having lectured for such a lengthy chapter, are we talking about Ch’an?  If yes, then, what is Ch’an?  If not, then, what is it?  Buddha means being aware.  The authentic Dharma is built on one’s perception and sensation.  If you can feel the sensation of Ch’an, I assure you it is the authentic Ch’an.  If you do not feel anything about Ch’an, my lecture is nothing but rubbish to you.  You are simply wasting your time and life here, as time is life.  Today, we get together to be connected because of learning the Dharma; truly, “the dependent origination is very precious.”  It must take the time of 180,000 transmigrations to the power of 180,000 for a person to meet the authentic Buddhadharma.  Obviously, it is extremely uneasy for one to meet it.  Moreover, if one’s karma is overly heavy and the resistance is overwhelming, even though one meets it, one still cannot accept it, nor can one attain the genuine perception transmitted from others.  Conclusively, my lengthy lecture is of little importance, what truly important is “the invaluable treasure” everyone possesses.  Do not forget to take it with you when you leave.   Do not throw it away or lose it!  It is truly the most important!  Thank you.