Monday, November 24, 2008

First Principle of Zen

The first principle of Ch'an [Zen] practice is to empty one's mind. One must first paste the two words "life-death" on the forehead, and regard them as seriously as if one owed a debt of a million tales. In day or night, while drinking or eating, travelling or staying at home, sitting or lying, entertaining friends, in a quiet moment or at a noisy hour, you must hold on to the ... [koan]. (Zen Master Han-Shan Te-Ch'ing, in Sung-peng Hsu, A Buddhist Leader in Ming China, p. 130.)

Repentance

Buddhist sutras teach followers to practise repentance constantly in order to transcend delusion and achieve Buddhahood. Thus, even the Bodhisattva Maitreya, who has attained the level of Equal Enlightenment, still pays respect to the Buddhas of the ten directions during the six periods of the day, so as to wipe out delusion and attain the Dharma Body. If this is true for the Bodhisattva Maitreya, what can we say of common beings filled with heavy karmic afflictions?

If you do not feel shame and remorse, your Self-Nature may be the same as the Buddhas', but it is hidden by afflictions and evil karma and cannot manifest itself. Just like a precious mirror which has been covered with dust for eons, not only does it not reflect light, even its reflecting nature is hidden. If you realise that the mirror already possesses the nature of brightness and strive ceaselessly to clean it, the light reflected will gradually increase until it reaches maximum radiance. The mirror can then become, once more, something of value in the world.

You should realise that the potential for reflection is inherent in the mirror and is not the result of polishing. If it were not so, a brick would also shine brightly when polished. Yet, you should also realise that although the brightness is inherent in the mirror, without polishing, the day would never come when it would gleam.

The Mind-Nature of sentient beings is similar. Although it is intrinsically identical to that of the Buddhas, [it is clouded]. Thus, if sentient beings do not mend their ways, from evil to wholesome, and turn their backs on worldly dusts "to merge with Enlightenment", their inherently virtuous nature cannot appear. Such a mind-consciousness, inherently possessing the Buddha Nature in full but busily creating evil karma and suffering - mired in Birth and Death for many eons - is no different from a dark house filled with treasures. You not only cannot make use of the treasures, you may, in fact, suffer further loss. Is this not lamentable?

(Taken from Pure-Land Zen, Zen Pure-Land)

Pure Land teaching, at the higher level, stresses vipasyana

The Pure Land method is not reserved for people with low or moderate capacities alone; it embraces those of the highest capacities as well. Sentient beings of middling and low capacities who recite the Buddha's name will be able to rid themselves of afflictions and karmic obstacles and develop merit, virtue and wisdom, leading in time to the state of concentration. Depending on the amount of effort they exert, they will be reborn within the nince lotus grades of the Land of Ultimate Bliss. Those of high capacities, on the other hand, enter deeply into the sphere of concentration and wisdom as soon as they begin uttering the Buddha's name. Whether walking, standing, lying down or sitting, they are always in the "Buddha Remembrance Samadhi". After death they will be reborn in the highest grade. (Master Thich Thien Tam, Buddhism of Wisdom and Faith, sect. 18.)

Achieve Rebirth in the Pure Land

The following passage explains how sentient beings burdened with heavy karma may, nevertheless, achieve rebirth in the Pure Land:

There is a parable in the Questions of King Milinda Sutra:

"A minute grain of sand, dropped on the surface of the water, will sink immediately. On the other hand, a block of stone, however large and heavy, can easily be moved from place to place by boat. The same is true of the Pure Land practitioner. However light his karma may be, of he is not rescued by Amitabha Buddha, he must revolve in the cycle of birth and death. With the help of the Buddha, his karma, however heavy, will not prevent his rebirth in the Pure Land." (Master Thich Thien Tam, Buddhism of Wisdom and Faith, sect. 68 A.)

Role of Illness

Similar to Vimilakirti's concept and to Sakyamuni's fundamental teachings, an illness when properly dealt with can serve as a major event that propels one onwards towards higher spiritual attainment. In the case of healings by [the Medicine Buddha], the sincere act of faith by the ill person results in healings granted. During the healing process, insight arises that causes the person to reform the patterns of his deeds, words and thoughts, so that they accord with the quest for enlightenment. (Raoul Birnbaum, The Healing Buddha, p. 69.)

Significance of Adversity and Suffering

Every suffering is a buddha-seed, because suffering impels mortals to seek wisdom. But you can only say that suffering gives rise to buddhahood. You can't say that suffering is buddhahood. Your body and mind are the field. Suffering is the seed, wisdom the sprout, and buddhahood the grain. ("The Wake-up Sermon" in Red Pine, tr. The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma, p.63.)

Keep the Mind Empty and Still

Although anyone with a body undergoes physical suffering (even Buddha Sakyamuni took ill and died) the difference between sages and ordinary beings is that sages always keep the mind unmoved - empty and still. See the following passage:

[In the Vimalakirti Sutra,] the sage Vimalakirti discussed the experience of illness at great length... With many visitors assembled to inquire after his health, the infirm sage took the opportunity to speak out against the human body and its limitations.

"O, virtuous ones, the wise do not rely upon the body. It is like a mass of froth which cannot be grasped, like a bubble which bursts in an instant. The body is like a flame arising from the thirst of love... like a shadow, appearing as a result of karma. It is like an echo, responding to causes and conditions... The body does not act of itself; but it is spun around by the force of the winds of passion." (Raoul Birnbaum, The Healing Buddha, p. 13.)

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Afflictions and Bodhi

At the ultimate, or noumenal level, afflictions and Bodhi are the same. In the Platform Sutra, second chapter, the Sixth Patriarch of Zen stated that "sentient beings are Buddhas, afflictions are Bodhi."

A foolish passing thought makes one an ordinary man, while an enlightened second thought makes one a Buddha. A passing thought that clings to sense-objects is [defilement and affliction] while a second thought that frees one from attachment is Bodhi. ("The Sutra of Hui neng," p. 28 in A.F. Price and Wong Mou-Lam, tr. The Diamond Sutra and the Sutra of Hui Neng.)

Dharma Seals



Sakyamuni Buddha taught three "Dharma seals", or criteria, to determine the genuineness of Buddhist teachings, namely impermanence, suffering, no-self. A fourth criterion, emptiness, is also mentioned in the sutras. Thus, the Truth of Impermanence is basic to Buddhism... After seeing a corpse, the young prince Siddhartha (Sakyamuni Buddha) decided to leave the roya life to become an ascetic.

On the Truth of Impermanence, see the following passage by Red Pine:

Shakyamuni left home to find a way out of the endless round of life and death. Anyone who follows the Buddha must do the same. When it was time to transmit the robe and bowl of the Zen lineage, Hung-jen, the fifth Zen patriarch, called his disciples together and told them, "nothing is more important than Life and Death, you spend all your time looking for ways to earn merit. If you are blind to your own nature, what good is merit? Use your wisdom, the prajna-nature of your own mind. All of you, go write me a poem." (The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma, note 20.) An interesting corollary of the concept of Dharma seals is that much of the current speculation about whether or not this or that sutra is genuine is, in a sense, moot. A sutra is a sutra because it contains the words of the Buddhas or because the ideas expressed in it conform to the Dharma seals. An example of the latter is the Platform Sutra, which records the words of the Sixth Patriarch of Zen.

Buddha Recitation

Although Buddha Recitation is simple, it is very deep and encompassing. The most important thing is to be utterly sincere and earnest, for only then will your thoughts merge with those of Amitabha Buddha and will you reap true benefits in this very life. If you are lazy and lax, lacking even the least bit if reverence and awe, you may sow the seeds of future liberation but you must still bear the inconceivably evil karma stemming from disrespect and over-familiarity. Even if, thanks to residual merits, you escape the evil realms and are reborn in the celestial or human realms, you will still find it difficult to join the Ocean-Wide Lotus Assembly.

(Taken from Pure-Land Zen, Zen Pure-Land)