Why We Are Here.
Feb 22, 2010 13:33:54 GMT 1
Post by Shi Da Dao on Feb 22, 2010 13:33:54 GMT 1
The following started life as a Ch'an Digest article, but it sums-up the reason this site exists. All of the five Ch'an schools have the same source - the eternal Mind Ground. All Ch'an methods trace their origins to this source. Through Xu Yun, Charles Luk and Richard Hunn, the Cao-Dong Dharma as been transmitted within the context of the 'enlightened lay-person'. This forum reflects the good work of Xu Yun, the translation efforts of Charles Luk, the supportive work of Richard Hunn. Together, we may manifest the same Mind Ground. It also serves as a focal point for the Ch'an path of Cao-Dong that requires each and every Ch'an adept to practice 'just where they are'. Words can be used to assist, but there must be no attachment.
Master Xu Yun (1840-1959), lived into his one hundred and twentieth year. His life spanned four dynasties – the Qing, the Republic of China, The Puppet Regime of the invading imperial Japanese, and finally the Communist regime. He lived a wandering, ascetic life – settling for short time periods here and there. Mostly, he preferred to live in the hills, and meditate amongst the cloud covered peaks. However, for the sake of the Dharma he often descended into the ‘world of dust’, and taught multitudes of people the unsurpassed Ch’an Dharma, handed from the Lord Buddha to Mahakasyapa on Vulture Peak, two and a half thousand years ago. The Buddha held-up a flower, and only Mahakasyapa understood – with a smile – that the Mind Ground that raises flower, is the same Mind Ground that perceives it being raised.
Intellectualism does not help the seeker at this point. There are many types of Ch’an, but the unsurpassed Ch’an is not dependent upon words or letters. Thinking to understand is not the answer. The unsurpassable Ch’an is the Mind Ground perceiving itself, with no separation, anywhere. Thinking separates the Mind Ground from its own perception, and causes all sorts of trouble, tribulation and suffering. When the Mind moves, that is Samsara, when the Mind stops, that is Nirvana, and as Samsara and Nirvana share the same empty essence – what difference can be found?
Insight comes from meditation using the ‘hua t’ou’ technique. Master Xu Yun taught that the 'Ch'an Week' became common in the Song Dynasty, and popular during the Qing. The Ch’an dialogues, recorded in a number of Chinese sources, preserve the essence of Ch’an. To encounter these dialogues with a free and open Mind is a blessing. For there are no answers that involve the intellect. These sayings are called ‘kung an’, or ‘public records’. The inner dynamics of these exchanges untie the delusional knots that exist in the Mind, clearing away eons of a false dichotomy that splits the Mind and the world into subject-object. The Mind Ground perceives itself and all dichotomy instantaneously dissolves into an all-embracing oneness. This ‘oneness’ is then traced to it’s source for the final enlightenment.
As time went on, it is believed that the ordinary minds of humanity became dull and unable to be instanteously enlightened. As was the case, the Ch’an masters developed the hua t’ou, or ‘word head’ method’, to assist Ch’an students on this great task. A hua t’ou involves a deep questioning of one’s Mind Essence. Therefore, all hua t’ou begin with the questioning word ‘who?’. This ‘who?’ is the most important part of any hua t’ou. It is designed to turn the Mind back on itself. To cut through obscuring intellect and emotion. The rest of the hua t’ou sentence often serves to suit the mentality of the student concerned, for instance master Xu Yun used the hua t’ou ‘Who is dragging this corpse around?’. Richard Hunn gave this author the hua t’tou ‘Who is hearing?’, a method found in the Surangama Sutra, and practiced by the great Ch’an master Han Shan, who sat by a noisy waterful, turning the faculty of ‘hearing’ back on itself, so that the origin of itself could be discovered. Han Shan found utter silence as he sat by the cascading water-fall. The facult of hearing is considered the easiest of the six human senses to turn back to its origin. Obviously, when one sense is returned to a single source, all senses are realised to have arisen from the same sources. As all things are returnable to the ‘one’, where does the ‘one’ return?
The Ch’an Dao method is the Mind looking at, and perceiving itself so that all subject-object is transcended in an instant. All else is purely expedient. A Ch’an practitioner does not allow the Mind to move beyond itself and therefore guards it jealously. A hunter once encountered a Ch’an master in the hills. The master asked; ‘How many animals can you kill with a single arrow?’ The hunter answered; ‘I can kill one animal with one arrow.’ The master said; ‘That is no good’. The hunter asked; ‘How many can you kill with a single arrow?’ The master replied; ‘I can kill them all with a single arrow.’ The hunter asked; ‘Why would you kill all the animals?’ To which the master replied; ‘Why don’t you kill yourself?’ The hunter was enlightened at this point, and became a Ch’an master in his own right. Many Ch’an masters carry the mattock of authority. This tradition appears to have been borrowed from Daoism, whereby an enlightened being, or an immortal would carry a ‘fly-whisk’ of authority. This is a short stick – perhaps twelve inches long, with a plume made of the hair of a horse’s tail. The hair itself being no more than perhaps six inches in length. This apparently mundane and ordinary item, contained as a symbol, all the temporal and spiritual authority considered essential in the character of a Ch’an master. The former hunter however, gave-up eating meat and killing animals, but did not carry the mattock of authority. Instead, he carried his bow and arrow with him, everywhere he went. His encounter with a true Ch’an master had ‘spiritualised’ his martial ability. From the point of his enlightenment onwards, the Mind seeing itself became the focus of full being. Archery, as a specific skill lost all meaning at this point.
Master Xu Yun, when young, studied Daoism. His father had hired a Daoist teacher when Xu Yun was in his teens. Durng this time, Xu Yun studied qi cong, or breath work. Shortly after this however, he left home at the age of 17, to become a wandering, Buddhist monk. At around the age of forty, he finally met a master who gave him a hua t’ou method suited to his Mind. As his practice grew, he became very well known for his spiritual strength and his gentle will power. In his long life, he travelled widely, mostly on foot or boat. Oneday, when he and nine workman were carrying a very heavy Buddhist statue from Burma to China, the workman refused to go on, unless their pay was doubled. Master Xu Yun explained to them that they would be paid at the destination, if only they would continue in their efforts for the Dharma. The men however, refused to move. Master Xu Yun pointed to a very large boulder, much bigger than the statue, and asked the men if they could move it. All nine tried, but to no avail. All agreed that the boulder was far heavier than the statue. Master Xu Yun – who by this time was in his sixties, easily lifted the boulder with two hands. He later commented that he had no idea how it happened. Needless to say, the workmen viewed this happening as something of a miracle attributed to the Buddha, and took it as a sign that they should carry-on, which they did, safely delivering the statue to its assigned Ch’an monastery.
Coupled with this display of unusual power, master Xu Yun also suffered two very brutal beatings in his long life. It is remarkable that he survived either one. In 1916/17, he was travelling to Burma via Singapore, where he was detained by the Singaporean Police as a suspected Communist sympathiser. He was around seventy seven years old at this point, when he was subjected to a very brutal and sustained beating, whilst in custody. Some local Chinese Buddhists got to hear of his plight, and they rescued him, by raising bail money and vouching for his character. Then, in 1952, when Xu Yun was one hundred and twelve years old, Communist activists, representing the new regime of Mao Zedong, attacked the monastery he was staying in, and detained and beat the monks. Master Xu Yun’s assistant, Miao-yun was beaten to death at this time. The attackers claimed that Xu Yun was hiding both money and a radio transmitter, neither of which were discovered. Local Buddhists reported this behaviour to the Beijing government, who immediately ordered a halt to the local activity. Investigators were sent to look into the events, and local Communist forces were told to leave Xu Yun alone. What is interesting is that despite casual hardships of terrible events, Ch’an masters, and Xu Yun specifically, never let their Mind wander.
Thuggery, aggression and wanton violence did not distract them from this great matter. Martial arts become just another expression of the Mind seeking itself – and nothing more. Even during the Republican era, (a time that saw the distruction of the Shaolin temple in 1928), master Xu Yun is known to have talked a Republican general out of his intention to attack and destroy Buddhist temples. Master Xu Yun encouraged Charles Luk to translate important Buddhist texts into English, as he felt the Dharma would survive in the West. Although Xu Yun had literally thousands of followers, he chose Charles Luk for this very important task. He fore-saw that karma would lead Dharma Westward, and that Luk’s work would be important in this task. Richard Hunn took on the mantle from his teacher Charles, and strove throughout his relatively short life to keep the English translations in print and readily available. This website is one of the latest efforts to keep the Dharma alive.
Master Xu Yun (1840-1959), lived into his one hundred and twentieth year. His life spanned four dynasties – the Qing, the Republic of China, The Puppet Regime of the invading imperial Japanese, and finally the Communist regime. He lived a wandering, ascetic life – settling for short time periods here and there. Mostly, he preferred to live in the hills, and meditate amongst the cloud covered peaks. However, for the sake of the Dharma he often descended into the ‘world of dust’, and taught multitudes of people the unsurpassed Ch’an Dharma, handed from the Lord Buddha to Mahakasyapa on Vulture Peak, two and a half thousand years ago. The Buddha held-up a flower, and only Mahakasyapa understood – with a smile – that the Mind Ground that raises flower, is the same Mind Ground that perceives it being raised.
Intellectualism does not help the seeker at this point. There are many types of Ch’an, but the unsurpassed Ch’an is not dependent upon words or letters. Thinking to understand is not the answer. The unsurpassable Ch’an is the Mind Ground perceiving itself, with no separation, anywhere. Thinking separates the Mind Ground from its own perception, and causes all sorts of trouble, tribulation and suffering. When the Mind moves, that is Samsara, when the Mind stops, that is Nirvana, and as Samsara and Nirvana share the same empty essence – what difference can be found?
Insight comes from meditation using the ‘hua t’ou’ technique. Master Xu Yun taught that the 'Ch'an Week' became common in the Song Dynasty, and popular during the Qing. The Ch’an dialogues, recorded in a number of Chinese sources, preserve the essence of Ch’an. To encounter these dialogues with a free and open Mind is a blessing. For there are no answers that involve the intellect. These sayings are called ‘kung an’, or ‘public records’. The inner dynamics of these exchanges untie the delusional knots that exist in the Mind, clearing away eons of a false dichotomy that splits the Mind and the world into subject-object. The Mind Ground perceives itself and all dichotomy instantaneously dissolves into an all-embracing oneness. This ‘oneness’ is then traced to it’s source for the final enlightenment.
As time went on, it is believed that the ordinary minds of humanity became dull and unable to be instanteously enlightened. As was the case, the Ch’an masters developed the hua t’ou, or ‘word head’ method’, to assist Ch’an students on this great task. A hua t’ou involves a deep questioning of one’s Mind Essence. Therefore, all hua t’ou begin with the questioning word ‘who?’. This ‘who?’ is the most important part of any hua t’ou. It is designed to turn the Mind back on itself. To cut through obscuring intellect and emotion. The rest of the hua t’ou sentence often serves to suit the mentality of the student concerned, for instance master Xu Yun used the hua t’ou ‘Who is dragging this corpse around?’. Richard Hunn gave this author the hua t’tou ‘Who is hearing?’, a method found in the Surangama Sutra, and practiced by the great Ch’an master Han Shan, who sat by a noisy waterful, turning the faculty of ‘hearing’ back on itself, so that the origin of itself could be discovered. Han Shan found utter silence as he sat by the cascading water-fall. The facult of hearing is considered the easiest of the six human senses to turn back to its origin. Obviously, when one sense is returned to a single source, all senses are realised to have arisen from the same sources. As all things are returnable to the ‘one’, where does the ‘one’ return?
The Ch’an Dao method is the Mind looking at, and perceiving itself so that all subject-object is transcended in an instant. All else is purely expedient. A Ch’an practitioner does not allow the Mind to move beyond itself and therefore guards it jealously. A hunter once encountered a Ch’an master in the hills. The master asked; ‘How many animals can you kill with a single arrow?’ The hunter answered; ‘I can kill one animal with one arrow.’ The master said; ‘That is no good’. The hunter asked; ‘How many can you kill with a single arrow?’ The master replied; ‘I can kill them all with a single arrow.’ The hunter asked; ‘Why would you kill all the animals?’ To which the master replied; ‘Why don’t you kill yourself?’ The hunter was enlightened at this point, and became a Ch’an master in his own right. Many Ch’an masters carry the mattock of authority. This tradition appears to have been borrowed from Daoism, whereby an enlightened being, or an immortal would carry a ‘fly-whisk’ of authority. This is a short stick – perhaps twelve inches long, with a plume made of the hair of a horse’s tail. The hair itself being no more than perhaps six inches in length. This apparently mundane and ordinary item, contained as a symbol, all the temporal and spiritual authority considered essential in the character of a Ch’an master. The former hunter however, gave-up eating meat and killing animals, but did not carry the mattock of authority. Instead, he carried his bow and arrow with him, everywhere he went. His encounter with a true Ch’an master had ‘spiritualised’ his martial ability. From the point of his enlightenment onwards, the Mind seeing itself became the focus of full being. Archery, as a specific skill lost all meaning at this point.
Master Xu Yun, when young, studied Daoism. His father had hired a Daoist teacher when Xu Yun was in his teens. Durng this time, Xu Yun studied qi cong, or breath work. Shortly after this however, he left home at the age of 17, to become a wandering, Buddhist monk. At around the age of forty, he finally met a master who gave him a hua t’ou method suited to his Mind. As his practice grew, he became very well known for his spiritual strength and his gentle will power. In his long life, he travelled widely, mostly on foot or boat. Oneday, when he and nine workman were carrying a very heavy Buddhist statue from Burma to China, the workman refused to go on, unless their pay was doubled. Master Xu Yun explained to them that they would be paid at the destination, if only they would continue in their efforts for the Dharma. The men however, refused to move. Master Xu Yun pointed to a very large boulder, much bigger than the statue, and asked the men if they could move it. All nine tried, but to no avail. All agreed that the boulder was far heavier than the statue. Master Xu Yun – who by this time was in his sixties, easily lifted the boulder with two hands. He later commented that he had no idea how it happened. Needless to say, the workmen viewed this happening as something of a miracle attributed to the Buddha, and took it as a sign that they should carry-on, which they did, safely delivering the statue to its assigned Ch’an monastery.
Coupled with this display of unusual power, master Xu Yun also suffered two very brutal beatings in his long life. It is remarkable that he survived either one. In 1916/17, he was travelling to Burma via Singapore, where he was detained by the Singaporean Police as a suspected Communist sympathiser. He was around seventy seven years old at this point, when he was subjected to a very brutal and sustained beating, whilst in custody. Some local Chinese Buddhists got to hear of his plight, and they rescued him, by raising bail money and vouching for his character. Then, in 1952, when Xu Yun was one hundred and twelve years old, Communist activists, representing the new regime of Mao Zedong, attacked the monastery he was staying in, and detained and beat the monks. Master Xu Yun’s assistant, Miao-yun was beaten to death at this time. The attackers claimed that Xu Yun was hiding both money and a radio transmitter, neither of which were discovered. Local Buddhists reported this behaviour to the Beijing government, who immediately ordered a halt to the local activity. Investigators were sent to look into the events, and local Communist forces were told to leave Xu Yun alone. What is interesting is that despite casual hardships of terrible events, Ch’an masters, and Xu Yun specifically, never let their Mind wander.
Thuggery, aggression and wanton violence did not distract them from this great matter. Martial arts become just another expression of the Mind seeking itself – and nothing more. Even during the Republican era, (a time that saw the distruction of the Shaolin temple in 1928), master Xu Yun is known to have talked a Republican general out of his intention to attack and destroy Buddhist temples. Master Xu Yun encouraged Charles Luk to translate important Buddhist texts into English, as he felt the Dharma would survive in the West. Although Xu Yun had literally thousands of followers, he chose Charles Luk for this very important task. He fore-saw that karma would lead Dharma Westward, and that Luk’s work would be important in this task. Richard Hunn took on the mantle from his teacher Charles, and strove throughout his relatively short life to keep the English translations in print and readily available. This website is one of the latest efforts to keep the Dharma alive.
