Prerequisites of the Ch'an Training.

[Shi Da Dao]

Master Hsu Yun said:

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

'If if halts, it is Enlightenment (Bodhi).

[Shi Da Dao]

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

[Shi Da Dao]

Now we know that (the sentences): 'Expel all concurrent causes. Do not give rise to a single thought' are the prerequisites of Ch'an training; how can we fulfill these prerequisites? Those of high spirituality are able to halt for ever the arising of a single thought until they reach (the state of) birthlessness and will thereby instanteously realise enlightenment (bodhi) without any more ado. Those of high spirituality will deduce the underlying principle from facts and will thoroughly understand that the self-nature is fundamentally pure and clean and that distress (klesa) and enlightenment as well as birth, death and Nirvana are all empty names having no connexion whatever with self-nature; that phenomena are like a dream,an illusion, a bubble and a shadow; and that the four basic elements constituting the physical body, as well as mountains, rivers and the great earth which are within self-nature, are just like bubbles in the sea. These phenomena rise and fall following one another in succession without interfering with the essence (of self-nature). Therefore, one should not follow illusion in its creation, stay, change and annihilation and give rise to feelings of joy, sadness, attachment and rejection. One should lay down everything with which one's body is burdened, thus becoming exactly like a dead man.

[Shi Da Dao]

The outcome will be that sense-organs, sense-data and consciousnessm will vanish and that concupiscence, anger, stupidity and love will be eliminated. When all our feelings of joy and sadness, of the cold of hunger and the warmth of one's fill, of honour and dishonour, of birth and death, of happiness and misery, of blessing and calamity, of praise and censure, of gain and loss, of safety and danger, and of handicap and help, are all cast aside, this is the true laying down (of everything). To lay down a thing is to lay down everything for ever, and this is called the laying down of all concurrent causes. When all concurrent causes have been laid down, false thinking will vanish with the non-arising of differentiation and the elimination of all atachments. When one reaches this state of the non-arising of a single thought, the brightness of self-nature will appear in full. Then only can the prerequisites of Ch'an training be entirely fulfilled. Further efforts in the true training and real introspection will be required if one wishes to be qualified for realising the mind for the perception of self-nature.

[Shi Da Dao]

Recently, Ch'an Buddhism often came to inquire (about all this). As to the Dharma, fundamentally there is no such thing, because as soon as it is expressed in words, the meaning will not be true. Just see clearly that mind is Buddha and there will be no more ado. This is self-evident and all talks of practice and realisation are the demon's words. Bodhidharma, who came to the East to 'directly point at man's mind for the percpetion of self-nature leading to the attainment of Buddhahood', clearly indicated that all living beings on earth were Buddhas. The outright cognizance of this pure and clean self-nature together with complete harmony with it, without contamination from attachment (to anything) and without the least mental differentiation, while walking, standing, sitting and lying by day or night is nothing but the self-evident Buddha(hood). It does not require any application of mind or use of effort.

[Shi Da Dao]

Moreover, there is no place for either action or deed, and no use of words, speech and thought. For this reason, it is said that the attainment of Buddhahood is the most free and easy thing which relies only on oneself and does not depend on others. If all beings on this earth are not willing to pass long aeons through the successive four kinds of birth in the six realms of existance to stay permanently immersed in the sea of suffering, and if they wish to attain Buddhahood with the accompanying enjoyment of true eternity, true bliss, true personality and true purity, they should sincerely believe the true words of the Buddha and Patriarchs, and lay down all (attachments) without thinking of either good or evil; all of them will certainly be able to become Buddhas on the spot. All Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Patriarchs of past generations did not take the vow of liberating all living beings without warrant for so doing; they did not take vain vows and did not tell a deliberate lie.

[Shi Da Dao]

The (qualification) above referred to, is in the state provided by nature. Moreover, the Buddha and Patriarchs had expounded it again and again, and their injunction in this respect had also been repeated; theirs were true words, words corresponding to reality, which did not contain an atom of falsehood and deception. However, all living beings on this earth have been, for countless aeons, deluded and sunk in the bitter ocean of birth and death, rising and falling in their endless transmigrations. Being deluded, confused and upset, they turn their back on enlightenment and unite with impurities. They are just like real gold thrown into a manure pit where it not only falls into disuse but is also deplorably soiled. Because of His great mercy, the Buddha was compelled to set up 84,000 Dharma doors (to enlightenment) so that living beings of different natural capacities could use them to cure the 84,000 ailments caused by their habitual concupiscence, anger, stupidity and love. In the same way you are taught to use a shovel, brush, water and cloth to wash, brush and polish and scrub the dirty piece of gold. Therefore, the Dharma doors expounded by the Buddha are all excellent Dharmas which enable one to see through birth and death and to attain Buddhahood, the only question being the adaptability or otherwise of individual potentialities. These Dharma doors should not be divided arbitrarily into superior or inferior ones. Those introduced into China are: The Ch'an sect (Tsung), the Discipline School (Lu Tsung), The Teaching School (Chiao Tsung), the Pure Land School (Chin Tsung), and the Yoga School (Mi Tsung). Of these five Dharma doors, it is up to each man to choose the one which is suitable to his natural character and inclination, and he will surely reach his goal if he only sticks to it long enough without change of mind and deeply penetrates it.

[Shi Da Dao]

Our sect advocates the Ch'an training. This training centres on 'realisation of mind (and) perception of self-nature', that is an exhaustive investigation into one's fundamental face. The Dharma door which consists in the 'clear awakening to the self-mind and through perception of the fundamental nature' has been handed down ever since the Buddha held up a flower until after Bodhidharma's coming to the East, with frequent changes in the method of practice. Up to the T'ang (935) and Sung (1278) dynasies, most adherents of the Ch'an sect became enlightened after hearing a word or sentence. The transmission from master to disciple did not exceed the sealing of mind by mind, and ther was no fixed Dharma (taught). In their questions and answers (the role played by a master) was only to untie the bonds (fettering his disciple) according to available circumstances, just like the giving of an appropriate medicine for each particular ailment. In and after the Sung dynasty, human potentialities became duller, and the instructions given by the masters were not carried out by their disciples.

[Shi Da Dao]

For instance, when they were taught to 'lay down everything' and 'not to think of either good or evil', practisers could not lay down anything and could not stop thinking of either good or evil. Under these circumstances, the ancestors and masters were compeled to devise a 'poison-against-poison' method by teaching their followers to inquire into a kung an or look into a hua t'ou. Their disciples were even taught to hold a meaningless hua t'ou as firmly as possible (in their minds), without loosening their grip even for the shortest possible moment, in the same way as a rat will (stubbornly) bite the board of a coffin at a fixed spot until it has made a hole. The aim of this method was to use a single thought to oppose and arrest myriad thoughts because the masters had no alternative. It was like an operation which became imperative when poison had been introduced into the body. There were many kung ans (devised by the ancients but) later only hua t'ous were taught such as: 'Who is dragging this corpse here?' and 'What was my fundamental face before I was born?' In the present day, the masters use the hua t'ou: 'Who is the repeater of Buddha's name?'

[Shi Da Dao]

All these hua t'ou have only one meaning which is very ordinary and has nothing peculiar about it. If you look into him 'Who is reciting a sutra?'. 'Who is holding a mantra?', 'Who is worshipping Buddha?' 'Who is taking a meal?'. Who is wearing a robe?' 'Who is walking on the road?'. or 'Who is sleeping?', the reply to 'Who?' will invariably be the same: ' It is mind.' Word arises from Mind and Mind is head of (i.e. ante-) Word. Thought arises from Mind and Mind is head of myriad things. In reality, a hua t'ou is the head of a thought (i.e. ante-thought). The head of thought is nothing but mind. To make it plan, before a thought arises, it is a hua t'ou. From above, we know that to look into a hua t'ou is to look into the Mind. The fundamental face before one's birth is Mind. To look into one's fundamental face before one's birth is to look into one's mind. Self-nature is Mind (and) to 'turn inwards the hearing to hear the self-nature' is to 'turn inward one's contemplation to contemplate the self-mind.

[Shi Da Dao]

The sentence: 'The perfect shining ont he pure Awareness' means this: 'the pure awareness' is mind and 'to shine on' is to look into. Mind is Buddha and to repeat the Buddha's-(name) is to contemplate the Buddha. To contemplate Buddha is to contemplate mind. Therefore, to 'look into a hua t'ou' or 'look into him who repeats the Buddha's name' is to contemplate the mind or to contemplate the pure essence of awareness of the self-mind, or to contemplate the self-natured Buddha. Mind is self-nature, is awareness and is Buddha, having neither form nor location, and being undiscoverable. It is clean and pure by nature, penetrating everywhere in the Dharmadhatu, does not enter or leave, neither comes nor goes and is fundamentally the self-evident pure Dharmakaya Buddha.

[Shi Da Dao]

A practiser should keep under control all his six sense-organs and take good care of this hua t'ou by looking into where a thought usually arises, until he perceives his pure self-nature, free from all thoughts. This continuous, close, quiet and indifferent investigation will lead to a still and shining contemplation (the outcome of which will be) the outright non-existance of the five constituent elements of being (skandhas) and the wipig out of both body and mind, without the least thing being left behind. Thereafter, this absolute immutability (should be maintained) in every state, while walking, standing, sitting and lying by day or night. As time goes on, this achievement will be brought to perfection, resulting in the perception of self-nature and the attainment of Buddhahood, with the elimination of all distress and suffering.

[Shi Da Dao]

Ancestor Kao Feng said: 'When a student looks into a hua t'ou with the same steadiness with which a broken tile when thrown into a deep pond plunges straight down 10,000 changs to the bottom, if he fails to become awakened in seven days, anyone can chop off my head and take it away.' Dear friends, these are the words of an experienced master: they are true and correspond to reality, they are not deceitful words to cheat people.

[Shi Da Dao]

Then why in the present generation are there not even a few men who attain enlightenment in spite of the great number who hold a hua t'ou (in their minds)? This is because students are confused about the correct method of training and of holding a hua t'ou. They go to various places in the four quarters, seeking instructon, and the result is that when they get old, they are still not clear about the meaning of a hua t'ou and how to look into it. They pas their whole lives clinging to words and names, and applying their minds to the tail of hua t'ou. They inquire into (sentences): 'Look into him who repeats the Buddha's name' and 'Take care of the hua t'ou', and the more they look and inquire into these sentences, the more they get away from what these sentences stand for.

[Shi Da Dao]

Thus how can they be awakened to the self-evident Wu Wei (Transcendental) Supreme Reality, and how can they ascend the undisturbed Royal Throne? When gold powder is thrown into their eyes, they are blinded: how then can they send out the great illuminating ray? What a pity! What a pity! They are all good sons and good daughters who leave their homes in quest of the truh, and their determination is above the average. What a pity if they labour to no purpose! (For this reason) an ancient master said: 'It is better to remain unenlightened for a thousand years than to tread the wrong path for a day.'