Chan and Enlightenment 禪與悟(英文版)

To transcend time and space means to transcend life itself—one goes from being a sentient being trapped in self, attachments, samsara, and vexations, to being a sage who has no self or vexations, and who has realized the oneness and sameness of birth-and-death; this is called being liberated, free, and at ease. This must be achieved through the guidance of concepts and the application of the methods of practice.
Let me explain this from three points of view.

Point of View of the Four Noble Truths
The Four Noble Truths are the four mutually related truths that Shakyamuni Buddha first spoke after he attained enlightenment. These are the four truths of suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path out of suffering. The first two noble truths—suffering and cause of suffering—are the results received by ordinary beings through their creation of karma; receiving the result is called suffering and creating the karma is the cause of suffering. Suffering includes birth, aging, sickness, and death, separation from loved ones, association with enemies, inability to obtain what one desires, and the flourishing of the five skandhas—eight kinds in all.

The trials and afflictions that one endures and undergoes are consequences from a variety of karma created in past lives. What karma did one create in the past? Whether they are virtuous or evil karma, so long as they are related to the ego, selfishness, and attachment, they are the causes of suffering, and will gather and amass as karmic causes into “the accumulation of suffering.” Therefore, creating karma and receiving the results are the interminable cycle of the two phases of suffering and cause of suffering, as well as the cycle of birth and death in the three realms. In order to go beyond such phenomena, one has to follow the principles and methods of practice that the Buddha spoke of, putting them into action accordingly.

“Path” has the connotation of principle, road, and method. If we keep practicing in accordance with it, we will certainly reach the goal of transcending birth and death. What is the content of Path? [It is precisely the fourth noble truths, consisting of ] eight individual paths of practice called the Noble Eightfold Path:
1. Right View: To have the correct understanding, such as knowing that birth and death is suffering, and suffering arises from karma.

2. Right Thought: To practice the correct methods of contemplation. For instance, one has already experienced that life is the bitter consequence of karma, so one applies the methods for freeing oneself from suffering, mainly through meditative contemplation.

3. Right Speech: To not speak the words that are useless to practice, but to speak only the words that are useful.

4. Right Action: To not do the bodily actions that are useless to practice, but only those that are useful to the practice.

5. Right Livelihood: To not earn one’s livelihood by means of the tricks of charlatans or quacks but with proper means, so as not to contradict with the goal of spiritual practice.

6. Right Effort: To put one’s effort into the Dharma practice of precepts, concentration, and wisdom. For example, one should do the good deeds that one has not done yet, and enhance the good deeds that one has done; one should stop the evil deeds that one has done, and prevent oneself from doing the evil deeds that one has not done yet.

7. Right Mindfulness: To always collect and restrain one’s mind, practicing the methods such as contemplation on impurity.

8. Right Concentration: To practice different kinds of contemplation to achieve the eight kinds of meditative concentration attained in the four dhyana heavens and the four formless heavens, and eventually achieve the concentration of extinguishing feeling and perception, so as to reach the goal of liberating oneself from samsara.

The truth of the cessation of suffering is actually the result of the truth of the Path—one eliminates the burden of samsara by cultivating the Path, and thereby transcends time and space where one is no longer bound to arising and perishing. This is called nirvana. This shows that the first two truths of suffering and the cause of suffering are one level of cause and effect for those in the stage of ordinary beings, whereas the cessation of suffering and the Path out of suffering are the other level of cause and effect for those who go beyond ordinary beings and reach the stage of sagehood.

The stage of ordinary beings belongs to causality with outflows, which generates karma; while that of sages belongs to the causality without outflows, which generates no karma. Causality with outflows reflects the phenomena of life in time and space while causality without outflows represents the phenomena of life that transcends time and space. However, according to the Agamas, there are no phenomena to be perceived for a life that has transcended time and space, and this is called the quiescence of nirvana.

Point of View of the Teaching on the Five Skandhas in the Heart Sutra
In Buddhism, the five skandhas are the phenomenal aggregates that together make up a person. They are the five kinds of physiological and psychological phenomena, namely, form, sensation, perception, volition, and consciousness.

1. The skandha of form: this refers to the material aspect of our body, which are generally called the four elements of earth, water, fire, and wind. Among them, the bones, skins, muscles, nerves, etc. are called the earth element; the blood, fat, and water are the water element; the body temperature is the fire element; and the breath is the wind element.

2. The skandha of sensation: this refers to the feelings of suffering, happiness, sorrow, joy, equanimity, etc.

3. The skandha of perception: this refers to making distinctions of good, bad, virtue, evil, etc.

4. The skandha of volition: this activates the bodily, verbal, and mental behavior.

5. The skandha of consciousness: this is the overall name for discrimination and attachment, as well as the creation of karma and the seeds of karma.

From the above, we can see that the last four skandhas belong to the scope of mental phenomena and spiritual activities, and the phenomena of life of sentient (human) beings do not go beyond the boundary of these five conditions. If we cannot experience or realize that the five skandhas are empty, then we will always remain in the state of ordinary people, going through infinite vexations and an endless cycle of birth and death. The five skandhas are empty and selfless. In terms of time, all phenomena come and go in an endless flow, changing again and again; thus, they are impermanent. Similarly, in terms of location in space, all phenomena grow and decline interactively, constant changing, so there is no unchanging self. Since both material and mental phenomena are ceaselessly changing in time and space, we know that none of the five skandhas is permanent, and none of them has a self. As life is an aggregation of the five skandhas, and the five skandhas are impermanent as well as selfless, what is there for us to attach to? Since there are no objects to attach to, nor a self that can attach, it is then liberation.

Impermanence and no-self are emptiness. Emptiness means that although spirit and matter have temporary characteristics that we can perceive, they do not have unchanging substance to be found. Although there is no unchanging substance, it does not hinder the
changing of phenomena. Therefore, the emptiness as expounded by Buddhist teachings does not deny the existence of the phenomenal world. Because there is no substance and no obstruction, it is called emptiness, yet it does not hinder existence. One does not attach to permanent existence, nor does one deny the existence that varies; this is called the emptiness without a self-nature. Being without self-nature means that phenomena are empty, without permanent substance. If there is a substance, it is not empty of nature. So, if one can realize that all five skandhas are empty, as the Heart Sutra says, that is transcendence.

The Point of View of the Sudden Enlightenment of Chan
The Chan School originated in India and matured during the peak of the Chinese Tang Dynasty (618-907). The Chan masters advocated teachings not established on words or language, aiming at attaining buddhahood through “sudden enlightenment.” “Not established on words” means that the mind of tathagata, which has no notion of a self, cannot be realized through knowledge, study, words, language, or all varieties of symbols. Therefore, to awaken to one’s inherent nature is to realize directly that all dharmas are empty of self-nature, without resorting to any special methods or graduated approaches. One’s intrinsic nature is buddha-nature, which is the nature of emptiness. This empty nature is also the nature of tathagata. In his Platform Sutra, Sixth Patriarch Huineng wrote this verse:

Bodhi is fundamentally not a tree,
Nor is the clear mirror a stand.
Fundamentally there is not a single thing,
Where could any dust collect?

Buddhists generally think that all sentient beings have an inherent buddha-nature to become a buddha, and some liken this buddhanature to a tree that can bear the fruit of the bodhi. Some people think that the mind of a buddha is like a clear mirror, which can “show a Chinese when a Chinese comes and show a foreigner when a foreigner comes.” No matter what scenery or things appear in front of it, the mind of a buddha can reflect them without the slightest error, just like a clear mirror. Then again, other people think that when one becomes a buddha, there will surely be the fruit of buddhahood to be obtained, so they practice desperately in hopes of getting results.

However, Master Huineng said very clearly that bodhi is not a tree, the clear mirror is without a stand, and fundamentally, not a single thing exists, so there is no need to seek to attain buddhahood. Thus he said, “Where could any dust collect?” These insights show
that the inherent substance is without substance, the fundamental nature is without nature, and an illuminated mind is no-mind.

How can one suddenly awaken to no-self and the inherent nature of emptiness? To do so, one should apply the attitude and methods that many generations of lineage masters of the Chan School taught us. For example, we should “always maintain an ordinary mind” as taught by Master Mazu (709-788), and should “always maintain a straightforward mind” as taught by Huineng. An ordinary mind does not make self-centered judgments on advantages and disadvantages, gain and loss, right and wrong, or good and bad; a straightforward mind does not impose intellectual judgment on the self and others, subject and object, long and short, round and square, and the like. Actually “ordinary mind” and “straightforward mind” have the same meaning. If we remove self-centered discrimination and attachment, then each and every thought that arises in our mind is ordinary and straightforward without exception, and will accord, here and now, with the selfless nature of emptiness.

If Chan practitioners do not have sharp karmic capacity or deep virtuous roots, they will need to rely on some methods, so the accomplished Chan masters would use the methods such as investigating the huatou to help them. If practitioners can persist in working on their huatou, they would eventually generate the doubt sensation, which would turn into a “doubt mass.” When they break through the doubt mass, like a chick pecking its way out of its shell, they would see their “original face before they emerged from their mother’s womb,” and the life that transcends time and space would manifest before them. What is all this about? To find this out and realize it personally, you will have to make effort in practice.

Author’s note: This text was based on a lecture I gave at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, on November 11, 1988. However, at that time, to meet the needs of the audience and the time limit, I did not make a deeper elaboration, and was not able to present the whole outline that I had prepared. After returning to the Chan Meditation Center in New York, with the help of Ms. Ye Cuiping, who spent 2 ½ days transcribing the talk, I added more content to the text according to the outline I drew up previously. The result is that this current text contains more detail and a deeper elaboration than the actual talk.