Chan Buddhism Liu!1 Timeline Early Vedas! 1500-750 BCE Upanishads! 1000-400 BCE Siddhartha Gautama! 563-483 BCE Bhagavad Gita! 200-100 BCE Shinto origins! 500 BCE - 600 CE Hui-neng (Chan)! 638-713 CE 1000 BCE 500 BCE 0 500 CE 1000 CE I Ching! 2000-200 BCE Confucius! 551-479 BCE Mencius! 372-289 BCE Lotus Sutra! 100 BCE - 150 CE Zhi-yi (Tian-tai)! 538-597 CE Lao Tzu! 604-531 BCE Zhuangzi! 399-295 BCE!2
Themes There s not a single thing.! "The mind is the Buddha"! The original mind! Anti-individualistic! Language and Pedagogy! Koans & Zazen!3 Two Verses in the Platform Sutra Shen-xiu's! The body is the tree of enlightenment [the Bodhi tree] The mind is like a clear mirror-stand. Polish it diligently time and again, Not letting it gather dust.!! Hui-neng's! Enlightenment [Bodhi] originally has no tree, And a clear mirror is not a stand. Originally there's not a single thing Where can dust be attracted?!4
Shen-xiu's Verse Shen-xiu's verse reveals several assumptions! We have a pure mind but it is constantly defiled by greed, anger, and confusion! We have to remain watchful of the mind! The "inborn" mind is passive and collects dust! There is a difference between the "inborn" mind and the "active" mind, with the former keeping the "inborn" dust-free! The process of enlightenment requires constant diligence and is never ending! At best, enlightenment is gradual!5 Hui-neng's verse reflects a different picture! Hui-neng's Verse There is no difference between the "inborn" mind and the "active" mind! There is no difference between a clean mirror and dusty mirror! The mind is not a substance, there is no mind! Fundamental motto of the Chan School: "Originally, there's not a single thing."! Since there is no mind as substance, there is nothing to get dirty! Hui-neng uses the metaphor of the mind as a sun covered by clouds! One just needs to clear away the clouds to discover the mind shining brightly! Enlightenment is immediate once this point is understood!6
True Spirit of Buddhism Hui-neng's verse shows that Shen-xiu does not understand the true nature of Buddhism! Shen-xiu's verse seems to suggest a fixation on purity! But, fixating on purity (or defilement or cleansing) is to grasp at that thing (or its opposite)! And, to grasp at things (fixate on them) is to violate a basic Buddhist tenet! So, Hui-neng is saying that Shen-xiu does not understand the fundamental teaching of Buddhism!7 Differences Between Northern and Southern Schools Northern School follows the Lankavatara Sutra! Southern School follows the Diamond Sutra!! Theoretical Differences! Nature of the mind and world! Duality of mind: pure and defiled mind! Role of meditation! Seeking Nirvana!8
Northern: Nature of the Mind and World Mind Only: also conceived as the Pure Mind or One Mind! In contrast to the minds of you and me, which are defiled minds! The defiled mind discriminates, judges, conceptualizes, craves, finds differences, hates, etc. In other words, the defiled mind is what normal humans do on a normal basis! The Pure Mind is the true nature of reality, which transcends the experiential world! Mind Only is anti-realist only the Mind is real, the external world doesn t exist independently of the Mind! Nirvana is achieved when discrimination ends!9 Southern: Nature of the Mind and World Nothingness be attached to nothing, including the concept of nothingness! all ideas are no-ideas, and again that all beings are no-beings! One should not be attached to Dharma (the truth) or no-dharma! Attachment to Dharma or no-dharma entails that one is attached to a self, person, or being! All truths are in our minds if we see our mind s true nature, then we see the truth about the world! Knowing the truths of the world is knowing the truths of our minds! Identity of the mind and world is an epistemic claim and not an ontological, reductionist claim!10
Northern: Beholding the Mind Beholding the mind is the process of watching the mind! Watching occurs during the practice of meditation! Mind and purity are the same hence Pure Mind! Meditation is the process of keeping the Pure Mind in view! Once one has the Pure Mind in view, then one can perceive the many things defiling the mind! Mediation is the process of keeping the mind clear of defilements! Sense perception and its discriminative abilities is a main contributor to the defiling of the Pure Mind!11 Southern: Seeing One s Nature Seeing is an active process of an alert mind! Seeing contrasts with the passive act of beholding! Nature captures the essence of things! Nature contrasts with mind, which is not necessarily about the essence of things! Nature is more fundamental than mind one can lose one s mind but not one s nature! Whenever Hui-neng uses mind, he intends nature! Clear, free, empty, and silent, perception and action equally enlightened, mirrorlike awareness unobstructed this is truly the liberated Buddha nature. (Diamond Sutra from Liu)!12
Southern: Seeing One s Nature Clear and free mind = Buddha nature! Hui-neng is concerned with human minds and not an abstract Mind! Human minds are intrinsically clean and pure that is their nature! We originally have clean and pure minds that is our Buddhanature! Since we intrinsically have Buddha nature, we can all become Buddhas!13 Buddha nature and Our True Nature Hui-neng clearly states: All beings are originally themselves Buddhas. If so, then there is no unbridgeable gap between the Buddha and us: all we need to do is to see this. If we can see that we ourselves are Buddhas, then we would understand that there is no need to seek teachings from sutras or masters. We should be our own teachers. (Liu, 312)!14
Northern: Meditation Role of mediation is to stop discriminating and enter nirvana! Four kinds of meditation:! 1. Meditation of the ignorant: Beginners who try to rid themselves of thoughts! 2. Meditation on meaning: Intermediates who attempt to understand the meaning of Reality! 3. Meditation on true Thusness: Advanced individuals who have stopped discriminating and entered nirvana! 4. Meditation on all beings: Experts who contemplate all sentient beings and seek their release from suffering! This view of mediation is a gradual process and reflects the assumption that one s mind is defiled and needs to be cleaned through meditation! This school is the origin of sitting meditation!15 Southern: Meditation Hui-neng criticized sitting meditation of the North:! Stopping the mind and contemplating quietude is pathological; it is not chan. Sitting all the time constricts the body how does it help toward truth? (from Liu, 313)! Mediation is...! not letting oneself get bothered by good or bad things in the world, and! the awareness of our internal nature! Solitude and isolation are unnecessary. One can gain enlightenment in any activity, practice, or perceptual experience gaining nirvana only requires recognizing one s nature as pure and clean!16
Northern: Enlightenment Enlightenment is possible! It is gradual process and results from a slow, diligent progression! One must be watchful and focused on one s enlightenment! In this respect, this school resembles Confucianism in the emphasis on diligent practice!17 Southern: Enlightenment Enlightenment is possible and requires awareness of one s innate wisdom! That wisdom is that all things have Buddha-nature! Enlightenment can be immediate, spontaneous, and innate! It is already within us since it is part of our Buddha-nature! Enlightenment is a natural, easy process! It is similar to Zhuangzi Daoism, in this respect! Enlightenment is in the moment and does not necessarily take time to achieve it is now! From thought to thought, one can either get into nirvana or quit nirvana. (Liu, p. 316)!18
Hui-neng on Reality There is not a separate realm of existence apart from this world! Buddhism is in the world, Hui-neng states! Nirvana is not a separate realm where there's a cessation of life and death! Instead, cessation of life and death should be understood as the extinction of grasping, attachment, and rejection of things! Leaving this world means leaving behind one s desires! The pure land is simply a pure mind!19 Reality and Nirvana We should rid ourselves of the preoccupation with life and death and seek a still and quiet mind! Reality does not change, suchness does not differ, when the mind does not change or differ in any situation, that is called reality as such. Hui-neng! It is not the external world that is illusory, it is our mental conceptions and sufferings that are illusory! Denial of the world is a metaphor for denial of mental illusions! Chan and Tian tai schools are similar in their conception of nirvana!20
Chan and Realism Liu thinks the Chan School would not view itself as Realist. In fact, Chan sees itself as founded on the rejection of illegitimate dichotomies! To see itself as realist would introduce discrimination and the opposite view of anti-realist! Likewise for other other judgements, like good/bad, ugly/ beautiful, just/unjust, etc.! These discrimination distort the true nature of things. We must forget these distinctions.! There is only one reality - it is this world, Buddha is in this world, and Buddha is realized in this world.! You may want to say it is real, yet no defining characteristics can be found; you may want to say it is unreal, yet it functions without interruption. Therefore it cannot be said not to exist, yet cannot be said to exist. Hui neng!21 Chan on the Mind Chan motto: "The mind is the Buddha."! This motto forces one to consider not who the Buddha is, but what the Buddha is! The mind is the Buddha-enabling faculty! Chan School teaches that everyone is born with innate Buddhahood! The question is not Who is the Buddha, but What is the Buddha!22
Human Nature Human nature is neither good nor bad (contra Mencius)! To make such a distinction is to hold dualistic conceptions! Buddha nature is an actuality, in contrast to seeing good human nature as a potentiality (as in Mencius)! Chan School teaches that discovering the original state of one's mind and nature is enlightenment! The closer one gets to one s intrinsic nature, the closer one gets to being a Buddha!23 Discrimination and the Mind One's original mind and nature is one of non-discrimination! From early childhood development, one is constantly discriminating differences and formulating concepts! Critical thinking and analytical knowledge is a form of discrimination! We are socially and biologically conditioned to discriminate differences and have concepts to label those differences! Once one begins to discriminate and label differences, one has lost one's original mind! The discriminating mind is called the conditioned mind!24
We Can't Help But Discriminate Perceptions are indispensable to our interactions in the world and the Chan School does not advocate withdrawal from life or total rejection of the perceptual world! Rather, we are to gain the right view by recognizing that everything has the same Buddha-nature! Chan School's advocacy of "nondiscrimination" is about the attitude of ethical evaluation! If one views someone's behavior as good or bad, then one is discriminating (Platform Sutra, 17 & 18)! The object is to view someone's behavior as neither then one's mind is not placing value on the actions!25 One's Nature and Non-discrimination Seeing one's nature as fundamentally pre-discriminatory and preconceptual is difficult! One must deny one's personal identity, eliminating any distinction between one's self and others! There is no love and hate, no good and evil, no friend and foe! Similarly, one should not dwell or fixate on one perception, but treat them as equal in value! Everyone basically shares the same fundamental nature with us! In addition, all things (rocks, grass, and other inanimate objects) share in the Buddha-nature in their emptiness! Ordinary people are unenlightened Buddhas, and Buddhas are enlightened ordinary people!26
Chan on Language Chan Buddhism, like Daoism, finds language inadequate when referring to and describing things! Words are "temporary setups"! Words are like fingers pointing to the moon! What the finger is pointing out is not the finger! What the words, labels and descriptions refer to are not captured by the words or concepts! The more one talks about the truth, the farther one is from it; the more one tries to explain the truth, the less likely one be in succeeding to get others to understand it!27 Chan Pedagogy Given the emphasis on the inability of language and concepts to help one understand Buddha-nature, the Chan teachers (masters) see language as a means of awakening students to their own self-nature! Language plays a pragmatic role in enlightenment by "shocking" the student to see things differently! The particular meanings and structure are secondary to the pragmatic role! Poems, riddles, nonsense, shouts, or silence all play a role in this awakening! The koan may, in fact, be completely non-sensical! They are meant to move the student beyond an entrenched way of thinking!28
Koans Koans are statements in response to questions about teachings! Koans both instruct and test the student! Koans may have no intellectual answers, but be meant to stimulate thought or realization that many questions presuppose the dualist thought that Buddhism is trying to relinquish! Joshu's dog example: the question itself assumes a difference between dog and Buddha-nature and between having and nothaving! Once one understands the bias or dualistic preconceptions of the initial question, the only response is a non-sensical one since attempts to address the question validate the very dualistic conceptions that are thought to be illusory!29 Analyzing Koans The problem is that the koans were often a particular response to a particular student to a particular context at a particular moment and so may carry no "shock" value or relevance to anyone else! Insight into what the master intended may be inaccessible! Liu: "So, Chan language is at times performative in uttering nonsense or in giving irrelevant answers, Chan masters do not convey any information. Instead, their intention is that listeners should see the limit of language itself and try to gain true knowledge on their own." (327)!30
Mind Awakening Chan is concerning with awakening the mind to Buddha-nature! But, since language is inadequate to capture this nature, mind awakening cannot be put into words! Nonetheless, the objective is to recognize one's self-nature and to realize that all beings share the same nature!31