Defining Dhyana

Huineng (via Yung):

Huang asked: "You say you come from Neng, the great master. What instruction did you have under him?"

Yung answered: "According to his instruction, no-tranquilization (ting-Samadhi), no-disturbance, no-sitting (tso), no-meditation (ch'an) - this is the Tathagata's Dhyana. The five Skandhas are not realities; the six objects of sense are by nature empty. It is neither quiet nor illuminating; it is neither real nor empty; it does not abide in the middle way; it is not-doing, it is no-effect-producing, and yet it functions with the utmost freedom: the Buddha-nature is all-inclusive."

Huineng:

"Dhyana (tso-ch'an) is not to get attached to the mind, is not to get attached to purity, nor is it to concern itself with immovability. What is Dhyana, then? It is not to be obstructed in all things. Not to have any thoughts stirred up by the outside conditions of life, good and bad - this is tso (dhyana). To see inwardly the immovability of one's self-nature - this is ch'an (dhyana). Outwardly, to be free from the notion of form - this is ch'an. Inwardly, not to be disturbed - this is ting (dhyana).

"When, outwardly, a man is attached to form, his inner mind is disturbed. But when outwardly he is not attached to form, his mind is not disturbed. His original nature is pure and quiet as it is in itself; only when it recognizes an objective world, and thinks of it as something, is it disturbed. Those who recognize an objective world, and yet find their mind undisturbed, are in true Dhyana. In the Vimalakirti it is said that 'when a man is instantly awakened, he comes back to his original mind', and in the Bhodisattva-sila, that 'My own original self-nature is pure and non-defiled.' Thus, O friends, we recognize in each one of the thoughts [we may conceive] the pureness of our original self-nature; to discipline ourselves in this and to practice by ourselves [all its implications] - this is by ourselves to attain Buddha's truth."

D.T. Suzuki's notes:

"In this we see that Hui-neng's idea of Dhyana is not at all the traditional one as has been followed and practiced by most of his predecessors."

"This fundamental discrepancy between Hui-neng and Shen-hsiu in the conception of self-nature, which is the same thing as the Buddha-nature, has caused them to run in opposite directions as regards the practice of Dhyana; that is, in the method of tso-ch'an (zazen in Japanese)."

"In the dust-wiping type of meditation (tso-ch'an, zazen) it is not easy to go further than the tranquilization of the mind; it is so apt to stop short at the stage of quiet contemplation, which is designated by Hui-neng 'the practice of keeping watch over purity.' At best it ends in ecstasy, self-absorption, a temporary suspension of consciousness. There is no 'seeing' in it, no knowing of itself, no active grasping of self-nature, no spontaneous functioning of it, no chen-hsing ('Seeing into Nature') whatever. The dust-wiping type is therefore the art of binding oneself with a self-created rope, an artificial construction which obstructs the way to emancipation. No wonder that Hui-neng and his followers attacked the Purity school.

"The quietistic, dust-wiping, and purity-gazing type of meditation was probably one type taught by Hung-jen, who was the master of Hui-neng, Shen-hsiu, and many other. Hui-neng, who understood the real spirit of Zen most likely because he was not hampered by learning, and consequently by the conceptual attitude towards life, rightly perceived the danger of quietism, and cautioned his followers to avoid it by all means. But most other disciples of Hung-jen were more or less inclined to adopt quietism as the orthodox method of Dhyana practice."

Submitted August 05, 2016 at 03:07AM by MortalSisyphus http://ift.tt/2aMcbgc