In A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms: With Sanskrit and English by Lewis Hodous, William E. Soothill, I had come across what I believe is the word [xinyin]? I believe the characters used are 心印, which translates loosely to "mental impression".
Here it can be found, that the definition of 心印 is "Mental impression, intuitive certainty ; the mind is the Buddha-mind in all, which can seal or assure the truth ; the term indicates the intuitive method of the Ch'an (Zen) school, which was independent of the spoken or written word.
Speaking of Lewis Hodous, I recently finished his book Buddhism and Buddhists in China, and wanted to share this elucidating passage on the meaning of Dhyana:
There are those who by the practice of meditation (four dkyanas) [Footnote: Dhyana means contemplation. In later times under the influence of the idea of transmigration heavens were imagined which corresponded to the degrees of contemplation.] can enter the sixteen heavens conditioned by form. By the practice of the four arûpa-dhyânas [Footnote: That degree of abstract contemplation from which all sensations are absent.] they enter the four highest heavens free from all sensuous desires and not conditioned by form. These heavens are the anteroom of Nirvana."
"What is the driving power in all this?"
"It is vîrya or energy." [see below]
Nirvana is described in The Buddhist Catechism by Colonel Henry Steel Olcott as the following:
Q. What is Nirvāna?
A. A condition of total cessation of changes, of perfect rest, of the absence of desire and illusion and sorrow, of the total obliteration of everything that goes to make up the physical man. Before reaching Nirvāna man is constantly being reborn; when he reaches Nirvāna he is born no more.
On Virya,
雅舍小品選集, Volume 2 By Shiqiu Liang:
Industry is another name for work. It means striving to perform a task to the best of one's ability, whether it involves mental of physical labor. In all walks of life, those who work hard and tirelessly are bound to achieve success and rise above their peers. These are men who have left their families to become Buddhist monks and spend the rest of their lives among the mountains and rivers, because they have seen through the vanity of earthly life and have decided to transcend all worldly strife. Even they must not give themselves up to idleness, but must direct their efforts towards achieving moral progress (virya), which means that, in addition to studying the scriptures and attending to rites of worship, they must diligently observe the commandment to do good deeds.
It goes on to list those two examples, the first example being of Zen master Huaihai, abbot of the Baizhang Monastery in the Kaiyuan era of the Tang dynasty, and how he learned the secret of mind-to-mind instruction (with a note offering the hint that mind-to-mind instruction is "Literally, 'mental impression', a term in Ch'an (Zen) Buddhism denoting an intuitive method of instruction and learning independent of the written word.").
Submitted September 09, 2017 at 10:52PM by Dillon123 http://ift.tt/2wPQkAR
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