This is a continuation of [MSY] The Chan School of China (A Brief History of Chan - Part 1). Anything in ()s without a link was originally in the text. Commentary below.
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The Chan of Master Huineng
Master Huineng attained enlightenment when he heard the phrase "without abiding, give rise to the mind" from the Diamond Sutra (Wikipedia | smithsonianmag.com | complete text with Chinese), so he placed special emphasis on that sutra. When he ascended to his seat to expound the Dharma, he said to the audience, "Purify your mind everyone, and meditate on mahaprajnaparamita." (Wikipedia for the sutra of that name) "Mahaprajnaparamita" signifies "crossing over with great wisdom." In other words, one crosses over with great wisdom from this shore of samsara and vexations to the other shore of liberation. However, the patriarchs before him asked people to recite "mahaprajnaparamita" orally, while he advocated reciting it with the mind.
Huineng did not maintain that one should empty the mind and sit meditating quietly, or that one should seek the Buddha outside the mind. If one cannot attain enlightenment by oneself, one needs to seek guidance from a virtuous teacher. In addition, he maintained that concentration and wisdom are inseparable saying, "Concentration is the essence of wisdom, and wisdom is the function of concentration. When wisdom is present, concentration is contained in wisdom. When concentration is present, wisdom is contained in concentration." (From the Platform Sutra, Wikipedia | Full Text from thezensite.com [PDF]) This is the simultaneity of concentration and wisdom, and is different from the traditional concept of first cultivating concentration and then generating wisdom. He said, "Don't say that concentration comes first, and then one generates wisdom, or that wisdom comes first and then one generates concentration. What can concentration and wisdom be likened to? They are like the lamp and its light. With the lamp, it is bright; without the lamp, it is dark. The lamp is the substance of the light, and the light, the function of the lamp." (Also from the Platform Sutra, a relevant excerpt from dailyzen.com)
He had the following concept about seated meditation: "What is 'seated meditation'? In this teaching, there is no impediment and no hindrance. Externally, for the mind to refrain from activating thoughts with regard to all the good and bad phenomena is called 'seated.' Internally, to see the motionless of the self-nature is called 'meditation'." Therefore, he said: "Some people teach meditation in terms of viewing the mind, contemplating tranquility, motionlessness, and non-activation, putting their efforts on the basis of these. These deluded people do not understand, so they attach to such a practice and develop distorted views. There are many people like this, and they, in turn, teach others. You should know that it is a great mistake." (From the Platform Sutra, a relevant excerpt from dailyzen.com)
The teachings all derive from the concept of "taking the four postures of walking, standing, sitting, and lying down to be samadhis" as quoted earlier from the Mahayana sutras (Wikipedia). Therefore, Master Huineng cited in particular "a straightforward mind is the place of practice" and "a straightforward mind is a pure land," the two statements from the Vimalakirti Sutra (Wikipedia), and extended the idea and said, "Simply apply a straightforward mind, and don't be attached to any dharmas." (The above-mentioned citations can all be found in the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch.)
Chan after the Sixth Patriarch
Nukariya Kaiten (Terebess | Japanese Wikipedia), a former president of Komazawa University in Japan (Wikipedia), has classified the periods of Chinese Chan into several phases: from Bodhidharma to Huineng he called "the time of pure Chan"; from Huineng to the Tang and the Five Dynasties (907-ca. 960), "the time of extemporaneous approaches"; and from then to the Song Dynasty, "the very ripe time." Thereafter Chan gradually declined, and it was in modern times that Eminent Master Xuyun (Wikipedia) and Chan Master Laiguo (Chinese Wikipedia | story on dharmasite.net) revived the Chinese Chan School.
The extemporaneous approaches refer to applying the means of shouting, beating, and other extemporaneous methods to help Chan practitioners eliminate self-attachment. During the "very ripe time" that began from the Northern Song Dynasty, the methods of gong'an (Wikipedia for Koan), huatou (Wikipedia), and Silent Illumination (Wikipedia for Shikantaza | 默照銘/Mozhao ming/Silent Illumination text on Terebess) came into being. Gong'ans are historical anecdotes (literally, "public cases") about the individual enlightenment experiences of certain ancient Chan masters. Before then, nobody collected, sorted, and compiled these accounts. During the Nothern Song Dynasty Fenyang Shanzhao (947-1024) (Terebess) first compiled One Hundred Instances of Earlier Masters (Chn. Xianxianyibaize); Xuedou Chongxian (980-1052) (Wikipedia | Terebess) compiled In Praise of One Hundred Ancient Instances (Chn. Song'gu baize) (the Blue Cliff Record is based on these, Wikipedia); and Wuzu Fayan (1024-1104) (Terebess) initiated the gong'an of "wu" (literally, "no", "not", or "without") exhorting people to investigate Master Zhaozhou's (Jōshū in Japanese, Wikipedia | Terebess) answer, "Wu," when asked by a disciple if a dog had buddha-nature. Later, Master Dahui Zonggao (1089-1163) (Wikipedia | Terebess) devoted great effort to advocating Zhaozhou's wu, whereas his contemporary, Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091-1157) (Wikipedia | Terebess) was the first to advocate Silent Illumination.
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Casey's Commentary:
I was planning on letting the quotes from Sheng Yen speak for themselves and I would do the talking in the comments below, but there were a couple "requests" to voice my own opinion along with the OP. After I spent a few days lurking and reading comments here, my first post to the sub was "Who are some contemporary Zen/Chan masters?". I was surprised about only getting a single recommendation, Meido Moore Roshi. Tich Nat Hahn was mentioned as a "pop Zen master". Osho and Alan Watts were also mentioned as perhaps being "masters of zen".
This didn't make a whole lot of sense to me because every single person I've seen mentioned as being a "Zen Master" (or whatever workaround label which is applied, ie "old dude") on this sub had a teacher who they would have called "Master". Also, people seem to love Gong'ans (Koan) and those are records of interactions between students and "masters". A living "Zen Master" who you study under/with has been a part of the Zen/Chan tradition since its formation up until now. I'm not saying that it's necessary to study under a Zen/Chan master to master zen/chan, but having a teacher has always been a method.
Shortly after that post, I made a post titled "In the Chan tradition, when one attains enlightenment…" which was from a talk given by Sheng Yen. Inside of that, I bolded the line "Only after enlightenment could one know who was a good teacher, and having found one, they had to redouble their efforts." My intention with that post was two-fold. It was to make the point about the importance of having a teacher ("master") and to see if the community would like more content from Sheng Yen. The number of upvotes along with the ratio of upvotes seemed to say "Yes".
My intention with sharing this "brief history of Chan" (that's a title of my creation) was to learn a bit more of the history for myself and share what I learned along the way while making it as simple as possible to get more information about any of the mentioned people or texts. There also seems to be debate on the forums about the "best" way to approach the study of Zen/Chan and some people seem to think they've "won" that debate or "figured out" the best method. Historically Zen/Chan Masters have disagreed about what the proper approach to Zen should be; gradual vs sudden, meditation vs no meditation. Those debates and disagreements continue to this day.
I also wanted to address the "religious" aspects of Zen/Chan. There seems to be this aversion to anything which looks religious and... I understand that but... something appearing religious doesn't make it not-zen. My view is that anyone who studies Zen is Buddhist, but not all Buddhists study Zen. Being "anti-Buddhist" is like the most Buddhist thing you can do! lol I totally get why some Zen people would super opposed to being called Buddhists.
For the record, I'm Taoist. I've been a serious student of Taoism for 25+ years, and I've had a formal "Taoist Master" for 17+ years. Taoism, in the West, also has this weird "philosophical vs religious" split. Being from the West, I first approached Taoism being averse to any of the religiosity. Now my view on Taoism is different. I see that Taoists did what they had to do to stay relevant as political and economic climates in China changed. Some Taoists believe in spirits and ritual magic and the like. Some practiced it without belief for the locals. Other Taoists laugh at all of it. It's all Taoist though. I see Chan Buddhism kind of the same way. Without these religious organizations, none of the "masters of old" would have ever made it into your hands and eyes.
I have an interesting Taoist/taiji teacher. He thinks everyone is doing taiji "wrong" but he, at the same time, respects the lineage and teachers that came before him. It's the Chinese way. A part of Chan/Zen is respecting the teachers that came before you... it's the Chinese way! Even if you transcend the teachers and the teaching, burned the Buddha, and killed your parents, you should still able to interact in the "real world" and speak plainly. Maybe high five the Buddha the next time you see him on the road... lol
The amount of text I wrote is why I stay away from keyboards and normally browse from my phone! lol Feel free to let me know if you'd like "commentary" with posts I make in the future or if you'd rather me keep my mouth shut and respond below. I'm fine either way. While I like Sheng Yen, he isn't my "end all be all". He's just what I'm reading right now. If you have contemporary recommendations feel free to share them below or message me. Oh! As a side note, I'm working on leveling up my Chinese so I can read original texts. I first got excited about this thinking about all of the untranslated Taoist texts that are out there, but the same is true for Chan texts. What's available in English is just the tip of the iceberg. Something to consider is "Chan" was largely influenced by Taoism. They influenced each other. What brought me to Chan was learning about Taoist sects who mastered the "three ways" (Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism).
Submitted October 29, 2019 at 07:50AM by CaseyAPayne https://ift.tt/2WqcR1s
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