This essay is meant to be taken as a whole, but it is comprised of 14 sections, and is rather long. Though the reader can return to the hub at any time to gain access to all other sections of the essay, each and every section is also written to be a standalone essay, should the reader choose to read only that.
Section 7: The Mind Transmission of Bodhidharma
Having examined how Huangbo illustrates Mind, and the nature of practice in enlightened persons, this section will continue this philosophical analysis by looking at how Huangbo discusses Bodhidharma in the same context. Using Huangbo's words, we will look at how Bodhidharma teaches the Way, how they understand Mind, and start to transition into a practical application of non-conceptualization in Bodhidharma's demonstrations.
According to Huangbo, Bodhidharma is putting forward the same thesis as discussed in section 6:
2.03.Our Founder preached to his disciples naught but total abstraction leading to elimination of sense-perception. In this total abstraction does the Way of the Buddhas flourish; while from discrimination between this and that a host of demons blazes forth!
Non-conceptualization is the embodied space from which the Buddha nature is manifest.1 This is not a special state seperate from ordinary experience. The Way is the destination; they are not two. This account of Bodhidharma is integral to understanding how Huangbo taught their experience of Zen. Huangbo explains:
2.09.On account of the obstacles created by dualistic reasoning, Bodhidharma merely pointed to the original Mind and substance of us all as being in fact the Buddha. He offered no false means of self-perfecting oneself; he belonged to no school of gradual attainment...Whosoever enters the gateway of our sect must deal with everything solely by means of the intellect. This sort of perception is known as the Dharma; as the Dharma is perceived, we speak of Buddha; while perceiving that in fact there are no Dharma and no Buddha is called entering the Sangha, who are otherwise known as ‘monks dwelling above all activity'...
This is a summary of the Way. Picking and choosing, grasping and rejecting, creates difficulties that need to be overcome. Like a remedy for an illness non-conceptualization points at the void; Mind as source, no different in nature from Buddha. Attainment and self-improvement abandoned, wisdom can manifest, until that too is forgotten and we enter the Sangha; monks "dwelling above all activity"; 2 undisturbed by apparent obstacles. Huangbo tells us that setting aside wisdom is key, that, "It is obvious that mental concepts and external perceptions are equally misleading, and that the Way of the Buddhas is as dangerous to you as the way of demons."(2.09) Wisdom manifests of itself in complete unexcelled enlightenment, which is the state of being beyond picking and choosing what counts as wise; what counts as conceptualization. This will be examined in more detail in later sections.
A path of self-perfection, in the context of Mind, reveals its self-defeating nature; no attainment, no realization; this means no way of using mind to overcome error. The other path is suppression of reality, using mind to overcome Mind; like a painter trying to erase the canvas by painting "WRONG" all over it. Bootless. Like someone deciding their shirt is too big, so they start pulling out threads to make it smaller. Huangbo explains:
2.15.Error has no substance; it is entirely the product of your own thinking. If you know that Mind is the Buddha and that Mind is fundamentally without error, whenever thoughts arise, you will be fully convinced that they are responsible for errors. If you could prevent all conceptual movements of thought and still your thinking-processes, naturally there would be no error left in you.3
So Mind must be understood before this constant error and obstacle creation can be set aside. This is Bodhidharma's task; to point at the central matter of Zen; Mind:
2.04.From Gautama Buddha down through the whole line of patriarchs to Bodhidharma, none preached aught besides the One Mind, otherwise known as the Sole Vehicle of Liberation. Hence, though you search throughout the whole universe, you will never find another vehicle. Nowhere has this teaching leaves or branches; its one quality is eternal truth.
The fact that liberation is not a special state, but the natural function of existing, creates a subtle philosophical point to differentiate; Mind can be spoken of in words, but is ultimately beyond words. Bodhidharma said:
2.10.Though I handed down Mind's Dharma,/How can Dharma be a Dharma?/For neither Mind nor Dharma/Can objectively exist.
Transmission of Mind is the purpose of this book; the same Mind from Master to Master for some 1500 years since Bodhidharma came from the West. Yet, the Mind can not be said to exist. The Dharma of Mind is no Dharma; Mind is above all such activity; void. A student asks Huangbo:
2.13.Q: If our own Mind is the Buddha, how did Bodhidharma transmit his doctrine when he came from India?
A: When he came from India, he transmitted only Mind-Buddha. He just pointed to the truth that the minds of all of you have from the very first been identical with the Buddha, and in no way separate from each other. That is why we call him our Patriarch. Whoever has an instant understanding of this truth suddenly transcends the whole hierarchy of saints and adepts belonging to any of the Three Vehicles. You have always been one with the Buddha, so do not pretend you can attain to this oneness by various practices.
Beyond the part about practices, already covered in depth, the transmission of Mind is transcendent of being Master; no great sainthood will be bestowed; we are already appropriate to the situation. No gradual practice could illuminate what is already manifest. So we discover what the Master spoke of, Mind, and we are already a functional Buddha. As has been said before, the perfections manifest of themselves once this is understood. This is the Womb of the Tathāgatas. Bodhidharma said:
2.26.Mind, which is our real nature, is the unbegotten and indestructible Womb; in response to circumstances, it transforms itself into phenomena. For the sake of convenience, we speak of Mind as the intelligence; but when it does not respond to circumstances, it cannot be spoken of in such dualistic terms as existence or nonexistence. Besides, even when engaged in creating objects in response to causality, it is still imperceptible. If you know this and rest tranquilly in nothingness—then you are indeed following the Way of the Buddhas.
"...in response to circumstances, it transforms itself into phenomena." The whole philosophy this essay has been analyzing up to now is summed up in this line. Practices, self-perfecting, upholding good and suppressing evil; all are imaginary obstacles to ordinary sight; unchanging nature of Mind, which is beyond concepts, void, changing and responding to experience according to what is appropriate. All the four statements of Zen4 are here; understanding Mind is the transmission outside of teachings or written words, with no nest to attain or defend; this is a buddha. Huangbo says, "Pointing to the identity of Mind and the Buddha, [Bodhidharma] demonstrated how the highest forms of Enlightenment could be transcended."(2.37) Enlightenment takes no permanent form; no special state.
Having settled the philosophical work, the rest of this already long section will start to move through an introduction to practical application quickly. Understanding the nature of Mind is to embody that understanding, and the function of Zen is to point at that Mind so that we can stop seeking. Huangbo is precise with their words:
2.25.So, after his arrival from the West, Bodhidharma transmitted naught but the Dharma of the One Mind. He pointed directly to the truth that all sentient beings have always been of one substance with the Buddha. He did not follow any of those mistaken ‘methods of attainment'. And if you could only achieve this comprehension of your own Mind, thereby discovering your real nature, there would assuredly be nothing for you to seek, either.
~___~
2.08.Essential substance partakes neither of identity nor difference...But if you accept the Buddha-Vehicle, which is the doctrine transmitted by Bodhidharma, you will not speak of such things; you will merely point to the One Mind which is without identity or difference, without cause or effect.
To become a part of Huangbo's school is to turn off the autopilot, that compulsive seeking for an unchanging, perfected form, and settle into the experience one has always inhabited. These laws, or Dharma's, are self-created. Given the nature of Mind, they have no place to rest. Zen Master's refer to this as pinning clouds to the sky.
In lieu of all this, Huangbo gives us the Way of non-conceptualization. This will allow us to turn our attention away from thoughts towards direct experience; a task Foyan claimed only needed to be done once (Instant Zen). Huangbo sums up their school here:
2.26.We can see from this that every sort of dharma is but a creation of Mind. And all kinds of beings—humans, devas, sufferers in hell, asuras and all comprised within the six forms of life—each one of them is Mind-created. If only you would learn how to achieve a state of non-intellection, immediately the chain of causation would snap.
Give up those erroneous thoughts leading to false distinctions! There is no ‘self' and no ‘other'. There is no ‘wrong desire', no ‘anger', no ‘hatred', no ‘love', no ‘victory', no ‘failure'. Only renounce the error of intellectual or conceptual thought-processes and your nature will exhibit its pristine purity—for this alone is the way to attain Enlightenment, to observe the Dharma ( Law ), to become a Buddha and all the rest. Unless you understand this, the whole of your great learning, your painful efforts to advance, your austerities of diet and clothing, will not help you to a knowledge of your own Mind. All such practices must be termed fallacious...If only you could comprehend the nature of your own Mind and put an end to discriminatory thought, there would naturally be no room for even a grain of error to arise.
In the upcoming sections, this essay will move away from philosophy, and focus on the practical application of the Way in Huangbo.
NOTES
1 Abstraction can mean a few things; given the context, it is most likely Blofeld meant abstraction from ideation and representation, rather than thinking in abstract; although the possibility of contemplation is fascinating as a translation.
2 "Above all activity" is a curious phrase and translation, and given the context, I don't believe Huangbo means sitting like lumps and doing nothing, but that all the coming and goings of the world are seen in the context of Mind; without concept they are approached with equanimity. This makes more sense in the context of Huangbo's school.
3 This point is repeated in 2.16.
4 The separate transmission outside the teachings, not based on the written word, points directly at the human mind, you see your nature and become a buddha.
Submitted October 19, 2020 at 10:10PM by surupamaerl https://ift.tt/3j9f0IB
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