This book is a translation of selected passages from the sermons and writings of Zen Master Han-shan Te-ch'ing, one of the three "dragon-elephants” of Ming Buddhism. These passages originally appeared in the Han-Shan Ta-Shih Meng-Yu Chi (Collection of Master Han-Shan's Dream Roamings).
After Buddha Sakyamuni attained Enlightenment, He spread the Dharma and converted sentient beings. The entire fourfold assembly(6) obtained the benefit of the Dharma. He taught people according to their capacities, using different expedient methods so that all could obtain happiness and wisdom. As when there are timely rains and all trees and grass receive moisture and thrive, so all sentient beings derive benefits and grow by themselves. There are different methods, but they all spring from the same source. Since sentient beings are all endowed with the same Buddha Nature, they can all be taught and transformed. Everyone should practice in accordance with his own capacities. But, sentient beings grow confused if they have no one to guide them. Without guidance, they drown in the ocean of suffering.
When Hui-Neng [the Sixth Patriarch of Zen] came to see the Fifth Patriarch, he was asked, "Where do you come from?" Hui-Neng replied, "I come from Ling-Nan (South China)." The Fifth Patriarch asked, "Do the southern barbarians also have the Buddha Nature? " Hui-Neng answered, "People distinguish between North and South, but the Buddha Nature has no North or South."
Since these words were uttered, as thunder to wake up all who hibernate, they have spread across the world. But not many people understand and very few are enlightened. It is more than a thousand years now since Zen came out of southern China and was spread across the land by the Sixth Patriarch, but many people ... still cannot understand it. Therefore, the Buddha Recitation Samadhi, singleminded concentration and visualization of Amitabha Buddha are also taught.
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To practice Pure Land, one must abhor the condition of suffering [in the Saha world] and seek to be
reborn in the Western Pure Land. One must practice Buddha Recitation every day, bow to Amitabha Buddha and recite the repentance sutras. Practitioners must be firm in their faith, reduce their evil karma day after day and make a vow to be reborn in the Western Pure Land. Anyone who can really practice in this manner, even though he may be living in this Saha world of Birth and Death, will have a meaningful goal for his practice.
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The word "Buddha" means Enlightened One. All sentient beings have the same Buddha Nature. Everyone can be enlightened. One who is confused about the Buddha Nature is a sentient being. One who is enlightened about the Buddha Nature is called Buddha. When one recites the Buddha's name, Buddha Amitabha is one's Self-Nature, the Pure Land is the pure land of one's own mind. Anyone who can singlemindedly recite the Buddha's name in thought after thought and concentrate deeper and deeper will always find Amitabha Buddha appearing in his own mind. It is not necessary to seek the Pure Land far away, one hundred thousand lands beyond.(7) Therefore, if the mind is pure, the land is pure. If the mind is defiled, the land is defiled. If an evil thought comes to mind, then many obstacles appear. It a good thought arises, peace is everywhere. Thus, heaven and hell are all in one's own mind.
All good men and women should think about their future and the great matter of Birth and Death. Time passes swiftly and once the human body is lost, it cannot be recovered even in ten thousand kalpas (eons). It is like the sun and moon passing across the sky as fast as the fingers of weavers at the loom. Time cannot wait for you. If you lose the human condition, you cannot have it back [for many eons].(8) When the final moment comes, it will be too late for regrets. They will do you no good. So you should all strive to avoid this unhappy state.
The sutras teach that ordinary people, sages and saints are all equal. There is no difference [in their intrinsic nature]. Only the defilement or purity of mind is different. For this reason, it is said that "the Mind, Buddhas and sentient beings are no different from one another." A Pure Mind is Buddha, a defiled mind is sentient being. Buddhas and sentient beings differ only in the birth or non-birth of [wholesome or deluded] thoughts.
The mind is inherently clean and pure, but it is obstructed by greed, hatred, stupidity, arrogance, the five desires and many kinds of delusions. Therefore, those with such minds are called sentient beings. If defilements are discarded and the mind becomes pure, that is Buddhahood. It is not necessary to depend on others.
However, all sentient beings bear heavy karma; since time immemorial, it has been difficult to purify their defilements. Most of them require practice, such as meditation, working on a hua-t'ou or Buddha Recitation, in order to do so. So you see, there are many expedient ways to practice, but all are medicines to treat the diseases of the mind. For example, a mirror, intrinsically bright, cannot reflect anything if it is covered with dust. To clean it, a remedy (cleaning agent) is required. Yet the remedy itself is also dust, though it can rid other things of dust. Once the mirror is bright, there is no further need for the remedy. This is like gold in its ore, covered with the dirt and dust of sand and stone. After it is smelted and pure gold appears, there is no need to smelt it again.
It is difficult to rid oneself of the defiled mind characteristic of sentient beings. However, it can be done through diligent practice. When this is accomplished, the bright and undefiled mind appears.
Therefore it is said that all sentient beings are inherently Buddhas. To call those who are full of defilements Buddhas is not wrong.
Practicing Zen and meditating on a hua-t'ou are important methods for attaining Enlightenment. Unfortunately, very few people nowadays practice diligently enough. This is because they have shallow roots and cannot concentrate on practice. Furthermore, without a good teacher to direct them, they are easily led astray.
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We should, therefore, practice both Buddha Recitation and Zen. This is a proper and safe Dharma. One who can practice Buddha Recitation and then observe where his Buddha comes from and where his Buddha goes will, over a period of time, come to understand what Buddhahood is. This will open his mind, allowing bright wisdom to flow forth from his own mind-ground. This is no different from meditating on a kung-an (koan) or hua-t'ou. But sincere practice and hard work are necessary.
If someone with false thoughts dismisses hard work, seeks leisure day in and day out and does not consider practice important, he will be confused until the Year of the Donkey. Anyone who thinks that laziness and false thoughts are enjoyable is not misleading himself in this life alone; even at the end of many kalpas he might still be in confusion.
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If you have the right conditions for Buddha Recitation, try to practice it. Though you may still be part of the defiled world in this time of defilement, once you practice Buddha Recitation, you can rid yourself of afflictions. As stated in the sutras: if you purify water by letting sand and mud settle to the bottom so that pure water appears, that is the first step toward overcoming "guest dust"(9) afflictions. When all sand and mud are removed and only pure water remains, that is the same as breaking away from all ignorance and defilement forever. “You can then practice Buddha Recitation silently by yourself without fear of the least mistake.
If you can really separate yourself from defilement or, as the sutras say, if the mind is pure and bright and you have arrived at the stage where you have no obstacles put in your way by "guest dust” afflictions, not only will Amitabha Buddha come to lead you to rebirth in the Pure Land, but all Buddhas throughout the ten directions will praise you.
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(6) Fourfold Assembly. Monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen.
(7) This passage refers to the noumenon (transcendental) aspect of Pure Land: "if the mind is pure, the land is pure. " See Appendix, section B. The phenomenal aspect of Pure Land is expressed in the following passage from the Amitabha Sutra:
The Buddha then said to Shariputra the Elder: "Westward from here and beyond ten billion Buddha-lands there is a world called Utmost Happiness. In that land there is a Buddha called Amida, who is right now preaching the Dharma." (Hozen Seki, tr., Buddha Tells of the Infinite: the "Amida-kyo,’ p. 13).
For further details, see Note 23 below.
(8) To illustrate the extreme difficulty of rebirth in the human realm, Sakyamuni Buddha compared it to the likelihood that a blind sea turtle, surfacing from the depths of the ocean only once every century, would encounter a tree trunk in which to nest.
(9) Afflictions may be termed "guest dusts." They are "guests" because they come and go, unlike our empty and still True Nature. They are "dusts" because they stick to and defile the True Mind, just like the dust which covers a bright mirror and prevents it from reflecting the objects before it.
related post: The Important Dharma of Pure Land
Source Of Information:
《Pure Land of The Patriarchs》, by Zen master Han-Shan Te-Ch'ing, translated by Dharma Master Lok To, Sutra Translation Committee of The United States and Canada, New York - San Francisco - Toronto, published in March, 2001, distributed by Amitabha Buddhist Society Malaysia (92, Jalan Pahang, 53300 Gombak, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
*** The information provided above does not contain personal opinion of this blog.
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