A Mirror for Studying Zen

by Master Tsung-pen 

There is nothing else particularly special about the method of studying the Path: simply cleanse the sense faculties and sense objects, and make enlightenment, the standard. 

Good people, if you want to cultivate supreme enlightenment, you must firmly uphold discipline and maintain a vegetarian diet. If you do not strictly uphold discipline, you will never achieve enlightenment. What is the reason? Discipline is the foremost of the myriad practices, the foundation of the six perfections. It is like building a house: first you make a solid foundation. Without a solid foundation, you build in vain. 

As for discipline, this means the three combined disciplines of the Great Vehicle. One is the discipline covering codes of conduct, that cuts off all evils. That is, "Do not commit any of the forms of evil." One is the discipline covering good practices, that gathers together all forms of good. That is, "Faithfully practice the many virtues." One is the discipline of benefiting all sentient beings, so all beings are saved. That is, "Universally deliver sentient beings." (36) 

These three combined disciplines are the disciplines by which bodhisattvas become buddhas. Only if a person possesses these three disciplines can he cultivate Zen. Without the mentality [of these three combined disciplines], it does no good to study Zen.

Haven't you read what it says in the Brahma Net Sutra? 

If sentient beings accept the discipline of the buddhas, they will enter into the station of the buddhas. 

Could it be otherwise? 

The buddhas and patriarchs say, "Discipline can engender meditative concentration, and meditative concentration can engender wisdom. With wisdom, you illuminate mind. Illuminating mind, you see reality-nature, and become buddha. Being an enlightened teacher or a buddha always depends on this discipline." 

The business of studying Zen is the epitome of the mystic device of transcendence. It is not possible for those who take it easy. (37) 

You must generate great bravery and great energy. You also must stop thoughts, forget entangling objects, and gather in your seeing and hearing and turn them back [onto inherent reality]. You must take your everyday views of good and evil, your likes and dislikes, and your sentiments of affirmation and denial, and totally sweep them away. 

[Zen study] is like a sharp sword cutting through a skein of thread: when one thread is cut, all are cut. It is like cutting the mooring rope and casting off in a boat, and sailing away. It is like one man battling ten thousand men: there is no time to blink, no time to hesitate in doubt. 

If you can really generate this kind of adamant, fierce willpower, you will have the mettle to study Zen. 

Once you have the mettle to study Zen, take hold of the phrase "Amitabha Buddha" as if you are resting on the Polar Mountain and cannot be shaken. Concentrate your mind and unify your attention. Recite the buddha-name a few times, turn the light back and observe yourself, asking: Who is this one reciting the buddha-name? 

As you come to grips with it, you must see where this mindfulness of buddha, this recitation of the buddha-name, is arising from. After a long time, you will see through this mindfulness. Add doubt on top of doubt: ask yourself who, ultimately, is this one asking "who is the one reciting the buddha-name?" 

When you get here, hold the rope tight and don't let go. It is like seeing a mortal enemy. Hold tight: you must comprehend correctly. There is no room for hesitating in thought, no time for discussions. If you study Zen like this, eventually you will succeed. 

If you are as yet unable to act like this, listen further to some more talk. The method of work in studying Zen [can be described with the following metaphors]. 

It is like a person at the bottom of the well a thousand feet deep. Morning and night he thinks of only one thing: he wants to find a way out of the well. He has no other thought. 

It is like when you have lost something that is of crucial importance: you look for it everywhere from morning till evening. If you cannot find it, you think of it carefully, sighing with concern. 

It is like a cat hunting a rat, unified within and without [in rapt concentration] . 

It is like crossing a bridge made out of a single plank - you are extremely careful. 

If you use your mind like this, then oblivion and scattering naturally recede. Whether you are walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, [do your meditation work] as if you are holding an infant: you cannot make any sudden violent moves. 

Therefore, to pluck the pearl [from the bottom of the water], you must still the waves. To get the pearl when the water is moving is sure to be hard. When you have stilled the water and it is clear, the mind-pearl appears by itself . . . Thus the Complete Enlightenment Sutra says: 

Unobstructed pure wisdom is always born on the basis of samadhi, of stable meditative concentration. 

If you can really carry out your meditation work like this, then you will have meditative concentration in hand. 

Even when samadhi appears before you, you must not abide in "dead-tree" samadhi. (38) You must study the Great Matter [of enlightenment] until you illuminate it completely, and achieve perfect omniscience. An ancient worthy said, "Don't just forget your physical body and deaden your mind. This is the most serious of hard-to-cure ailments." To succeed, you must plumb the depths of the source. Then you will see reality-nature and recognize the natural reality. Of this it has been said: "Take a step forward from the top of the hundred foot high pole. Hanging from the cliff, let go. After annihilation, you return to life - only then can you be called a person who completely understands things." 

If good scenes appear before you [as you meditate], you should not be happy, or the delusion of happiness may enter your mind. If bad scenes appear before you, you should not be vexed, or the delusion of vexation may enter your mind. You must realize that such scenes do not come from outside: all are born from being sunk in oblivion, or are brought about by karmic consciousness. All that the eyes see and the ears hear is false - don't get attached to it! Keep on making energetic progress ... (39) 

If intellectual understanding appears before you, do not accept it. Quickly sweep it away. (40) If you abide in the realm of intellectual knowledge, you are burying your original face. An ancient worthy said: 

The Buddha Dharma is not fresh fish - don't worry that it will rot away. It is like peeling an onion. You peel off one layer, and there is another layer. You peel off that layer, and there is yet another layer. Keep on peeling until there is no place left to begin, and then you will achieve unity. 

After this, [whatever you do], putting on clothes, eating food, going to the toilet, moving or keeping still, talking or keeping silent, none of it is not the one Amitabha Buddha. From this mind there radiates a light which shines through the ten directions like the sun at high noon lighting up the sky, like a clear mirror on its stand. Before another moment goes by, suddenly you achieve true enlightenment. Not only do you understand this one great matter, you penetrate from top to bottom all the stories of the buddhas and enlightened teachers and understand completely all the teachings of enlightenment and all the phenomena of the world. 

When you reach this stage, you still cannot abide in it or get attached to it. You must seek an adept to certify your enlightenment, find accord with him, and get his seal of approval. 

After you get the seal of approval, you do not posit holy or ordinary, you forget both grasping and rejecting, you do not speak of heaven and hell or differentiate between south, north, east, and west. The whole universe is your own Amitabha. All of space is the Pure Land of mind-only. 

Then you will be able to manifest the land of the Jewel King on the tip of a hair and turn the wheel of the Great Dharma while seated in an atom of dust. You will receive and guide future people and support those in the last age. Only a Zen person like this is a great person beyond convention, a hero who goes beyond the crowd. 

If you are not yet like this, then for now rely on the power of the vows of Amitabha Buddha, and seek birth in the Pure Land. Why? I am afraid that at the end of your life, delusory objects will appear before you and your limbs will be in confusion. Then you will be unable to ward off [delusion], and you will inevitably go off again following your karmic entanglements. You must genuinely recite the buddha-name and cultivate both merit and wisdom and place your thoughts on the Pure Land . . . 
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36. There are many sets of precepts (discipline) in Buddhism, for laypeople, novices, monks and nuns, etc. However, they all derive from the three fundamental precepts of the Bodhisattva: "do not commit any of the forms of evil; faithfully practice the many virtues; universally deliver sentient beings." In a similar vein, the Dhammapada Sutra, a key text of the Theravada School, states: "Do not what is evil. Do what is good. Keep your mind pure." Note that the last injunction differs, reflecting the different emphases of the Mahayana and Theravada schools. 

37. For example, the Patriarch Dogen, the founder of the Japanese Soto Zen school, held that only monks and nuns could achieve true enlightenment through Zen. For details, see Kenneth Kraft, Zen: Tradition and Transition, p. 186. 

38. Dead Tree Samadhi. After a cultivator has reached a fairly high level of samadhi, he experiences ethereal bliss. However, he must progress beyond that level to develop wisdom. Otherwise, he is said to be mired in "dead tree" samadhi, a form of attachment which will effectively prevent him from reaching the Way. A famous koan illustrates this point: 

Once there was a devoted old woman who built a place of retreat for a monk, arranging that he would not lack for anything, so that he could concentrate upon his meditation and practice. One day, after twenty years, she instructed her daughter: "Today, after serving the Master his meal, take advantage of the situation to embrace him tightly, asking him at the same time, 'how does it feel to be hugged these days?' Come back and let me know his answer as faithfully as you can." 

The daughter dutifully did as she was told, putting her arms around the Master and asking the question. The Master replied, "I am not moved in the very least by sexual desire, no different from a dried up tree leaning against a cold mass of rocks in the middle of winter, when not even a drop of warmth can be found." The young girl repeated the answer to her mother, who said unhappily, "I have really wasted my time and effort during the last twenty years. Little did I know that I was only supporting a common mortal!" Having said this, she went out, evicted the monk, lit a fire and burned the meditation hut to the ground. 

39. All these scenes viewed by the cultivator while in meditation are referred to as demons. This is so because they disturb the mind. 

40. In Buddhism, the higher levels of truth cannot be grasped through mere intellectual understanding or reasoning. In fact, all reasoning, based on our limited senses and faculties, is a hindrance. The Buddhist analogy is that of a person attempting to lift a chair while seated upon it! 

Source Of Information:
《Pure Land Pure Mind 心净佛土净》, by Master Chu-hung and Tsung-pen, translated by J.C.Cleary, distributed by: Persatuan Penganut Agama Buddha Amitabha Malaysia, 90 & 92, Jalan Pahang, Gombak, 53000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.)
*** The information provided above does not contain personal opinion of this blog.