The one who took it up after the Chan Master Sengcan was the Chan Master Dàoxìn. He opened the Chan Gate again, and it spread throughout the country. He had a volume, Methods of Bodhisattva Discipline, and he devised essential expedient methods for entering the Path and pacifying mind.
I expound this teaching of mine for those who causal conditions and capacities are ripe for them. You must go by the Laṅkāvatāra Sutra: make the mind of the buddhas number one. And go by the one-practice samadhi in the Prajna Sutra Spoken by Manjusri. If you are mindful of the buddha-mind, you are a buddha; if you have false mindfulness, then you are an ordinary person. In the Prajna Sutra Spoken by Manjusri it says:
Majusri said, 'World Honored One, what is one-practice samadhi?'
Buddha said, 'Being linked to the realm of reality through its oneness is called one-practice samadhi.'
If men and women want to enter one-practice samadhi, first they must learn about prajnaparamita and cultivate their learning accordingly. Later they will be capable of one-practice samadhi and, if they do not reat from or spoil their link with the realm of reality, of inconceivable unobstructed formlessness.
Good men and women, if you want to enter one-practice samadhi, you must be empty and at ease, and abandon all confused ideas. Not grasping at forms and appearances, you bind your heart to one Buddha, and concentrate on invoking his name. Wherever the Buddha may be, straighten your body and face toward him. If you can keep continuous mindfulness of this one Buddha, in this mindfulness you can see all the buddhas of the past, present and future. Why? The merit of mindfulness of one Buddha is infinite and boundless, and one with the merits accomplished by all the infinite numbers of buddhas. The Inconceivable Buddha Dharma is everywhere equal and without distinctions: all buddhas ride upon One Suchness, achieving supreme true enlightenment, equipped with all the countless accomplished virtues and infinite eloquence. All those who enter one-practice samadhi like this know that there is no sign of difference in the realm of reality of all the countless buddhas. Whatever they do, their bodies, minds and inner hearts are forever at the site of enlightenment. All their actions and conduct are bodhi.
The contemplation of Samantabhadra Sutra says:
The sea of all karmic barriers arises from false forms. If you want to repent, sit upright and be mindful of Reality.
This is called supreme repentance. Eliminate the mentality of the three poisons, the mind that clings to objects. If the min that is aware and contemplating is continuously mindful of Buddha, suddenly there will be clarity and stillness, and there are no more thoughts linked to objects. The Great Prajnaparamita Sutra says:
To have no objects of thought is called mindfulness of buddha.
What is meant by having "no objects of thought"? Being mindful of the buddha-mind is called "having no objects of thought". There is no separate Buddha apart from mind, and no other mind apart from Buddha. To be mindful of Buddha is to be mindful of mind. To seek mind is to seek Buddha. Why? Consciousness has no shape, Buddha has no form. Knowing this truth is pacifying mind. With constant mindfulness of Buddha, grasping at objects does not arise. Then it is totally formless, everywhere equal and without duality. When you enter this station, the mind that [actively] remembers Buddha fades away and no longer has to be summoned. When you witness this type of mind, this is the true reality-nature body of the Tathagata. It is also called the Correct Dharma, buddha-nature, the real identity of all phenomena, reality itself. It is also called the Pure Land. It is also called bodhi, diamond samadhi, fundamental enlightenment, and so on. It is also called the realm of nirvana and prajna, and the like. Though the names are countless, they all share one and the same essence. There is no sense of the subject observing and the object observed.
This level of mind must be made pure and clean, so it is always appearing before you, and no entangling objects can interfere with you. Why [can't they interfere]? Because [for this level of mind] all things and events are the single reality body of the Tathagata. Abiding in this state of mind, all interlinked vexations will be eliminated of themselves. In an atom of dust are contained infinite worlds; infinite worlds can be gathered into a single pore. Because at root all phenomena are Thus, they do not interfere with each other. The Huayan Sutra says: "Within an atom of dust appear all the phenomena of all the worlds in the cosmos."
Let us outline pacifying mind: it cannot be expounded in full. The proper skill at it comes from one's own innermost heart. To be brief, for the sake of the odubts of people in the future, let us pose a question: "If the Tathagata's body of reality is like this, then why does he also have the body of the marks of excellence appearing in the world and preaching the Dharma?"
It is precisely because the Tathagata's reality-nature body is pure and perfect that all kinds of forms appear within it. Yet the reality-nature body gives rise to them mindlessly. It is like a glass mirror hung up in a high hall: all images appear within it, but the mirror is mindless, though it can manifest all kinds [of images]. The Nirvana Sutra says:
The Tathagata appears in the world and preaches the Dharma because of the false thinking of sentient beings.
If practitioners cultivate mind until it is totally purified, they realize that "the Tathagata never preached the Dharma". Only this is complete learning - learning that is formless and [embraces] all forms.
Therefore, the sutra says:
Since there are numberless [types of] capacities among sentient beings, [the buddhas] preach the Dharma in numberless ways. Since the Dharma is preached in numberless ways, the meanings are also numberless. Numberless meanings are born from the One Reality. The One Reality is formless, but there is no form that it does not give form to: it is called the true form. This is total purity.
These trustworthy words are our witness. When sitting we must be aware of the onward flow of the conscious mind from its first movement. We must make ourselves aware of its comings and goings and test it with diamond wisdom. For example, plants have no separate knowledge. Knowledge without objects of knowledge is called all-knowledge. This is the One-Form Dharma Gate of bodhisattvas.
Question: What is a Chan Master, a meditation teacher?
Dàoxìn: Someone who is not disturbed by stillness or confusion, that is, someone who is good at Chan use of mind. If one always abides in cessation, the mind sinks into oblivion. If one always abides in contemplation, the mind scatters in confusion. The Lotus Sutra says:
The Buddha himself abides in the Great Vehicle: the Dharma he attains is adorned with the power of concentration and wisdom, and he uses these to deliver sentient beings.
Question: How can we understand the characteristics of the Dharma? How can we illuminate and purify our minds?
Dàoxìn: Not by reciting the buddha-name, not by restricting mind, not by observing mind, not by calculating thought, not by contemplation, not by the practice of observation, not by scattering and confusion. Just let it roll along: don't make it go, don't let it stay. In the solitary purity, the ultimate locus, mind of itself is illuminated and pure. If we can observe it truly, mind is instantly illuminated and pure, mind is like a clear mirror. If we can observe it truly for a year, it will be even more clear and pure; if for three years or five years, even more clear and pure. Some can find understanding by hearing people explain it for them. Some never need explanations to understand. A sutra says: "The real identity of the mind of sentient beings is like a precious pearl submerged in water. When the water is turbid, the pearl is hidden. When the water is clear, the pearl is revealed."
Because they slander the Three Jewels and disrupt the harmony of the sangha, because they are polluted with opinions and vexations, because they are stained by craving and anger and ignorance, sentient beings do not awaken to the fundamental eternal purity of the real identity of mind. Thus, when they study, they grasp understanding in different degrees. These differences generally come from their differences in capacities and causal conditions. To be a teacher for people, one must be good at recognizing these differences.
The Huayan Sutra says:
The form of Samantabhadra's body is like empty space. It is based on Thusness, not on a buddha-land." When you understand, budda-lands are also Thus, so the land of Thusness depends on nothing at all.
The Nirvana Sutra says: "There is a bodhisattva with a boundless body equal in extent to empty space." It also says: "Because he has the light of goodness, he is like the summer sun." It also says: "Because his body is boundless, it is called Great Nirvana." It also says: "Great Nirvana - its nature is vast."
There are four kinds of people who study. The highest are those with p[ractice, with understanding, and with realization. Next are those with understanding and realization but without practice. Next are those with practice and understanding but without realization. Lowest are those with practice, but without understanding or realization.
Question: In the moment, how should we practice contemplation?
Dàoxìn: You must let it roll.
Question: Should we orient ourselves toward the Western Paradise or not?
Dàoxìn: If you know that mind is fundamentally unborn and undestroyed and ultimately pure, this is the pure budda-land. There is no further need to face toward the west. The Huayan Sutra speaks of infinite aeons in a moment of thought, and a moment of thought lasting infinite aeons. We must realize that in one direction there are countless directions, and that countless directions are one direction. For the sake of beings of dull capacities, Buddha had them orient themselves to the Western Paradise: this was not propounded for people of sharp faculties.
Bodhisattvas of profound practice enter birth and death to transform and deliver living beings, without any of the views of sentimental love. If you see sentient beings as having birth and death, yourself as the subject able to save them, and the sentient beings as the object being saved, then you are not to be called a bodhisattva. Delivering sentient beings is like delivering emptiness - has there ever been any coming or going? The Diamond Sutra says: "In the final deliverance of numberless beings, in reality there are no beings gaining final deliverance."
The first-stage bodhisattva first witnesses everything as empty, then witnesses everything as not empty. This is nondiscriminating wisdom. And this is form: form is emptiness. It is not emptinesss that wipes out form: form by nature is empty. Bodhisattvas cultivate and learn emptiness at their realization. When new students directly see emptiness, this is seeing emptiness; it is not real emptiness. Those who cultivate the Path until they find real emptiness do not view things as empty or not empty - they have no views. You must understand properly the meaning of form and emptiness.
To learn the use of mind, you must have the mind-road illumined and pure, and you must understand the characteristics of phenomena completely and clearly. Only then are you fit to be a teacher to people. Moreover, this requires inner and outer to correspond, and theory and practice not to contradict each other. You must break with written and spoken words, and with contrived versions of the Sagely Path. In unity and purity you experience for yourself the fruits of the Path.
There are people who teach living beings for the sake of fame and profit, without comprehending the characteristics of the ultimate Dharma. They do not recognize relative degrees of depth and shallowness in [their pupils'] capacities and causal affinities. They give their seal of approval to everyone, to people who seem enlightened but are otherwise. This is most painful! It is a great disaster! Whenever someone seems illuminated and pure in their perception of mind, they immediately give their approval. These people are gravely damaging the teaching of enlightenment: they are deceiving themselves and deceiving others. People who use mind with such divergences [from the Correct Path] and present this appearance have not found Mind. Those who truly find Mind recognize it clearly for themselves. After a long while the Dharma Eye opens by itself and is well able to distinguish what is empty and false.
Some people reckon that the body is [ultimately] empty and nonexistent, and that the real identity of mind is also obliterated. These are people with nihilistic views. They are the same as outsiders - they are not Buddhists.
Some people reckon that mind is existent and not destroyed. These are people with eternalist views. They, too, are the same as outsiders.
The Buddhists of today who understand crearly not think that the real identity of mind is oblierated.They are always saving sentient beings, but without creating any sentimental perceptions. They always study wisdom, so that wisdom and folly are everywhere equal. They are always in Chan concentration, so that stillness and confusion are not two. They always view sentient beings as not existent, as ultimately neither born nor destroyed. They manifest forms everywhere, but they have no views or perceptions. They completely understand everything without grasping or rejecting. Without their dividing their bodies, their bodies appear everywhere throughout the worlds of the realm of reality.
In the olden days Chan Master Zhiyi [of Tiantai] taught:
The method of studying the Path requires that understanding and practice support each other. First, find out the source of mind, its essential body and its functions. See inner truth clearly: comprehend completely and distinctly without confusion. After that, the work can be completed.
Understand one, and a thousand follow. Be deluded about one, and you are confused about ten thousand. Lose it by a hair's-breadth, and go wrong by a thousand miles. These are not empty words!
The Amitabha Sutra says:
The dharmakaya of all the buddhas enters the minds and thoughts of all sentient beings.
Is it that mind is the buddha, or that mind makes buddha? We must realize that mind is buddha - outside of mind there is no other buddha. In brief, there are five types [of approaches to this truth].
The various scriptures are replete with many methods of contemplation. In what the Great Teacher [Dàoxìn] expounded, he made "preserving unity and not stirring" his topic.
First, you must cultivate the contemplation of bodily existence, taking the body as the basis. This bodily existence is composed of the four great elements and the five skandhas: in the end it reverts to impermanence and cannot get free. Even while not yet destroyed, it is ultimately empty. The Vimalakirti Sutra says: "This body is like floating clouds that change and pass away in a moment."
Again: Always contemplate your own bodily existence as being empty and pure as a reflection - it is visible, but it cannot be grasped. Knowledge is born from among the reflections, ultimately without location. Without moving, it responds to beings, in transformations without end. In the void are born the six sense faculties: the six sense faculties, too, are empty and still. You must understand completely that the six sense objects that are put opposite them are dreamlike illusions.
When the eye sees things, the things are not there in the eye. It is like a mirror reflecting the image of a face with complete clarity. In the void appear shapes and images. In the mirror there is not a single thing: evidently the person's face is not in the mirror, and the mirror does not go out into the person's face. Investigating in detail like this, we realize that from the beginning neither the mirror nor the face has ever gone out or gone in, gone or come. This is the meaning of tathagata, "the one who has come from Thusness."
By this close analysis [we find that] in the eye and in the mirror from the beginning it has always been empty and still. The mirror's reflecting the eye's reflecting are the same. Taking this as the point of comparison, [we find that] all the sense faculties are this way as well. We know that the eye is fundamentally empty, so whatever form is seen we know is alien form. When the ears hear sound, we know it is alien sound. When the nose smells scents, we know they are alien scents. When the tongue differentiates flavors, we know they are alien flavors. When the conceptual mind stands opposite phenomena, we know they are alien phenomena. When the body receives touch, we know it is alien touch. To contemplate like this and reach such knowledge is contemplating empty stillness.
When you see form with such knowledge, you do not receive form. Not receiving form is emptiness, emptiness is formless, formlessness is uncontrived. This is the gate of liberation. For the learner who finds liberation, all the senses are like this: no need to repeat the account for each one.
Be constantly mindful that the six sense faculties are empty and still, and that you have no hearing or seeing. The Bequeathed Teaching Sutra says: "This time is the middle of the night, still and soundless." You must know that the Dharma preached by the Tathagata takes empty stillness as the basis. Be ever mindful that the six senses are empty and still; be constantly as if in the middle of the night. What is seen and heard by day are all things external to the body. Let is be always empty and pure within the body, preserving unity without stirring. With this eye of emptiness and purity, focus the attention and observe one thing. No matter whether it is day or night, focus the energy so that it does not move. When the mind is about to run off and scatter, quickly gather it back. It is like tying a bird's foot so that when it wishes to fly away, it is held fast. Contemplate without stopping all the time: when purified, mind will stabilize itself.
The Vimalakirti Sutra says: "Gathering in mind is the site of enlightenment." This is a method for gathering in mind. The Lotus Sutra says: "Having eliminated sleep and gathered in the mind for countless ages, by the accomplished merit of this he was able to engender meditative concentrations." This was also said in the Bequeathed Teaching Sutra: "Mind is the ruler of the five faculties: control it in one place, and all will be accomplished."
The foregoing are true principles of the Great Vehicle. All are laid out on the basis of scripture: they are not false words outside the truth. These [forms of practice described above] are stainless activities, and ultimate meanings. They go beyond the stages of the sravakas and go straight for the bodhisattva path.
Those who hear should practice: don't be doubtful and confused. It is like a person learning archery. At first he shoots at large targets. By and by he can hit smaller and smaller ones. Then he can hit a single feather, then hit it and smash it into a hundred pieces, then hit one of the hundredths. Then he can shoot the arrow before with the arrow after, and hit the notch, so the arrows line up one after another and he does not let any arrows fall.
This is a metaphor for practicing the Path, concentrating the mind from thought-instant to thought-instant, going on continuously from mind-moment to mind-moment without any interruptions, so that correct mindfulness is not broken and appears before you. Another sutra says: "With the arrow of wisdom, shoot through the gate of triple liberation. Let the arrows line up and hold each other up so that none fall."
Again: [studying the Path] is like drilling for fire. If you stop before it gets hot though you may wish to get fire, it is impossible.
[Studying the Path] is also like this: A family had a wish-fulfilling gem. Whatever they sought, they got. Unexpectedly they lost it, but they remember it and never forget it.
Again: It is like a poison arrow entering the flesh. The shaft has been pulled out, but the point is still in there. Suffering pain like this, there is no forgetting it even temporarily: it is constantly in mind. [A person studying the Path] must be like this.
The secret essence of this Dharma cannot be transmitted to the wrong person. It is not that we are reluctant to pass it on: it is that we fear people will not believe and will fall into the crime of slandering the Dharma. We must choose the right people: we cannot be in a hurry or speak hastily. Take care! Take care! Though the Dharma sea is immeasurable, it is traveled in a single word. When you find the meaning, you forget the word. Not even using a single word, yet knowing with complete comprehension like this - this is getting the Buddha's meaning.
When beginning students sit in meditation, in undivided stillness they directly contemplate body and mind. They must investigate the four elements and the five skandhas, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body feeling, and conceptual mind, greed, anger, and ignorance, along with all phenomena, whether good or bad, hostile or friendly, ordinary or holy. They must observe that all these are originally empty and still, unborn and undestroyed, everywhere equal and without duality. Since the beginning there has been nothing at all, just ultimate quiescent extinction. Since the beginning, just pure liberation. You must do this contemplation always, no matter whether day or night, whether you are walking, standing, sitting, or lying down.
If you do, you will realize that your own bodily existence is like the moon in the water, like an image in a mirror, like a mirage when it is hot, like an echo in an empty valley. If you say it exists, wherever you seek it, it cannot be seen. If you say it does not exist, when you comprehend completely, it is always before your eyes. The buddha's body of reality [Dharmakaya] is also like this. Then you come to know that from countless ages past your own body has ultimately never been born, and that in the future ultimately there is no one who dies. If you can always do the contemplation, this is true repentance: the heavy evil karma of thousands of ages dissipates itself.
Only those who are confused by doubts and who cannot engender faith are incapable of enlightenment. If you believe and practice according to this [contemplation method], all of you will get to enter into the unborn truth.
Again: When you become aware of mind arising linked to other objects, immediately contemplate this arising and view it as ultimately not arising. See that when this mental attachment arises, it does not come from anywhere or go anywhere. As you constantly contemplate the process of grasping at objects, you observe the thoughts and mixed mindfulness of false consciousness. When the mind of confusion does not arise, you attain the coarse level of abiding. When you find the mind that abides, there are no more thoughts linked to objects, and everything is accordingly still and steady. You also attain the appropriate cessation of afflictions: you have finished with the old ones and do not create any new ones. This is called contemplation that liberates.
[With this contemplation], even if the mind creates afflictions and becomes depressed, confused, and sunk in dark torpor, it soon disperses this and adjusts itself. Mind is slowly put at peace and made to find its proper state. When mind of itself is peaceful and clean, then all that is needed is bold advance, as if saying your head from burning. You must not slack off or get lazy. Try hard, try hard!
When beginners sit in meditation to contemplate mind: Sit alone someplace. First straighten out your body and sit upright; let your robe be wise and your belt loose. Let your body relax, rub yourself down seven or eight times. Let the exaltations from the belly and throat cease. Then you will find in abundance the purity, emptiness and peace of inherent-reality-nature.
When body and mind are properly attuned, when mind and spirit are at peace, then in deep mystic fusion, the breath is pure and cool. Slowly gather in mind until the path of the spirit is pure and sharp and the mindground is illumined and pure. As you perceive clearly and distinctly, inner and outer are empty and pure - this is the mind's inherent nirvana. With this nirvana, the mind of the sages is manifest. Though its real nature is formless, intent and proportion always remain. Thus, the profound luminous one never ends: it remains forever, shining bright. This is called the buddha-nature, the enlightened real identity. Those who see the buddha-nature leave behind forever birth and death: they are called people who transcend the world.
Therefore, the Vimalakirti Sutra says: "Emptying through, one returns to find original mind." How trustworthy these words are! One who awakens to buddha-nature is called a bodhisattva, a person who has awakened to the Path, a person who has arrived, a person who has found reality-nature. Thus the sutra says: "A phrase that has profound spiritual energy lasts through the ages without decaying."
The expedient means explained above are for beginners. We know that there are expedient means for cultivating the Path: this is where the intentions of the sages meet.
In general, methods of relinquishing personal existence begin with stabilizing and emptying mind, and make mind and objects quiescent and still. These methods recast thinking into mystic quiescence, so that mind does not stir and the reality-nature of mind is still and settled. Then you cut off grasping at objects. Deeply fused, solidified in purity, mind is empty, everywhere equal, peaceful, and still. Material forces are totally gone: you abide in the pure body of reality, no longer subject to states of being.
If you stir up mind and lose mindfulness, you will not avoid being subject to birth. Things must be like this: this is the mental state predetermined [by losing mindfulness]. This is a contrived phenomenon. Reality is fundamentally without [such contrived] phenomena. Only reality without such phenomena is called reality. Thus, reality is uncontrived: uncontrived reality is true reality. Thus the sutra says: "Empty, without contrivance, without wishes, without form - this is true liberation." In this sense, true reality is uncontrived. The methods of relinquishing personal existence employ constant contemplation of the body: illuminating the ground of mind and mental objects, you use this spiritual illumination to dispense with [personal existence].
The Great Teacher Daoxin said: Zhuangzi speaks of the oneness of heaven and earth, and the oneness of myriad things therein. A sutra says, "The one is not one. [Oneness is propounded] to refute the multiplicity of objects. When this is heard by people with shallow consciousness, they think that the one is one." Thus, Zhuangzi is still stuck on oneness. Laozi says: "How profound! How deep! Within it there is vital energy." Externally, [this formulation] is formless, but inside it still keeps mind. The Huayen Sutra says: "You do not become attached to dualistic things, because there is neither one nor two." The Vimalakirti Sutra says: "Mind is neither inside nor outside nor in between." By such testimony we know that Laozi is stuck on the vital energy's consciousness. The Nirvana Sutra says: "All sentient beings have buddha-nature. How can it be said that inanimate things are without buddha-nature? [If so], how could they expound the Dharma?" Vasubandhu's [Consciousness Only] treatise says: "[Buddha's] response bodies and transformation bodies are not the real Buddha, not the ones that expound the Dharma."
[Dàoxìn's Record preserved in the Record of the Masters and Disciples of Laṅkāvatāra; allegedly compiled by Xuanze; translated by J.C. Cleary]