The Venerable Mangala Thero had no interest in the Mahayana teachings. I had turned-up in Sri Lanka with my very worn copy of Charles Luk’s English translation of the ‘Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra’ - which deals in-part in the limitation of the Hinayana Path (which I personally do not associate with the Theravada School) as opposed to the broad-minded and more complete Mahayana Path. Vimalakirti – as an enlightened layman – was able to ‘turn the words’ of the more conservative monastic followers of the Buddha and prove through wisdom that their interpretation of the Dharma was incomplete and lacking in attainment and understanding. Knowing this would happen – the Buddha deliberately engineered a number of meetings between his leading disciples and Vimalakirti so that the resulting engagements would ‘push’ their development and understanding into new orbits of transcendence and universal balance! When I showed the Ve. Mangala Thero this Sutra he just appeared to ‘look through it’ as if it was not there – this was lesson number one for me! Instead, Mangala Thero handed me a copy of the Ānāpānasati Sutta and told me to master it ‘beyond the words’ and ‘beyond the limitations of the page’. He also advised that ‘in the West a superficial Buddhism has developed which plays second fiddle to technology – but in here, Sri Lanka – this is not the case!’ I saw that materially ‘poor’ people were spiritually enriched by the Dhamma in ways that most Westerners simply would not understand or recognise. In Sri Lanka, and particularly the remote forests outside of major cities, the Dhamma continued to function very much as it had done for thousands of years – empowering each individual and community through a method of mind and body self-discipline! A practitioner becomes aware of the breath, uses the awareness to ‘penetrate’ the breath, and then penetrates the empty essence from which each aspect of the breath arises, manifests and subsides as a bodily process.
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Even my Daoist friends in China tend to view immortality as a long life lived well (usually 100 hundred-years) - rather than taking the concept literally. Keeping mentally and physically fit are subjects we all must a) study and b) participate in - as we are all living human-beings progressing through our lives. We know from the science of genetics that our life-spans can be determined even before birth (with a number of people dying at aged 27-years of ‘natural causes’, etc), but we also know that our choice of life-style can, in many cases, move the genetic bench-mark to a certain extent. A healthy life-style tends to delay death – whilst an unhealthy existence tends to bring death nearer. This was known thousands of years ago and is the reason traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) advocates ‘prevention’ of illness (and accident) – rather than the ‘cure’ of a specific ailment. Although TCM can (and often does) ‘cure’ symptoms today – this was not the original function of its ancient underlying Chinese wisdom. Many ancient cultures, such as the Sumerian, the Greek, the Indian, the Egyptian, the Jewish and the Celtic-Druids, etc, developed various medical systems. Chinese medicine developed into a broad and all-encompassing subject premised upon the well-known concepts of the eight trigrams (gua), yin-yang (shade-sunlight), the Five Phases (Wuxing), qi (vital force) flow and psychological and physical exercise! Even within modern China today, TCM shares a common scientific foundation with Chinese engineering and construction – with Chinese doctors often qualified also in engineering (before specialising within the field of guarding the well-being of the human-body rather than designing and constructing material objects). This demonstrates that there is a common cultural foundation throughout Chinese cultural thought – although modern (Western) medicine is also studied and applied throughout China. Some people (and illnesses) respond more effectively to TCM – whilst other ailments and injuries are more easily cured with modern medicine. Sometimes, a very clever and precise combination of both types is used. This is the case with regards to Covid19 – the Chinese State is responding with a strict modern medicine approach to contain and eradicate the illness at source – whilst individual patients, although also treated with modern medicine sometimes choose TCM – or TCM is recommend by a modern doctor, etc. As individuals, we must take action to guard our health in mind and body the best we can within the society we live. Within the past, Ch’an Masters living in the remote areas of China often sustained themselves through will-power alone as they had no choice. A poor diet coupled with exposure to the elements probably made them very physically weak whilst they made their mind-attention very strong. Many even went as far as eating tree-bark and drinking rain-water for long periods. Their physical poverty was irrelevant to the spiritual training they were undergoing. Very few people in Old China had access to adequate clothing, housing, food or medical treatment, etc, and virtually no one expected to have these things outside of the nobility (about 10% of population). How is this level of ‘non-attachment’ to be achieved? In many ways, the Chinese Ch’an tradition emerged out of the harsh or stark culture of feudal times and has survived into the modern times. Although things are very different within China today, the examples of Vimalakirti, Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng, Master Han Shan and Master Xu Yun, etc, demonstrate that this attitude of ‘non-attachment’ is applied equally in all situations – regardless of whether there is deficient or plentiful material supplies in the environment. A person may inhabit an ill or injured body – whilst possessing a ‘pure’ and ‘shining’ mind. Many people whose bodies manifest various types of disabilities often realise the empty mind ground and no longer consider themselves limited to the condition of their bodies (or situation of their life circumstances). There is a book published in 1965 in the West entitled ‘Three Pillars of Zen’ by an American Zen teacher named ‘Roshi Philip Kapleau’. Philip Kapleau was a good friend of Charles Luk (1898-1978) and was always respectful toward his translation work and the memory of Great Master Xu Yun (1840-1959). He included in his book the extraordinary story of Iwasaki Yaeko (岩崎八重子) - referred to throughout the book as ‘Yaeko Iwasaki’. This 25-year-old young woman in Japan trained in Zen meditation under Harada Roshi (原田 大雲祖岳) in 1935 – much of the interaction taking place via the written word (in the form of posted letters). Although she began her Zen training carrying-out the usual 25-minute stints of seated meditation in the traditional Zazen position, (followed by 5-minute rest periods practicing ‘walking meditation’ before starting again) in the seated Zazen. However, she soon developed a long-term illness (tuberculosis) that prevented her from going-out into the world and participating in seated Zazen. She was so weak she could not even perform Zazen in the privacy of her home – at least not in the usual physical manner. This new situation did not deter her or her Zen teacher. Yaeko Iwasaki read Great Master Dogen’s ‘Shobogenzo’ at least seventeen times whilst lying in bed over a five-year period. This was her immersion into the essence of the Soto (Caodong) School of Zen – whilst Harada Roshi guided her through the Koan-practice associated with the Rinzai (Linji) School of Zen! (Harada Roshi was actually trained in both the ‘Soto’ and ‘Rinzai’ traditions). Yaeko Iwasaki was given the Koan ‘Mu’ to contemplate and penetrate day and night – awake or asleep whilst lying in her sick-bed. No matter what moment of the day it was, or how she felt at a particular moment – she was tasked with manifesting ‘Mu’ clearly (like a ‘hua tou’) - until its essence (the empty mind ground) manifested and became ‘clear’! As her father had died suddenly, and given that her health was deteriorating rapidly, a very real and profound ‘fear’ of death acted as the key motivation for her continuous Zen-practice regardless of circumstance. A sense of desperate urgency was very much present as she did not know how long she had to live – only that her life could end at any moment without warning! This dramatic situation is exactly like the Zen story that states that a Zen-practitioner must desire enlightenment as strongly (and irrationally) as a drowning man demands air! When human-beings are placed in dangerous or highly unpredictable situations – quite often a ‘heightened’ sense of awareness is achieved that interprets the world from an entirely ‘new’ perspective. Yaeko Iwasaki had an alert and bright mind that was inhabiting a body that was a) not functioning properly and b) as a consequence, was close to shutting-down entirely. The biological situation was precarious to say the least. Although still a young woman, Yaeko Iwasaki was going to die without living a full-life and experiencing so many things common to many people. This was a very sad situation – but ‘sadness’ had to be replaced with ‘clarity of thought’ and ‘self-pity’ had to be transformed into a ‘positive’ and highly ‘focused’ Zen-mind that would stop for nothing regardless of existential situation! As her life-force (qi) began to ebb-away – Yaeko Iwasaki achieved a total and full enlightenment! Her story should serve as an inspiration for us all!
‘The master (Dongshan) went out Yun Ch’u and together they crossed a stream. The master asked: ’Is it deep or shallow?’ Yun Ch’u replied: ‘Not wet.’ The master said: ’Rough fellow!’ Yun Ch’u asked: ‘Is the water deep?’ The master replied: ‘Not dry.’
Note from Charles Luk: ‘This dialogue between two enlightened masters is very interesting in that it reveals the absolute. We have seen elsewhere that the Dharmakaya is beyond all mathematics, including al dualism such as ‘deep’ and ‘shallow’ and ‘wet’ and ‘dry’, for it is inexpressible and inconceivable. Within the Chinese Ch’an literature in China, when a Master is asked about their daily practice, or the manner in which they lived, they all responded with the idea that they ‘adjusted themselves to circumstances’. As many wore tattered clothing, many appeared to be nothing more than wandering beggars, rather than eminent Ch’an Masters – and eminent Ch’an Masters were exactly what they were. Imagine a seeing homeless person sat near a cash-till (outside a bank) in the modern UK – and being told he is a very learned archbishop employed by the Church of England! Conventional religion – even amongst some Buddhist schools – often insists upon mimicking the very status symbols of the secular world it claims to be ‘transcending’ and ‘leaving behind’. Some priests even wear ‘designer’ robes designed to ‘stand-out’ in a crowd of the rich and famous! This is an example of being ‘subsumed by circumstance’ - the exact opposite of the Ch’an idiom of ‘adjusting to circumstance’. The inherent ‘sickness’ of conventional existence is that the attachment to externals which hinders the spiritual development of ordinary people, becomes accepted as ‘normal’ or even ‘expected’ behaviour in many failing religions. A religious or spiritual path which fails to ‘transcend’ the very ignorance its founder claims to have overcome – is now only a ‘religion’ in name only! The following extract is translated from the Imperial Selection of Ch'an Sayings (Yu Hsuan Yu Lu). This is a collection of fourteen volumes compiled by emperor Yung Cheng, the third emperor of the the Qing Dynasty who ruled from 1723-1735AD. Before becoming emperor, he took the name Upasaka Yuan Ming and practiced the Mind Dharma extensively. And when emperor, he used to hold imperial Ch'an weeks which produced both enlightened lay people and monks alike. Of the fourteen volumes, twelve are dedicated to the sayings of Ch'an masters, one volume to the sayings of the emperor himself, and one for the sayings of his brothers and sons. 'Master Teh Ch'eng arrived at Hua Ting in the Hsiu Chou district. He sailed a small boat, adjusted himself to circumstances and passed his days receiving visitors from the four quarters. At the time, as no one knew of his erudition, he was called the Boat Monk. One day, (Ch'an master Teh Ch'eng), stopped by the river bank and sat idle in his boat. An official (who was passing) asked him: 'What does the Venerable Sir do?' The master held up the paddle, saying: 'Do you understand this?' The official replied: 'I do not.' The master said: 'I have been rowing and stirring the clear water, but a golden fish is rarely found. Of course. ’adjusting to circumstance’ involve ALL possible permutations of reality and not just that which involves ‘free movement’. Sometimes. ‘adjusting to circumstance’ can involve the most ‘disciplined’ of existences – such as living in a monastic community that functions through the following of an all-inclusive ‘Rule’ that regulates physical behaviour, and the type of thoughts the mind can generate (or ‘not’ generate), whatever the case maybe. A prime example of community discipline is: ‘Gaoan said: The great body of the leader has the community for its house; distinctions are made appropriately, disbursal is suited to the vessel, action is concerned with the principles of peace and well-being, gain and loss are related to the source of the teaching. How could it be easy to be a model for the people? I have never seen a leader who was lax and easy-going win the obedience of the mendicants, or one whose rules were neglected try to present the Ch'an communities from becoming barbaric and despised. In olden times, Master Yuwang Shen sent his chief student away, Master Yangshan Wei expelled his attendant. These cases are listed in our classics, and are worthy of being taken as standards. Nowadays everyone follows personal desires, thus ruining the original guidelines for Ch'an communes to a great extent. People nowadays are lazy about getting up, and many are deficient in manners when they congregate. Some indulge shamelessly in their appetite for food, some create disputes in their concern for getting support and honour. It has gotten to the point where there is nowhere that the ugliness of opportunism does not exist. How can we ever have the flourishing of ways to truth and the full vigour of spiritual teaching that we Look for?’ ‘Adjusting to Circumstance’ has an ‘internal’ aspect – and an ‘external’ aspect. The ‘internal’ aspect involves a practitioner fully realising and understanding the ‘form’ of material reality (which includes the body inhabited), and the ‘void’ which is the empty mind ground. The Buddha describes ‘form’ as penetrating and fully understanding the concept of ‘perception’, whilst the Buddha describes the realisation of the ‘void’ as penetrating and understanding the principle of ‘non-perception’. When the ‘form’ and ‘void’ are fully realised and understood, (using the Cao Dong ‘Five Ranks’), then both concepts are ‘integrated’ so that no difference can be found anywhere. The ‘external’ method of ‘adjusting to circumstance’ involves a permanently ‘still’ mind that does not move, being fully ‘integrated’ with each and every circumstance of the outer world that traverse across the ‘senses’. Simply described, method 1) involves the body ‘integrating’ with the realised mind, whilst method 2) involves the body ‘integrating’ with the external (material) world! |
AuthorAdrian Chan-Wyles (釋大道 - Shi Da Dao) is permitted to retain his Buddhist Monastic Dharma-Name within Lay-society by decree of the Government of the People’s Republic of China, and the Chinese Buddhist Association (1992). A Buddhist monastic (and devout lay-practitioner) upholds the highest levels of Vinaya Discipline and Bodhisattva Vows. A Genuine Buddhist ‘Venerates’ the ‘Dao’ (道) as he or she penetrates the ‘Empty Mind-Ground' through meditative insight. A genuine Buddhist is humble, wise and peace-loving – and he or she selflessly serves all in existence in the past, present and the future, and residing within the Ten Directions – whilst retaining a vegetarian- vegan diet. Please be kind to animals! Archives
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