Buddhist Facts Flashcards
Who were two Shakyamuni teachers?
Alara-Kalama and Uddaka-Ramaputta
What positions does Platform sutra reveal?
Nature of the mind; nature of practice; our relationship with objects and people and the nature of texts.
What message of Platform Sutra is the most important?
No thought (wu nian) No form (wu xiang) Non abiding (wu zhu)
How Three principles are related to Chan?
No thought is its central doctrine;
No form is its essence;
No abiding its foundation.
What are thoughts on the first level of meaning?
First level refers to our mental processes, brain’s natural ability to think, symbolize, conceptualize.
What are thoughts at the second level of meaning?
It refers to tendency to reify, solidify thoughts/ideas into discrete realities as things.
What does no-thought amidst thought means?
It means not to reify, congeal, solidify or trust our own concepts of things as reality, without blocking the natural flow of thinking.
How to deal with thoughts and feelings?
You should recognize it but don’t reify, identify and solidify it into a thing. Don’t build a whole narrative around it.
What does Platform Sutra say about formless?
“The formless is to transcend characteristics within the context of characteristics.” It means to be formless amidst forms.
What does it mean amidst forms, there is the formless?
To transcend all the characteristics externally is called formless. Being able to do that is to allow the essence of all things to be pure.
How is the essence of all phenomena pure?
The essence of all phenomenal reality is originally pure if we don’t defile it.
How we defile purity of phenomenal reality?
By being engrossed in appearances, reifying them as actual things “out there.”
How fixed idea about purity cause problems?
When we have fixed idea of what purity is, we are obstructing ourselves.
What are the notions of no thought and no form about?
No thought deals with how we practice, how we engage our mind. No form is how we engage with the world.
How do we engage with the world?
All things are free from fixed characteristics, features, appearances. And so is meditation practice.
What are characteristics of Chan practice?
It doesn’t rely on sitting. Chan practice is formless, with no fixed form. Chop the wood, carry water.
What is Chan perspective?
There’s no need to disengage with the world. Be in the midst of form, free from form.
Why we are disturbed?
When we are disturbed, we are attached, we have fixed notions. When we are disturbed fixed notions are present.
What is non-abiding about?
It is about relating to ourselves and others in an open and receptive way, when we recognize that each moment is alive, vibrant, filled with infinite possibilities.
What is possibility of non-abiding?
It is emptiness - the workings of buddha nature, the expression of awakening.
What does emptiness mean?
It means that reality is empty of any conceptual fabrication that could attempt to describe it. There’s nothing to hold onto.
What means sutra in Sanskrit?
It means ‘thread’ as in a string of pearls forming one complete necklace.
What are 3 Principles of Chan practice?
Contemplation
Illumination
Retrieval
What is 1st principle of Chan practice about?
Contemplation is to focus very clearly on the method.
