Lecture 11: Chan School Flashcards
Compare the philosophical meanings between Shenxiu’s verse and Huineng’s two verses.
- Shenxiu’s verse presupposed the true Buddha nature as the perfect wisdom and bright mirror, for which body and mind are but two supports, like tree and stand. It made the distinction between true Buddha nature as pure and bright, and defilements and vexations as dusts and should be diligently wiped out so as not to contaminate the Buddha nature. Also it made distinction between calmness (samadhi) and wisdom (prajna) [that is, zhi and guan].
- Huineng’s two verses are not repetitive. The first is written as a refutation of Shenxiu’s verse, whereas the second posits Huineng’s own view. Altogether, they express Huineng’s view that Heart is the clear and pure Buddha nature, by which all sentient beings are already Buddha, therefore able to achieve sudden enlightenment when return to their own Heart. By contrast, in the tradition of Lankavatara sutra and Shenxiu, this should be achieved through dhyana or concentration in a gradual process. Once Hongren heard Huineng’s verses, Hongren made Huineng the sixth patriarch.
How should we deal with the problem of desire arising in Chan meditation? Discuss the possible contributions of Shenxiu’s consideration and the practice of Pure Land Buddhism.
- The northern school’s method, though somehow repressive, still has its use in dealing with human desire. In Pure Land Buddhism, we see other methods such as chanting the name of the Perfect One and doing good deeds to others, to deal with human desire.
- Today, there is a new understanding of human desire: we should look on our desire as an original dynamism going outside of ourselves to many others, as the original generosity towards others, not to be self-enclosed, but rather to be fulfilled by doing good deeds to many others. When desire emerges, better do some good deeds to others before sitting and meditating with whatever method.
- In the northern school, led by Shenxiu, it was essential to cut off or leave all erroneous thoughts (linian) from human desires by the gradual effort of cultivation so as to attain one’s pure heart and abide there in purity (zhuxin kanjing, abide in one’s mind to look for purity).
- “When you know that all evil karmas are from your mind, if only you can manage your mind to leave from all evil and deviant inclinations, then all three realms…will perish of their own, thus you can nihilize all sufferings and this is your liberation.”
Explain how Huineng synthesizes dhyana and prajna in his teaching.
“If one’s heart is even, there is no need of obeying obligations. If one’s act is right, there is no need of practicing dyanaya. There is gratitude when one is filial and nourishing his parents; there is justice when the superior and the inferior are sympathetic one to another. When one knows how to cede to elders, there is harmony among the noble and the mean; Prajna is to be sought in one’s Heart, no need of searching for metaphysical truth in the external world. Just to listen, to say and to cultivate one’s self in this way, the Western paradise appears at the present moment.”
Compare sudden enlightenment and gradual enlightenment on both pedagogical and metaphysical levels.
- In the northern school, led by Shenxiu, it was essential to cut off or leave all erroneous thoughts (linian) from human desires by the gradual effort of cultivation so as to attain one’s pure heart and abide there in purity (zhuxin kanjing, abide in one’s mind to look for purity).
- For the southern school, under the influence of Huineng, one should go directly to one’s original heart without looking at any distinction between good/evil, righteous/erroneous, truth/illusion, so as to “empty all thoughts” (wunian) and to “abide nowhere” (wuzhu). Shenhui’s critique of the northern school led to the unfortunate dissolution of the latter.
- “The principle of sudden enlightenment means to understand without going through gradual steps, for understanding is natural. Sudden enlightenment means that one’s own mind is empty and void from the very beginning . It means that the mind has no attachment. It means to enlighten one’s mind while leaving dharmas as they are and to be absolutely empty in the mind. It means to understand all dharmas. It means not to attach to emptiness when one hears about it and at the same time not to be attached to the absence of emptiness.”
What are the major arguments by which Shenhui won over the northern school of Chan?
Shenhui said, “It is doubtful that when one practices dyana one might enter the emptiness without ground; and after one has finished the dyana, one’s mind may emerge to discriminate different worlds and call them the erroneous mind. In this case, wisdom is without dyana and dyana is without wisdom. Understood in this manner, one is not yet off the samsara. Abide in one’s mind to look for purity, turn one’s heart externally to make discrimination, and to subsume one’s mind under a process of inner purification, all these are not yet a liberated (enlightened) heart. Instead they are still in the constraint of dharma and therefore are useless.” (Shenhui yu lu)
Explain with critical reflection on Chan Buddhism’s attitude towards texts in general and Buddhist Scriptures in particular.
For Chan Buddhism there was the primacy of practice over argumentation and textual hermeneutics. Chan masters used situational teaching to help their disciples penetrate into their own Buddha nature in their Heart beyond the use of any language. It kept Chinese thought within the realm of immanence, neglecting the dimension of many others and the treasure of texts.
What is the meaning, with your criticism, of shouting and beating in Chan Buddhism after Linji?
- Chan Buddhism used very flexible methods of teaching to help disciples penetrate into their own Buddha nature, even by beating and shouting, beyond the use of verbal language.
- For example, Linji, after having been beaten three times by Huangbo, got his enlightenment. At the moment of his enlightenment, he proclaimed “Huangbo’s teaching has not much to say,” showing his understanding of Huangbo’s words, “My heart is Buddha.” As simple as that, not much teaching indeed, yet it was the most profound revealing in Chan Buddhism.
- More radical cases involve shouting, beating and other forms of body language. However, indulgence in this shortcut to enlightenment, paying no regard for Scriptures and texts, left without reading, that has led finally to the decline of Chan Buddhist philosophy.
In what sense does Fung Yu-lan misunderstand Chan Buddhism?
Fung calls the Chan School the philosophy of silence. He noticed that on the one hand, this school has produced a lot of texts recording koans; on the other hand, the use of shouting and beating, though beyond language, is still making sounds.
