ENG117 Bhikkhuni Triệt Như - The Fount of Happiness – No 33: A SUDDEN TURNING POINT - Translated into English by Ngọc Huyền

A SUDDEN TURNING POINT 

After briefly reviewing the stories of Master Hui-Neng (638–713) and Master Shen-Hsiu (605–706), we may find ourselves reflecting to some extent: why was it that Master Shen-Hsiu, so virtuous in conduct, dignified in deportment, and so highly esteemed by emperors and disciples, had not yet “recognized his true nature”? Master Shen-Hsiu met the Fifth Patriarch when he was about fifty years old, earlier than Master Hui-Neng who was then only twenty-four. It was perhaps some seven years in advance. By the time Hui-Neng arrived at Huangmei, Shen-Hsiu was leading the monastic community as a Dharma Preceptor. Around less than a year, Hui-Neng received the transmission of the robe and bowl then departed while Master Shen-Hsiu still remained there.

Great Master Shen Hsiu kept abiding at Huangmei, served as the head monk among the fourfold community of Patriarch Hung-Jen, where he expounded and further developed his teaching of “gradual cultivating and gradual awakening.” It was not until around the Shangyuan era (674–675), after Patriarch Hung-Jen’s nirvana immersion, that Master Shen Hsiu returned to Yuqüan Temple on Dangyang Mount in Jianglang, Hubei. There he established a monastic complex about seven miles to the west of the temple, on level ground backed by the mountains to propagate the Chan teaching. For more than twenty years he carried out his teaching and propagation there. Scholars and practitioners from all regions came to study under him, their number reaching into the thousands.

If we try to calculate, Shen Hsiu may have lived alongside the Fifth Patriarch for more than ten years (when Hui-Neng departed, the Fifth Patriarch remarked that he would enter nirvana three years later).  More than ten years of cultivation practice at the Patriarch’s side, why couldn’t Master Shen Hsiu get awakening? Historical records describe Shen Hsiu as the one who was “thoroughly versed in the scriptures and treatises,” especially the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra and the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya (Four-Part Vinaya). In other words, he was highly learned, quite unlike Hui-Neng, who received no schooling, could not read classical Chinese, knew no scriptures, had no spiritual teacher, and lived quietly in hardship amid the forests and mountains of a rustic area. Why, then, didn’t the Fifth Patriarch create an opportunity to expound the Diamond Sūtra to Shen Hsiu as he had done for Master Hui-Neng?

No matter how many questions one may raise, there is likely only a single answer. Individual spiritual capacity. The Fifth Patriarch was enlightened, able to foresee future developments. He could surely discern the backgrounds of his own disciples?

The Buddha often taught: from Moral Discipline arises Concentration, and from Concentration arises Wisdom.

When the precepts are fully taken, they lead practitioners toward their purified mind. That is, they attain the essence of the discipline, or the true mind, which is also Concentration, or the undivided mind. From this, wisdom arises spontaneously. Therefore, Master Hui-Neng clearly understood that precepts, concentration, and wisdom are one. It is the ultimate recognition.

In contrast, Master Shen-Hsiu rigorously observed the precepts himself, but he did not realize their essence yet. His mind kept interpretating, remained entangled by excessive conceptualization of   doctrines, scriptures, monastic rules, and literary learning. His mind was pure (by strictly keeping the discipline), but it was constantly directed outside himself or to others to seek the Dharma, Concentration, and Wisdom. Not self-trusting that his own mind was the Buddha shown in the fact he told his close disciple, Zhi-Cheng, to sneak into Master Hui-Neng’s community and secretly learn the Dharma. Thus, Master Shen Hsiu’s virtue and adherence to the precepts were highly respected by emperors and officials. But it was only the appearance, not the essence of the discipline. In other words, his mind did not truly settle.  It still desired and tended outward. This was subtle craving, craving for the Dharma. Therefore, he remained clung to the teachings and attached to his delicate self. He did not realize “the original Mind, the Buddha” yet.

How can one “slip past” this barrier? It requires a sudden breakthrough.

This very sudden breakthrough constitutes the most essential condition in Zen or Chan. Meditation is a matter of practice, not merely of studying and then repeating what one has learned from scriptures or from a master. It requires direct experience. What experience? Experience of what one has learned but not clearly “seen” yet. It’s something new to oneself. This sometimes might be a kind of realization, or enlightenment, depending on the depth attained.

This is also the passage from conventional prajñā to ultimate prajñā. It is likewise from learning, reflecting, and reasoning in words to the wordless stage, where one truly understands through directly embodying what has been learned.

As said in the scripture, the Trio of Listening–Reflection–Cultivation firstly consists of listening (hearing the Dharma), then reflection (contemplation and retention), and finally cultivation (practice, application, and direct experience). From listening and reflection, one must find a way to step into cultivation in order to gain genuine experience.

In contemporary terms, one must move from conceptual, word-based understanding of the teachings to the practice to non-conceptual, wordless awareness of all things. A sudden turning point is the complete stopping of the mind.  At that very moment, one begins to discover many new and unfamiliar things:

• A state in which the mind is completely still and empty.
• What is seen, heard, bodily sensed are also still and void-like.
• The whole body may also feel light and barren as if it has dissolved.
• Natural insights of new things might arise.
• One may recognize the non-self at that very moment.
• A profound understanding of the scriptures might happen etc...

How could one bring about such an unexpected leap? The Buddhas and Patriarchs have often taught:

• Let drop down! Let go of everything, even body and life itself!
• “Think neither good nor evil.” (Master Hui-Neng)
• “Cease both initial and sustained thought.” (the Buddha)
• Cut off lips, tongue, teeth, and throat
• “Language ended, intention and emotion extinguished.” (Great Master Zhiyi). That is, when language is terminated, the ground for illusory mind is destroyed.
• “My Path is the Path of quiescence and separation from words.”

There are roughly two methods of practice:

• Gradual Teaching: step-by-step or little by little cultivation. If one’s spiritual capacity is sharp, he might experience Realization at times. For ordinary backgrounds, the results remain limited.
• Direct teaching: the mind is brought to an immediate stop through some tricks of the Chan Patriarchs. Sometimes one may unexpectedly fall into deep concentration if the body and mind are fully relaxed. This is suited to those of keen spiritual backgrounds.

This quantum leap is extremely important. If one’s practice has not yet reached this experience, it can be said that the person is still standing outside the gate. One must undergo at least once the experience of the true mind, fully present, profound, stable, and insightful; only then can one hope to enter the meditation house. From that turning point, the path of further practice becomes clear. One will foster enthusiasm, patience, and confidence, relying on no one, stepping forward resolutely, treading over thorns and challenges of life, never turning back.

At that point, one already possesses wisdom and has opened one’s own inner treasury. Once the treasury is opened, it does not lock itself again. The first opening is difficult because it has remained shut down for many years, its door rusted. But once it has been unlocked even once, one thereafter knows how to open it; whenever one wishes, it can be opened at once. First of all, one needs to clearly discern the characteristics of this treasury of wisdom:

• At the surface level, the mind is completely calm and unagitated. There is neither past and future images, nor thoughts of liking and disliking, nor joy and sorrow over it.
• There is no question, no wish, not even a desire to attain concentration or to practice well, etc…
• There is no concern of political, social, economic matters, etc…

Thus, when one recognizes those mental shades, this treasury naturally reveals itself.

There are two ways to open the treasury door, commonly suited to those of average capacity:

1-     Gradual cultivation followed by instantaneous awakening:
One must train and refine his mind so that it no longer clings to worldly conditions. The practice of observing the precepts, cultivating ethical conduct, and reducing unwholesome karma would reduce thorns along the path. Gradually, the mind becomes purified, quiet and gentle. The sense of self grows less arrogant and no longer feels inferior either. The mind ceases to turn outward. The sudden breakthrough happens naturally at a moment when the mind is completely at ease; the body spontaneously becomes still and unmoving, and the mind likewise settles naturally into silence and quiescence. The mind suddenly drops away; the sense of self disappears. There is no “I,” no object, no body, no mind. The form, sensation, perception, intention, and consciousness are no longer present. The world also dissolves. After this moment, the mind suddenly illuminates and clearly recognizes what the mind originally is, what concentration is, how insight works, what it means to enter Emptiness, how the world is illusory, how the self too is illusionary, and what the suchness truly is… From then on, everything is transparent. Sage eloquence arises naturally. The person is transformed and endowed with wisdom and compassion; and he never retreats from the path of practice and performance.

2-     Instantaneous awakening followed by gradual cultivation:
This is the common path of the Chan patriarchs.  The masters in the generations following Patriarch Hui-Neng often employed the approaches of sudden intervention that struck directly at a disciple’s Nature of seeing, hearing, or bodily sensation. It caused him completely to stop thinking and fell into concentration. At the moment, he would clearly recognize his silent and empty mind that is often limitedly shown through those three Natures. Thereafter, however, the disciple must return to the scriptures and engage in diligent, sustained practice so that his concentration becomes more stable and firmly established. For example:

• Master Yunmen realized his original mind through the nature of bodily sensation when Master Chen Zun-Su slammed the door, crushing his foot.
• Master Baizhang realized his original mind through the nature of bodily sensation when Master Mazu strongly pinched his nose.
• Master Lingyou realized his original mind through the nature of vision when Master Baizhang held up a glowing red-hot ember.
• Pei Xiu realized his original mind through the nature of listening when Master Huangbo suddenly called out his name in a loud voice.

There are many other similar examples.  This method appears simple, but in actual practice, it is not always as effective as one might hope. Thus, among assemblies of thousands, sometimes only a few attain realization. Perhaps for this reason, the methods of the Chan patriarchs evolved into Gong’an (Kōan) practice, then into Huàtóu practice, and eventually faded into obscurity.

In conclusion, a sudden breakthrough or realization must occur at least once, or even multiple times, along the path of practice for one to truly enter the Chan house. Only then can one walk forward freely, no longer encountering obstacles within the mind. If one has not yet realized the original mind, one is still standing outside the gate, looking around, peering in, searching for the Dharma, seeking a master, wavering in the mind, and seeing the path of practice as full of thorns and challenges. This is because the sense of self is still so heavy and bulky whereas the original mind has not yet been seen. Once the latter is clearly realized, the former naturally fades away.

Bhikkhuni Thích Nữ Triệt Như

Sunyata Monastery, Oct 30, 2021

English version by Ngọc Huyền

 
Link to Vietnamese article: https://tanhkhong.org/a2834/triet-nhu-snhp033-buoc-dot-bien