ENG115 Bhikkhuni Triệt Như - The Fount of Happiness – No 31: THE LION’S ROAR - Translated into English by Ngọc Huyền

THE LION’S ROAR

Let us review the historical context of Early Buddhism. The most defining event was the schism that produced two major inheritance,  the “Lesser Vehicle” and the “Great Vehicle.” The fissure is believed to have begun roughly one hundred years after the Buddha’s Parinirvāṇa, around the 4th century BCE. This was the period in which the Elders (Sthavira) convened the Second Buddhist Council in 383 BCE, prompted directly by the “Ten Unlawful Practices” adopted by the younger Vajji monastic group. From this point onward, Buddhism divided into two major schools:

-         Theravāda

-         Mahāsaṁghika

Subsequently, additional sects gradually emerged.

Mahāsaṁghika
Between 100 and 200 years after the Buddha’s Parinirvāṇa, it further divided into eight additional schools.

Sthavira or Theravāda
Between 200 and 300 years after the Buddha’s Parinirvāṇa, it split into ten more lineages.

These figures refer only to those sects for which historical sources clearly record names, founders, and doctrinal positions. In reality, the number was likely even greater.

Let us consider why Buddhism eventually divided into so many sects. Several possible reasons may be identified:

• The Buddha did not appoint a successor to lead the monastic community before his Parinirvāṇa.
• There was no Unified Central Sangha, possibly due to the vast geographical expanse of India.
• The Buddha and his great disciples passed away one after another.
• Differences in regional geography and climate led to differing spiritual experiences and realizations.
• Psychological differences between and young and old generations
• Historical circumstances, including political oppression by ruling authorities.

This may be regarded as the most complex period in Buddhist history, during which numerous sects emerged simultaneously; each offered different interpretations of the Sūtras, Vinaya, and Abhidharma collections. They might agree on certain doctrinal issues while disagreeing on others. However, upon closer examination, nearly all of these schools grounded themselves in the fundamental teachings of the Buddha. Examples include the following doctrinal themes:

• The Three Dharma Seals: Impermanence, Suffering, Non-Self.
• The Five Aggregates: Form, Feeling, Perception, Mental Formations, Consciousness.
• Rebirth cycle (Samsara), Karma, the law of Causes and Effects (dependent causality).
• The Threefold Learning: Moral Discipline, Concentration, Wisdom
• The Threefold Wisdom: Listening, Reflection, And Cultivation
• The Four Noble Truths
• Empty nature (Śūnyatā)
• Illusory nature
• Thusness (Tathatā)
• Nirvāṇa

Therefore, most of the debates found in the Abhidharma compilations  or among the various schools revolving primarily around supplementary issues.  For instance:

• Whether Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Arhats are ordinary human beings or extraordinary    beings endowed with supernatural abilities.
• Which canon, the Sūtras, the Vinaya, or the Abhidharma, holds greater authority.
• Whether or not an intermediate  existence body exists between death and rebirth.
• What exactly transmigrates into the next rebirth.
• Whether enlightenment occurs gradually or instantaneously.
• Whether the past, present, and future possess real existence or are ultimately unreal.

Generally, we may understand the differing doctrinal positions of these lineages as arising from two distinct standpoints: conventional truth (saṃvṛti-satya) and ultimate truth (paramārtha-satya). Thus, certain perspectives may appear incomplete if still confined within the empirical realm of phenomena.

Buddhist scholars throughout history have often praised this era of sectarian development as the most glorious and vigorous time in Buddhism, like a vast garden of hundreds of thousands of flowers, each with its own fragrance and color, bloom in full splendor.

In addition to the fourteen officially compiled Abhidharma treatises, renowned Buddhist scholars later composed many other exegetical works. At the same time, numerous sūtras attributed to Mahāyāna patriarchs gradually appeared throughout the approximately five-hundred-year flourishing period of the sectarian era (roughly from 300 BCE to about 200 CE).

The actual authorship and writing dates of these Mahāyāna scriptures remain unknown and unverifiable. Among the most famous are the Mahā-Prajñā-Pāramitā Scripture system, the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, the Diamond, Vajracchedikā, Sūtra, the Lotus, Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, Sūtra, the Śrīmālādevī Sūtra, the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment, the  Pūrṇabuddha Sūtra, and , the Sutra of Heroic One, the Śūraṅgama Sūtra. 

Overall, this period may be regarded as the most distinguished epoch in Buddhist history, marked by significant achievements:

• Owing to the devoted patronage of two Indian emperors: Aśoka (3rd century BCE) and Kaṇiṣka (2nd century CE), the two Buddhist Tripiṭakas, in Pāli and Sanskrit, were brought to completion.
• Buddhism began to spread widely throughout the Indian subcontinent.
• The Southern,Theravāda, and Northern, Mahāyāna, traditions took shape, leading to the transmission of Buddhism beyond India.
• Theravāda scholars enthusiastically composed extensive Abhidharma series interpretating the Buddha’s Sūtras and Vinaya.
• Mahāyāna patriarchs authored numerous scriptures expressing their profound, definitive doctrinal insights.

Amid this vast and monumental Buddhist canon  and within the diverse religious landscape of dozens of sects, whether historically documented or not, a new school emerged, heralded by a resounding “lion’s roar,” embodied in a towering figure: Bodhidharma. He initiated the Chinese Chan (Zen) tradition and is also regarded as the founder of Shao-Lin martial arts in China, in the early 6th century CE.

This lion’s roar shook the entire “forest of Buddhist language,” when Patriarch Bodhidharma raised high the banner of his teachings:

“Non-speech and wordless,

far off traditional discourses, the unique transmission

directly strikes through human heart-mind.

Realizing Buddha-Nature, enlightened  promptly.”

Language itself is merely a convention of the world and not a permanent truth.

The realm of “complete stillness, empty, serene, and radiant” or the realm of Atakkāvacara, far beyond language and  reasoning. Patriarch Bodhidharma awakened those who followed in the Buddha’s footsteps, urging them to step swiftly out of the “language forest” of doctrines and directly apprehend their own original mind. That is to realize their Buddha-nature. In doing so, the Patriarch inaugurated the embracement of “instantaneous enlightenment” that came to define Chinese Chan Buddhism.

Within the scope of this article, we will not recount the full biography of Bodhidharma. Instead, we will select a few events to illustrate this manifest of the Zen school, later also called the Patriarchal Zen or Chinese Chan whose First Patriarch is Bodhidharma.

1-     Indian Meditation  may be traced back to the Buddha himself, through the sermon of “ Flower Raised and Delicate Smile”,  a narrative preserved only in Chinese Chan  records. During a Dharma assembly on the Vulture Peak, the Buddha silently held up a flower. The entire assembly remained still and bewildered. Only Most Venerable Mahā-Kassapa responded with a quiet smile. The Buddha then said to Mahā-Kassapa:  “ I have the Treasury of the True Dharma Eye, the sublime mind of Nirvāṇa and the ultimate reality beyond all forms. Now, Mahā-Kassapa, I transmit them to you.”

It  appears that the Buddha did not really pass on anything to Sr. Venerable Mahā-Kassapa. Rather, the Buddha affirmed that Most Venerable Mahā-Kassapa was abiding in the mind of suchness, the Nirvāṇic, formless, and true mind, just as the Buddha himself was. It might be due to this episode, the later Indian Chan tradition honored Most Venerable Mahā-Kassapa as the First Patriarch, and from him the lineage is said to have continued down to  the Twenty-Eighth  Patriarch, Bodhidharma.

2-     In accordance with the instruction of the Twenty-Seventh Patriarch, Prajñādhāra ( (who might be a Bhikkhuni-Zen Master in some scholars’ views), Bodhidharma departed his native South India and journeyed by sea to southern China in 520 CE. There, he was granted an audience with King Liang Wudi. The following dialogue reveals the Patriarch’s ultimate insight.

As a devoted patron of Buddhism, King Liang Wudi had  a great number of  temples and stupas built throughout his kingdom.

-- The king asked the Indian Patriarch: Since ascending the throne, I have been constructing temples, copying scriptures, and supporting innumerable monks. What merits  have I gained from all these?

--Partriarch Bodhidharma : O, King! Nothing.

---Why not at all?

--What Your Majesty has performed are worldly and conditioned kernels yielding limited merits within the realms of humans and deities. They’re like  shadows following their bodies. They seem to exist but they’re not real.

--What, then, are the true merits?

-- The Patriarch replied: True merits arise only when the mind is utterly purified and the intrinsic nature rests in complete emptiness and quiescence. Only then can  the true virtue generate. They cannot be obtained through conditioned deeds, whether building temples, copying scriptures, or supporting monks.

-- The king then asked: What’s the ultimate meaning of  Noble Truth?

-- Patriarch Bodhidharma answered: When one awakens completely and realizes  everything without obstruction, nothing, then, is holy.

-- Who’s sitting in front of me?

-  O, King! I don't know.

Those revealed the very essence of the Buddhist Dharma with great clarity, but King Liang Wudi was unable to grasp them.

From this exchange, it appears that the king possessed a limited and conditioned view clinging to the worldly perspective. He believed what he had conducted were true, blessed and meritorious with distinction  between mundanity  and divinity. Because of this, he could not apprehend the ultimate truth  to rise over existence and nonexistence that are the insights of the Middle Way and the utmost truth the Patriarch wanted to refer.

3-     The way Patriarch Bodhidharma opened the mind  for Venerable Shen-Guang was  “to point directly to the human mind,”  with no lengthy explanation.

Venerable Shen-Guang asked the First Patriarch:

• May I listen to the Dharma-Seal of the Buddhas, Great Master?
• The Buddhas’ Dharma-Seal cannot come from others.
• My mind is agitated.  Great Master, would you mind instructing me how to calm it down?
• Fine! Bring your mind here. I’ll soothe it for you.

• I can’t… get it, Great Master.
• There you go! I’ve settled it down for you.

Through this short Buddhist scenario, Venerable Shen-Guang attained awakening. Then, the Patriarch changed his name Shen-Guang into Hui K’o.

4-The Patriarch also gave Hui K’o clear instructions on mind practice. Again, it  straightly strikes to his heart-mind.

“ Externally, end all preconditions,

Internally, let go of thoughts.

When mind like solid walls,

Able to enter the Path.”

5- The following episode shows how the Patriarch tested the insight and realization of his disciples.

When the Master intended to come back to   his homeland, he summoned his disciples and told them, “The time for my leaving is around the corner. Now, each of you, show me what you’ve realized and attained.”

--- T’ao-Fu humbly said: “According to my insight, to perceive the Way one should neither cling to  nor drop down  words.”

   The Patriarch responded: “You’ve got  my skin.”

--Bhikkuṇī Zong-Chi modestly said: “ My experience  is like the joy of beholding the Buddha-land, the unmoved mind. It came only once. I don’t sense it again.”

  The Master answered: “You’ve got my flesh.”

--Another disciple, T’ao-Duc, respectfully said: “The four great elements are originally empty, and the five aggregates are not truly existent. Therefore, in my view, not a single phenomenon  can be obtained.”

The Master replied: “You’ve received my skeleton,”

--Last but not least, it was Hui-K’o. He reverently prostrated to the Patriarch and then remained standing in complete silence.

   The Master said: “You’re granted my marrow.”

Then looking at him, the Patriarch went on: “In the old days, the Tathāgata entrusted the ‘Treasury of the True Dharma-Eye’ to Bodhisattva Mahā-Kāśyapa. From Mahā-Kāśyapa, the true Dharma was continuously handed down to me. I now pass it on to you. Take appreciative care of it. Keep it always with your robe as the symbol of trust and authenticity . Should comprehend  each of these represents a particular significance.” 

Following are the lineages of inheritance from First Patriarch BoddhiDharma:

• Second Patriarch: Hui-K’o

• Third Patriarch: Seng-Ts’an.
• Fourth Patriarch: T’ao-Hsin.

• Fifth Patriarch: Hung-Jen
• Sixth Patriarch: Hui-Neng (638–713)

There is very little historical record concerning the Second and Third Patriarchs, so we  can skip it over. The Fourth Patriarch, Hung-Jen, delivered  preaching lectures on the Diamond Sutra from which Hui-Neng got enlightened and received the transmission of the robe and bowl to mark the continuous inheritance right at that very night. The Diamond Sutra expounds three themes of the ultimate truths: Emptiness, Illusion, and Suchness. Thus, Patriarch Hui-Neng, considered of the highest spiritual background,  fully and instantaneously realized the Buddha-nature, and achieved the ultimate wisdom as follows:

“Who could  know our true nature is hereditarily non-arising and non-ceasing,
Who could  know  our true nature is  naturally pure and crystal-clear,
Who could  know our original true inherently encompasses all dharmas,
Who could  know  our true nature is  innately serene,
Who could  know our true nature genetically gives rise to all phenomena.”

From that time onward, Revered Venerable Hui-Neng became the prominent Patriarch in the Chinese Patriarchal Chan Lineage. Later, his  renown disciples included  Most Venerable Heng-Ts’u, Huai-Xiang, and Shen-Hui. Additionally, historical records note that a total of forty-three venerables having attained the insight and realization under his guidance.

•  The Southern-Yue sect of Chan, founded by Master Huai-Xiang, had a disciple named Mazu, who mainly spread the doctrine  in the Jiangxi region. Later, the Southern Yue school gave rise to the Linji and Guiyang cults.
• The Qing-Yuan sect of Chan, founded by Master Heng-Ts’u, with a disciple named Shi-Tou, famously known as “Shi-Tou in the slippery hall,” who taught the doctrine in Hunan. Later, the Qing-Yuan sect gave rise to three cults: Yunmen, Fayan, and Caodong.
• The Heze sect of Chan, founded by Master Shen-Hui, continued until the time of Master Zong-Mi, after that  it became extinct.

The remaining five lineages, also called the Five Houses, continued their transmission down through the generations. Their origin can be traced back to the Sixth Patriarch, who transmitted the Dharma to these five lines. Each  developed its own distinctive style for guiding practitioners of later generations, yet all remained faithful to the essential purpose of Chan: to illuminate the mind and directly recognize one’s true nature. All the five also took the episode of the Sermon of Flower Raised and Delicate Smile given by Shakyamuni Buddha as their guiding principle

In conclusion, Chinese Chan Buddhism is regarded as having begun with its First Patriarch, Bodhidharma, an Indian monk, via the  “lion’s roar” awakened people to return to their original mind and recognize their inherent nature—empty, quiescent, and luminous.
Patriarch Hui-Neng faithfully continued Bodhidharma’s path, so, he too is revered as one of the most radiant patriarchs of the Chan tradition. Thus, the Patriarchal Chan Lineage is also known as the Instantaneous Enlightenment-Chan Lineage, the Tathāgata’s Pure Chan, or the Chinese Utmost Chan Sect.

Bhikkhuni Thích Nữ Triệt Như

Sunyata Monastery, October 16, 2021

English version by Ngọc Huyền

Link to Vietnamese article: https://tanhkhong.org/a2807/triet-nhu-snhp031-tieng-rong-su-tu