1. CHAN RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF INITIATIVE, DETERMINATION AND PERSEVERANCE OF NATURAL COGNITION

THE LOGICAL EQUIVALENTS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF INITIATIVE, DETERMINATION AND PERSEVERANCE

The task then is to present the logical Chan preparation, equivalent path methods of the following which must arise from Po, 魄 (Cognitive Consciousness) for Action Readiness:

PO 魄 > 積極性 jī jí xìng > YI, 仪 >志意 yi zhi > ZHI, 志 > 恒心 heng xin > HENG SHEN

                       ^                           ^                             ^  

       INITIATIVE                   DETERMINATION                      PERSEVERANCE             

          Attitude                             Intention                                  Readiness

          Gladness                          Equanimity                    Natural Compassion

The Chinese were especially prepared for this, for the Chinese language was based upon EXPERIENCE generated in the form of characters. Today things have changed, for while the characters remain, Chinese in the modern era has degenerated into a different form of writing words and phrases.

A Modern Chinese interpretation of even the Diamond Sutra, for example, comes so far from the truth as to be a debilitating factor in true understanding.

In China written communication was by way of characters, which were not words but expressions of cognitive experiences. Below we give the old Chinese character for a horse:

馬, mǎ

While the word "horse" when used in normal mental operation only brings to consciousness a string of descriptive associations that are excellent for storage, categorization and internal mental manipulation, the character 馬 generated the experience of a horse in motion. The sound "mǎ" brought the association of the character and therefore the direct experience of "horse", not a word chain.

INITIATIVE -YI, 仪 - THE TWO TRUTHS

While understanding that the early Chinese Buddhists had then a fine grasp of what No-Self, Impermanence, and Non-existence entailed, using the EXPERIENCE, the higher concepts became vital to their understanding.

The question is why the necessary Initiative arose, for while Chan Dharma reached its highest effectiveness and quality during the Golden Age of the six great teachers (Yunmen, Fayan, Linji, Caoshan, Zongmi and Guiyang), it had also reached its level of greatest decline in the quality of its practitioners.

Guiyang declared, for example, that "our regret is that we were all born in an era of imitation. The age of saints is distant, and Buddhism is decadent. Most men are lazy."

Fayan declared, "Chan models in particular are widespread, most numerous in the South. Yet few in them have arrived at attainment, such people are rarely found."

Despite the mass of Buddha Dharma books that speak of the teachings and the glory of their practice, the situation is even worse today.

Yet the quality, hidden in few vessels, rose. The factors that generated a high level of incentive among the worthy were the deeper understanding and investigation of the Buddha Nature and the investigation of the Two Truths.

While the modern intellectual mind wanders in a maze of folly, the Chinese mind gathered the essence of these two.

It was as though they were generating specific Contemplations which were applied during every waking moment rather like a presence of the "Last Conceptualization of TWO TRUTHS" and the "Last Conceptualization of the BUDDHA NATURE AND THE DHARMA NATURE."

We can say then that from PO, 魄, there arose within a natural tradition of dedicated daily Dharma application and Contemplation a strong "INITIATIVE".

Augmenting this INITIATIVE was the understanding of "SUBSTANCE AND FUNCTION".

Guiyang makes it quite clear and in his teachings Substance is defined as the fundamental nature.

The meditation upon this starts with the last conceptualization of No-mind and rests unmoving  within the "becoming of consciousness", then in a moment determined by the organism returns to its source where the fundamental nature and its expression are found and where the union is not dual. We are effectively speaking here then of the union of the male and female principles in the form of Yuanshen, which is Suchness, the base of Function.

We find that the Sublime States are experienced within that suchness when discernment takes place.

The result is the clear generation of Strong Initiative to be, and continue, upon the Dharma Path.

DETERMINATION

Initiative, we know, must be maintained, but this cannot be achieved by the mundane acts of mental resolution or determination. These are hollow, for there are no roots to that determination. What higher wisdom then arose that provided that DETERMINATION?

The factors which generated that determination, emanating from the concept of "the one within all and all within one" were the fruit of the Last Conceptualization of the UNITY OF ALL THINGS and the overwhelming importance of the contemplations and teachings while integrated with nature. In fact, it is difficult to divorce Chan from Nature.

Yunmen declared, "Sensations emerge from Nature, whereas nature is concealed in Sensations. When Nature is concealed, the path of ultimate reality is inoperative. That is why sages use Nature in their teaching to educate people."

The base, of course, is the concept of the interdependence and interpenetration of all phenomena. It is expressed frequently by declaring that every apparently individual phenomenon is included within the total, which is easily acceptable. More difficult to digest is the idea that the whole is contained within each apparently individual phenomenon.

Only when the dual mind is present does this idea seem absurd, but when the idea of duality is let go of then the whole and the particular are no longer separated cognitively.

We can take the same position when we review the True Self (not the Mundane Identity). That self is essentially non-existent and only illusion and rests within the total illusion which is the absolute (which is actually also unified with the non-absolute as the apparent Third Truth.) That total illusion then must rest as a consequence within the True Self, which we know actually to be a subliminal event directly related to Pure Sensory Awareness.

Buddha, which is really a symbol for Wisdom, is inherent within every living thing and likewise that set of apparently individual Wisdoms is essentially One Wisdom.

The Pure Mind then effectively is spliced with Samsara, for then these two Truths are one and finally the Cosmos, defined as the boundless and Infinite Dao, is seen to contain the Unstained Samsara and that the reverse is true. Perhaps you can see that this a simply an elaborated extension of the Two Truths, but its understanding when experienced and applied to any particular phenomenon and the whole is far-reaching.

When experieced as being true and reflected within all of nature of which one's apparent existence is a part, it brings a realization of the importance of that oneness in which the self has little significance and then a great DETERMINATION to continue as an integral part of that awesome Illusion of Oneness.

PERSEVERANCE

We saw that the series Initiative, Determination and Perseverance was essential as a base for more advanced meditation.

But, what is perseverance? What kind of meditation might enhance it?

In a basic sense, perseverance is the quality of persisting in the face of difficulty and opposition, or even when the prospects of success are dim.

What could qualify as the difficulty or opposition faced by Chan students of the early days in China? The same as everywhere and always: the enticements of worldly Samsara, with the ever-present temptation of giving up on the path. But here the adepts were well-disciplined, so we must imagine that the temptation was perhaps a fear that the final goal was unattainable.

Now, we know that the concepts and last conceptualizations of the Two Truths, the Buddha Nature, and the mutual interdependence of all things provided the spark to ignite Initiative and Determination for these early Channists. With Perseverance a similar path was followed, in which the nominal stepping stone was the Pure Mind, albeit with the realization that neither perseverance, the mind, nor purity existed as such at all.

The essential bridge was the Prajnaparamita Sutra.

波罗蜜, bō ​luó​ mì, is really to be considered as "Paramita", but in its Chinese sense we may call it the "gathering of much sweetness," which is an excellent presentation of the true associated "experience."

These Paramitas in Chinese are quite different in many respects. They consist of:

1 布施 bù shī      Benevolence

2 持戒 chí jiè      Exhorting perseverance

3 忍辱 rěn rǔ       Enduring insults

4 精進 jīngjìn​      Forging ahead vigorously

5 禪定 chan ding   Set one’s meditation

6 智慧 zhìhuì​       Wisdom

"These lead to the earth treasury of the mind by not seeking outward. All is mind - the pure light of the mind - the non-discriminatory light of the mind - the non-discriminating light of the mind." Linji

Since any direct insistence on perseverance would only result in reifying and strengthening the negative conditions it was meant to counter, their approach was one of altogether dropping all mental hindrances that prevented one's natural steadfastness from manifesting itself in daily activities.

The task was then NON-OBSTRUCTION.

The Platform Sutra attributed to Huineng is eloquent in this regard:

NO MIND-VIEWING

18. “Good friends, in this teaching from the outset sitting in meditation does not concern the mind nor does it concern purity; we do not talk of steadfastness. If someone speaks of ‘viewing the mind,’ [then I would say] that the ‘mind’ is of itself a delusion, and as delusions are just like fantasies, there is nothing to be seen. If someone speaks of ‘viewing purity,’ [then I would say] that man’s nature is of itself pure, but because of false thoughts True Reality is obscured. If you exclude delusions then the original nature reveals its purity. If you activate your mind to view purity without realizing that your own nature is originally pure, delusions of purity will be produced. Since this delusion has no place to exist, then you know that whatever you see is nothing but delusion."

The Sutra's advice is crystal-clear: don't set up dual ideas of 'purity', 'mind-viewing' or even 'perseverance'. All such mental activity serves no purpose but to further obstruct things. One cannot use dualistic reasoning to break away from delusions; one can only practice the correct way, which is to strip away all superfluous mental activity and allow the natural to emerge by itself.

NO PURITY

Purity has no form, but, nonetheless, some people try to postulate the form of purity and consider this to be Chan practice. People who hold this view obstruct their own original natures and end up by being bound by purity. One who practices steadfastness does not see the faults of people everywhere. This is the steadfastness of self-nature. The deluded man, however, even if he doesn’t move his own body, will talk of the good and bad of others the moment he opens his mouth, and thus behave in opposition to the Tao. Therefore, both ‘viewing the mind’ and ‘viewing purity’ will cause an obstruction to Tao.

There it is: with true Chan practice, one's mind is not drawn by the world outside and unconcerned with other people's behavior. In other words, one loses the very grounds for quitting on the path and becomes inner-directed insofar as his main goal, so to speak, is to develop and maintain true balance and harmony with the great Dao or Dharma that encompasses all things.

THE MEDITATION

19. “Now that we know that this is so, what is it in this teaching that we call ‘sitting in meditation’ (zuochan)? In this teaching ‘sitting’ means without any obstruction anywhere, outwardly and under all circumstances, not to activate thoughts. ‘Meditation’ is internally to see the original nature and not become confused."

So, meditation is not about 'gaining' something, it is really about losing, dropping and letting go of whatever it is that is clouding our original Buddha nature and confusing our experience of the Two Truths.

“And what do we call Chan meditation (ch’an-ting)? Outwardly to exclude form is ‘ch’an’; inwardly to be unconfused is meditation (ting). Even though there is form on the outside, when internally the nature is not confused, then, from the outset, you are of yourself pure and of yourself in meditation. The very contact with circumstances itself causes confusion. Separation from form on the outside is ‘ch’an’; being untouched on the inside is meditation (ting). Being ‘ch’an’ externally and meditation (ting) internally, it is known as ch’an meditation (ch’an-ting). The Vimalakirti Sutra says: ‘At once, suddenly, you regain the original mind.’ The P’u-sa-chieh says: ‘From the outset your own nature is pure.’

The Chan practices of Perseverance thus involves a turning inward and away from external stimulation ("the very contact with circumstances"), yet also away from internal cogitations ("being untouched on the inside") -straight to the pure mind by cutting through the mind's delusions, without ever setting up the pure mind as a goal.

In Linji's words, as we mentioned ,"these [practices] lead to the earth treasury of the mind by not seeking outward. All is mind - the pure light of the mind - the non-discriminatory light of the mind - the non-discriminating light of the mind." In this triad of Function, Essence and Undifferentiated Form presented as different aspects of the pure light of the mind we see the three classic gateways leading to the state of Uncarved Wood; but the path consists of simply removing all confusion as to its obstruction and furtherance.

“Good friends, see for yourselves the (natural) purity of your own natures, practice and accomplish for yourselves. Your own nature is the Dharmakaya and self-practice is the practice of Buddha; by spontaneous accomplishment you may achieve the Buddha Way for yourselves.”

When the adept sees and realizes that there can be no objectives, no real opposition to vanquish and no real reward to obtain, just the natural functioning of his original nature that knows nothing of perseverance yet is naturally steadfast, then he is well on his way to just carrying on with a practice that may seem perseverant to observers but is simply a spontaneous expression of his Buddha nature as it unfolds in the realm of neither existence nor non-existence.

Thus, the practice of Perseverance ties together those of Initiative and Determination: once the Chan adept has strengthened the experiences of the Buddha Nature and the Two Truths on the one hand, and of the Oneness and Interdependence of all phenomena on the other, all that remains is the self-practice of his original nature as defined by those conditions. There is no need for Perseverance in one's practice as a deliberate target because at that stage there is nothing left to compete with it: practicing and living have become one.

The question is what does that Perseverance have as a fruit? It is the strong natural drive to experience the state of the Uncarved Wood.