ERRORS IN ZONGMI'S "SUDDEN" CONCEPT

1. A discussion of the errors in Zongmi's approach from the contemplation vision of Awakening.

In the first stage of CONSTRCTION

1. The error of not understanding that the theoretical base of Emptiness was remote from the Contemplations derived from that position.

2. The contemplations of Emptiness parallel those of Awareness

3. Huineng's contemplation, although considered superior, was also effecrtively a third, though different direct approach

4. Oxhead and ShenXui... were they direct

Gregory text

no mind

In order to appreciate the scope of Tsung-mi's comment, we must cast it within the doctrinal context within which it is set. Tsung-mi

discusses three general types of Mahaayaana Buddhist teachings in the Ch'an Preface, each of which he also identifies with a particular brand of

Ch'an teaching. The first and least profound corresponds to the type of Yogaacaara represented by the Fa-hsiang tradition in China,that which, in

Tsung-mi's terminology, discusses phenomenal appearances (shuo-hsiang (af); Tsung-mi further identifies it as the teaching embodied in Oxhead

the Northern Ch'an Lineage. It is superseded by the that of Maadhyamika, which uses emptiness to deny the reality of phenomenal appearances

(p'o-hsiang); Tsung-mi sees this teaching as providing the doctrinal basis of the Ox-Head Lineage.

Both of these teachings are characterized as being of "hidden intent" (mi'i (ag)), because in neither is the Buddha's ultimate intent revealed. This is

one way for Tsung-mi to claim that the first two levels of teaching are neyaartha (pu-liao(ah)), that is, not those of ultimate meaning. The second,

however, is the more profound of the two because it does "intimate" (mi-hsien (ai)) it.

According to the true ultimate meaning, since

deluded thoughts are intrinsically empty, there is

nothing that can be negated.

All things, being

without defilement, are intrinsically the True

Nature, and its Marvelous Functioning-in-accprdwith-

conditions is not only never interrupted, but also

cannot be negated.

Although he regarded the True Nature and its

Marvelous Functioning not to be nonexistent, because

he provisionally said they were nonexistent, [these

teachings] are designated as being of "hidden

intent." Furthermore, though his intention lay in

revealing the Nature, because his words thus negated

phenomenal appearances and his intent was not

expressed in words, they are referred to as

"hidden." (407a7--9; K 121)

The third teaching is ultimate because, in

contrast to the previous two, it does "directly

reveal" (hsien-shih) the essence.

It is therefore

also "sudden" (tun(aj) ) because it reveals the

essence in its immediate reality, whereas the other

two are "gradual" (chien(ak)) because they only

offer a mediated access to the essence through a

variety of expedients (fang-pien, upaaya).

It is

also "sudden" in that it is the only teaching which

makes it possible for one to realize the essence of

the Mind directly, and such an experience by its

very nature must be "sudden" because the Mind itself

cannot be grasped through any symbolic mediation.(7)

Unlike those forms of Buddhism, particularly

vocal within Ch'an, which held that only negative

statements such as "there is nothing whatsoever to

be attained" or "neither Mind nor Buddha" were

ultimately true,

The passage discussed earlier on the

distinction between name and essence concludes on a

similar note. Tsung-mi remarks that the first two

types of teaching

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use negative modes of expression because they fear

that words will only become a source of further

attachment.

As such, they are suited for beginners

and those of shallow capacity. The teaching which

reveals the Nature, by contrast, is geared to

advanced students and those of superior ability:

"Becuase it causes them to forget words and

apprehend the essence, a single word directly

reveals [the essence]." Tsung-mi then quotes, in his

appended note, Bodhidharma as having said: "I

directly reveal [the essence ] by pointing to a

single word" (406c29-407a3; K 170).

The third teaching, in which the essence is

directly revealed, thus supersedes the previous two.

On the one hand, the first two prepare the way for

its apprehension. Since each teaching generically

represents a certain level of understanding of the

essence, Tsung-mi's hierarchical arrangement of the

teachings at the same time also describes the course

of Buddhist piactice by delineating the process of

advancement through a graduated series of

provisional levels of understanding until the

ultimate one is finally reached. This is the

gradual perspective. On the other hand, the third

teaching is also sudden, and by this Tsung-mi means

that it makes it possible for those of superior

spiritual capacity to realize the essence directly

as it is without having to progress through a

succession of provisional stages. A person of

superior spiritual capacity, moreover, is one who is

able "to forget words and apprehend the essence,"

and thus for such a person only a single word is

necessary to reveal the essence in all of its

immediacy.

Tsung-mi thus envisions a "two-track" path of

spiritual progress: the first, the gradual, is

suited for those of average or lesser capacity while

the second, the sudden, is only for those of the

highest.

The third teaching, as the culmination of

the gradual path, thus also has a gradual component,

although it is its "sudden" character that Tsung-mi

emphasizes. And it is its sudden character that

enables the adept to circumvent the gradual path

entirely and directly apprehend the Mind itself.

Tsung-mi's arrangement of the teachings,

insofar as it recapitulates the course of spiritual

progress, is predicated upon his understanding of

the nature and function of religious language. While

he does not explicitly articulate a theory of

religious language as such, one can, nevertheless,

be extrapolated into the following general form. For

the teachings which still only approximate the

ultimate, the function of language is primarily to

overcome the disasterous effects arising out of the

confusion of names (ming) and essences (t'i), that

is, language is turned against itself as the

principal vehicle of reification. Such a

misconception of language is inextricably a part of

the basic dichotomizing mode of awareness which

divides beings from their True nature. Apophatic

language, by calling attention to the unconscious

hold that the fundamental structures of language

have in determining the forms of experience, thus

plays a necessarily therapeutic role in dismantling

the false premises upon which deluded thinking is

based. Tsung-mi's ranking of the provisional levels

of teaching is accordingly done on a scale of their

increasing use of negative modes of discourse,

culminating with the

P256

thoroughgoing apophasis of emptiness. Only after one

has recognized the emptiness of words, their

provisional and arbitrary character as dependent

upon convention, can religious language take on a

new and potent function. When names are no longer

mistaken for essences, then they no longer provide a

basis upon which an imaginary reality can be

constructed and they are thus free to reveal the

essence directly. Such positive use of language

could be called. playing on Tsung-mi's own

terminology, "revelatory" (hsien-shih) ---not, of

course, meaning by such a term a special kind of

language that is sacred because revealed by a more

exalted spiritual authority, but language which is

able to reveal the essence directly (hisen-shih); in

other words, language that is so efficacious that it

is able, with only a single word, to bring about a

direct insight into the very essence itself, at

least in the case of persons of the highest

spiritual caliber. The primary distinguishing

characteristic of the Teaching which Reveals the

Nature is that it makes use of such revelatory

language. And the paradigm of such language, for

Tsung-mi, is the single word "chih."

The problem with such a general formulation is

that, in several places, Tsung-mi seems to be

saying that "chih" and only chih can function as

such a revelatory word, and. if that it his

position, it raises serious philosophical

difficulties for him. On the one hand, he would have

to admit that "chih" could be mistaken for an

ordinary word (or else why did Bodhidharma not utter

it?) and so, like all words, must also be empty.

Yet. on the other hand, he is stuck with Shen-hui's

dictum about "the single word." Although he does not

anticipate this problem,I think that, in order to

maintain the overall consistency of his thought, he

would, if confronted with it, have to acknowledge

that such "revelatory" language could not be tied to

a specific term. if Tsung-mi's understanding of

religious language can be construed in this way,

then he is saying something that should be relevant

for those interested in the philosophical analysis

of mysticism.

III THE MEANING OF CHIH

So far our discussion of the single word "chih" has

shown that it is predicated upon Tsung-mi's

understanding of the nature and function of

religious language and that this understanding

provides one of the primary rubrics in terms of

which he evaluates the various Buddhist teachings

and Ch'an traditions. It is thus no accident that

Tsung-mi doctrinally identifies chih with the

tathaagatagarbha, and it is worth noting in passing.

as I have argued elsewhere, (9) that the

tathaagatagarbha doctrine was important for

Tsung-mi precisely because it provided an onto-

logical basis for the use of kataphatic language.

In the Ch'an Preface Tsung-mi gives the

following characterization of the Teaching which

Directly Reveals that the True Mind is the Nature:

This teaching propounds that all sentient beings

without exception have the empty, tranquil True

Mind. From time without beginning it is the

intrinsically pure, effulgent, unobscured, clear and

bright ever-present Awareness (ch'ang-

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chih). It will abide forever and never perish on

into the infinite future. It is named Buddha-nature;

it is also named tathaagatagarbha and Mind-Ground.

(404b27-c3; K 131)(10)

Tsung-mi goes on to gloss what he means by

"ever-present awareness" in a later part of this

section (404c28-a12; K 131-132). After stating that

it is not the awareness of realization

(cheng-chih(ar), he says that the True Nature is

nevertheless spoken of as aware to indicate that it

is different from insentient nature.(11) However,

Awareness is neither the mental activity of

discrimination (fen-pieh chih shih(as)) nor wisdom

(chih(c),Mathews # 933). For canonical authority he

then refers to the Wen-ming ("The Bodhisattvas Ask

for Clarification") chapter of the Avata.mska (see T

10.69a), (12) which he claims differentiates between

Awareness (chih, Mathews #932) and wisdom (chih,

Mathews #933), pointing out that "wisdom is not

shared by the ordinary person (fan), " whereas

"Awareness is possessed by both the sage (sheng) and

the ordinary person."(13) He first quotes

Ma~nju`srii's answer to the bodhisattvas' question,

"What is the Wisdom of the realm of Buddhas?"

"The Wisdom of all Buddhas freely [penetrates] the

three times without obstruction." (Since there is

nothing within the past, present, and future that is

not utterly penetrated, [it is said to be] free and

unobstructed.)

He then quotes Ma~nju`srii's answer to the question,

"What is the Awareness of the realm of Buddhas?"

"It is not something that can be known by

consciousness (fei shih so neng shih(at))" (It

cannot be known by consciousness. Consciousness

falls within the category of discrimination. "Were

it discriminated, it would not be True Awareness."

"True Awareness is only seen in no-thought.") "nor

is it an object of the mind (i fei hsin ching

chieh(au))." (It cannot be known by wisdom. That is

to say, if one were to realize it by means of

wisdom, then it would fall within the category of an

object which is realized, but since True Awareness

is not an object, it cannot be realized by wisdom

.... )(14)

What Tsung-mi thus means by "Awareness" is not

a specific cognitive faculty, but the underlying

ground of sentience which is always present in all

sentient life. It is not some special kind of state

of mind or spiritual insight, but the ground of both

delusion and enlightenment, ignorance and wisdom,

or, as he aptly terms it, the Mind Ground.

Tsung-mi's use of "chih" to designate the

tathaagatagarbha, and the specific meaning that it

has for him in terms of "revelatory" language, gives

a decided Ch'an twist to tathaagatagarbha doctrine.

At the same time, it also brings a scholastic

dimension back into Ch'an, which the iconoclasm of

Shen-hui's attack on the Northern line of Ch'an had

eclipsed. The reconciliation of Ch'an and the more

scholastic teachings (ch'an-chiao i-chih(av)) was,

of course, one of the major objectives to which

Tsung-mi devoted the ch'an Preface.

P258

IV. METAPHOR OF THE MIRROR

Tsung-mi's analysis of the True Mind in the Ch'an

Chart sheds further light on what he means by

ever-present Awareness.

The intrinsic essence of the True Mind (chen-hsin

tzu-t'i(aw)) has two kinds of functioning: the first

is the intrinsic functioning of the self-Nature

(tzu-hsing pen-yung(ax) ) and the second is its

responsive functioning-in-accord-with-conditions

(sui-yuan ying-yung(ay)). (437d4-5; K 336)(15)

Tsung-mi then proceeds to illustrate this statement

with an analogy of a bronze mirror.(16)

The material substance of the bronze is the essence

of the self-Nature (tzu-hsinh t'i(az)); the luminous

reflectivity (ming(ba) ) of the bronze is the

functioning of the self-Nature (tzu-hsing yung(bb));

and the images reflected by its luminous reflectivity

are its functioning-in-accord-with-conditions (sui-yuan

yung(bc)). The images are reflected in direct response

to conditions. While the reflections may have thousands

of variations, the luminous reflectivity is the ever-

present luminous reflectivity of the self-nature.

(437d5-7; K 336)

Tsung-mi goes on to explain this analogy: "The

ever-present tranquility of the Mind is the essence

of the self-Nature, and the ever-present Awareness

of the Mind is the functioning of the self-Nature."

The psychophysical functions of "speech, discrimination,

bodily movement, and so forth are [examples of] its

functioning-in-accord-with-conditions".(437d7-8; K336) .

The metaphor could be represented diagrammatically as

follows:

MIRROR ONTOLOGY MIND

bronze essence of ever-present tranquility

self-Nature

luminous functioning of ever-present Awarencess

reflectivity self-Nature

reflected functioning-in- psycho-physical functions

images accord-with-

conditions

This metaphor is worth analyzing in detail. Not

only is it based on a more complex understanding of

chih than that seen earlier in Tsung-mi's discussion

of name and essence (wherein chih revealed the

essence of the Mind rather than merely designating

it), but it is also connected with the fundamental

structuring ideas of his thought.

The analysis of the structure of the Mind upon

which Tsung-mi's use of this metaphor is based

derives from the Awakening of Faith, which discusses

the Mind in terms of two aspects: the Mind as

Suchness (hsin chen-ju(bd)) and the Mind which is

Subject to Birth-and-Death (hsin sheng-mieh(be)).

Following Fa-tsang, Tsung-mi characterizes these two

aspects of the Mind as absolute (pu-pien(bf)),

P259

literally, "unchanging") and conditioned

(sui-yuan(bg).These two aspects of the Mind, in turn,

trace back to the two different perspectives in

terms of which the tathaagatagarbha was

traditionally discussed: seen in its true form the

tathaagatagarbha is none other than the Dharmakaaya,

which is intrinsically pure and devoid of all

defilements; seen, however, through the deluded

perception of sentient beings it appears to be

defiled.

The absolute and conditioned aspects of the

Mind, as Tsung-mi understands them, conform to the

conceptual paradigm of essence (t'i(u) ) and

function (yung(bh)). What is interesting and unique

about Tsung-mi's analysis, however, is that he also

views the absolute aspect of the Mind in terms of

its essence and function. Accordingly, tranquility

(chi) refers to the essence of the self-Nature of

the Mind, and Awareness, to its functioning. As

Tsung-mi writes, "'tranquil' refers to the

invariable steadfastness of the real essence, the

principle of immovability and immutability.... Were

there no essence of the True Mind, what could be

said to be tranquil and what could be said to be

immovable and immutable?" (Yuan-chueh ching lueh-shu

ch'ao, at ZZ 1/15/2.97b8-10). Awareness is a "direct

manifestation of the very essence itself'" (tang-t'i

piao-hsien(bi) ) (97b11) . "Tranquility is the

Awareness which is tranquil, and Awareness is the

tranquility whicch is aware. Tranquility is the

essence of the self-Nature which is aware, and

Awareness is the functioning of the self-Nature

which is tranquil (97b12-14). Tsung-mi then calls

upon the authority of Shen-hui to clinch the point

that the essence of the Mind and its functioning are

only different modes of one another: "Ho-tse said,

'The functioning of the essence is aware in and of

itself and the essence of this Awareness is tranquil

in and of itself. Although the terms are different,

essence and function form a unity'" (97b18-cl).(17)

The importance of Tsung-mi's application of the

essence/function (t'i-yung) paradigm to the absolute

aspect of the Mind is that it allows him to

distinguish between two different orders of

functioning: the intrinsic functioning of the

self-Nature and its responsive functioning-in-accord-

with-conditions. The functioning of the self-Nature,

like the luminous reflectivity of a mirror, is

absolute in that it is ever-present and not

contingent upon conditions: it exists in and of

itself. It is in this sense that it is characterized

as pen(bj) , "intrinsic, " in contrast to the

functioning-in-accord-with-conditions, which is

causally contingent and hence characterized as

ying(bk) , "responsive." Moreover, just as the

luminous reflectivity of the mirror is able to

reflect both pure: and impure images without its

intrinsically pure and luminous nature being

affected, so too the Mind is able to respond to pure

and impure conditioning without its intrinsically

pure and enlightened nature being affected. The

functioning-in-accord-with-conditions, on the other

hand, is what could be called a second order

functioning. It involves two levels of contingency.

Not only do the pyschophysical functions, like the

reflected images in a mirror, only become activated

in response to stimuli, they are also dependent

upon the Mind as their ontological ground,just as

images could not be reflected in the absence of a

mirror. The psychophysical functions are thus, in an

impor-

P260

tant sense, epiphenomena (mo(bl)) of ever-present

Awareness. The difference between these two kinds of

functioning could thus be represented as follows:

FUNCTIONING OF FUNCTIONING-IN-ACCORD-

SELF-NATURE WITH-CONDITIONS

eternal transient

unchanging variable

unconditioned conditioned

absolute relative

primary(pen) derivative(mo)

These two different orders of functioning also

reflect two different levels of "causality." The

first has to do with the sequence of causes and

conditions whereby each thing or event arises or

occurs contingent upon a series of other things or

events, which, in turn, are contingent upon yet

other things or events. In terms of Tsung-mi's

metaphor, the various images that are reflected in

the mirror are contingent upon the different objects

that appear before it, those objects themselves

ultimately being contingent upon an infinite series

of causes and conditions. It is just this order of

contingency that is accounted for in the well-known

Buddhist doctrine of conditioned origination

(yuan-ch'i(bm); pratiityasamutpaada). However, as

the metaphor has already suggested, there is another

kind of causality, one which makes the first

possible. This is what, in the Hua-yen tradition

that Tsung-mi inherited, is referred to as "Nature

Origination" (hsingch'i(bn)). Quoting Fa-tsang (see

T45.639b20-21), Tsung-mi defines Nature Origination

as "the arising of functioning based on the essence"

(Hua-yen ching hsing-yuan p'in shu ch'ao, at ZZ

1/7/4.399c16-17). "Nature," he explains, refers to

the One Mind of the Awakening of Faith, "the pure

Mind that is the ultimate source of Buddhas and

sentient beings" (399b6 and c5) . "Origination"

refers to the manifestation of the manifold

phenomena of the universe from the Nature, the

process of phenomenal appearance (399c5-6). "Nature"

means "the Nature of the essence" (t'i-hsiang(bo)),

and "origination," "the phenomenal appearance of the

essence" (t'i-hsiang(bp)) (399b16-17). In addition

to the essence/function paradigm, Tsung-mi defines

Nature origination in terms of yet another polarity,

that of Nature (hsing(bq)) and its phenomenal

appearances (hsiang(br)), which is basic to the

structure of his thought. Nature origination thus

means that all phenomenal appearances are ultimately

based upon the Nature, whereas conditioned

origination connotes the relative interdependency of

all phenomenal appearances. While each and every

phenomenal appearance is conditioned by every other

phenomenal appearance, it is simultaneously also

grounded upon the Nature, which is its ultimate

source.

The two different levels of causality could be

visualized as a cone. The circular surface of the

cone (the directrix) would represent the dimension

of conditioned origination (yuan-ch'i), in which

every point is connected with every other point in a

causal series. Since the position of each point is

conditioned by that of every

P261

other point, each point could be said to be

infinitely contingent. The individual points,

moreover, represent the infinite variety of

phenomenal appearances (hsiang). Each phenomenal

appearance, however, in addition to being

conditioned by all others, is also a manifestation

of the Nature (hsing), which, in the image of the

cone, would be represented by the vertex. Not only

is each point on the directrix serially linked with

every other point on the directrix, it is at the

same time also linked with the vertex, just as all

phenomenal appearances are simultaneously

interdependent and a manifestation of the Nature,

which is their ultimate ground. The direct and

simultaneous linkage of each point of the directrix

with the vertex represents the dimension of Nature

origination (hsing-ch'i)-what, in the geometrical

terminology of this image, is aptly termed the

generatrix. (See drawing on page 269.)

The significance of Nature origination as a

causal model is that phenomenal appearances only

have reality insofar as they are manifestations of

the Nature. When they are taken as real in

themselves, they become the basis for deluded

attachment. Only when they are seen as empty, as

lacking any intrinsic reality, can they be seen as

manifestations of the Nature and their ultimate

reality be understood. The import of Nature

origination is thus both ontological and

soteriological: the ontological structure of reality

that it describes is at once a soteriological map.

And Awareness, as the functioning of self-Nature,

occupies the nodal point in this model. Awareness is

the ontological ground of phenomenal appearances,

which only have reality as manifestations of the

Nature. It is the underlying basis of all mental

states. In this way enlightenment and delusion are

only changing reflections on the surface of

Awareness, praj~naa and discrimination being only

different phenomenal appearances. Suzuki's

praj~aa-intuition and Hu's intellectual knowledge

thus belong to an entirely different order of

reality than Awareness; they are modes of its

responsive functioning-in-accord-with-conditions

rather than the functioning of the self-Nature (see

Yuan-chueh ching ta-shu ch'ao, at ZZ

1/14/3.213b6-7). In the terms of the Awakening of

Faith, from which Tsung-mi's interpretation of

Nature origination derives, Awareness would

correspond to intrinsic enlightenment (pen-chueh(bs)

). The "luminous reflectivity" in Tsung-mi's use of

the metaphor of the mirror translates "ming," a word

that doctrinally plays on wu-ming(bt), ignorance

(Sanskrit, avidyaa) , and hence serves as an

appropriate metaphorical term for intrinsic

enlightenment.

Awareness, as the functioning of the

self-Nature, thus represents the dynamic, creative

aspect of the Nature. It is therefore important to

note that the word "chih" is primarily verbal,

meaning "to know." Even when it is used nominally,

as it is by Tsung-mi, its verbal force is still

retained. That which "chih" refers to, then, is an

activity rather than a thing. For this reason it is

preferable to the word "Mind" (hsin), which, as a

noun, is more apt to be reified. The English word

"knowing," accordingly , might seem to be a better

translation of' "chih, " as it more faithfully

represents both the literal meaning and verbal

character of the Chinese word. The problem with

"knowing," as a translation, however, is that,

P262

in English, the verb "to know" is transitive and

demands an object. But Tsung-mi emphasizes the fact

that ''chih" is intransitive and does not demand an

object. And "Awareness." insofar as it is possible

to be aware without necessarily being aware of

anything, better expresses the intransitive

character of "chih."

V. HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Tsung-mi introduced the metaphor of the mirror in

the Ch'an Chart to make explicit the differences

between the Ho-tse and Hung-chou lines of Southern

Ch'an and to demonstrate the superiority of the

former. This work was written at the behest of

Tsung-mi's influential lay disciple P'ei Hsiu

(?787-860) to clarify the historical filiations and

essential teachings of four of the major Ch'an

traditions of the day. While Tsung-mi accordingly

deals with the Northern and Ox-Head lines of Ch'an

in that work, he is most concerned with that of

Hung-chou as representing the most serious challenge

to the tradition with which he identified himself,

that of Ho-tse Shen-hui. Since both the Northern and

Ox-Head lineages claimed descent from the fifth and

fourth patriarchs, respectively, and, by the 830s

when he composed the Ch'an Chart, it had been

generally accepted that Hui-neng had scceeded to the

title of Sixth Patriarch, they represented

collateral lines and thus, in terms of their

historical filiation, did not pose a threat to the

orthodoxy of the Southern Ch'an to which the Ho-tse

lineage belonged. Hung-chou, however, also claimed

descent from Hui-neng and thus boasted better

credentials. Moreover, by the fourth decade of the

ninth century the Northern and Ox-Head lines were no

longer vital traditions within Ch'an. The Hung-chou

line, however, inspired by the dynamic personality

and teaching style of Ma-tsu 'Tao-i (709-788), had

come to represent a new and ascendent force within

Ch'an. Nor, in terms of their teachings, did the

Northern and Ox-Head lines pose the same danger for

Tsung-mi as did Hung-chou. Within the doctrinal

analysis that he elaborated in his Ch'an Preface,

the teaching of the Northern line of Ch'an was

identified with the Fa-hsiang brand of Yogaacaara

and that of the Ox-Head line with Maadhyamika. The

criticism that Tsung-mi had leveled against the

first and second categories of Mahaayaana teachings

in that work consequently applied to them as well.

He had, however, placed the Hung-chou line together

with that of Ho-tse under the rubric of the third

and highest category of teaching.

Tsung-mi's emphasis on the single word

"Awareness" as hallmark of Shenhui's teaching

singled out precisely that which for him most

clearly distinguished the teaching of the Ho-tse

line from the teachings of the contending Ch'an

lines, which he considers in the Ch'an Chart.

Moreover, the fact that his most detailed analysis

of this crucial term occurs within a metaphor whose

explicit purpose is to contrast the Ho-tse and the

Hung-chou understanding of Ch'an suggests that one

of the reasons that Tsung-mi fixed on this term was

that it served not only to differentiate his brand

of Ch'an from that of Hung-chou. but also to clarify

exactly wherein it was superior.

To understand what was at stake for Tsung-mi,

we must first examine his

P.263

perception of the import of the Hung-chou teaching.

He presents the following characterization of it in

the Ch'an Chart:

The arising of mental activity, the movement of

thought, snapping the fingers, or moving the eyes,

all actions and activities are the functioning of

the entire essence of the Buddha-nature. Since there

is no other kind of functioning, greed, anger, and

folly, the performance of good and bad actions, and

the experiencing of their pleasurable and painful

consequences are all, in their entirety,

Buddhanature.... If one examines the nature of its

essence thoroughly, he will see that ultimately it

can neither be perceived nor realized just as the

eye cannot see itself, etc. If one considers its

responsive functioning, he will see that everything

that he does is [the functioning of the

Buddha-nature] and that there is nothing else that

can either realize it or be realized.... One should

not rouse the mind either to cut off evil or to

cultivate the Way. Since the Way itself is the Mind.

one cannot use the Mind to cultivate the Mind. Since

evil is also the Mind, one cannot use the Mind to

cut off the Mind. One who neither cuts off [evil]

nor does [good] but freely accepts things as they

come is called a liberated person. There is no

dharma that can be clung to nor any Buddhahood that

can be attained.... Simply allowing the mind to act

spontaneously is cultivation. (435d4-6, 16-8,

436a4-7, 8-9; K 307)

In terms of the analysis of empty tranquil

Awareness that Tsung-mi develops in his use of the

metaphor of the mirror, the fault of the Hung-chou

line is that it does not apprehend the functioning

of the self-Nature, but merely that of its

responsive functioning-in-accord-with-conditions

(437dl0-1; K 136). This is tantamount to saying that

the Hung-chou teaching mistakes the reflections in

the mirror for its luminous reflectivity. To put it

in other terms, it mistakes the variegated and ever

changing phenomenal appearances of the Nature for

the Nature itself. As far as Tsung-mi is concerned,

this is a dangerously antinomian view, for it does

away with any basis for drawing moral distinctions

between good and bad courses of action. Since it

validates all the different activities that one

engages in every day (436all; K 308), it can be seen

as undermining the purpose of religious practice. If

the three posions of greed, anger, and folly are

nothing but the expression of Buddha-nature, what

need is there to uproot them?

The force of this criticism is brought out in

Tsung-mi's use of a variation of the metaphor of the

mirror that he also employs in the Ch'an Chart. Here

he uses a ma.ni jewel(18) to represent the One

Numinous Mind (i-ling-hsin(bu)); its perfectly pure,

luminous reflectivity, empty tranquil Awareness; and

its complete lack of coloration, the fact that this

Awareness is intrinscially without any

differentiated manifestations. "Because the essence

[of the jewel] is luminously reflective, whenever it

comes into contact with external objects, it is

able to reflect all of their different colors."

Likewise, "because the essence [of the Mind] is

aware, whenever it comes into contact with

conditions, it is able to differentiate them all

into good and bad, pleasurable and unpleasurable, as

well as produce the manifold variety of mundane and

supermundane phenomena. This is its conditioned

aspect (sui-yuan-i(bv))." Tsung-mi continues, "Even

though the [reflected] colors are themselves

distinct, the luminously reflective jewel never

changes." And he

P264

comments, in his interpolated note, "Even though

ignorance and wisdom, good and bad, are themselves

distinct, and anguish and joy, love and hate arise

and perish of themselves, the Mind which is capable

of Awareness is never interrupted. This its absolute

aspect (pu-pien-i(bw))" (436c17-d3; K 322).

Tsung-mi then considers the case of when the

mani jewel comes into contact with something black:

its entire surface appears black, just as the

intrinsically enlightened nature of the Mind appears

totally obscured by the presence of ignorance

(436d3-7; K 322). Tsung-mi claims that proponents of

the Hung-chou line would maintain that the very

blackness itself is the jewel and that its essence

can never be seen. Because such people do not

apprehend the luminously reflective jewel, when they

see something black of similar size and shape, they

misidentify it as the mani jewel. If, however, they

were to see the mani jewel as it is in itself when

it is not reflecting any colors at all, they would

not be able to recognize it. Tsung-mi goes on to

explain that the state in which the jewel is not

reflecting any colors means "being without thoughts"

(wu so-nien(bx) ) . When only its luminous

reflectivity is in evidence, furthermore, this

refers to "the absence of thought which is

thoroughly aware in and of itself" (liao-liao

tzu-chih wu-nien(by)) (436d13-337a4; K 326).(19)

Tsung-mi's case rests upon his claim that the

luminously reflective jewel can be seen in itself

when it is not reflecting any colors. While it is

unclear in phenomenological terms precisely in what

such a direct perception of the Nature might

consist, it is important to note that Tsung-mi

connects such a perception with No-thought

(wu-nien(bz)). We have already seen that earlier, in

his quotation from the Wen-ming chapter of the

Avata.mraka, he had quoted Ch'eng-kuan's comment

that "true Awareness can only be seen in

no-thought" (chen-chih wei wu-nien fang chien(ca)).

In addition to representing the method by which the

Nature is directly apprehended, No-thought also

represents the intrinsic condition of the Nature,

which is devoid (k'ung) of all phenomenal

appearances (hsiang), just as the Awakening of Faith

characterizes the intrinsically enlightened Mind as

being without thoughts. It is this ontological

dimension of No-thought that is behind Tsung-mi's

characterization of Awareness as being "empty" in

the phrase "empty tranquil Awareness." Although

Tsung-mi does not clarify further what he means by

the practice of No-thought, what is important to

note here is that it is his claim, that a direct

perception of the Nature is not only possible but

necessary, that distinguishes the Ho-tse line from

that of Hung-chou--and such a direct perception of

the Nature is what, for Tsung-mi, Sudden

Enlightenment (tunwn(cb)) is all about. Elsewhere he

claims that the Hung-chou line, in contradistinction

to that of Ho-tse, only has inferential knowledge

(pi-liang(cc); anumaana) but not direct preception

(hsien-liang(cd) ; pratyak.sa) of the Nature

(437d11-2; K 336). And it is because it does not

have a direct perception of it that it can mistake

something else for the Nature. This means, for

Tsung-mi, that followers of the Hung-chou line have

no clear assurance that their insight is true and,

accordingly, their practice of "simply allowing the

mind to act spontaneously" can

P265

become a rationalization for deluded activity.

Tsung-mi thus not only charges them with failing to

understand the meaning of Sudden Enlightenment. but

also with not recognizing the necessity of the

subsequent gradual cultivation, in which the deeply

rooted habitual conditioning that keeps one from

integrating his insight into the Nature throughout

all dimensions of his personality and behavior is

progressively extirpated (see 438a18-b3; K 341).

If Tsung-mi's emphasis on Awareness can be

seen, at least in part, as a reaction against what

he perceived as the overly radical character of

other forms of Ch'an, then, given the centrality of

Awareness within his thought as a whole, it further

suggests that his revaluation of some of the basic

tenets of Hua-yen thought also had its impetus in

his response to developments within the Ch'an of his

day.(20) While Tsung-mi is noted for his infusion of

Ch'an into Hua-yen, it might perhaps be more

accurate to characterize him as a conservative Ch'an

figure who adapted Hua-yen thought as a hedge

against more extreme Ch'an movements of the late

eight and early ninth centuries.(21) Certainly one

of the reasons that Hua-yen appealed to Tsung-mi was

that it provided an ontological rationale for Ch'an

practice, and that was precisely wherein the

Hung-chou teaching was lacking.

Despite Tsung-mi's efforts to uphold the

orthodoxy of Shen-hui's line of Ch'an, it was the

teaching and style of the Hung-chou line that

triumphed historically. Tsung-mi was the fifth and

last "patriarch" within the Ho-tse tradition.

Shortly after his death in 841, the Hui-ch'ang

Persecution sealed the demise of the Ho-tse line of

Ch'an once and for all. After the persecution, his

devoted disciple P'ei-hsiu became Prime Minister and

labored to resurrect the fortunes of Buddhism. He

also became a disciple of Huang-po Hsi-yun (d.

850?), a forceful master in the Hung-chou line and

teacher of Lin-chi I-hsuan (d. 866). Huang-po's

collected sermons and dialogues were recorded by

none other than Tsung-mi's former disciple, P'ei

Hsiu, a fact that can be taken as symbolizing the

failure of the Ho-tse line to perpetuate itself as a

living Ch'an tradition and the attendant shift

towards a more radical form of Ch'an teaching.

The Rinzai (Chinese, Lin-chi) tradition of

Japanese Zen developed out of the Hung-chou line of

Chinese Ch'an. Thus it should perhaps be no surprise

that the account that D. T. Suzuki, as a modern

interpreter of that tradition, gives of "chih" does

not reflect Tsung-mi's understanding of the term.

Suzuki's position, however, represents only one of

the possibilities that could have developed out of

the various alternatives that were available in

eighth- and ninth-century China. Even though

Tsung-mi's portrayal of the Ch'an of that time is

colored by his own sectarian filiation, it is

valuable insofar as it gives us a far more textured

understanding of the range of possibilities still

open to the Ch'an of the latter T'ang than does the

more doctrinaire account of Suzuki. While Tsung-mi's

more ontological point of view did not prevail

within Ch'an, it did, ironically, survive within

Neo-Confucianism. Chu Hsi's criticism of the

Buddhist understanding of "Nature" (hsing), for

instance, merely recapitulates Tsung-mi's criticsm

of the Hung-chou line--but that is a topic for

another paper.

P266

NOTES

The two texts of Tsung-mi from which I have drawn

most heavily in writing this article are his Preface

to the Collected Writings on the Source of Ch'an

(Ch'an-yuan chu-ch'uan-chi tu-hsu) and Chart of the

Master-Disciple Succession of the Ch'an Gate Which

Has Transmitted the Mind Ground In China (Chung-hua

ch'uan-hsin-ti Ch'an-men shih-tzu ch'eng-hsi t'u),

which I refer to respectively throughout as the

Ch'an Preface and Ch'an Chart. Both texts have been

edited, annotated, and translated into modern

Japanese by Kamata Shigeo in vol.9 of the Zen no

goroku series under the general editorship of Iriye

Yoshitaka (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo, 1971). In addition

to the Taisho and Zokuzokyo editions of the texts, I

will refer to Kamata's edition as "K" in my

citations from them. Tsung-mi's interpolated

comments appear in parenthesis. In preparing my

translation of the various passages that I quote

from Tsung-mi I have consulted those previously done

by other scholars. Jeffrey L. Broughton's 1975

Columbia University Ph.D. dissertation, "Kuei-feng

Tsung-mi: The Convergence of Ch'an and the

Teachings," includes a complete translation of the

Ch'an Preface. Jan Yun-hua's ''Tsung-mi: His

Analysis of Ch'an Buddhism" (T'oung Pao 58 (1972):

1-53) also contains translations of some of the

passages to which I refer. The best of the

translations I have consulted are those done by

Robert E. Busewell, Jr., in his The Korean Approach

to Zen (Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawaii

Press, 1983). I hereby acknowledge my debt to the

efforts of these scholars. Nevertheless, all

translations appearing within the article are my

own. I would also like to thank Michael Sells and

Alan Sponberg for their helpful comments on an early

draft of this paper.

5. My translation of the two sentences

beginning with "When it is deluded" and ending with

"but Awareness is not [these] supernormal powers" is

based on an emendation. The ZZ text reads: "Mei-shih

fan-nao i chih fei fan-nao. Wu-shih shen-pien i

chih, chih fei shen-pien(ch)."

The otherwise perfect

symmetry of these two sentences demands that the

first be emended, as Kamata does, to read ",Mei-shih

fan-nao i chih, chih fei fan-nao(ci)" to parallel

the second, or that one of the two ''chih" in the

second sentence be deleted to parallel its single

occurrence in the first.

I have followed the latter

reading, basing myself on Chinul's quotation of this

passage in his Popchip pyorhaeng nok choryo pyongip

sagi (Yanagida Seizan, ed., Korai hon: Zemmon

satsuyo; Zengen shosenshu tojo; Hoju betsugyo roku

setsuyo (Kyoto: Chubun Shuppansha, 1974), p.151):

"Mei-shih fan-nao chih fei fan-nao. Wu-shih

shen-pien chih fei shen-pien(cj)." This is also the

same form in which the two sentences are quoted in

Hsien-yen's Hua-yen ching t'an-hsuan chueh-shih, at

ZZ 1/11/5.437b8-9. Cf. the parallel passage in the

Ch'an Preface, at T48.402c27-c2; K 95.

Answer: These are all examples of negative discourse

(che-ch'uan) and do not yet directly reveal the

essence of the Mind. If I did not point to the

direct revelation that this clear and bright

ever-present Awareness which is unobscured is your

own Mind at this very moment, what could I say is

without construction and phenomenal appearance, etc?

We thus know that the various teachings just say

that it is this Awareness that is without birth and

destruction, etc. Thus Ho-tse [Shen-hui] directly

revealed the awareness and vision within the empty

state of being without phenomenal appearances to

enable people to apprehend it; then they would

become aware (chueh(ck)) that it is their own mind

that passes through lifetime after lifetime

eternally uninterrupted until they attain

Buddhahood. Moreover, Ho-tse summed up such

expressions as unconstructed, nonabiding,

inexpressible, etc., by simply speaking of the empty

tranquil Awareness which includes them all. "Empty"

means empty of all phenomenal appearances and is

still a negative term. "Tranquil" just indicates the

principle of the immutability of the True Nature and

is not the same as nothingness. "Awareness"

indicates the revelation of the very essence and is

not the same as discrimination. These alone

constitute the intrinsic essence of the True Mind.

(437b7-18; K 332-333)

12. The importance of this passage for Tsung-mi

is indicated by the frequency with which he refers

to it in passages which seek to clarify the

significance of Awareness. See, for example, Ch'an

Chart, 437c14(K336); Yuan-chueh ching ta-shu ch'ao,

at ZZ 1/14/3.213b2-3; and Yuan-chueh ching lueh-shu

ch'ao, at ZZ 1/15/2.97c3-4.

14. The two sentences in quotation marks within

Tsung-mi's comment are taken from Ch'eng-kuan's

commentary and subcommentary, respectively (see

T35.612b27 and T36.261b22).

15. Tsung-mi draws the same distinction between

these two types of functioning in his discussion of

Awareness in his Yuan-chueh ching ta-shu ch'ao, at

ZZ 1/14/3.213b5-8; and Yuan-shueh ching lueh-shu

ch'ao, at ZZ 1/15/2.97c5-9.

19. Tsung-mi also applies the metaphor to the

Northern and Ox-Head lines. He maintains that

proponents of the Northern line of Ch'an would hold

that the true, luminously reflective nature of the

jewel can only be seen after the blackness has been

completely removed.

He criticizes this view as based

on the erroneous belief that the Nature and its

phenomenal appearance are totally unrelated. In

other words. it overlooks Nature origination,

according to which phenomenal appearances are

manifestations of the Nature (see 436d11-13; K 322).

Proponents of the Ox-Head line of Ch'an, on the

other hand, would hold that just as the blackness of

the jewel is empty, so too must be the entire

essence of the jewel.

"Such people do not realize

that precisely where it is altogether empty of the

phenomenal appearance of color lies the jewel which

is not empty." This view does not recognize the

non-empty aspect of the tathaagatagarbha, which is

tranquil (chi) and aware (chih) (see 437a4-11; K

327-328).

20. For example, it is well known that Tsung-mi

valued li-shih wu-ai(al) over shih-shih wu-ai(cm).

If li can be correalated with Nature (hsing) and

shih, with phenomenal appearance (hsiang), then

li-shih wu-ai could be correlated with Nature

origination (yuan-ch'i).

Just as Tsung-mi includes

both within the highest category of teaching, so he

also includes the Ho-tse and Hung-chou lines of

Ch'an.

The Ho-tse teaching, moreover, is based on

Nature origination, and that of Hung-chou, with its

emphasis on the responsive functioning of the

Nature, would seem to correlate with conditioned

origination.

21. Yanagida Seizan has shown how Tsung-mi's

conservative Ch'an stance was a reaction against

various radical developments in Szechwan