THE SECRET CHAN FOREST GATE

Few cross over the river. Most are stranded on this side

On the river bank they run up and down.

But the wise person, following the way, crosses over, beyond the reach of death.

Free from desire, free from possessions, 

free from attachment and appetite,

 following the seven lights of Awakening and rejoicing greatly in his freedom,

In this world the wise person becomes a light, pure, shining and free.

                                                                                          The Dhammapada

                             机禅林门

                            Ji chan-lin men  

     Hidden within the Stone Forest is the Secret Chan Forest

It is a forest of stone trees among which the verdant green of typical forest trees can be encountered. This stone forest in southwest China was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007. This Shilin or Stone Forest is replete with beautiful stone formations, caves and lakes.

What then makes that appropriate as a symbol of the Chan Forest? It is because the stone forest is 270 million years old! 

While we can see and know that Dharma is beautiful and visible here and now like those trees, the Dharma is as old, no, older, than that stone forest, for the Dharma is the True Nature of all things, differentiated by the mind, but really one.

      What precisely is this “secret Chan forest gate”?

The answer lies in the Chinese characters themselves, for there exists a hidden significance. This character Ji  also signifies "opportunity."

机

The characters Chan-lin, literally translated as “meditation-forest,” have a second significance in Buddha Dharma, for together they signify the “gathering of adepts.”

禅林

Not suprisingly, the character men also has a second hidden significance here.

It means “field of endeavor.”

门 

The “Secret Chan forest gate” is then the “opportunity” for “Chan adepts” to enter a “field of endeavor”.

What is that field of endeavor? It is the path of Chan Ssu Lun.

禅四轮

What then is Chan Ssu Lun (Chan Si Lun)?

Chan Ssu Lun is Chan Buddha Dharma of the Four Treatises, in which the four treatises are four wheels of the transmission of Buddha Dharma.

It has as its base the Ssu Lun, the positive form of San Lun as applied by Chan.

Those four treatises are:

 The Gate is Guarded Against the Ignorant

But let it be clear that this gate cannot be easily opened. One cannot simply attend beautiful temples, recite mantras, make prostrations and listen to teachings with a closed and inflexible mind, or simply sit with an empty mind waiting for something to happen. Few actually cross the river. Remember that. Gotama himself gave us several important points to remember.

The “Secret Chan forest gate” is then the “opportunity” for “Chan adepts” to enter a “field of endeavor”.

If you don't see it as an OPPORTUNITY then the gate will never open.

It is an opportunity to accomplish the most important thing possible in a person's life: freedom from all the chains that bind one in stained Samsara. It is more important than your illusions of Work and Family, for only if you are free will your work be balanced, sane and healthy and your family be really supported correctly on all matters with natural Compassion and true unstained Benevolence.

To take advantage of this opportunity one is encouraged to be a CHAN ADEPT. That means to be highly skilled and efficient in the teachings and contemplations of Chan.

Finally and most important is the idea that one must enter the FIELD OF ENDEAVOR. Entering this field of endeavor means that one must ALWAYS be impulsed by the idea that only earnest and conscientious activity intended to accomplish your freedom is required and implement that force in the correct direction with perfect intensity.

Take these three concepts lightly and you will only create an illusion of being Free, when true freedom is within your grasp.