OPENING THE CURTAIN OF THE FINAL SECRET TO AWAKENING
I am not really clear that this section should be made available to all people.
That is because a little learning is a dangerous thing, and the mind with identity, being astute, is capable of generating false experiences. These experiences, if identity has been responsible, will give the mistaken concept that the Contemplator is Awakened and thus a another Dangerous Fool would have been born to join the thousands which afflict the world.
That is why it is imperative that there is full and adequate teachings that accompany the three penetrations.
I have withheld, therefore, the fine instructions for direct access to both PURE AWARENESS and PURE MINDFULNESS.
PURE FUNCTION requires no such defense, for the prior criterion, before Contemplation, of a perfect daily life, replete with both Pure Compassion, Pure Benevolent Affect and highest Equanimity is an adequate filter for folly and ignorance.
THE FINAL SECRET OF DIRECT ACCESS
The model has been built which shows the three Chan Contemplations which are the keys to Awakening, but that is not the complete story.
The Contemplation which allows the experience of Subliminal Gladness to be revived we must consider as the ONE DIRECT CONTEMPLATION.
That is because it innervates Gladness and exposes the Uncarved Wood, before generating the ENERGY FORCE for the Transformation Shen.
Yet that innervation is not complete without the Vehicles that permit optimal access and the Awakening.
We must ask, why it is so Direct while those of Sensory Awareness and Emptiness are less so?
It is because the level of virtue and other-directedness in daily life must be at such a high level that Identity is almost completely eliminated, emptiness is fully understood and True Compassion, Benevolence and Equanimity are present.
This is very unusual, but allows a very direct access to the Uncarved Wood with the presence of the necessary catalysts.
We repeat:
"Awakening arises with the confirmation of Gladness by the Buddha Nature when accompanied by the experiences of Pure Awareness and Pure Mindfulness.
"The succesful Contemplation of the Function of Function by means of the Last Conceptualization of Gladness does not, in and of itself, produce Awakening."
The access without the catalysts does not bring an Awakening, but does nourish the sytem and provides Shén with the energy that it requires.
Although those who were to become Masters, who had contact with Huineng, could see and appreciate this Direct approach, they, having temperaments which were quite different and a daily life that was far from the Compassion and Benevolence, required
applied Contemplations that were less demanding.
See:
The "One-Word Awareness" of GUIFENG ZONGMI, 圭峰宗密, and the recollections of HEZE SHENHUI, 神會神会.
The Chinese character 漸, jiàn, generally translated as GRADUAL, also means "imbue" and is contrasted with 頓, dun, which means "at once," generally given as SUDDEN.
HEZE SHENHUI, 神會神会, considered all the forms of Contemplation which were not that of Huineng as Gradual.
However the Platform Sutra, influenced by HEZE SHENHUI but probably written by the Oxhead group, shows Huineng teaching the following:
"The Dharma is of one kind, but people understand it slowly or quickly. Dharma is not sudden or gradual. Rather it is people who are sharp or dull. Hence the terms sudden and gradual."
In view of the division of "gradual and sudden" made by Heze Shenhui, in which it is the Northern School that is termed Gradual, it is most probable that the other Chan models that we speak of here might also be considered "gradual."
It is only through his necessity to degrade the Northern system and all others by associating them with the old world gradual methods.
THE SUDDEN AND THE GRADUAL
We might consider here that the "Sudden" is generated when there is no necessity
of generating the Last Conceptualization that is the Cognitive Experience. This is made possible because the daily living state within Samsara is unsoiled by the full and natural presence of Compassion, Benevolent Affect and Equanimity combined with a Natural Intelligence.
This was the state of the "barbarian" Huineng, who learned of the formal most important teachings by way of early contact with the Diamond Sutra.
We might consider as gradual the methods which used Sensory Awareness and Emptiness, without denigrating those models.
They might be considered gradual in another respect, for they enter by way of processes which do not directly have access to the "Uncarved Wood."
How then is this "Uncarved Wood" accessed?
ACCESS TO THE UNCARVED WOOD
In order to understand this we must look at the consequences of correct Contemplations.
In the case of perfect Contemplation using the last Conceptualization of PURE SENSING correctly, the final experience, which is reinforced if the intensity of the Contemplation is reached free of any impediment, is the PURE MINDFULNESS EXPERIENCE.
In the case of perfect Contemplation using the Last Conceptualization of PURE EMPTINESS correctly, the final experience, which is reinforced if the intensity reached is free of impediments, is the PURE AWARENESS EXPERIENCE.
If both are truly free of Impediments, then Shén will have been reinforced and HUN and PO will be operating correctly. If this is so, then external Gladness would have been received by FUNCTION and an internal Gladness experienced and sent to the right hemisphere.
Remember now that while the six experiences of the model are indeed present in the right hemisphere, the three contemplations, namely those of "emptiness", "sensing" and "gladness," are artificial and are not as far as we can tell a natural part of the system.
THE EXPERIENCE OF AWAKENING
What can be said about this experience, except that it has a secondary effect of the presence of undifferentiated light? We can say that it is the experience of the full compliment of Pure Awareness, Pure Function and Pure Mindfulness, in other words of the presence of "Living, Gladness and Sensing," all in the pure sense without content whatsoever.
However, with the presence of a Pure Awareness and Pure Mindfulness, which have been accessed, this Contemplation automatically extends upwards towards the Feminine Principle. It is thus that Undifferentiated Form access also with the Pure Awareness and Pure Mindfulness includes access to the Sensory Awareness unconscious experience, before reaching the "Uncarved Wood."
The penetration through contemplation of "pure sensing" to PURE SENSORY AWARENESS and the presence of PURE FUNCTION by way of the purity of Virtue, producing feedback Gladness, is insufficient.
What is required is the experience of PURE AWARENESS, so that the three may be united as the experience of Awakening.
The penetration through contemplation of "pure emptiness" to PURE AWARENESS and the presence of PURE FUNCTION by way of the purity of Virtue, producing feedback Gladness, is insufficient.
What is required is the experience of PURE SENSORY AWARENESS, so that the three may be united as the experience of Awakening.
In order then to generate Awakening, those contemplating the ESSENCE of SENSING must generate VIRTUE in daily life until it is perfect and also develop the penetration of PURE AWARENESS.
In order then to generate Awakening, those contemplating the EMPTINESS of UNDIFFERENTIATED FORM must generate VIRTUE in daily life until it is perfect and also develop the penetration of Essence, that is PURE SENSORY AWARENESS.
Does the following advice then make more sense than that of being a simple mundane idea?
The question asked was:
"The INNER tangle and the outer tangle -
This world is entangled in a tangle.
Who succeeds in disentangling this tangle?"
The Buddha answered:
"When a wise man, established well in VIRTUE,
Develops consciousness and UNDERSTANDING,
Then as a bhikkhu ARDENT and SAGACIOUS
He succeeds in disentangling this tangle."
We may say then that when a wise man, who is capable, establishes himself well in DAILY VIRTUE, then the inner and outer experiences of GLADNESS are the consequence.
With the REFLECTION and PENETRATION of UNDERSTANDING those who are, as a consequence, ARDENT with PURE MINDFULNESS and SAGACIOUS with PURE AWARENESS will suceed in restoring the full qualities and operation of the UNCARVED WOOD.
Thus the experience of Awakening, which is without value in itself, is accomplished.