In the Buddha's meditations the perseverance of HENG XIN, 恒心 was considered as an integral part of introspection and therefore "insight", although perseverance in and of itself does not lead to that state.
Likewise, perseverance can be seen to be essential for the development of PURE WISDOM, which in the Chan teachings is called PURE AWARENESS and can be understood as the EXPERIENCE of LIVING without any mental attachments to that living in terms of SUBJECT OR OBJECT. The Cognitive equivalent, the direct enemy of this contemplation, would be the consciousness of being "alive".
REVIEW
THE FOURTH TO EIGHTH JHANA MEDITATIONS
In the Buddha's system the platform was the fourth to eighth Jhana meditations.
Dimension of Infinite Space - "the perception of the dimension of the infinitude of space".
Dimension of Infinite Consciousness - "the perception of the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness".
Dimension of Nothingness - In the dimension of nothingness, there is "the perception of the dimension of nothingness, singleness of mind".
Dimension of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception.- Resulting attitudes are detached, released, disassociated, and without clinging or craving with an general awareness without barriers. There is a discernment experience that 'There is a further escape,' and perseverance is restored, preparing one then for an advance upon Supramundane Insight meditation.
Then through INSIGHT meditations the gate to the Wisdom of the Supramundane path was opened.
THE WISDOM OF THE INSIGHT SUPRAMUNDANE PATH
This wisdom is called "supramundane" because it rises up from the world of the five aggregates to realise the state transcendent to the world, which the Theravadins would call Nirvana, but to us it is the State of the Uncarved Wood, the Pure Mind.
For Buddha, the climax in the development of insight was the attainment of the supramundane paths and its fruits.
The first path, called the path of stream-entry (sotāpatti) because it marks the entry into the stream of the Dharma, eradicates the first three fetters - IDENTITY (the false view of self), Identity clinging to rites and rituals, and Doubts about the path.
The next supramundane path is that of the once-returner (sakadāgāmi). This path does not eradicate any fetters completely, but it greatly attenuates sensual desire and ill will.
The third path, that of the non-returner (anāgāmi) utterly destroys the sensual desire and ill will weakened by the preceding path. The non-returner is assured that he will never again return to sense-sphere domination.
Each path leads to a MOMENTARY PEAK EXPERIENCE directly apprehending the Pure Mind State (Nibbāna).
This is the supramundane EXPERIENCE OF FRUITION.
Now those experiences actually take place within the subconscious, lasting for only a mind moment.
The fruits are then the Experience of Freedom from Identity and the Experience of Freedom from the dual elements Sensual Desire and Ill-will.
The supramundane paths and fruits always arise as discernments of states of higher discerned consciousness.
But whereas the path performs the active function of cutting off defilements, fruition at this point is simply that resulting experience when the path has completed its task. But it is these experiences which are the meditative state called fruition attainment (phalasamāpatti) that establish the base for the purpose of experiencing the pure mind here and now.
We can say then that the Contemplations then for access are twofold:
The last conceptualization of SELFLESSNESS and the last conceptualization of OTHERNESS (when Desire and Ill-will flourish).
CULTIVATION
The Supramundane insight is said to be cultivated "for the abandoning of views, which are built by word concepts", which includes clearly View of SELF and View of RELATIONSHIP. This brings effectively the fruit of the No-Mind state. The supramundane level of the first path cuts off the fetter of personality view and all speculative views derived from it.
The apparent target of the paths and fruits is exclusively the Pure Mind, SHEN 心神, thus bringing the Serenity of the mundane in harmony with the supramundane.
In mundane Insight the element of serenity prevails, while the supramundane levels of the paths and fruits brings serenity and a more penetrating insight into balance.
FRUITS OF THE NO-MIND STATE
In the Visuddhimagga, Buddhaghosa presents the simile of a lamp, which performs four tasks simultaneously: it burns the wick, dispels darkness, makes light appear, and consumes oil.
Using this simile we find that "burning the wick" signifies that the path penetrates (shengang, 深耕) the First Noble Truth by bringing a penetrating and full understanding of suffering; conquering the direct enemy of a fraudulent LOVE, thereby releasing True Benevolent Affect (metta).
We find that "dispelling the darkness" signifies that there is a penetration (shengang, 深耕) of the Second Noble Truth by abandonig CRAVING, the origin of suffering; conquering the direct enemy releasing thereby Compassion (karuna).
We find that "making light appear" signifies that it penetrates (shengang, 深耕) the Third Noble Truth by conquering the direct enemy of Mundane Happiness, thereby releasing Gladness (mudita).
We find that "consumes oil" signifies that it penetrates (shengang, 深耕) the Fourth Noble Truth by conquering the direct enemy of an intellectual indifference to the way one lives, thereby developing the Noble Eightfold Path producing then an Equanimity (upekkha) which allows that to occur within a Stained Samsara.
So there is an abandonment of :
Fraudulent Love
Craving
Mundane Happiness
Intellectual Indifference
So the following four fruits (the experiences) arise together:
True Benevolent Affect (metta)
Compassion (karuna)
Gladness (mudita)
Equanimity (upekkha)
When one dwells within this BECOMING STATE, then further fruition brings the essential gateway to Awakening, which is ATTENTION together with the APPLICATION OF WISDOM. But this ATTENTION has no object.
The key was the melding by Supramundane Insight meditation.
The INSIGHT SUPERMUNDANE PATH equivalents are the Chan contemplations of Function, Essence and Non-Form.
WISDOM and ATTENTION
The ATTENTION has no object and is effectively the insight factor of PURE MINDFULNESS.
We can intuit therefore (correctly) that the WISDOM also has no object and is the Insight Factor of PURE WISDOM.
These two melding thus open the gate to the Pure Mind Discernment, which was Buddha's Awakening.
Supramundane Insight and the Chan Contemplations
Comparing this previous model with the Chan Contemplation model, what do we discover?
In Chan Contemplation, using the De and Dao meditations as preliminaries, there is a great similarity upon the final reaches of the path.
The key however is the melding of the set of nine Contemplations of Function, Essence, and Non-Differentiated Form. This brings about the union of the experiences without mind of:
PURE AWARENESS and PURE MINDFULNESS
The Essential platform for the Supramundane Path were the Contemplations using the last conceptualization of SELFLESSNESS and the last conceptualization of OTHERNESS (the antonym of Desire and Ill-will).
The Chan equivalents which are then Direct without the preliminaries of the Buddha's Path are threefold:
* Pure Function of Function
* True Essence of Essence
* Formlessness of the Formless
In these the last conceptualizations of Function, Essence and the Formless are abstract conceptual experiences, not word descriptions, and must be clearly developed and generated within the contemplation zone of the Becoming of Consciousness. This is the bridge to the Higher state of Consciousness.
Only the first (Pure Function of Function) is a logical equivalent of the Supramundane path and the natural fruits of the path are the right-brain experiences, the natural language, the four Sublime States:
True Benevolent Affect (metta)
Compassion (karuna)
Gladness (mudita)
Equanimity (upekkha)
The Essence contemplation reveals the additional fruit of Pure EXPERIENCE of Sensory Awareness and the Formlessness contemplation reveals the EXPERIENCE of Clear Comprehension of Form and No-Form.
Just as the Supramundane fruits arise together, so do these. Interestingly, the Chan counterparts likewise embody in their own way the same paradigm of Selflessness and Otherness we find in the last conceptualizations of the Buddha's supramundane path.
Indeed, all three Chan contemplations encompass a threefold division within their respective realms: a unity, a separation of that unity into two functional "fields", so to say, and a fluctuation between both stages as they become separated in the brain's right hemisphere.
Thus, in Essence Contemplation we find a unity of the entire sensory apparatus (the six senses), a transition, and a separation of the 5 physical senses on the one hand plus the mind on the other, which serves as a primary, subliminal kind of "observing" without an observer or an identity.
Similarly, in the Contemplation of Undifferentiated Form, we first encounter the totality of all Form that's "out there" and available to the senses, a transition, and a separation of that totality into Figure and Background, which allows for a more refined processing of the selected object of attention.
Even in the case of the Function Contemplation a similar outline applies, as first we have the totality of four natural human experiences comprising the parameters of the Life Force (Gladness, Compassion, Benevolent Affect, and Equanimity), a transition, and finally a separation in which Gladness stands out against the other three, being as it is the sole experience capable of conveying information about the outside world to the Life Force (in this case, the fact that others are naturally and correctly glad).
Thus in all three cases, we see the same pattern of Selflessness (Observing, Figure, Gladness) which is selected from a general field of Otherness (the five physical senses that relay an impression of the outside world, the non-differentiated background of sense impressions, and the three parameters of the Life Force that pertain to the internal functioning of the system). The symmetry is nearly complete and quite elegant.
All of this strengthens the impression that the early Chinese Dharma followers were elaborating their own approaches to the Pure Mind contemplations according to their particular circumstances, but keeping in the mind the Buddha's supramundane path as a template for their explorations and findings.
Still in construction
Wisdom is identical with Pure Awareness and the Attention with Pure Mindfulness.
This is not a coincidence and points to an interesting conclusion. It is that the Supramundane Insight that Buddha used to attain Awakening is in some manner or other a logical equivalent to the Chan Contemplations discovered and developed by the early Chinese Buddha Dharma followers.
We will pursue this equivalence later, for the interesting thing here is to examine more closely the FRUIT along the path, from the first simple cognitive refraining to the final attainment of the Pure Mind.