THE YUNMEN EMPTINESS OF SELF

                                                        I AM NOT YET CLEAR ABOUT MYSELF

Finally in this second series of three we give an introduction to the Contemplation of Yunmen.

It is easy to see why the practices and contemplation of Yunmen never reached Japan or took root. They are difficult to understand and the Contemplation is never reduced to a physical sitting contemplation.

"Someone asked Master Yunmen, 'What is most urgent for me?'

"The master said, 'The very you who is afraid that he doesn't know!"

This should give us our first clue to understanding the heart of Yunmen's practice and teachings.

What Yunmen seeks is not to destroy words or concepts but the fount of all concepts, which is the personal "self". He uses continual frontal attacks directly at the Identity that believes that it knows.

There is, he claimed, no substantial  "self" or "I" . This was central to all his interactions with groups and students. Now here we see another great difference between Yunmen and other masters of the Golden Age. His directives were always made to individuals or groups addressing a particular problem. This was because the answers required were relevant to particular Identities and the ills were related to these and not metaphysical issues.

Through Yunmen's missiles, one can see through this "self," discovering that it is indeed empty. 

The monk inquired, "What is the problem"

Yunmen said, "You don't notice the stench of your own shit."

The reference of course is to the monk's ignorant "self"-identification as "shit."

He continually attacked this "I" that is set in the center of each person's objective world.

Note now Yunmen's early personal problem that led eventually to his understanding of the importance of seeing beyond the Identity to its emptiness.

Master Muzhou asked, "What are you looking for?"

Yunmen replied, "I am not yet clear about myself."

If there is in your mind any doubt about this focus, for Yunmen considered the presence of a true self beyond intellect as a light illuminating all illusions, he declared, "Every person originally has a clear light -yet when it is looked at, it is not seen. It is dark and obscure."

Yunmen declared, " As long as the light has not yet broken through, there are two kinds of disease:  The first consists in seeing oneself facing objects and being left in the dark about everything. The second consists in having been able to pierce through to the emptiness of all separate entities -yet there is still something that in a hidden way is like an object."

Can you see that the something that remains is the conceptualization of emptiness itself and this, like an object, must itself be penetrated as being empty beyond any possible mental conceptualization? Thus we see the necessity of piercing in this case the Emptiness of the Emptiness of Self.

But what then lies beyond that Emptiness?

What is then the last Conceptualization that the Yunmen student must carry with him every moment? It is the Last conceptualization of the emptiness of the empty Identity.

That is the question posed when generating the last Conceptualization here that leads beyond this Emptiness of Identity. 

Lianhua Fengxian, a disciple of Fengxian Daoshen in the Yunmen tradition, was asked by a monk:

"What is the call of the mud of the Snowy Mountains?"

Lianhua replied, "Listen."

The monk asked, "What is the cry of Yunmen's wooden horse?"

Lianhua replied, "Sound."

The answer you see is "LISTEN", but no more than that. If there is no Identity or Conscious Self present "LISTENING" is all that happens. Then, if identity has no interest, why listen and to what?

The answer is just the "SOUND".

What does that accomplish? It allows a non-Cognitive unstained response.

Then what is the use of the Cognitive mind? Only to refine the natural response and not to command the natural system.

THE SUBTLETY OF YUNMEN'S SYSTEM OF DIRECT CONFRONTATION

The Method of Yunmen 

The critical factor to understand in Yunmen's system, which applies to the every other system which does not focus upon physical sitting contemplation is that the contemplation is continuous. That is to say, the contemplation is a part of every waking moment while eating, working or just sitting. 

This does not mean that one is continually acting within the "full becoming of consciousness", but it does mean that one carries continually (as well as the five Chan Paramitas) at least Contemplation with the Last Conceptualization at the REFLECTION level.

It is here that Yunmen's projectiles are most effective, for they hit deviations of reflection and clash violently with the stained elements of consciouness. This allows reflection to regain its focus and equilibrium.

The strong interruption clashes with any part of consciousness within the REFLECTION that is sleeping in self-satisfaction or egocentric misconception. 

Involvement in the Samsaric world is to put oneself within a torrent of impediments and temptations with various excuses of Dissonance.

It is far better to divorce oneself from Samsara of Mara and live a simple life within wooded areas, being as one with the trajectory of the stars, being as one with the simple tasks of tending a garden, art or pottery, reflecting the simple truths of survival without resorting to didactic exercises or abstract symbolism, sharing the natural experiences with like-minded people.

NOTE

The Five Paramitas of Chan consist in living with the constant "presence" of the natural experiences of Vacuity, Oneness, Impermanence, Clear Comprehension and the Life Force.

IN CONSTRUCTION