When Socrates in Plato's text was speaking he declared:
"And do you see, I said, men passing along the wall carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall? Some of them are talking, others silent.
... and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave?
... of the objects which are being carried in like manner they would only see the shadows?
... if they were able to converse with one another, would they not suppose that they were naming what was actually before them?
... suppose further that the prison had an echo which came from the other side, would they not be sure to fancy when one of the passers-by spoke that the voice which they heard came from the passing shadow?
To them... the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.
With good fortune you may understand what Plato has written.
Now I would like you to examine the folowing text from the Surangama Sutra.
In part of this text it includes the Establishing the Bodhimanda.
What exactly is a Bodhimanda?
Bodhimaṇḍa, 道場 dàochǎng, is a term used in traditional Mahayana Buddhism.
In its greater sense it means "the place where the essence of potential Awakening is present." It is then a spiritually pure place which is essential for Awakening and in a lesser sense for any Concentration meditation, Vipassana Absorption or Contemplation.
In this text Ananda is said to have asked Buddha how to secure the boundaries of this Bodhimanda in accord with the essence of Purity.
Ananda said to the Buddha,
“World Honored One, enveloped in the Thus Come One’s unsurpassed, compassionate instruction, my mind has already become enlightened, and I know how to cultivate and be certified to the Way Beyond Study. But for those who cultivate in the final age and want to establish a bodhimanda: how do they secure the boundaries in accord with the rules of purity of the Buddha, the World Honored One?”
Let us consider for a moment that you might consider a Bodhimanda necessary.
THE WORDS OF CHAN MASTER HUANGBO
Huangbo, who lived in the ninth century, stated with emphasis and clarity to his student Chunchou:
"All the Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing else than Unique Mind, outside of which nothing exists. This mind, which had no beginning, is without birth and is indestructible. It is not green or yellow, and does not manifest itself as form or appearance. It does not belong to a category of existing things and does not exist in terms of being old or new. It is not large nor short, nor small or big, yet it transcends all limits, measures, names and comparisons.
"Although it sems to be in front of you, if you start to reason regarding it you fall immediately in error."
It should be quite clear then that any Bodhimanda which one may wish to secure can only be built in the mind. The place where the essence of potential Awakening is present, that spiritually pure place which is essential for Awakening and meditation, be it Concentration meditation, Vipassana Absorption or Contemplation, can only be built in your mind.
If you try to build it outside of your mind then the fire in that mind is just casting shadows on the cave walls.
It is said that the Buddha in reply to Ananda's request said:
“If there are people in the Dharma-ending Age who wish to establish a bodhimanda, they should first find a powerful white ox in snowy mountains, one which eats the lush and fertile sweet-smelling grasses of the mountain.
"Since such an ox also drinks only the pure water of the snowy mountains, its excrement will be very fine. They can take that excrement, mix it with chandana, and plaster the ground with it.
"If it is not in the snowy mountains, the ox’s excrement will stink and cannot be used to smear on the ground. In that case, establishing the Bodhimanda select a level place, dig down five feet or so, and use that yellow earth.
"Mix it with chandana incense, sinking-in water incense, jasmine incense, continuously permeating incense, burnished gold incense, white paste incense, green wood incense, fragrant mound incense, sweet pine incense, and chicken-tongue incense.
"Grind these ten ingredients to a fine powder, make a paste, and smear it on the ground of the platform. The area should be sixteen feet wide and octagonal in shape."
In the Pitaka Sutra, Buddha enumerated four types of clinging which were to be avoided. One was a clinging to rites and ceremonies (silabbatupadana).
In the Abhidhamma it is written that rites alone that may be approved are those leading directly to liberation, likened to the rites and rituals of the "ox practice" and the"dog practice."
What is then this Dog Practice and what was Buddha's position on the "Dog Practice"? Buddha declared:
"There is the case where a person develops the dog-practice fully & perfectly...
Having developed the dog-practice fully & perfectly, having developed a dog's virtue fully & perfectly, having developed a dog's mind fully & perfectly, having developed a dog's demeanor fully & perfectly, then on the break-up of the body, after death, he reappears in the company of dogs.
But if he is of such a view as, "By this virtue or practice or asceticism or holy life I will become a greater or lesser god," that is his wrong view.
So even this Dog Practice which leads to a certain liberation of development of the natural virtue and demeanor of a dog, which is in no way to be despised considering the state of human virtue and comportment, does not appear to lead us to the encounter with the true human mind understanding.
Now I cannot believe for a moment that any sane person, who has understood that Buddha has declared, would for a moment entertain the idea of searching for the shit of a powerful white ox in snowy mountains, which eats the lush and fertile sweet-smelling grasses of the mountain, and therefore does not stink, in order to plaster the ground of a Bodhimanda platform.
Nor even consider for a moment, in default, digging down on even soil five feet to obtain yellow earth which might be necessary to mix with ten rather exotic incenses in order to make a paste to smear on the platform which must be precisely octagonal and sixteen feet wide.
We might interpret these instructions to really mean "prepare a suitable place for meditation that you can set up with an offering to the BODHISATTVAS AND BUDDHAS," in order to set a correct atmosphere for meditation.
What you may have built, even physically, is just in your mind. It is a mass of shadows that are just mind ideas cast on the wall of the cave, the world, which is also in your mind. There is no such thing as meditation, nor are there Bodhisattvas nor Buddhas. They too are shadows.
Do you really understand what Huangbo said? Or does your mind protest and insist that at least you can build perhaps a temple outside the mind?
Huangbo further declared:
"Making offers to all the Buddhas of the universe does not equal the offering of an adept and follower of the path who (as an offering of his mind) has eliminated conceptual thoughts.
"Why?
"Because that adept does not form any form concepts.
"The substance of the absolute is in the interior as that of wood or a stone."
So what exactly is the adept doing who, according to the Surangama instructions,
At every mealtime and at midnight, prepare a half-pint of honey and three tenths of a pint of clarified butter. Set up a small incense burner in front of the platform. Decoct the fragrant liquid from the turushka incense and use it to cleanse the coals.
Light them so that a blaze bursts forth, and toss the clarified butter and honey into the flaming censer. Let it burn until the smoke disappears, and present it to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
About the four outside walls one should suspend flags and flowers, and within the room where the platform is located, one should arrange on the four walls images of the Thus Come Ones and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions.
Once again we look to Huangbo:
"But, you, the students of the path do not liberate yourselves from the plumage of conceptual thought, although you may force eon after eon, you will never reach your intention."
Furthermore you are advised to:
In the most prominent place, display images of Vairocana Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, Maitreya Bodhisattva, Akshobhya Buddha, Amitabha Buddha, and all the magnificent transformations of Gwan Yin Bodhisattva.
To the left and right, place the Vajra-Treasury Bodhisattvas. Beside them display the lords Shakra and Brahma, Ucchushma, and the Blue Dirgha, as well as Kundalin and Bhrukuti and all Four Heavenly Kings, with Vinayaka to the left and right of the door.
Quoting now both Huangpo and Buddha,
"All the qualities symbolized by the great Bodhisattvas are inherent in man and cannot be considered as separate from the Unique Mind. Awake consciousness to this and freeze there.
"You students of the path that do not awaken to this in your own minds and cling to the apearances or try to look for something objective outside your own minds, have turned your backs on the path.
"The sands of the Ganges! Buddha said of these sands,
"If all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas with Indra and all the Gods pass on them, the sands do not rejoice; and if the oxen, the sheep, reptiles and insects step on them,the sands feel no irritation. Perfumes they neither cling to nor crave, nor are they sickened by the stinking filth of defecation or urine."
It is the Unique Mind that generates all these concepts as it does the ideas of the Buddhas and Bodhisttvas.
Then suspend eight mirrors in the space around the platform so that they are exactly opposite the mirrors on the platform. This will allow the reflections in them to interpenetrate ad infinitum.
What use is there in multiplying your clinging by multiplying these illusions?
If we then allow that Bodhimaṇḍa, 道場, is "the place where the essence of potential Awakening is present," the idea can be expanded to Buddha's place beneath the Rose-apple tree and the Bodhi tree. It can apply to a genuine Mandala Practice and even to a mantra Practice that opens the door to Awakening.
Huangbo declared:
"Most Dharma students only know seeing, hearing, touching and thinking as movement and function and are, therefore, unable to recognize Unique Mind at the moment of seeing, hearing, touching and thinking.
"However, Unique Mind does not belong to seeing, hearing, touching and thinking but also is not distinct or separate from these activities.
"The view that one is seeing, hearing, touching and thinking does not arise; and yet one is not separate from these activities.
"This movement does not dim the Mind, for it is neither itself a thing nor something apart from things. Neither staying nor grasping, capable of freely moving in any direction whatsoever, everywhere, this Mind becomes the Bodhimandala."
However, each of these practices has its true "place where the essence of Awakening is present in the Unique Mind." If the Mandala or Mantra is just an external appendage then there is no value in either.
Does this mean that a Bodhimandala is a Bodhimanda? Yes it can be if performed correctly in the mind with the exterior trappings only as a representational after-effect or as a guide to the passes in that Mandala meditation.
Actually in Chinese the 道曼荼罗, the Dao Mantuluo, consists of the idea of the "Path," together with a sound approximation of the Indian word Mandala.
But interestingly the characters 曼荼罗, when translated separately, consist of a contrived meaning of "long, gathering, flowering grass in profusion," which for me is an exquisite description of what a mandala really is as a Bodhimanda.
For, for when meditating and passing in the mind from the external to the internal, the impediments are filtered as it were by the long grass in profusion which gathers the impediments from your mind, leaving them while you proceed.
If you set your mind free from the external and see that all is mind and illusion-no illusion, you have set the Bodhimanda for the Mandala.
So if you set up your meditation room, it must be set up in your mind as the platform for Dharma Advances. The actual physical setting that you use is pure mundane motivation and no more.
ACTIVITY WITHIN THE BODHIMANDA
This is little different that setting up the right mental attitude for the Mandala. It has no value if it is only external to the mind. It at best is only a rather poor representation of what preparing the mind is.
THE FIRST SEVEN DAYS
"During the first seven days, bow sincerely to the Thus Come Ones of the ten directions, to the great Bodhisattvas, and to the names of the Arhats. Throughout the six periods of the day and night, continually recite the mantra as you circumambulate the platform.
Practice the way with a sincere mind, reciting the mantra one hundred and eight times at a stretch.
THE SECOND WEEK
During the second week, direct your intent by making the vows of a Bodhisattva. The mind should never be cut off from them. In my vinaya, I have already taught about vows.
THE THIRD WEEK
During the third week, one holds the Buddha’s mantra, Bwo Da La, for twelve hours at a time, with a single intent; and on the seventh day, the Thus Come Ones of the ten directions will appear simultaneously. Their light will be mutually reflected in the mirrors and will illumine the entire place; and they will rub one on the crown of one’s head.
If one cultivates this samadhi in the Bodhimanda, then even in the Dharma-ending Age one can study and practice until one’s body and mind are as pure and clear as Vaidurya.
Ananda, if any one of the bhikshu’s precept-transmitting masters or any one of the other bhikshus practicing with him is not pure, the Bodhimanda as described will not be successful.
AFTER THREE WEEKS
After three weeks, one sits upright and still for a hundred days. Those with sharp faculties will not arise from their seats and will become Shrotaapannas.
Although their bodies and minds have not attained the ultimate fruition of sagehood, they know for certain, beyond exaggeration, that they will eventually accomplish Buddhahood."
You have asked how the Bodhimanda is established. This is the way it is done.
I believe that it should be obvious to even the most faithful adept of modern Buddhism that we have here "shadows on the wall".
But in many texts these "shadows on the wall" are in juxtaposition with correct Dharma teachings.
How can one deal with this?
In Buddhism of various sorts there are Mantras, Mandalas, chants and a host of other practices. How should the sincere Chan follower deal with these?
These have not been taught by Gotama Buddha and are later Mahayana additions. Nevertheless they are actually used in various Buddhist contexts by those who are neither Vipassana nor Chan.
EXAMINING THE COMPLEXITY OF THE SHADOWS
When a cognitively intelligent man sees a shadow on the wall cast by his own apparent body he decides, "the shadow exists and I exist, but the Shadow is not the real me".
This man calls the shadow a projection of himself and himself real.
Yet the shadow in and of itself he will say is real.
But in Buddha Dharma we learn that the impression of the Shadow and the impression of himself are both illusion.
We must then declare that both the man and Shadow appear Real.
We must further say that the man and the Shadow are nonetheless illusion.
But where does illusion arise? In the mind. But the concept of there being illusion or even there being no illusion is also a product of the mind.
So both the illusions and the concept of no-illusions, that is, reality, are non-existent.
Every clear comprehension derived from the undifferentiated mass that is sensed does not exist. Even the concept of existence and non-existence is then also an illusion.
All these concepts and words are just useful tools and we cannot believe that anything derived from the mind, including the presence of the mind, as real.
But we still want to look behind the Non-real to encounter the Real.
There we are again. What a word- and conceptual bind. There is no "real "and there is no "non-real." We are in the center of the Bodhimanda platform and all is reflected in the mirrors with reflections of the reflections. We must understand that not only the reflections are illusions, but that we in the center are also an illusion. But there is no "illusion" and there is no "Non-illusion".
It should be clear that if you allow the words and concepts to rule, you then you are in a difficult bind. The solution is to let an understanding percolate through the filters of your mind that nothing exists outside the mind and that the mind itself does not even really exist.
If you try to reason this all out with words it is clear that you might go crazy.
So the best thing to do once you do understand, more or less, is take The Beatles' advice and just "Let it be."
LETTING IT ALL BE
When we say "let it be", what we mean is not let your mind get itself in a bind by trying to solve the mystery of "existence and non-existence," "illusion and non-illusion" or "reality and non-reality," but be aware of the great error of believing that anything exists in and of itself as a distinct and separate entity with a distinct and separate real existence.
We must allow the system, which we call the human creature, to operate by itself using whatever illusions are necessary without interference from the thoughts and concepts directed by a ficticious cognitive consciousness.
Are we then undirected?
How can we survive without that Cognitive Identity controlling things?
How can we possibly estabish a Bodhimanda if we "let it all be"?
You see the question is all wrong.
The Bodhimanda is established precisely when you let it all be.
That does not mean, let it all happen as you are now doing.
When the mind does not concern itself with Identity, existence or non-existence, the correct and the incorrect, the better or the worse, then the natural system not only has set up the Bodhimanda, but is actually already well on the path to the Awakening, which is, you must remember, just an illusion after all.