Download - 20120707 chan meditation and buddhism
Updated Mar 2010
加拿大佛教會 湛山精舍
禪修學佛入門 Introduction to
Buddhism and Meditation2012/07/07
Buddhist Association of CanadaCham Shan Temple
Updated Mar 2010
Buddhist Association of CanadaCham Shan Temple
ná mó fó tuó南 無 佛 陀
Namo Buddha
ná mó dá mó 南 無 達 摩
Namo Dharma
ná mó sēng qié南 無 僧 伽
Namo Sangha
加拿大佛教會 © 2006 Buddhist Association of Canada
Buddhist Association of Canada
A Practical Approach to Chán Meditation
Prerequisites and Training
加拿大佛教會 © 2006 Buddhist Association of Canada
Buddhist Association of Canada
To eliminate the impurities, i.e. false thinking and clinging, that soil the mind.
To realize the mind for the perception of self-nature.
Since impurities have been accumulated in our mind for many eons, we are unable to free ourselves immediately from false thinking, in order to perceive our self-nature.
Objective of Chán Meditation
加拿大佛教會 © 2006 Buddhist Association of Canada
Buddhist Association of Canada
The prerequisite of Chán meditiation is to eradication of false thinking.
Sakyamuni Buddha said: “The mad mind does not halt; if it halts, it is Bohdi”
Sixth Patriarch said: “Expel all concurrent causes; do not give rise to a single thought.”
“Expel all concurrent causes” means to lay down the heavy load of causes (feelings, thoughts, actions or speeches) to free the mind from defilement. Then you can realize your self-nature.
Prerequisite of Chán Meditation
加拿大佛教會 © 2006 Buddhist Association of Canada
Buddhist Association of Canada
Enlightened one thoroughly understands that:
The self-nature is fundamentally pure and unchanged;
Kleśa 煩惱 & enlightenment as well as birth & death are all empty names having no connection with self-nature;
All phenomena are like a dream, an illusion and a shadow, which rise and fall following one another in succession without interfering with the essence of self-nature;
All four elements in forms are like bubbles in the sea.
Enlightenment Means
加拿大佛教會 © 2006 Buddhist Association of Canada
Buddhist Association of Canada
One should not follow these illusions of phenomena and forms since all will be going through formation, stay, decay and annihilation.
One should not give rise to feelings of joy, sadness, attachment or rejection when “contact” of forms or phenomena occurs.
One should lay down everything without the interference by our six senses and past experiences.
The outcome is that sense-organs and consciousness will vanish and that greed, anger and ignorance will be eliminated.
Lay Down Everything
加拿大佛教會 © 2006 Buddhist Association of Canada
Buddhist Association of Canada
When all the feelings of the following dualities are all cast aside, Joy and sadness
Honor and dishonor
Birth and death
Happiness and misery
Blessing and calamity
Praise and censure
Gain and loss
Safety and danger
Help or helplessness
This is the true laying down of all concurrent causes.False thinking will vanish; differentiation will not arise; all attachments will
be eliminated.
Lay Down of All Concurrent Causes
加拿大佛教會 © 2006 Buddhist Association of Canada
Buddhist Association of Canada
Bodhidharma said: “Direct pointing at (revealation of) one’s pure mind leads to realization of self-nature and the attainment of Buddhahood.” This clearly indicates that all living beings have Buddha-nature.
Dharma Master Xu Yun Said: “The complete cognizance of this pure self-nature together with total harmony with it, without contaimination from attachment and without the least mental differentiation, while walking, standing, sitting and lying, day or night, is nothing but the self-evidence of Buddhahood.”
Self-Evident Buddhahood
加拿大佛教會 © 2006 Buddhist Association of Canada
Buddhist Association of Canada
If sensient beings wish to attain Buddhahood with the accompanying enjoyment of true eternity, true bliss, true personality and true purity, they should lay down all attachments without thinking of either good or evil and all other dualities. All of them will certainly be able to become Buddhas right at the spot. The world they are living immediately becomes Western Paradise.
Unfortunately, all sentient livings have been, for countless eons, deluded and sunk in the bitter ocean of suffering, rising and falling in their endless transmigrations. Why?
Endless Suffering, Why?
加拿大佛教會 © 2006 Buddhist Association of Canada
Buddhist Association of Canada
“Hua-Tou” is an anti-word, anti-thought or anti-logic.
The mind before it is stirred by a thought is the mind in its undisturbed condition.
The holding of a hua-tou in the mind is to let you look into the undistrubed mind. This allows your consciousness to turn inward and turn on the faculty of true hearing, resulting in the disentanglement of mind (subject) from external objects.
The aim of this Chán School method is to use a single thought to oppose and arrest myriad thoughts.
Hua-Tou in Kung-An (Public Case)
加拿大佛教會 © 2006 Buddhist Association of Canada
Buddhist Association of Canada
Who is dragging here this physical body of yours?What was my fundamental face before I was born?Who is reciting Buddha’s name?Who is holding a mantra?Who is taking a meal?Who is wearing a robe?Who is walking on the road?Who is thinking about meditation?
The answer is “It is the Mind”. Self-nature is realized by turning inward one’s contemplation
to contemplate the self-mind.Huo-Tou offers the stillness of the essence of the pure mind and
the shine of the pure awareness.
Hua-Tou - It is the mind.
加拿大佛教會 © 2006 Buddhist Association of Canada
Buddhist Association of Canada
To comtemplate into a hua-tou is to contemplate the pure essence of awareness of the self-mind.
Sutra said: “Mind of self-nature has neither form nor location. It is pure by nature, penetrates everywhere in Dharmadhatu, does not enter or leave, neither come nor go, and is fundamentally the self-evident pure Dharmakaya.”
One should take good care of hua-tou by keeping control of all six sense-organs and by looking into where a thought usually arises until he perceives his pure self-nature, free from all thoughts. This will lead to a still and shining contemplation.
Self- Evident Dharmakaya
加拿大佛教會 © 2006 Buddhist Association of Canada
Buddhist Association of Canada
If one can maintain the absolute immutability 不變性 in every moment , while walking, standing, sitting and lying, one will achieve perfect awareness, resulting in the perception of self-nature and the attainment of Buddhahood with the elimination of all distresses and sufferings.
Chán master Kao Feng said: “If a student is looking into a hua-tou having the same steadiness while a tile is thrown into a deep pond and making 10,000 changes on the surface, he should be enlightened in less than seven days. If not, you can take my life.”
Guarantee from Chán Masters
加拿大佛教會 © 2006 Buddhist Association of Canada
Buddhist Association of Canada
If you are taking care of the Hua-Tou, the more you inquire into these sentances, the more you will get away from what these sentences stand for.
Xu Yun said: “What a pity if you are spending a lot of time trying to find out the meaning of these Hua-Tou sentences.” Dharma Master said: “It is better to remain unenlightened for a thousand years than to tread on the wrong path (search for meaning ) for a day.”
Because our potentialities are not as sharp as those of ancients. We are confused and ignorant. We are clinging to words, names and feelings, and we apply our mind to the tale of the hua-tou.
Get Away from “Meaning”
加拿大佛教會 © 2006 Buddhist Association of Canada
Buddhist Association of Canada
If you know how to turn on the light, self-cultivation for awakening to the truth is easy. Myriad years of darkness will disappear right at the spot.
It is important for practitioners who harmonize their body with mind and become calm and still, let down of all concurrent causes, free from all impediments and from the view of self so as to bring about a perfect union with their latent potentialities.
Self –Cultivation is Easy
加拿大佛教會 © 2006 Buddhist Association of Canada
Buddhist Association of Canada
Impatient – gives up too early.Doubt – Doesn’t believe he has potentialities to become Buddha.Not enough discipline – Doesn’t follow any precepts.Doesn’t want to be mindless mind which means to lay down all
concurrent causes. Too comfortable in the stage he/she is in.Too much attention to “self” and always focus on ego.Not able to see things in neutral position – always have like or
dislike.Too excited or too dull – always go to extreme state of mind which
can’t be in a balanced condition.
Self –Cultivation is also Difficult
加拿大佛教會 © 2006 Buddhist Association of Canada
Buddhist Association of Canada
It is not from your physical body.It is from your mind.Where does your mind give rise to the thought?When does your mind start to give rise to the thought?When does your mind stop to give rise to the thought?Why does your mind start to give rise to the thought?Why does your mind stop to give rise to the thought?What is the cause and effect that makes your mind start or stop to
give rise to the thought?Are you appreciating the moment that you are aware of your
mind that is giving rise to the thought?Are you aware of rising and falling of your thoughts?
Where does the thought arise from?
加拿大佛教會 © 2006 Buddhist Association of Canada
Buddhist Association of Canada
One mind of yours and mine is neither within nor without nore between the two. It is also within, without and between the two.
One mind is like space which is immutable and is all-embracing.
One mind does not make any effort to control false thinking. All you have to do is to be aware of it but should not cling to it, follow it or push it away.
One mind cognizes the rise of falsehood immediately. Once the false thinking is cognized, it will quit.
One mind appreciates the cognition process.
Hua-Tou is One-Mind
加拿大佛教會 © 2006 Buddhist Association of Canada
Buddhist Association of Canada
Thinking does not have independent nature of its own. Once he realize the non-existence of this very thinking and will recover his fundamental mindless nature. He immediately manifests to the pure self-nature Dharmakaya.
The real and false are the same in nature.
Living being and Buddha are not a dualism. Birth-death and Nirvana, enlightenment and ditress, all belong to our self-mind and self-nature and should not be differentiated, should not be either liked or dislike and should not be either grasped or rejected.
Complete Union
加拿大佛教會 © 2006 Buddhist Association of Canada
Buddhist Association of Canada
While he is living in the mundane world, he doen’t give rise to the least differentiation and attachment to worldly things and phenomena.
Both the hearing and its object came to an end but one did not stay where they ended.
While he is living in the mundane world, he doen’t give rise to the least differentiation and attachment to worldly things and phenomena.
If you are ripe and in the right moment , anything that you comes in contact with will suddenly cause your supreme awakening. You will become free from all doubts and experiences a great happiness.
Experience in Great Happiness
加拿大佛教會 © 2006 Buddhist Association of Canada
Buddhist Association of Canada
www.ChamShanTemple.orgTom Cheung 張相棠Dennis A. Yap 葉普智Kam Cheung 張仁勤
Questions and Comments 討論
加拿大佛教會 © 2006 Buddhist Association of Canada
Buddhist Association of Canada
yuàn xiāo sān zhàng zhū fán năo
願消三障諸煩惱We wish to rid ourselves of the three hindrances and all klesas.
yuàn dé zhì huì zhēn míng lĭao
願得智慧真明了We wish to gain wisdom and real understanding.
pŭ yuàn zuì zhàng xī xiāo chú
普願罪障悉消除 We wish all sinful hindrances to be totally eradicated.
shì shì cháng xíng pú sà dào
世世常行菩薩道In one life after another we always follow Bodhisattvas’ paths.
回向Parinamana (Transfer of Merit)