Yen-chiu Tu
Professor
Department of Chinese Literature, “National Chengchi University”
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Abstract
Venerable Master Sheng-yen's teaching of Chan (Zen) can be seen as one of the most influential dharma practices in contemporary Taiwan. His teachings and practices combine both the hua-tou meditation practice of the Linji lineage and the Silent Illumination meditation (Soto) practice of the Caodong lineage. While Dahui Zonggao (大慧宗杲1089~1163) of Linji sect criticized the chan practice of the Silent Illumination sect as
"a silent illumination chan practice that goes astray," Tiantong Zhengjue (Hongzhi Zhengjue 天童正覺1091~1157) considered that chan practice "should not play with reasoning and speeches, nor should it resort to random beating with the rod or yelling."
Although Zonggao and Zhengjue were two masters that knew each other extremely well, they seemed to insist on their respective practices of chan. Since Venerable Master Sheng-yen claimed that he inherited chan lineage form both sects, we could not but wonder about the following questions: how did he inherit both lineages and their conflicting ways of practices? Did he inherit them respectively, or did he integrate both ways and come up with a new way of chan practice?
Tiantong Zhengjue of the Caodong sect usually uses the following methods to guide his disciples to contemplate on the
implications of ancient teachings: "to select ancient teachings and praise ancient teachings, "to circulate and reinforce practices,"
to constantly engage oneself in "the Five Levels of Primary and Auxiliary Practices," etc. His major teaching focuses on "silent illumination," and he asks his followers to completely "stop, and rest." He thinks that only when one is able to "completely stop and rest, and keep constant and steady practice" can one really attain enlightenment. However, what he means by "stop, and rest" is not to ask the practitioners to abandon everything and do nothing. On the contrary, he compares the practice to such delicate needlework as weaving the jade threads through a gold needle, and suggests the practitioners to keep such constant and ever refining practices that they "become aware of all the subtle details of the practices, and all these practices become so densely and continuously connected"
throughout whole process. Through such steady, constant, non-stop, and ever refining practices, one may be able to completely clear out the dirt and dust that cover the mind, to attain the subtle wisdom of prajna and enlightenment, and to realize/experience in person the true Buddha nature within.
By contrast, Dahui Zonggao thinks that "the Four Liaojian,"
"the Five Levels of Primary and Auxiliary Practices," and "the Five Levels of Achievement" are all flexible measures during the practice stages while the most important objective of chan practice is to lead the practitioners directly to enlightenment. For him, the most effective way is to "contemplate the hua-tou." This method completely avoids analyses or rationalization, and guides its practitioners directly through to a state where "the conscious mind work stops working, the thinking and thoughts stop entering, the discriminating jobs of the mind come to an absolute end, where there is no room for logical reasoning, when all of a sudden enlightenment explodes, and spontaneously the mind becomes clear, and the true Buddha nature is seen."
Venerable Master Sheng-yen does not inherit the Silent Illumination Chan by copying the format of its practices; rather, his inheritance lies in his application of its methods. He does not
use its traditional methods "to select ancient teachings and praise ancient teachings, "to circulate and reinforce practices," or to go through "the Five Levels of Primary and Auxiliary Practices."
He does not take in the whole set of Silent Illumination practices without any change or adjustment. Instead, he divides Zhengjue's teachings about "stop, and rest" into four more detailed processes to "bring the scattered mind together and remain mindful, to concentrate the mind, to proceed until the mind is unified into one-mind, and then to break apart one mind and realize no-mind."
As for Zonggao's teaching about the contemplation of hua-tou, which includes three parts—to intently stick to a hua-tou, to create a doubt sensation, and then to penetrate and break through the doubt sensation—Master Sheng-yen divides it into four stages:
"to repeat the hua-tou, to query about the hua-tou, to contemplate the hua-tou until one truly desires to penetrate the hua-tou, and then proceed to be deeply engaged in the investigation of the hua-tou." Such a division further differentiates Zonggao's stage about
"doubt sensation" into a more surface stage of doubt sensation that just arises, and a deeper and more intensive stage where the mind is filled with a mass of profound doubts. Besides, after the stage where one penetrates and breaks through the hua-tou, he adds a stage to keep the practitioner constantly engaged in the practice
—the stage to "can hua-toua" (to investigate the hua-tou). This enables the practitioners to stay within the state where the mind is enlightened and the Buddha nature is seen.
If we compare the four stages of Silent Illumination chan practice refined by the Master with the four stages of Hua-tou chan practice he taught, we can find that at the stage of "repeating the hua-tou," the doubt sensation has not arisen within the practitioners yet. They just use the hua-tou to bring the wandering thoughts of the scattered mind together, so it is similar to the stage in the Silent Illumination practice where one tries to "bring the scattered mind together and remain mindful." When one starts to "query about the hua-tou," since the doubt sensations have arisen, the practitioner's mind can stay concentrated despite occasional occurrences of
wandering thoughts. Therefore, it is equivalent to the stage of the Silent Illumination practice "to concentrate the mind." As the practitioners enter the stage "to contemplate the hua-tou," by means of the uninterrupted series of questioning and contemplation that come one after another, like the spring water which pours out so spontaneously, their whole being will become so wrapped up in the big mass of doubts that they will forget about the existence of the body or the environment. This stage is similar to the stage in Silent Illumination practice where the practitioners "proceed until the mind is unified into one-mind." Finally, the stage to "investigate the hua-tou" includes penetrating and breaking through the big mass of doubts, breaking open the suffocating state that overshadows the mind, and staying engaged in constant practices after the breakthrough. Although the practitioners may attain enlightenment and see the Buddha nature, as their accumulated habits have not been disconnected, they still need to constantly remind themselves to keep practicing so that they can remain in the state where the mind is clear and enlightened. This stage can be equivalent to the stage of "no-mind" in the Silent Illumination practice.
Therefore, we can understand that the Master's integrated teaching of the Silent Illumination and Hua-tou chan practices does not just combine Tiantong Zhengjue's and Dahui Zonggao's teachings of chan. Instead, through his own solid practices, he found out the basic principles of chan practices, modified the teachings of the two early masters, and then provided his integrated teaching of chan for modern practitioners.