(I) Contemplative Awareness Off the Cushion Is the Main Practice
132. In Heart Esotericism, seated meditation is a supporting practice; contemplative awareness off the cushion is the main practice.
Question: Teacher, how should I practice off the cushion? By reading sūtras and reciting mantras?
Answer: In Heart Esotericism, seated meditation is a supporting practice; contemplative awareness off the cushion is the main practice.
(II) Methods of Contemplative Awareness
133. How does one awaken to awareness at the beginning?
Answer: Although the term “awareness” is the same, the various schools place their emphasis differently in practice. What matters in cultivation is to penetrate deeply into a single method. Whatever Dharma you practice, the safest course is to consult a knowledgeable teacher of that tradition. If you mix in practices from other schools, sometimes “clarified butter turns into poison.”
For example, “uphold the name exclusively, without mixing in other practices” and “recite the Buddha’s name once, then carry three loads of water” cannot be practiced together. If the mind is distracted by other pursuits, one may not be able to penetrate deeply into a single method. Yet when patriarchs observe the capacities and conditions of sentient beings, they do far more than merely combine methods. Therefore, if you have just set out on the path, you should urgently penetrate deeply into one method; if you can already discern capacities and teach accordingly, then integrating methods presents no problem.
134. You May First Recite a Mantra
Question: It seems that the Elder said that reciting mantras after leaving meditation is also acceptable, but he did not elaborate further.
Answer: Oh! Contemplative awareness off the cushion is the main practice. If you are not yet able to maintain awareness, then of course you may first recite a mantra.
Question: Only after meditating did I gradually realize how important contemplative awareness truly is.
Answer: Therefore, the main practice off the cushion is not mantra recitation!
Question: Mantra recitation can transform deluded thoughts. Is it especially effective for foolish people?
Answer: Deluded thoughts are themselves bodhi. Why transform them?
Question: Yes. Not attending to them is bodhi.
Answer: If you are not harmed by them, they will surely serve your use.
Question: Yes, I understand the principle.
Answer: Cast aside this principle—what is there?
Question: This!
Answer: Then, in a solemn instant of awakening, will “this” appear before you?
Question: Perfectly bright and lucid awareness!
Answer: Since you already know what contemplative awareness is, do not continue reciting mantras off the cushion.
135. Do Not Attend to It
A: How does one maintain contemplative awareness?
Answer: Do not attend to it!
B: This later student wishes to ask: If one does not attend to it, does that mean letting it run wild like an untamed horse?
Answer: “Do not attend to it” was said in response to his particular condition at that time. He was continually thinking about the label “contemplative awareness.” “Do not attend to it!” immediately cut off his unbroken succession of thoughts.
Question: During meditation, many thoughts arise. What should I do?
Answer: Do not attend to them! Pay no attention to any thoughts; simply attend to the mantra.
Question: If one is not settled on a single point, might that...?
Answer: I told you simply to attend to the mantra precisely in order to counteract your fixation on settling the mind on a thought.
136. Do Not Attend to It, Observe Where Thoughts Arise, Be Aware the Moment a Thought Arises, Cut, Bah!, Stop...
Question: May I ask Teacher Qi about the relationship between “be aware the moment a thought arises” and “Inwardly, do not turn with thoughts; outwardly, do not move with circumstances”?
Answer: They are one matter expressed in two ways. If you simply put them into practice, you will know that they are indeed the very same thing. If you do not put them into practice, counting grains of sand after entering the sea is of no benefit.
Question: Regarding immediate no-mind and not attending to things: immediate no-mind belongs to unconditioned dharma, while not attending to things belongs to conditioned dharma.
Answer: To those who know that there is no dharma outside mind, yet do not understand that “mind, too, is unobtainable,” one says: “Immediately no-mind!” To those who run after deluded thoughts without even knowing it, or who even use Buddhist technical terms to measure things by their own ideas, one says: “Stop attending to these things!”
If one is not addressing these two kinds of people, it is better simply to forget these two expressions.
Question: Greetings, Teacher. Are “bah!” and “not attending to it” really the same, without any difference in levels?
Answer: Not only these two—even “where a thought arises” is the same. All are for the sake of not running after deluded thoughts. Different mental dispositions call for different verbal teachings.
Question: The Blue Cliff Record recounts: A monk asked Zhaozhou, “‘The supreme Way is not difficult; it only avoids picking and choosing.’ The moment there are words, there is picking and choosing. How then does the Master guide people?” Zhaozhou said, “Why do you not quote the whole saying?” The monk said, “This humble monk can only recite it up to this point.” Zhaozhou said, “Only this: ‘The supreme Way is not difficult; it only avoids picking and choosing.’” When I read this, I suddenly thought of something the teacher once said: “Stop! This is contemplative awareness.” Ha ha!
Answer: In fact, nothing had ever stopped; it is simply that, in that very moment, false conceptualization stops. For example, an actor may become so immersed in rehearsing a television drama that he forgets himself in the role. Suddenly, the director shouts, “Stop!” What will happen to the actor?
(III) Do Not Misunderstand Contemplative Awareness
137. Contemplative Awareness Means Removing Deluded Thinking and Attachment
Question: Hello, Teacher. Recently, worldly affairs have been troubling me. I feel somewhat vexed and my mind is in turmoil.
Answer: White clouds drift across green mountains, yet the green mountains remain. Green mountains are simply green mountains—how could they be obstructed by white clouds?
Question: Whether I make progress in practice or not, I shall no longer concern myself with it; from now on, I shall simply follow the steps. Previously, I took stillness as the criterion of progress.
Answer: In fact, there is only one criterion: remove deluded thinking and attachment.
Question: In everyday contemplative awareness, when a deluded thought comes, a lucid instant of awakening transforms it into emptiness.
Answer: Exactly so.
Question: But when this single “knowing awareness” alone remains, this “awakening” is at times aware of what is seen, at times aware of what is heard, and at times aware of what is felt. How should this “awakening” be placed? That is, when a deluded thought comes, this “awakening” can be aware of it and transform it into emptiness; but after the deluded thought has gone, how should this “awakening” be left?
Answer: Why add a superfluous tail?
138. It Is Not Suppressing Thoughts
Question: Could you illustrate the difference between cutting off thoughts and suppressing thoughts?
Answer: Let us compare deluded attachments and deluded thoughts to wild grass. In order to keep it from growing, some people place a stone over it to press it down—this illustrates suppressing thoughts—while others uproot the grass completely—this illustrates cutting off thoughts.
Those who press grass down with a stone seek not to see any grass—they think that the absence of arising thoughts is no-thought. Even if they succeed in their practice, it is useless. Look at the vast Gobi Desert: not a blade of grass is visible, yet it still belongs to “dharmas arising from causes and conditions.” It is only that, at present, when the conditions are exhausted, the dharma ceases; above all, the external condition of water is lacking. Once abundant rain falls from the sky, the grass will grow on its own without your planting it—when conditions are met, it arises. Even without encountering conditions, no grass and no shoots means a barren dead stillness, incapable of giving rise to boundless wondrous functioning.
Those who cut off the roots of grass recognize the roots as soon as they see the grass. After cutting off the roots, they lay the grass out to dry. They do not fear seeing grass—having thoughts is itself no-thought. Once it has dried, it may even be used as firewood, precisely serving a useful purpose—deluded thoughts are themselves bodhi. Since there is no stone, grain seedlings can be planted, and wondrous functioning can arise!
139. It Is Not the Absence of Thoughts
Question: For example, when one is using the internet, one must give rise to thoughts in order to do things. How should one cut them off at such a time?
Answer: If you suppress thoughts so that none arise, then you will not be able to use the internet.
Question: I often have times when not a single thought arises. How should I apply myself then?
Answer: Ha ha! I would not ask you to prolong the time during which “not a single thought arises.” Having thoughts is itself no-thought; that is true no-thought.
140. What Is Cut Off Is Deluded Thought
Question: When affairs are pressing, I use the word “cut”; when I am at leisure at home, I recite mantras. Oddly enough, I find that I often forget things until I have nothing at all to do, and I frequently make mistakes at work.
Answer: “Cut” means cutting off the deluded thoughts that belong to greed, anger, ignorance, pride, doubt, and wrong views. It does not mean cutting off your work. It is not that you cut when affairs are pressing; rather, you cut when deluded thoughts are flying about.
Question: My work involves making decisions. I do not know whether thinking about work also counts as “deluded thought.”
Answer: Thinking about work does not belong to greed, anger, ignorance, pride, doubt, or wrong views, so of course it is not deluded thought.
Question: Will practitioners’ usual safeguarding of the true mind affect their work?
Answer: No. If it affects your work, then you have misunderstood this “safeguarding” of the true mind. Not running after deluded thoughts is safeguarding the true mind. If you can avoid running after deluded thoughts, it will even improve your efficiency at work.
Question: How should one deal with the relationship between being conscientious in one’s work and nonattachment?
Answer: Being conscientious in one’s work is not attachment. What we do not cling to are greed, anger, ignorance, pride, doubt, and wrong views. Work is not greed, anger, ignorance, pride, doubt, or wrong views.
Question: If deluded thoughts become solidified, do they become the material world?
Answer: Ha ha! You are truly good at thinking.
Question: Oh, then should I not think? Is that still wrong?
Answer: Oh! It is not that you should not think; it is that you should not cling to your thinking.
141. It Is Not Watching Thoughts
A: Teacher, in my contemplation I use right mindfulness: I watch my thoughts. When a thought arises, I ignore it and hold to this unmoving state.
Answer: Who told you to “watch your thoughts”?
B: Teacher, please answer my question.
Master Yuanyin says in A Brief Discussion of Realizing the Mind and Seeing One’s True Nature: “When practicing no-thought, progress does not mean gradually extending the interval of true emptiness between the cessation of the preceding thought and the arising of the next thought. For example, it does not mean that today one remains without thought for only one minute, then gradually extends this to five minutes, ten minutes, or even one hour or twenty-four hours, and calls that success.
You should know that no-thought is alive and dynamic; it is not stiff and inert like a block of wood or stone. A monastic asked Zhaozhou, ‘What is no-thought?’ Zhaozhou said, ‘Playing ball atop rushing water!’ A later commentator said, ‘Thought after thought does not remain!’ So-called no-thought does not mean that not a single thought arises; rather, thoughts arise and cease as they arise, without the slightest trace of abiding in appearances.”
Does the “true emptiness between the cessation of the preceding thought and the arising of the next thought” here refer to “the point where thought arises”? It says here that “no-thought is alive and dynamic.” How can contemplation that “watches the point where thought arises” be alive and dynamic?
Answer: Let us begin, then, with this talk of “watching thoughts”:
The expression “watching thoughts” may derive from Tiantai’s “three thousand realms in a single thought.” When a thought arises in meditative stability, one contemplates that this thought fully contains the three thousand dharmas; this is the practice of the Great Calming and Contemplation. Nowadays, even the Tiantai school itself can no longer practice the Great Calming and Contemplation. Its doctrine follows Tiantai, but its practice lies with Amitābha; it has turned instead to Buddha-recitation.
People today have exuberant discursive thinking. If they force an association with “watching thoughts,” first, they are not in meditative stability; second, they lack the wisdom to discern the three thousand dharmas as fully present. Thus, watching thoughts becomes merely a succession of deluded thoughts, wholly unrelated to Tiantai’s Great Calming and Contemplation.
The expression “watching thoughts” may also derive from the Chan school’s “watching the huatou.” To watch the huatou, one must arouse a sense of doubt and focus one’s whole body and mind on a single huatou—a phrase without ordinary meaning. After a long, long time, it suddenly falls away, and an originally present expanse of true light appears brilliantly before one; this is called “breaking through the investigation.” Nowadays, few in the Chan school persist unwaveringly in investigating the huatou. Most of what Chan teachers speak about is doctrine, and even more of it is introductory instruction.
People today cannot arouse a sense of doubt. If they turn “watching the huatou” into “watching thoughts,” they do grave injustice to Dahui and falsely implicate the Chan school!
Yet there are quite a few people who never tire of “watching thoughts” and call daydreaming practice. When such people ask Master Yuanyin, he follows their disposition and instructs them to “watch the point where thoughts arise.” His purpose is to free them from the continuous succession of deluded thoughts. This has the same intent as “ignore them.”
For those whose succession of deluded thoughts is somewhat looser, Master Yuanyin directly says, “Ignore them.” For those for whom the succession of deluded thoughts has become habitual, he tells them to look at the point where they arise, thereby shifting their fixed way of thinking. This is simply teaching according to the individual and prescribing medicine according to the illness. Why should later people raise disputes over it for no reason?
142. Do Not Seek Sensations
Question: Now, even when I rest, I never have that former feeling of clear, distinct awareness; it is only a vague semblance. What should I do?
Answer: Resting is bodhi. Feeling belongs to the aggregate of feeling. Weishan said to Yangshan (Huiji), “Ji, do not enter the realm of the aggregates!”
Question: When there is nothing to do, can one let the mind become pure, without giving rise to a single thought, and remain in that state for a while, feeling it out?
Answer: Ha ha! The moment you seek a feeling, it is no longer right.
Question: After cutting off my deluded thoughts, during this relatively blank interval I experience my own existence. That which can experience and feel is myself.
Answer: How is this “after cutting off deluded thoughts”? Look: “I experience my own existence; that which can experience and feel is myself.” Have you cut off deluded thoughts? In fact, you have merely changed their content.
143. Do Not Exert Force in Contemplation
Question: In daily life, how can I bring forth contemplation? Why does it always feel so strenuous? Because it seems troublesome, when I become lazy I neither contemplate nor observe. Is there any skillful means?
Answer: Do not run after deluded thoughts. It requires no effort.
Question: I feel that when a deluded thought comes, awareness itself is enough; if I exert force, it is no longer awareness. This is not something that can be done by force, is it?
Answer: Exactly! “In stillness, illuminate; in illumination, be still. Never exert force.”
Question: Greetings, Teacher. While watching a video disc of Master Yuanyin’s Dharma talks, I heard this passage: “Master Hanshan said that when we practice Buddha-recitation or uphold a mantra, we should be like pushing a heavily laden cart up a mountain.” Earlier, I also saw Patriarch Dayu’s essential instructions for practice: “In stillness, illuminate; in illumination, be still. Never exert force.” The two seem contradictory concerning whether and how to exert effort. What exactly do these two passages mean?
Answer: Master Hanshan was speaking of Buddha-recitation, while Acharya Dayu was speaking of contemplation. And these are far from the only two methods: skillful means have many gateways, even eighty-four thousand dharma gates. How could they all be forced into a single pattern? For example, how could one insist that the Pure Land school’s “diligent Buddha-recitation” and the Chan school’s saying, “Recite the Buddha’s name once, carry three loads of water,” must conform to one another? Sentient beings’ afflictions, like illnesses—the eighty-four thousand afflictions—are each different; the Buddhadharma, like medicine—the eighty-four thousand dharma gates—is likewise different in each case.
Question: In actual mantra recitation, forming mudrās, and contemplation, what should one do for the practice to accord with the Dharma?
Answer: If you follow Master Hanshan in Buddha-recitation, press forward with effort. If you practice contemplation in heart esotericism, never exert force.
144. If You Follow It, That Is Saṃsāra; If It Follows You, That Is Wondrous Functioning
Question: If you had not stopped my consciousness from getting entangled in the chat room—what one Dharma brother calls “entangling Chan”—I would have continued traveling at night. To correct my past faults, I have made a resolution: “Do not indulge in deluded thoughts!” I will not make it a motto, but a life-and-death inscription, posted on my forehead every day.
Answer: There is nothing wrong with thinking in that way, but you must not let it lead you around.
If it is not the master and you are the master, then it will become your sharpest weapon. If your thinking surpasses that of others, your weapon will be sharper than theirs. But if it leads you around, it will harm your dharma body and wisdom-life. The saying “a sharp blade injures the hand” is a metaphor for this. One may skillfully distinguish the characteristics of all dharmas while remaining unmoved in the ultimate truth.
Question: If I do not recognize it as a deluded thought, should I still not follow it?
Answer: If you follow it, that is saṃsāra; if it follows you, that is wondrous functioning. If it follows you, it is not a deluded thought.
Question: Can this be understood to mean that if I am in charge of whether to follow it or not, then it is not a deluded thought?
Answer: If you can truly be the master, and it serves your use, is that not wondrous functioning?
Question: Teacher Qi, I would like to ask: whether in applying realization after awakening, or in continuous and seamless contemplation while dealing with people and circumstances off the meditation cushion, one still uses thoughts to conduct affairs. What is the difference between freely applying them and drifting along in attachment to deluded thoughts?
Answer: Have you not already stated the difference yourself?
Question: What is the dividing line between thoughts that cling and those that do not?
Answer: Is this “dividing line” itself clinging, or not clinging?
Question: How can one discern this for oneself?
Answer: Now you understand what it means to be carried along by thoughts, do you not?
Question: When a thought arises and I act in accordance with it, how can I know whether it is an appropriate thought or a falsely arising thought?
Answer: Have you ever heard the saying, “All day long one eats, yet never bites down on a single grain of rice”? When has a thought ever arisen? And when has one ever done anything?
Question: My work is news editing. When I am editing text or doing other work that requires highly concentrated thought, how should I contemplate?
Answer: Gross deluded thoughts are greed, anger, ignorance, pride, and doubt. Work that involves thinking does not belong to deluded thought.
Question: When I am doing work that uses my mind, how should I use my mind?
Answer: Focus wholeheartedly on writing official documents, with no distractions, and you have not departed from contemplating the mind. Rather, if your mind is distracted while writing documents and you then give rise to another thought of “contemplating the mind,” that is not called contemplating the mind.
Question: While working, may one recite a mantra? Would using the mind for two things at once be counterproductive?
Answer: If you use the mind for two things at once, it is not good. If the mind is free of distractions, that itself is the unsurpassed great esoteric mantra.
Question: When doing things, such as reading or watching television, how should one contemplate?
Answer: When doing something, the thing is an object; when reading, the book is an object; when watching television, the television is an object. Contemplation means not being carried along by thoughts and not being moved by circumstances. “Not being moved by circumstances” does not mean not doing things, not reading, or not watching television. It simply means not allowing these things to lead you around by the nose.
Question: When I am reading with complete concentration, am I being carried along by thoughts?
Answer: No. Failing to concentrate completely is what it means to be carried along by thoughts.
145. If the Mind Is Free of Delusion, Diligence Has No Limit
Question: I have practiced this Dharma for over a year, nearly two years, and I still do not sit meditation very well.
Answer: After more than a year, nearly two years, this should have been an excellent opportunity to uncover what is original. But unfortunately, you have substituted mantra recitation and attending to sound for contemplation. The main practice has been lost, and relying solely on seated meditation as an auxiliary practice does not have this power.
Question: After reading your post, I broke out in a sweat all over. I have traveled such a misguided path for so long! These past two days, I have had fewer demands while sitting, and in daily life my awareness has become more relaxed as well.
Answer: “If the mind is free of delusion, diligence has no end.”
(IV) The Three Steps of Contemplation in Heart Esotericism
146. The Three Steps
Question: I have practiced the Six-Syllable Great Bright Mantra for some time, focusing exclusively on this one practice. Whenever deluded thoughts arise in daily life, I immediately turn to the mantra.
Answer: When deluded thoughts arise, do not heed them. This is called contemplation and is known as the principal practice.
Question: But sometimes it feels as though the more I turn to it, the more confused I become.
Answer: Deluded thoughts are confused to begin with. If you turn toward them again, will that not make them even more confused?
Question: What should I do, then?
Answer: Then let me spin out a few more words—the three steps of contemplation:
First: Do not turn with thoughts; do not be moved by circumstances.
In practicing Heart Esotericism, contemplation is the principal practice, while the six mudrās and one mantra are auxiliary practices. “Do not turn with thoughts; do not be moved by circumstances” is contemplation. This does not mean using the true mind to watch deluded thoughts; there is neither one who contemplates nor that which is contemplated. Contemplation without contemplation is true contemplation.
To be truly able not to turn with thoughts and not to be moved by circumstances is already the realm of fruition. We cannot do this now, but learn to do it; hence it is called “practicing from the fruition ground.” We are accustomed to deluded thinking and attachment, so they are familiar. Not turning with thoughts and not being moved by circumstances are not yet familiar, so they are unfamiliar. If one continues in this way for a long time, what is familiar becomes unfamiliar, and what is unfamiliar becomes familiar. There will surely come a moment when everything falls away; then, like beans bursting from cold ashes, it will shine forth clearly before one!
Middle: In a solemn awakening, it shines forth clearly before one.
After things have fallen away, the habitual tendencies of deluded attachment may still remain. When they surge back, they are like dark clouds obscuring the sun; one urgently needs “a solemn awakening, in which it shines forth clearly before one.” What is it that shines forth? It is the knowing free from thought that everyone on this forum discusses in such varied ways. However you may explain it, horizontally or vertically, you cannot describe it. It is free from thought: it does not fall within language and does not transgress into conceptual thinking.
It is numinously lucid, unlike wood or stone. It is neither light and shadow nor a concept. Where the path of words is cut off and the course of mental activity comes to an end, only realization can know it. Having no name for it, we reluctantly call it knowing free from thought. When knowing free from thought shines forth, one naturally does not turn with thoughts or become moved by circumstances.
Last: One is originally a Buddha—what is there to contemplate?
This alone is true contemplation. The first and middle stages are both learning contemplation. After this, even knowing free from thought cannot be obtained, and awakening to see one’s true nature becomes mere leftover words. If you say that such a person has seen his true nature, he may say, “Seeing is itself nature; what further nature is there to see?” If you say that these words establish a “seeing,” he will not argue with you.
He spoke that sentence only in response to your words; he spoke it for your sake. For himself, there is not even “seeing.” At most, he may reply with something like, “This old monk has lost half.” Those who can pierce the ear are rarely encountered; those who mark a boat to seek a sword are plentiful. How could one avoid “losing half”?
147. The three steps were explained in response to a question; they must not be established in words.
Question: Teacher, how should one apply oneself before and after seeing one’s true nature?
Answer: If one has truly experienced the nature of knowing free from thought, then upon noticing a thought arise and looking at its point of arising, it immediately shines forth clearly before one.
This is called “a solemn awakening, in which it shines forth clearly before one.” “A solemn awakening” and “looking at the point of arising” are actually the same thing. When one first learns contemplation, it is simply “not turning with thoughts and not being moved by circumstances.” Of course, one must be able to notice when one is turning with thoughts. If one cannot even notice that one is running after thoughts, then one must first recite the mantra off the meditation cushion. None of the foregoing is true contemplation. True contemplation is: “One is originally a Buddha—what is there to contemplate?”
Question: Does the point from which a thought arises itself have a location? The bright moon shines high.
Answer: If so, then contemplation is this: whenever distraction occurs, awaken solemnly and let it shine forth clearly before you.
Question: Let us meet when the moon sets...
Answer: Then contemplation is: “One is originally a Buddha—what is there to contemplate?”
Question: This saying, “One is originally a Buddha—what is there to contemplate?” is the speech of one who has arrived home. To one who has arrived home, it seems like nonsense; but one who has not arrived home can easily be poisoned by it.
Answer: Since you have not yet arrived home, simply learn not to turn with thoughts and not to be moved by circumstances.
The questions are as follows: (The passages below are Teacher Qi’s answers, given section by section—editor’s note.)
Question: In your earlier post concerning the three steps of contemplation, there is no need to change “do not turn with thoughts; do not be moved by circumstances” to “do not follow thoughts; do not be moved by circumstances,” is there?
Answer: It would be best to forget all these words and put them into practice.
Question: “Not turning with thoughts” is a general method, is it not? More specifically, there are many ways to begin—for example, Mahāmudrā’s “pei!”, Chan’s “investigating the huatou,” Buddha-recitation, and what we call “not heeding them.” These are all expedient methods of entry, are they not?
Answer: Yes! These are all methods of not turning with thoughts.
Question: “In a solemn awakening, it shines forth clearly before one”—is this method the same Dharma gate as the “method of disengagement” and “looking at the point from which a thought arises,” merely expressed differently? This level should only be adopted after seeing one’s true nature, should it not? Without seeing one’s true nature, one naturally would not know what it is for it to shine forth clearly before one.
Answer: Yes! They are different expressions for the same thing. Instead of saying, “Without seeing one’s true nature, one naturally would not know what it is for it to shine forth clearly before one,” it would be better to say, “If it truly shines forth clearly before one, this is called seeing one’s true nature.”
Question: Can the three steps of contemplation be compared to “Avalokiteśvara,” “contemplation,” and contemplation without contemplation? Are the second and third steps respectively quiescence illuminating and illumination quiescent?
Answer: Idle names indeed fill the five lakes.
Question: The three steps are not a process that everyone must necessarily undergo at present, like stages in the practice of a Dharma method. Is that right?
Answer: The three steps were explained in response to a question. Use them if they are useful, but do not establish them in words.
Question: As for my impression, it should not be called carrying excrement in; it should only be called carrying excrement out.
Answer: Ha ha! It is precisely carrying excrement in.
148. How Does One Cross Between the Three Steps?
Question: How does one cross from the second step to the third step of the Heart Esotericism three steps?
Answer: There is no crossing over. If there were crossing over, one could not reach the third step.
Question: Is it simply a matter of continuing with this awakening and disregarding everything else?
Answer: It is all right to put it that way.
Question: Teacher, there should be no boundary, should there?
Answer: If you say there is one, the third step is not thorough. If you say there is none, then why speak of a second and third?
Question: Is it like the three barriers?
Answer: Oh, stop clinging to these theories.
Question: It seems that the first and second steps occur simultaneously.
Answer: All three occur simultaneously.
Question: Three? What is the other one?
Answer: The other is, “One is originally a Buddha—what is there to contemplate?”
Question: If they occur simultaneously, why did you divide them into separate stages?
Answer: When there is “a solemn awakening, in which it shines forth clearly before one,” one naturally does not turn with thoughts or become moved by circumstances.
149. Not Turning with Thoughts, Not Being Moved by Circumstances
(1) A Correct Understanding of “Not Turning with Thoughts, Not Being Moved by Circumstances”
Question: Teacher Qi once said something to this effect: using the Heart-of-Heart Dharma to realize the mind and see one’s true nature is like using an ox-cleaver to kill a chicken. I know that the Heart-of-Heart Dharma possesses great power through the blessing of the three mysteries and indeed makes it comparatively easy to open up to one’s original nature. But after realizing the mind and seeing one’s true nature, the main practice is contemplation off the meditation cushion. How, then, is the special power of the Heart-of-Heart Dharma manifested? Please instruct us clearly, Teacher Qi.
Answer: Rather than calling it “special power,” it would be better to call it “directness.”
Directness means directly measuring oneself against those who have realized fruition. Before one has completely severed delusion and karma, one directly learns from those who have severed them completely, just as a child learns to do the things adults do.
Leaving aside “a solemn awakening, in which it shines forth clearly before one” and “one is originally a Buddha—what is there to contemplate?”, even “not turning with thoughts and not being moved by circumstances” is already a realm of fruition.
Chan Master Guifeng Zongmi said: “All sentient beings without exception possess awakened nature—numinously lucid and empty-quiescent, no different from the Buddha. Yet, since beginningless kalpas, they have never awakened to it. Deludedly clinging to the body as a mark of self, they give rise to such feelings as love and aversion. Following these feelings, they create karma; following karma, they undergo retribution. Thus they cycle through birth, old age, sickness, and death for long kalpas.
“Yet the awakened nature within the body has never undergone birth and death. It is like being driven and ordered in a dream while the body itself remains at ease; it is like water becoming ice while its wet nature remains unchanged. If one can awaken to this nature, it is the dharmakāya, originally unborn—what could it depend upon? It is vividly undimmed, clear, ever-present knowing, coming from nowhere and going nowhere. Yet through many lives of deluded attachment, habit has become second nature; joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure flow on in a subtle continuous stream.
“Although the truth may be suddenly comprehended, these feelings are difficult to eliminate all at once. One must constantly be aware of them, diminishing them again and again, like wind that suddenly stops while the waves gradually subside. How could the practice of a single lifetime immediately equal the powers and functions of all Buddhas? One need only take empty quiescence as one’s own essence and not identify with the physical body; take numinous knowing as one’s own mind and not identify with deluded thoughts. Whenever deluded thoughts arise, do not follow them at all. Then, even at the time of death, karma will naturally be unable to bind one.
“Though there is an intermediate state, one will be free in whatever direction one goes, taking rebirth at will in heaven or the human realm. If thoughts of love and aversion have already vanished, one will not receive a body of segmented birth and death, and can naturally transform the short into the long and the coarse into the subtle. If the subtle continuous stream is entirely stilled, leaving only the great wisdom of perfect enlightenment shining forth alone, then, in accordance with circumstances, one manifests countless transformation bodies to liberate sentient beings with whom one has affinities. This is called a Buddha.”
The Chan master spoke of three stages after awakening: ① If deluded thoughts arise, do not follow any of them. Even at the time of death, karma will naturally be unable to bind one. Though there is an intermediate state, one is free to go wherever one wishes, taking refuge at will in heaven or among humans. ② If thoughts of love and aversion have already vanished, one will no longer receive a segmented body and can naturally transform the short into the long and the coarse into the sublime. ③ If the subtle continuous stream has utterly ceased and only the great wisdom of perfect enlightenment remains, luminous and alone, then one can manifest countless transformation bodies in response to circumstances, liberating sentient beings with whom one has affinities. This is called Buddhahood.
The latter two stages are above the eighth bhūmi. Let us not discuss them for now, but speak only of the first. If one can truly “take empty quiescence as one’s essential nature and not identify with the physical body; take luminous knowing as one’s own mind and not identify with deluded thoughts. If deluded thoughts arise, do not follow any of them,” then one has already reached the point where “karma cannot bind.” When karma cannot bind, one has broken through the strange cycle of rebirth in the six realms and escaped saṃsāra. Is this not realizing the Way?
Therefore, when we say, “Do not turn with thoughts; do not be moved by circumstances,” we are not asking you to accomplish it immediately. Rather, you should learn to do it; it is the direction of your effort, called proper practice. Once you can do it, you will have realized the Way. See—is this not very direct? There is no need to be drawn along by the hook of desire; go directly toward the fruition stage. Should not a great person be like this?
(2) The Skill Lies in “Not Heeding It”
Question: I feel that my previous contemplation was inaccurate. It does not mean observing the point in the brain where a thought arises—that would be putting a head on top of one’s head. Rather, whenever a thought comes, regardless of where it comes from, see it and say once, “Do not heed it.” It breaks off at once. Immediately let go throughout the whole body; be clearly aware, with the mind lucid and distinct. After a while, another thought comes, and again give a shout: “Do not heed it.” This is contemplation, is it not? Please correct me, Teacher.
Answer: Observing where a thought arises is not putting a head on top of one’s head. But what you originally described was not its point of arising: “Off the cushion, I observe thoughts in the brain.” A thought is not the same as its point of arising.
Question: Teacher, what I mean is that when I formerly observed thoughts, I focused on my head, watched a particular point, took it to be their point of arising, and became aware when thoughts arose.
Answer: That is even more irrelevant. That is why I said: replace “Observe!” with “Do not heed it!”
Question: I hope that from now on there will no longer be any afflictive or deluded talk on this forum unrelated to Dharma practice.
Answer: As for afflictive and deluded talk unrelated to Dharma practice, the best method is: do not heed them—do not reply to their posts.
Question: What should one do when white waves surge to the sky?
Answer: Cast them into the land of the unborn!
Question: What must one do in order to hold fast?
Answer: Do not do anything in order to hold fast.
Question: Only when sitting in meditation do I discover how turbulent and surging they are, like raging waves.
Answer: Though the wind has stopped, the waves still surge! Do not heed them! Do not run after them!
Question: What is the difference between mere verbal Chan, wild Chan, and genuine Chan?
Answer: Ha ha! When you cast “mere verbal Chan, wild Chan, genuine Chan . . .” all into the Eastern Ocean, you will understand.
150. A Stern Awakening; Luminous Presence before You
Question: A stern awakening is easy enough to practice, but I do not experience luminous presence before me. Does luminous presence arise only after an explosive breakthrough?
Answer: If that is how it is, then even after an explosive breakthrough, there will be no luminous presence before you.
Question: As for “luminous,” I feel that it gives rise to further complications. This expression can easily mislead practitioners into thinking that there is some light. In fact, I think it is simply this: not a single thought arises, yet there is clear, ever-present knowing.
Answer: Ha ha! You do not say “luminous,” yet you have brought in “clear, ever-present knowing.”
Question: I only say it with my mouth; at such a time, it is not in my mind. I now understand what you mean by “luminous.”
Answer: “Originally one is a Buddha—what is there to contemplate?” This is true luminosity.
Question: “A stern awakening; luminous presence before you.” I have two understandings of this, and I have accordingly adopted two methods. In daily life, I simply go about what I am doing, awaken sharply, and then let go after awakening; after a while, I awaken again.
In this way, I repeatedly train the number of sharp awakenings. This method emphasizes frequency rather than sustained duration. Another method is to remain in luminous presence and then strive to sustain this state, unstained by a single thing. This trains sustained duration. At present, I think that only by continuing with the latter method can one become continuous and undivided. Thus I maintain a high degree of alertness and have recently been training in this way.
Answer: For you, both methods are very good, but the second is better. Yet not everyone should practice this way. Let me ask you something: does practicing in this way affect your work?
Question: I usually use the first method when doing work that requires thought, and the second when walking, sitting idly, or during leisure when I do not need to think. The second method in particular has somewhat greater force. I also try my best to practice this way while sitting, and off the cushion I can occasionally do so even while working. It feels as though the work is not being done by me; things seem hazy. But most of the time I cannot do it, for it affects my work, which shows that my strength is still insufficient. Since this is correct, I will persist in practicing this way from now on.
Answer: It should be that it not only does not affect your work, but invisibly improves your efficiency, because you have fewer deluded thoughts while working. “When the mind is focused on one point, nothing cannot be accomplished.”
151. Originally One Is a Buddha—What Is There to Contemplate?
A: What is the key to contemplation? How can one see deluded thoughts as they arise?
B: There are two steps. As the elder said, do not let the mind turn with circumstances, because all appearances of circumstances are unreal; one must detach from appearances and circumstances. Then break through the one who thinks and the one who contemplates. When a thought arises, do not abide in it; the thought itself is empty. There is no self in circumstances; the circumstances themselves are empty.
Answer: There is also a third step—sweep away the traces of the first two steps.
B: The third step is to genuinely arouse the compassionate bodhicitta.
Answer: The second step still includes this: “When a thought arises, do not abide in it; the thought itself is empty. There is no self in circumstances; the circumstances themselves are empty.”
Only at the third step can it possibly be like this:
Such pedantic talk! The nostrils of a patch-robed monk have their great heads pointing downward. If you do not believe it, ask Sister Wang of East Village! (This belongs to the Chan school.)
“Feeding a hundred billion Buddhas of the three periods of time is not as good as feeding one who is without thought, non-abiding, cultivation, or realization.” (This belongs to the doctrinal school.)
Question: Regarding “Originally one is a Buddha—what is there to contemplate?”, a certain fellow practitioner has been criticizing this issue for a long time. Unless he directly realizes it, he will remain forever trapped in his own conceptual understanding. This fellow practitioner received Heart-of-Heart Dharma empowerment in the 1990s, but has still not completed one thousand meditation sessions. If he can be persuaded, I hope he will stay away from the internet, let go of everything, practice in accordance with the Dharma, and directly realize the original reality at an early date.
Answer: Among the “four reliances” is: “Rely on definitive meaning, not on provisional meaning.” What the elder said—“Originally one is a Buddha—what is there to contemplate?”—is definitive meaning.
Provisional meaning must also be taught: “Give medicine according to the illness,” and “In accord with the minds of sentient beings, respond according to their capacity to understand.” An ancient worthy said, “Sit amid the grass on the summit of a solitary peak.” The summit of a solitary peak is definitive meaning; sitting amid the grass is provisional meaning. If Deshan had not “sat amid the grass,” how could he have elicited Yantou’s statement, “He does not understand the final phrase”?
Yet Deshan was, after all, a person “on the summit of a solitary peak,” and he could also prompt Yantou to say, “How fortunate that the old man at the head of the hall understands the final phrase after all.” Yantou had no other trick to play. In his desperation, he appended the tail end, “He has only three years left to live,” thereby provoking much noisy chatter from later generations of those attached to spiritual powers, such as prediction. But in predictive ability, who can surpass the devas? Yet have the devas attained liberation? Are they no longer within the cycle of rebirth in the six realms?
Another example: the elder both said, “the nature of luminous knowing in which not a single thought arises, yet there is clear, ever-present knowing,” and said, “What luminous knowing or non-luminous knowing is there?” The latter statement is definitive meaning.
Question: Teacher, please instruct me concerning “Originally one is a Buddha—what is there to contemplate?” 1. Does this step mean abandoning contemplation, having already gone beyond contemplation—even beyond quiescent illumination and illuminating quiescence? 2. To reach this stage, must one first become thoroughly proficient at constant contemplation before entering this higher step? If one is still unskilled in contemplation, is it impossible to leap directly beyond it and reach this stage? 3. Is this step the stage of an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva?
Answer: Yuanwu said: “Unless one has reached the nonobstruction among phenomena, one has no qualification to speak of Chan at all.”
(What follows is Teacher Qi’s response, given point by point.—Editor’s note)
Question 1: Does this step mean abandoning contemplation, having already gone beyond contemplation—even beyond quiescent illumination and illuminating quiescence?
Answer: In fact, this is not a “step”; there is not even abandoning or transcending.
Question 2: To reach this stage, must one first become thoroughly proficient at constant contemplation before entering this higher step? If one is still unskilled in contemplation, is it impossible to leap directly beyond it and reach this stage?
Answer: Here there are no stages, nor is there any reaching.
Question 3: Is this step the stage of an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva?
Answer: What bhūmi or no bhūmi is there?
Have you not seen it: “A carefree person of the Way, beyond learning and contrivance, does not eliminate deluded thoughts or seek the true . . .”
