When I was first asked to lead this short retreat, my first thought was "Why do they need someone to lead a weekend retreat, can't they just gather together and sit together?"
I guessed I would have to provide some sort of teaching. So then I wondered what teaching might be valuable? Perhaps I should regurgitate something remembered from a book or a sutra that I have read but which you may not yet have seen? Perhaps there might be some use in that but somehow that didn't seem right. Probably you all know that Bodhidharma is reputed to have described Chan as:
A direct transmission outside the Scriptures,
Not dependent on words and letters,
Directly pointing to one's own mind
Seeing into one's own nature.
Perhaps that would be the form of teaching that you hoped for, a special transmission outside the Scriptures? Hmmm.
The problem seems to be that any constructed practice, be it a meditation method or scriptural study, or whatever, does not appear to be a direct pointing. It appears to be at best an indirect pointing, or perhaps simply a background or preparatory activity.
We probably all know that the word Chan is derived from the Sanskrit word Dhyana, which refers to meditation. So immediately we can see that meditation seems to be at the core of Chan. But we also hear warnings not to become attached to meditation. There is the famous story of the master-to-be Ma-tsu. Ma-tsu, known in Japanese as Baso, was one of the great early Chan masters from the 8th century, only two generations after Hui-Neng. Most of you will have already heard this story, but it's worth considering again.
One day Master Huai-Jang (Jap. Nangaku) visited Ma-tsu's hut. Ma-tsu stood and greeted him.
Huai-jang asked, "What have you been doing recently?"
Ma-tsu replied, "I have done nothing but sit in zazen."
Huai-jang asked, "Why do you continually sit in zazen?"
Ma-tsu answered, "I sit in zazen in order to become Buddha."
Huai-jang picked up a tile and started to polish it using another tile he found by the side of Ma-tsu's hut.
Ma-tsu watched what he was doing and asked, "Master, what are you doing?"
Huai-jang answered, "I am polishing this tile."
Ma-tsu asked, "Why are you polishing the tile?"
Huai-jang answered, "To make a mirror."
Ma-tsu said, "How can you make a mirror by polishing a clay tile?"
Huai-jang replied, "How can you become a Buddha by doing zazen?"
Ma-tsu became a great master and was the teacher of several well-known masters, particularly of Huai-hai (Jap. Hyakujo), an ancestor of Linji and famous in the story of Hyakujo and the fox, and of Nan-chuan (Jap. Nansen) who was famous for cutting a cat in half, and in turn was the teacher of Chao-chao (Jap. Joshu) from whom the koan Wu (Mu) originates.
The rug has been pulled out from under us twice now, no dependence on words and letters, and no dependence on meditation either. So what is this Chan that we are trying to practice, and how is it practised?
Let us take a further look back in time and see how Bodhidharma saw this. Bodhidharma is reputed to be the first carrier of the Zen transmission from India to China. I say reputed to be since although historians seem to agree that he actually existed, they have little hard evidence on how and what he actually taught. The verse earlier about direct transmission is ascribed to him, and also a teaching on the "Two Entrances and the Four Practices". This is quite an important text but you may not have heard of it. Master Sheng Yen has written an introductory booklet on Chan practice entitled "In the Spirit of Chan" and in it he uses this text as the central document.
Lets look at these Entrances and Practices.
Bodhidharma spoke of there being two entries to realising your own nature. The first is Entry through Principle, in essence it is just to do it, and he describes it like this:
"Leaving behind the false, return to the true;
make no distinction between self and others.
In contemplation one's mind should be stable and unmoving like a wall."
This may well be a direct path to Enlightenment but most of us cannot manage it. We cannot manage to set our minds unmoving like a wall, and to stop making distinctions between self and others, and so on.
So he also spoke of Entry through Practice, and he described four methods. Shifu makes the point that these four are of progressive difficulty.
The first practice is of "accepting karmic retribution". Karma is a difficult concept for many of us, particularly if it involves discussion of past lives. Let us just look at it in a simple, straightforward way. Actions in the past have consequences in the present. Our actions in the past have effects which may be maturing now. Can we accept what the present delivers to us as being the result of past causes and conditions which are maturing in this present moment, without "picking and choosing" and wishing that it were otherwise? Can we notice our own tendencies not to want to accept the retribution of karma on our present lives?
The second practice is "adapting to conditions". At first glance this sounds as if it contradicts the first one. Firstly we are told to accept karmic retribution, but then we are told to adapt to the conditions that result from it. It seems we are trying to wriggle out of it! But whatever the conditions that we encounter as a result of karmic retribution, whether favourable or otherwise, it is up to us not to reject them but to make the best of them, to use them skilfully. The message of this second method is that as we accept our karmic retribution, whether unpleasant or favourable, there is no point in getting upset or excited. There is no point in getting upset when we receive a painful karmic retribution, it is only our just deserts. Similarly when something good happens there is no need to feel that something special has happened, it is only happening as a result of our past good actions and so it is natural that it should happen. Just as acceptance of karmic retribution requires non-aversion, it also requires non-grasping when the present circumstances are good. For better or for worse that is what is happening, and we need to live our lives skilfully accepting the consequences of past actions, without aversion or attachment, and adapting ourselves to the resultant present circumstances.
The first method seems to emphasise acceptance of our karmic retribution, and the second our adaptation to (but not avoidance of) the circumstances that result from karma.
The third practice is "No-Seeking". This is a higher and more difficult practice. Usually our activities are motivated by thoughts of gain for ourselves. This practice requires that we consistently engage in useful activity, and yet without thought as to our own gain. To truly practice this requires a realisation of no-self. To begin practice we need an attitude of non-seeking, being willing to engage usefully with the world, but without concern as to whether the use is to ourselves or to others.
As we go through these three practices we can see a progression in the attitude required. Firstly we need an attitude of being willing and able to accept the results of our past actions maturing in the present. Secondly we must have an attitude of flexibility, being willing to adapt to and flow with these differing circumstances that arise, making the best of them, not being attached to fixed ideas of the outcome that we seek. Thirdly our attitude of non-seeking means that we do not have any attachment to any outcome at all, whether for ourselves or for others, and yet we do act.
The fourth method is "Union with the Dharma". It is a basic tenet of Buddhism that all phenomena are empty and impermanent. In this method we try to personally experience this impermanence and selflessness through direct contemplation of emptiness. This is the highest practice and allows us to reach the point of entry though principle, the first and rather difficult entrance of which Bodhidharma spoke.
It is interesting that overtly there is no recommendation to sit in meditation in the first three practices, and yet we also hear of Bodhidharma sitting in meditation for nine years facing the wall, and that he taught a new form of meditation which was called wall-gazing. As far as I can establish Bodhidharma's own teaching on this "wall-gazing" has not survived, but seeing how the teaching was hailed by his descendants as a new method it probably referred not just to the physical posture facing the wall, but also to the mental attitude and method, indeed having one's mind "stable and unmoving, like a wall" as mentioned in the first entrance through principle.
So right from the beginning of Chan, and of course going back further to the time of the Buddha, we see this balancing of meditation and other practices.
I think that we can consider the first three practices as corresponding to the "Chan Attitudes" that John has spoken of in the past. It is important to shift our attitudes. Just sitting on cushions is not enough. In considering Bodhidharma's words we are beginning to get a recipe for Chan practice. We may apply fresh attitudes in daily life and in meditation, corresponding to the first three practices of Entry through Practice, and, in addition, we have meditation methods to assist in stabilising and opening up our minds to the essence of our true nature. Although presented as two entries and four practices, with additional meditation methods, all these are to be considered together as one comprehensive approach to practice.
The admonitions not to be attached to zazen now begin to make sense, since true practice requires more than just sitting, and yet nevertheless it's importance is undoubted for those whose minds are not naturally stable, bright and clear - most of us!
It is also worth noting that these attitudes and meditations are complementary and support each other. Having a mind of equanimity, of acceptance, of non-grasping and non-seeking, is very beneficial to meditation. And on the other hand through the practice of meditation we can come to see the workings of karma in our own lives. We can learn to adapt to the results of past actions rather than to grasp them or reject them, and we can cultivate an attitude of no-seeking.
During this weekend, with most of us arriving from busy lives with unsettled minds, it is natural that we emphasise actual sitting meditation practice. Initially we relax and settle into just being here, in our bodies in this place. Then we raise a little alertness to actually notice the quality of that being here, to notice especially our own minds. Perhaps we need to apply calming methods to gain some control over our minds, then we return to watching the mind. When watching the mind, whether when sitting or in daily life, we have the opportunity to apply the Chan attitudes, the practices of Bodhidharma. We have an opportunity to accept what happens as karmic retribution and to lead our lives in accordance with the circumstances in which we find ourselves, not to be wishing that they were otherwise, not to be seeking, and to experience our union with the Dharma, to experience ourselves as not separate.
Can we do this? If we can then that is fine and we just do it, we enter through principle. If we cannot then we can use sitting practice to stabilise our minds, and we shall take the opportunity to observe whether or not we do indeed accept our karmic retributions, practise non-seeking, and so on. To the extent that we can do these then we are entering the gate of Chan, to the extent that we have difficulty with these we need to continue to practise.
