Zen Buddhism & Enlightenment

I remember that when I was doing a special paper on "Revolutions in history" at the university, one of the 4 revolutions I studied viz. the English, the American, the French Revolution and the Russian Revoluions, amongst the contributing causes of two of such revolutions viz. the American and the French Revolutions, certain ideas from the thinkers from a particular period in the history of Western civilization were considered quite important. These were the ideas on secular rationalism, on freedom, on equality and on the spirit of the law and of justice of John Locke, Montesquieu and Rousseau. They were all classified as thinkers in the so-called Age of Enlightenment. But in philosophy and in religion, the word "enlightenment" has got a less specific meaning, It usually refers to the acquisition of certain kinds of "wisdom" of on how to live in such a way as to achieve a rather more reliable and a more permanent form of "happiness" or at least freedom from suffering at primarily the personal level. Last week, I attended another talk at the HKSHP where there is a book sale. One of the books I bought was one by a writer whom I first read some 30 odd years ago by the name of Sik Sheng Yen ( 釋聖嚴) (1931-2099), the founder of Dharma Drum Mountain (法鼓山), a Buddhist organization based in Taiwan devoted to the idea  combination of Buddhist theory and practice and the patriarch of two Zen Sects or Schools, being the 52nd descendent of Master Dongshan (洞山) (807-869) per Japanese method of reckoning) of Caodong )(Sōtō)(曹洞宗) and the 57th patriarch of Linji (Rinzai) (臨濟宗) and a 3rd generational descendant of Master Hsu Yun (虛雲大師) and the direct descendant of Master Dongchu (東初老人 )(1908–1977), a student of Master Taixu (太虛大師) who was the abbot of 鎮江曹洞宗定慧寺 and the 50th descendant of Dongshan Liangjie (洞山良價) but was also teaching at 臨濟宗常州天寧寺 and also ordained a monk at that sect's temple at 普陀山, and therefore a descendant of both sects.  

According to the Wikepedia, Sheng Yen, born Chiang Bao Hong (張保康) in Nantong Chiangsu, became an apprentice monk at 13, studied as apprentice monk again at 15 at 靜安寺, Shanghai and remained there until 1949, when he joined the Nationalist Army for the purpose of going to Taiwan to evade Communist rule and was engaged in communcations and later transferred to work at the Ministry of Defence because he was a good writer, attaining the left of lieutenant and at the end of 1959 he left army to become ordained as a monk again, engaged himself in solitary retreat from 1961-1968 in southern Taiwan to study the 4 āgama (四阿含經)(being Sanskrit and Pali for "sacred work" or "scripture", being a collection of early Buddhist scriptures of which there are five, which together comprise the various recensions of the Sutra Pitaka the early Buddhist schools. He studied the first four of them being Digha Nikaya (The Long Discourse) consisting of 34 suttas (discourses) (Pali digha = "long") consists of 34 suttas, including the longest ones in the Canon. The subject matter of these suttas ranges widely, from colorful folkloric accounts of the beings inhabiting the deva worlds to down-to-earth practical meditation instructions, and everything in between; the Majihima Nikaya (the Middle Length Discourses (Pali majjhima = "middle") consists of 152 suttas of varying length. These range from some of the most profound and difficult suttas in the Canon to engaging stories full of human pathos and drama that illustrate important principles of the law of kamma; Samyutta Nikaya (The "Grouped" Discourses) (Pali samyutta = "group" or "collection") consists of 2,889 relatively short suttas grouped together by theme into 56 samyuttas. and the Anguttara Nikya (the "Further-factored" Discourses (Pali anga = "factor" + uttara = "beyond," "further") consists of several thousand short suttas, grouped together into eleven nipatas according to the number of items of Dhamma covered in each sutta.The first five collections nikäyas of the Sutta Pitaka of the Theravada or Hinayana school's Pali Canon), then obtained a Masters Degree in 1971 and a Ph D in Buddhist Literature in 1975 at Rissho University (立正大學) of Japan, became abbot of the Nong Chan Monastery of Taiwan in 1979, founded the Institute of Chung-Hwa Buddhist Culture in New York in 1980, founded the Chung-Hwa Buddhist Studies in Taipei in 1985 and the International Cultural and Educational Foundation of Dharma Drum Mountain in 1989, taught Buddhism in America and established the Chan Meditation Centre in Queens, New York and the Dharma Drum Retreat Centre at Pine Bush, New York in 1995 and taught widely in America, Europe and other Asian countries and thus help spread Buddhism in the West and gave dharma transmission to a number of lay western student like John Crook who later formed the Western Chan Fellowship with his other disciples like Simon Child, Max Kalin and Zarko Andricevic. He was formally designated the 57th descendant of Linji Sect in 1978 by 靈源. (1902-1988).  He became for 2 years the chief editor a Buddhist monthly Life  (人生月刋) founded by Master Taixu( 太虛大師), who advocated the idea that to be fully human is also to be a buddha (人成佛成) and Master 印順 who advocated  Buddhist Humanism (人間佛教)。When he died, he left a poem "Growing old in business about nothing, there are tears and laughter in in the void; Never having existed, life and death also can be left" (『無事忙中老，空裡有哭笑；本來沒有我，生死皆可拋。』)

The book I bought wass Zen and Enlightenment (禪與悟) (1991). I read the second chapter the title of which is the title of the book. It consists of 5 parts: definitions of Chan or Zen and of Enlightenment or Awakening, the deelopment of Zen, Chinese Chan and what is Enlightenment. 

To Sheng Yen, Zen is the dhyānā or calmness (有定), silent reflection or meditation (靜慮), training in thinking (思惟修) does not refer to thought itself but is a method whereby we use our heart (心) or attention to focus at all times on that method and to concentrate an otherwis wild mind upon that method such that each time our mind wanders , we return to that method to the end that there shall be a unity between our earlier and later thought. If we can break or abandon even this concentration, then what will appear is a state of self-lessness and mindlessness (無我無心 i.e. our true nature revealing itself (見性) or enlightened (開悟) or the 5th paramita of dhyānā.

Per Sheng Yen, there is a doctrine of catvā dhyānāni (四禪天) according to which, at the first stage, we are detached from the joys of life, at the second, we are calm at the joys of life, at the third, we are detached from the joy of joys and at the fourth we are detached from all ideas and are clean (初禪離生喜樂，ニ禪定生喜樂， 三禪離喜妙樂，四禪捨念清凈).  According to the Book 17 of Agana," at the first dhyānāni state, language is silenced and vanishes; at the second, perception and awareness are silenced and vanish; at the third zen, the sense of joy is silenced and vanishes and at the fourth zen, the breathing in and out are silenced and vanish". It is part of the four mind without qualities and 8 methods of liberation八解脫法門  practised in common between Buddhists and part of the basic training for 4 stabilization of the limitless heart  四無量心 ( ie. benevolence, compassion, joy, detachment 慈悲喜捨)，phenomena or stability of complete extinction (滅盡定) or the stabilization of the realm of the 4 non-material realities (四無色定  i.e. emotion, will/intention, conduct, thoughts 受想行識 ). The Chan is thus the principal training method of Arhat of the Hinayana and of the Buddha ( See Digha Nikaya Books 4, 6, 12 and Maijihima Nikaya Books 1, 42 & 56). Sitting Chan or Zazen was first developed by the Hindu's Yoga masters and relied upon control of breath, sitting, adjustment of the body, adjustment of the mind in a sitting position and recitation of the word "Om" and fixation of the mind upon an object and has been recorded by the Upanishad. In Pali, it means to sit near, meaning to sit in such a way opposite to each other. The method is said to have originated when it was said in a 14th century text that at a Dharma talk, the Buddha held a flower, half closed his eyes and smiled and one of his disciples Mahākāśyapa (摩訶迦葉) understood what the Buddha meant. He is credited to be the first master of Chan. Thereafter, it was trasmitted 28 generations when Bodhidharma (菩提達摩) brought it to China and became the first Chinese Chan master and then passed through 5 generation until it went to Huineng (六祖惠能). Later it developed two branches Linji and Caodong (臨濟宗 and 曹洞宗) and in such form went to Japan which brought it to North America.

The word 悟 means "suddenly become aware" but in various usages, the word can be understood as "inspiration" or ""intuition" in art, like music, painting, literature where an artist relies upon an unusual method or knowledge not normally dependent on what he has been taught or learned nor entirely dependent on techniques he previously learned and in science, it is said of a new idea which occurred in flash to a scientist which he later verifies to be true. In philosophy, some ideas may occur to a philosopher or forced upon him during adversity eg. the intuition of conscience or what is good  致良知 was discovered by Wang YangMing  王陽明 when he was exiled to 貴州龍場. But in religion, some people claimed to have received an inspiration direct from some supernatural sources in a revelation, miraculous appearance, some with their eyes, others with their ears or through a dream but sometimes the relevant idea or message may have come to the recipient in a flash too such that after that the person's faith is reinforced. But from the point of view of Chan, all such occurrences are not considered instances of true 悟 which really means to become aware (覺) and such 悟 may occur in three forms. According to Hinayana, to have achieved first level of enlightenment or  悟, one must have weaned onself completely from avarice, anger, ignorance and pride (貪嗔癡慢) based upon the ego or self and arrived at the state of the arhat through learning the 4 noble truths, practising the 8 right ways and the 12 laws of cause and effect. (四聖諦，八正道，十二因緣法門) and become completely detached (破執) but only after going through 3 other stages will he arrive at the fourth Chan (四禪) when he has completely achieved full or complete enlightenment 徹悟 or 圓悟. But in Mahayana Buddhism, the bodhisattva (菩薩)  which literally means "aware of those still affected by emotions" (覺有情) are called "aware of others" (覺他) because they wish everyone to be buddhas like themselves  like the Ksitigarbha (地藏菩薩) who vowed never to enter nirvana until all the beings in the universe are removed from the cycle of reincarnation. In general, bodhisattvas are divided into 52 classes and when they arrive at the 11th stage, they will regarded as having been enlightened or awakened only when they achieve buddhahood will they be considered to have achieved complete or full enlightenment or awakening (大圓滿) because the Buddha is self-aware, aware of others and aware of his completeness. (覺自覺他覺滿). However, in the Chan tradition, the word enlightenment has some special meanings. It refers to a state in which someone who does not have to go through all the usual stages and still arrive at the state of enlightenment through a sudden flash of thought under the direction of a wise master but may also refer to those who become completely enlightened after years of study. When they are at that state, their mind is empty, clear, unobstructed, spotless and as clear as the mind of Buddha but for the Buddha, that state is permanent whereas the ordinary person, he may have to be enlightened time and again. One Chan master said he experienced Big enlightenment 30 odd times, and countless small enlightenments. Therefore even in enlightenment, there are differences in speed, and in depth but the kind of enlightenment referred to in Chan is often sudden but still it is difficult to achieve complete enlightenment.

To Buddhist thought, Chan practice must be based on correct thinking 正見 ie. "諸行無常，諸法無我，湼槃寂靜" . The practitioner must observe the five prohibitions (五戒) ie. not to kill, steal, lust, slander drink; practice 10 good (行十善) ie. not to use excessive, ignorant words, gossip, foul language, sweet talk nor be greedy, angry or addicted), to purify their body, their mouth and their intentions or minds and to progress up to 9 levels including 4 levels at the level of material body (四色界) affecting only our emotions but not desire for sex and food, without women but still affected by color, 4 levels of non-material rality (四無色界) affecting only 受想行識, plus the stabilization of liberation of the arhat. (九次第定). But the arhat has two kind of liberation : liberation through stabilization ( 定解脫) but there is another way called enlightenment through wisdom (慧解脫). Methodologically, the practitioner must adopt the methods called 5 stablization of the mind (五停心) ie. counting breath, cleansing, causation, benevolence and compassion, division (數息，不淨，因緣，慈悲，界分). In addition, one must practise the four unfathomable hearts (四無量心) i.e. 慈悲喜捨 ( detachment from all forms of rigiditites) according to the 4 levels of material reality (色界)  and also through being constantly aware of 4 foci of attention (四念處) i.e. be aware that oour body may be impure (觀身不凈), that we are frequently subject to our emotions and thus subject to pians and suffering (觀受是苦), that our thoughts are irregular and unpredictable (觀心無常) and that we should forget our sense of "self" and concentrate only on the dharma (觀法無我). To arrive at the highest level of Chan, a person not only have to realize that his basic nature is the same as Buddha's, can retain this clarity of mind and calmness of emotions at all times but must not get attached to that "blissful" state so that he can move in and out of that state as the situation requires and will not care if he does and further that not only is his sense of self false, even the Dharma is not something real to be attached to.

But to me, no matter what we do, we must always keep at the top of our mind the basic teachings of the Buddha that reality is always changing, never permanent, only that changeability itself is unconditioned and permanent, that everything we see, hear, touch, taste and smells are transient illusions destined to pass and that everything is subject to birth, growth, decay and death and that even our thoughts and emotions are changing all the time and that there is no self to speak of, to be protected, defended and whose interest is to be advanced against those of others and that we must strive at all times to free ourselves from our ignorance and be aware of the processes of our own emotions and thoughts and do our best to help others too achieve such level of enlightenment as we may have achieved. From this context, Chan is but one and certainly not the only way towards that ultimate goal.