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The True Self and Ch’an Concentration [I. The True Self – Mahaprajna] [II. The Revelation of the True Self] [III. Its Permanent
Maintenance Can Assure One’s Enlightenment] [IV. The False Self is
the Superficial Consciousness] [V. An-Hsiang Gives
True Benefits] [VI. Heart Sutra’s
Description – to Use the Mind as a Mirror] [VII. The True Self
Equates Emptiness, Mahaprajna, True Origin, and True Reality] I. The True self – Mahaprajna [back to the top] Although many people have been deeply researching the Dharma, they
neglect their true self.
What is the true self? It is "Mahaprajna", which
is also known as the true nature, the original mind, or the original face before one’s
birth. The term Mahaprajna is an
example of transliteration, as it is
very difficult to translate its true meaning. If you translate it as the great wisdom, people will easily mistake it for intelligence, knowledge, resourcefulness and so on, which all result from
a differential mind.
In fact, intelligence and smartness are developed after
one’s birth. Nevertheless, Mahaprajna is the original form
of life, and the true content and essence of life. Without
Mahaprajna, there is no life. Intelligence, coming from the external contamination,
refers to the function of our superficial
consciousness; whereas, Mahaprajna is the potential revealed through the awakening of
one’s mind. Why do we claim that Mahaprajna is the true self and the original
form
of life? Diamond
Sutra states:
“The
difference among all saints and sages lies in their
individual practice of the unconditional dharma.” If it is the unconditional dharma, why
is there a difference? In fact, the difference is revealed through their depth of practicing prajna. Before we were born, our personalities are totally
identical to the grand universe. In other words, “besides
the dharma-realm, there is no man, let alone
personality.” After being born
through our parents, we begin to build up our inertia of
copying and recording. That is how our self-consciousness is formed. The self-consciousness
enhances the inertia of recording, which then
gives birth to the false self. The
intelligence and smartness generated by the false self are addressed as
wisdom and intelligence, namely “the mundane wisdom and intelligence”. Nevertheless, the radiating
potential and the non-differential wisdom shown from
“Mahaprajna” display exactly what Mahaprajna is. “True-self” is the original self, and “true-nature” is the attribute of life. When
you have found the attribute of
life; namely your true self, you then can claim that
you have truly recognized your own life. When you have recognized and experienced the eternal
state of life, you will then discover that
your original self is “non-arising, non-ceasing, non-defiled,
non-pure, non-increasing and non-decreasing.” Meanwhile, it
does not have any eyes, ear,
nose, tongue, body, and consciousness, so that you will be naturally free from any concerns or illusions.
Consequently, if you can persevere in practicing with prajna, you will
eventually reach the state of “ultimate Nirvana” where you are attached to
nothing, and constantly maintain in the state of complete radiance of
meditation and wisdom. Ⅱ. The Revelation of the True Self [back to the top] The “true self” functioning in our realistic life is original, and
you can easily find it. As
long as you gradually give away those you originally
do not possess. When there is nothing more you can give away, your true self will
appear and that is the
genuine you. Many practitioners ever had their Mahaprajna
revealed. Unfortunately, they could not identify it so that they let it slip
away. It is truly a great pity. If
there was an authentic Master who could point it out to them
in the moment, they would be enlightened effortlessly. That is why an authentic Master is so valuable. When Mahaprajna is revealed and you
can realize and maintain it, you have achieved the awakening.
Though it is difficult to have Mahaprajna
revealed, it is even harder to verify and acknowledge
it in the moment. Ⅲ. Its Permanent Maintenance Can Assure One’s
Enlightenment [back to the top] Though it is very important that you can be
awakened when Mahaprajna is revealed, it does not mean that you have
accomplished the grand task. You need to go through the process of
maintaining it. As ancient folks said it was like “grazing cattle”. Well, how
are you going to graze cattle? When you find the “ox”,
you need to pay full attention to it. It is
just like the way a cat is trying to catch a mouse or people attend to a burning furnace for
making precious Chinese medicine.
In other words, you need to stay with it in every
second. As the old saying goes,
"You would be like a dead person just for the
temporary loss of it.” If you can permanently maintain it, you
simultaneously have attained the perfection and eternity of life.
Nevertheless, some people become extremely frightened when their true self,
(Mahaprajna) is revealed. It is like the story of Mr. Yeh. Though he was
fascinated with dragons, he was almost struck with a heart attack when seeing
a real dragon appear. {Mr.
Yeh’s story: In
ancient time of Spring-Autumn, a person named Zi-Gou Yeh who was fascinated
with dragons so that his swords and gears were all decorated with dragons,
even the pillars in his house were carved with dragons. The Holy dragon in the High Realm
heard of him and decided to visit him.
One day, the Holy dragon arrived at the Yeh’s and reached its head out
through the window to see Mr. Yeh, while stretching its tail to the main hall
of his house. Its sudden appearance shocked Mr. Yeh to death….} What is the
genuine perception you can feel when “Mahaprajna” is revealed? Generally speaking, it is
emptiness and clarity, just as "Heart Sutra" describes:
“seeing that the five aggregations are all empty.” You “see” everything as if
you were a mirror, and this vision is not associated with the differential mind.
If you are a student and can make your mind function as a mirror, you can
more easily pull your attention onto your study to form a focus. The focus
can develop and radiate the sparkle of your wisdom. If you have finished schooling and started working, you can apply the attitude of “being generously
impartial and genuinely conformable” to deal with people and matters. You
definitely will be effectively rewarded with great success. This is not an
empty talk because it can be verified. Consequently, people who can truly allow their
“true self” to govern their kingdom of mind, no matter whether they are
studying or working, they can always attain their achievements much more
easily and effortlessly. The only concern is whether you are heading in the
wrong direction and mistaking false for true. What is true, and what is
false? If you think you have been enlightened, I would suggest you come to
talk to me. If what you think is false, I can break it immediately to prevent
you from falling into the demon’s network. Nevertheless if you are true, I
can verify it and stop you searching for what you already possess. When
you have “Mahaprajna” revealed, and also have verified the state of "eternity, delight, self, and
purity", you have actually reached the
highest state of practice and its sole goal. Once
you are enlightened, you must keep the mentality in every second. It is like a train running on the rail track, and any derailment will bring a
fatal catastrophe. When the
“true self” governs
the kingdom of your mind, your world becomes “conformable and manageable”. You can find your goal without much
deliberation, comfortably gain what you want and easily achieve your success.
In fact, you have reached the highest and best state of life. Ⅳ. The False Self is the Superficial Consciousness [back to the top] What is the
false self? It is the superficial consciousness, and it
has the inertia
of recording.
Therefore, it produces a very powerful and strong
self-attachment. The so-called
inertia of recording accumulates mental
defilements from the conflict between our senses and outer contamination to
make “the Lord covered by defilements.” Therefore, our true self is buried,
and it is the most miserable loss and the saddest burial for man. The only solution is to have Mahaprajna, the true
self, revealed. It is the true
entity where “Buddha and sentient beings are non-dual”, and “man and
Buddha are not different”. Only after having the “true self” revealed, can
there be infinite possibility of sublimating upward. The true self is the
unveiled Buddha nature. To depart from it, what we practice, learn, conduct
and achieve will all vanish. When we hold to the true self, we are connected
to the Dharma realm, and correspond to all deities and Buddhas. Without the
true self, there will be just false illusion and differentiation, but no
truth or equality. Man can only aim to reveal the true self, so that it can
govern the kingdom of mind to attain the ultimate liberation, and to march towards
the perfection of life to fulfill the mission of life. Some people dare not recognize and accept the
revelation of the true self (Mahaprajna). They are struggling to take it
because of their heavy laziness. They cannot bear to take it, though they
clearly know what both reason and matter are. It is because their old habits
and weaknesses constantly come back to them, so that they are unable to
attain the genuine perception of An-Hsiang. Ⅴ. An-Hsiang Gives True Benefits [back to the top] An-Hsiang is not a jingle or catchphrase. It is
the most precise verification of Ch’an practice, and is also the most
beautiful mentality. We should
know that the profound An-Hsiang equates the “ultimate supreme perception”.
It is the “genuine perception” that only senior saints and Bodhisattvas can
achieve to possess and it is the most beneficial to their spirits.
Nevertheless, the depth of An-Hsiang varies. In the beginning, you can only
lightly perceive An-Hsiang, and mostly cannot hold of it. Sometimes, you have
it; some other times, you lose it without knowing why. If you can
consistently hold onto An-Hsiang, the clarity and depth of your An-Hsiang
will naturally be deepened. When it deepens to a certain level, you can reach
the state claimed in Heart Sutra: “When the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara
practices deeply with Prajna Paramita, he perceived that all five
aggregations (Skandhas) are empty.” The “emptiness” does not mean there is nothing.
You do not have to keep analyzing emptiness, saying this is empty and that is
empty etc. When there is too much analysis, the emptiness is not empty at
all. Heart Sutra states
"form is emptiness, and emptiness
is form", and these two statements have
been overanalyzed. As a result, there is no more “emptiness”, but
instead “possession”. Then, what do you “possess”? You possess “the emptiness”. In fact,
the following two statements can fully clarify it: “When you are
differentiating, emptiness is form. When you are mindless to scenes, form is
emptiness.” Ⅵ. Heart Sutra’s Description – to Use the Mind as a
Mirror [back to the top] Zhuang-zi said, "Saints use their minds as a mirror." Why did he assimilate a mirror
to the function of the mind? It is because a mirror is not like a camera, and
it does not have film to store the images. Therefore, we have to use our mind as
a mirror, and Heart Sutra gives a full exact description of our mind. As long
as you deal with people with the mirror-like mind and keep the original mind
undefiled, you can constantly possess the joy and An-Hsiang of your mind.
Moreover, you can smoothly keep the vitality of your life to overcome all
sorts of difficulties, and also can radiate light and harmony to assimilate
your surrounding environment to be as joyful and peaceful. Practitioners need to practice harder on
governing the kingdom of their mind. Only after being able to keep the
serenity of their mind, can they permanently possess the An-Hsiang in their
mind. People who have An-Hsiang in mind will never do anything disturbing.
The cause of all their sins results from the loss of An-Hsiang. It is because
only a peaceful mind can bring blessings. When one’s mind is restless, it is
surely a sign of evil omen. Some people say that it must take at least three
to five years to “maintain An-Hsiang” to be able to possess it permanently.
In fact, if we do not practice hard, even after living three to five lives or
passing through thirty to fifty thousand years of reincarnation, we are still
fallen and unable to purify and upgrade our minds. Ⅶ. The True Self Equates Emptiness, Mahaprajna,
True Origin, and True Reality [back to the top] The grand universe refers to the infinite
time and boundless space, and the "true self" equates infinity and boundlessness. The personification of the Dharma
means to fully dissolve the false self into the infinite and
boundless universe to win the perfection and eternity of
life. All existence, ranging from a large planet
to a small mustard
seed, is just a phenomenon and a process. Though
man’s intelligence and wisdom created rockets to launch to the moon and many
skyscrapers, nothing was increased on the scale of the whole universe. Even
when a huge planet is crushed, the universe seems to have lost nothing. All things come from the
"emptiness" and then return back to the "emptiness". "All instruments are forged from
gold, so all instruments are golden." Similarly, "All matter comes from
emptiness, so all matter is empty." All
Dharma cannot depart from the nature of emptiness, because their basic entity
is emptiness. Because of the “emptiness”; there is no increasing or
decreasing, and no production or extinction. Only having the “emptiness”, can
development and innovation have the possibility of becoming infinite. “Emptiness” is permanently unchanged, and universally exists. Without “emptiness”,
all matter, reason, and lives will be likened to
water of no origin or rootless woods, and nothing will happen. When we combine these names and terms, we can
conclude that the “true origin” equates “Mahaprajna”; “Mahaprajna” equates
the “true self”; the “true self” equates the “true reality”, and the “true
reality” equates the “emptiness”. Consequently, “Originally, there is
virtually nothing.” Ⅷ. Three Stages of Ch’an Concentration (Samadhi):
Depart from Attachments; Remove Attachments; Free from Attachments [back to the top] The Ch’an concentration (Samadhi), which can make
you “externally, detach from all forms; internally possess an undisturbed
mind”, has three stages to explore: Firstly, it is the stage of departing from all
attachments. Surely, it does not refer to the sitting meditation. Instead, it
means that no external objects can disturb you, nor can any illusions arise
in your mind. It is the authentic Ch’an concentration (Samadhi). Throughout history, very few practitioners could
reach the stage of detaching from attachments. Why? It was all because they
possessed a strong mind of differentiation. They thought the Buddha Dharma
was knowledge. Therefore, they tried to investigate, define and advocate the
centrifugal-consciousness Dharma, in the same way as they researched
knowledge. By doing so, they only deepened their attachment to reason, and
achieved nothing more. Even when they spent their lifetimes on researching
sutras, eventually they would still be like “a paint-bucket”, unable to empty
their attachments. Only by breaking through their attachment to reason, can
they enter the stage of “departing from attachments”. Without clarifying your
confusion, how can you verify the truth? If you cannot verify the truth, you
will not be qualified to learn the “non-learning”, let alone attain your
enlightenment. Only after realizing that the so-called know-how
and knowledge are the product of delusive superficial-consciousness, which
are definitely not original as only Dharma is the content of our true nature,
can you then start developing your self-awareness - the personification of
reason. Otherwise, the more learned you become, the farther you are away from
the truth. Only by breaking through your attachment to reason, can you reach
the state of “non-learning”. However, it does not mean you have completed the
learning. In fact, you have just started the journey of “departing from
attachments”. You simply just discarded the conceptual games, and no longer
regard illusions as truth.
After entering the stage of “departing from
attachments”, you will become less conscious or unconscious of all those
external forms, such as people, matters and objects, in your daily life. You
will reach the state where you always feel alone among thousands of people in
the crowds, and roaming alone in a dream while walking on very busy streets.
You constantly feel that you are just with yourself. It is the state that
you, yourself, enjoy the true benefits of the stage of “departing from
attachments”. The length of this stage varies; it depends on
individual background and origin. To people with a profound background, they
can quickly enter the stage of “removing attachments” after a short stay in
“departing from attachments”. After all, departing from attachments is not
ultimate. Though you look like
temporarily departing from external interferences, you still cannot totally
resist them on certain occasions. Truly, you can disturb yourself. In order
to dig the root of your weaknesses, you must practice hard on the task of
getting rid of all your attachments to reach the stage of “removing
attachments”. The only way to remove your attachments is to go
through reflecting on yourself, as ancient sages stated: the methodology of
“Stopping and Contemplation”. If you do not reflect on yourself, you cannot
even realize what kind of person you truly are, and it will be extremely difficult
to undergo your practice. Those who would like to practice must
wholeheartedly reflect on themselves so that they can find all their
weaknesses. Moreover, they must be determined to remove and discard all their
desires to weaken or even smash all their own attachments, till then, the
original face before their birth will be revealed. Only after having found
the origin of life, can man firmly believe in the eternity of life and become
free from confusion, worries and fears. With regard to those ancient sages,
Wen-Tianxiang, Wu-Fong etc., they sacrificed their lives for amiability so
that they both reached the state of Bodhisattva. When there is a lack of the
spirit of Bodhisattva, or a lack of the revelation of true self, you will
never be able to govern the kingdom of your mind, let alone doing practice or
sacrificing your life for the sake of justice. After going through the stage of “removing
attachments” to reach the stage of “free from attachments”, you can
permanently attain An-Hsiang. As “Hymn of the Verified Enlightenment” states:
“Even when an iron wheel was swirling above your head, you would never lose
the mentality of complete radiance of meditation and wisdom”, which is
exactly the vivid description of the state of “free from attachments”. In
fact, when man reaches this stage, they are at one with the grand universe
and the great Lord, and return to the origin of life, where Buddha and
sentient beings are equal, one and others are not dual, man and objects are
the same. This is exactly the state where “Heaven and Earth co-exist with me,
and all beings and I are non-dual.” If you cannot practice to verify this
state, you cannot claim to be a true being, and you are actually wasting your
time and life. Conclusively, in order to fulfill and accomplish
the mission of life, all practitioners must practice hard to reveal and
discover the lost and buried true self. Only by doing so, can they attain
light, joy and bliss, and likely to reward the Four Favors, relieve sentient
beings from suffering and give them light, liberation and An-Hsiang. The speech I made today is completely frank and
true. What I said is only a very small portion of what I personally have
achieved and experienced. I
presented it in front of all of you with my utmost sincere and devoted heart.
I wish you all have your true self revealed, permanently possess An-Hsiang,
and achieve your enlightenment soon. |