True Self and Ch’an Meditation
Discourse given before the establishment of
Tainan Ch’an-Study Association

Although many people have been practicing Dharma profoundly, they neglect the true self. What is the true self? It is "Maha Prajna ", also known as the true nature, the original mind, or the original face before one’s birth given by parents.

Maha Prajna is a phonetic translation, not a literal one, as it is very difficult to interpret its true meaning. If you translate it as the great wisdom, people will easily mistake it for intelligence, knowledge, smartness and so on, which are all generated from a differentiating mind. In fact, the intelligence and smartness are cultured after one’s birth. Nevertheless, Maha Prajna is the original form of life, and the true essence of life. Without Maha Prajna, there is no life. Intelligence is a functional factor for our superficial consciousness, and comes from external contamination. On the contrary, Maha Prajna is a potential, and the awakening from our minds.

Why do we claim Maha Prajna is the true self, and the original form of life?

Diamond Sutra states that “All saints and sages are different because of their application of the unconditioned.”

If it is the unconditioned, why then is there a difference? The difference results from the depth of the individual practice and development of Prajna.

Before we were born by our parents, our personalities are equivalent to the grand universe. In other words, besides the dharma-realm, there is not any person, nor personality. After having been born through our parents, we begin to build up our inertia of copying and recording. It brings us the self-consciousness. The self-consciousness enhances the inertia of recording, which then gives birth to the false self. The intelligence and smartness presented by the false self is addressed as wisdom and intelligence, namely the mundane wisdom and intelligence. Nevertheless, the wisdom generated from the radiating potential of Maha Prajna, which is free from differentiation, is exactly the self of Maha Prajna.

True-self is the original self, and true-nature is the attribute of life. When one has found the attribute of life, namely the true-self, one then can claim that one has undoubtedly recognized one’s own life. When you have recognized and experienced the eternal state of life, you will then realize that your original self is non-arising, non-ceasing, non-defiled, non-pure, non increasing and non-decreasing. Meanwhile, it does not have any eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, and you would be naturally free from any concerns or illusions. Consequently, if you can keep practicing with Maha Prajna, you will eventually reach the state of “ultimate Nirvana”, where you can not only attach to nothing, but also maintain the state of complete radiance of meditation and wisdom.

The true-self, which exists in our realistic life, is original, and it is very easy for you to find. As long as you gradually discard the properties, which do not originally exist, one by one, until there is nothing more to discard, your true-self will simultaneously emerge, and that is exactly what true-self is.

Many practitioners never had their Maha Prajna developed; they failed to identify it and therefore missed it, which is truly a great pity. If there were an authentic Master who could point it out to them at the moment, they would be enlightened without any more efforts. That is the precious value of an authentic Master.

When Maha Prajna reveals itself, and you can realize and maintain it, you virtually have been awakened.

Though it is difficult to have Maha Prajna revealed, it is even more difficult to acknowledge it at the moment.

Though it is very important to be able to be awakened and to acknowledge the revelation of Maha Prajna, it does not mean that the grand task has been completed. It needs to go through the process of maintaining it. As ancient folks said it were like grazing cattle. Well, how to do it? When you find your “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 attending to a burning furnace for making precious Chinese medicine. In other words, one needs to be with it in every second. As the old saying goes, "One would be like a dead person, even just for a temporary distraction.” If one can maintain it without any break, one has simultaneously reached the complete and eternal state of life. Nevertheless, there are some people who are extremely frightened when their true-self, namely Maha Prajna, is revealed. It is like the story of Mr. Yeh. Though he was fascinated by dragons, he was shocked to death by the appearance of a real dragon.

What's the taste of the genuine perception revealed by Maha Prajna? Broadly speaking, it is emptiness and pure awareness, just as "Heart Sutra" describes: “perceiving the void phenomenon of five aggregations.” You “perceive” everything as you were a mirror, and perceive without a differentiating mind. If you are studying with this mirror-like mentality, you can easily focus your mind on your study and make it radiate the sparkle of your wisdom. If you have already left school and entered the society, to apply the mentality of “becoming broad and extremely impartial and to respond to things as they are when they arrive”, you will be unexpectedly and effortlessly successful. This is not empty talk; it can be proved by experiments.

Consequently, people, no matter where they are, either in school or at work, as long as their true-self can monitor their kingdom of mind, they can make their achievements much easier and effortless. The only thing to be afraid of is that you are heading to the wrong direction, and mistake the false one for the true one. What is true, and what is false? If you think you have been enlightened, please come to talk to me. If it is false, I can smash it immediately to prevent you from falling into the demon’s network. If it is true, I can verify it and prevent you from searching for something you already possess, which will be as futile as searching for the head on your very shoulders.

When Maha Prajna is revealed, one has reached the state of "eternity, delight, self, and purity", which is the highest state of practice as well as the sole goal. As soon as you are enlightened, you need to retain it without any interval. It is like a train running on the track, and any derailment will bring a fatal disaster. When true self dominates your kingdom of mind, you can simply govern the state without doing anything. It is the state that “to hit upon what is right without thinking, to apprehend without considering, and to accomplish without planning.” That is truly the highest and most beautiful state of life.

What is the false self? It is the superficial consciousness, which has the inertia of recording. Our strong self-attachment results from this inertia. The so-called inertia of recording comes from the corresponding conflicts between our senses and outer contamination, and makes “the Lord covered by dust.” It is the source of our mental stain and therefore our true self has been covered. Indeed, to us, it is the most miserable loss and the saddest burial. The only solution is to reveal the true self of Maha Prajna, which is identical to the self of Buddha and the reason why “Buddha and sentient beings are non-dual”. Moreover, once our true self is revealed, we can sublimate our infinite potential. True self is the unveiled Buddha nature. To part from it, whatever we have practiced, learned, conducted and done is going to vanish. When we are getting hold of the true self, we are immersed with the Dharma realm, and correspond to all deities and Buddhas. Without the true self, there is only false illusion and differentiation, but no truth and equality. Human beings can only aim to have true self revealed to govern the kingdom of their minds to reach the ultimate liberation. Until then, we can approach a complete and harmonious life and achieve the mission of life.

Some people dare not recognize and accept their true self, when Maha Prajna is revealed. They are struggling to take it, due to their strong inertia of laziness. They cannot afford to take it, though they are very clear about both reason and matter. It is because of their old habits and illness. Therefore, there is no way for them to attain the genuine perception of An-Hsiang.

An-Hsiang is not addressed for tongue-twisters, neither for verbal play of Ch’an. It is the most precise verification of practice, and the most beautiful mentality. We should know that An-Hsiang in its profound depth is equivalent to the ultimate supreme perception. That perception is the “correct” perception possessed only by saints and sages who have reached the states of saints and Bodhisattva. It is the most spiritual and supreme perception. Nevertheless, the depth of An-Hsiang varies. In the beginning, people can perceive only a slight An-Hsiang, and most of the time cannot retain it. Sometimes it is there, some other times, it disappears without knowing why. If one can consistently maintain the An-Hsiang, the accuracy and depth of An-Hsiang will naturally be deepened. When it reaches a certain level of profundity, it will be equivalent to the state as “When the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara was coursing in the deep Prajna Paramita, he perceived that all five Skandhas are empty.” The “emptiness” does not mean there is nothing. It is needless to keep analyzing emptiness, saying this is emptiness and that is emptiness etc. etc. When there is too much analysis, the emptiness is virtually not empty.

Heart Sutra states "form is emptiness, and emptiness is form", and these two statements have been overly analyzed. When it is overly addressed, it is no more “empty”, but “having”. “Having” what? It is having the emptiness. In fact, the following two statements are explicit enough to tell us what it is about, “When you are differentiating, emptiness is form. When you are unconscious of the outer objects, form is emptiness.”

Zhuang-zi said, "Saints use their minds as mirrors." Why did he make such a simile? It is because a mirror does not have a film to take any image, unlike a camera. Therefore, we only have to use our mind as a mirror, and what Heart Sutra describes is exactly what our mind is. As long as you apply the mirror-like mind to deal with people, and maintain the original mind undefiled, you will be able to constantly possess the joy and An-Hsiang of your mind. Moreover, you can have dynamic power of life to overcome all sorts of difficulties to ensure your life is radiating light and harmony, and also affect your surrounding environment to be delightful and peaceful.

Practitioners need to work hard, namely, to make progress on monitoring their kingdom of mind. Only making efforts on maintaining the serenity of one’s mind, can one possess the An-Hsiang of one’s mind in every second. People with An-Hsiang in mind will never do things that will make them restless. All sins are resulted from losing An-Hsiang, because all bliss comes from a peaceful mind. When one’s mind is restless, it is a sign of evil omen.

Some people say that it may at least take three to five years to maintain one’s An-Hsiang. In fact, if we do not make efforts, even after three to five generations or thirty to fifty thousand years of reincarnations, we are still degenerating and unable to purify our minds and make progress.

The universe is defined as infinite time and boundless space, and the "true self" is exactly the combination of infinity and boundlessness. The personification of Dharma is to immerse the false self into the infinite and boundless universe to fully dissolve to win a complete and eternal life.

All existence, ranging from a large planet to a small mustard seed, is just a kind of phenomenon and process. Though the intelligence and wisdom of human beings was applied to create either a rocket launching to the moon or a skyscraper, nothing was virtually added to the whole universe. Even a huge planet is crashed, there is still nothing missing in the universe. All things come from the "emptiness" and then return to the "emptiness" again.

"To make different devices with gold, each device is golden," "To make different devices with emptiness, each device is empty." The property of everything is its empty nature, and its self is equivalent to emptiness. It is the “emptiness”; therefore, there is no-increasing, no-decreasing, no-arising and no-ceasing. That the infinite development and creation becomes possible is all because of this “emptiness”.

Emptiness is eternally unchanged; emptiness universally exists. Without the emptiness, every matter, every reason, and every life all turn to be like water without its source, wood without its root, and everything is unlikely to happen. When we combine all these names and terminology; conclusively, we find that true suchness is Maha Prajna; Maha Prajna is true self; true self is the true reality, and the true reality is emptiness. Indeed, “Originally, there is virtually nothing.”

The Ch’an meditation (Samadhi), which is defined as “detaching from all forms with an absolutely settled mind”, has undergone three stages:

Firstly, the stage of detachment from adherences – it is not referring to the sitting meditation. It refers to not being interfered by any external objects, and no illusion arises in one’s mind. This is the authentic Ch’an meditation (Samadhi).

Throughout history, many practitioners could not reach the stage of detaching from adherences. Why? It is because of their strong differentiating minds. They mistakenly regarded the Dharma as knowledge. They study, define and advocate the Dharma, which is actually separate from mental consciousness, in the way of doing academic research. By doing so, only their adherences to reason have been deepened, and nothing else has been achieved. Even they spend all their lifetime on studying sutras, eventually they will still be like “a bucket full of paint”, unable to empty its contents. If they cannot break through their adherences to reason, they will never be able to enter the Samadhi of detachment from adherences. Without the clarification of one’s confusion, how can one verify the truth? If one cannot verify the truth, one will not be qualified to learn the Dharma, let alone heading to the way of enlightenment.

When you have realized that the so-called learning and knowledge is the product of superficial consciousness, and they are definitely not original, nor originally existing, and only the Dharma is the content of our true nature, you then can initially develop the self-awareness, which is the personification of reason. Otherwise, the more knowledge you have, the farther you are away from truth. To break through one’s attachment to reason is the only way to reach the learning of non-learning. However, it does not mean that you have completed the learning. In fact, you just start entering the Samadhi of detachment from adherences. You only disregard the conceptual games, and no longer regard illusions as truth.

When you are in the Samadhi of detachment from adherences, you will become less and less conscious to all the external forms in your daily life, including people, matters and objects. When the interference turns down to almost nil, you will be like roaming in the street all by yourself. In fact, you are walking on a busy street with a huge crowd around you. You always feel “walking alone, and walking by yourself”. It is the state of one’s beneficial perception when one has reached the Samadhi of detachment from adherences.

The length of this stage depends on the background and quality of individuals. If people come from a very advanced background, they will quickly upgrade themselves from the Samadhi of detachment of adherences to the Samadhi of removing all adherences. After all, detaching from adherences is not ultimate. It only temporarily detaches you from external interferences, which may come back again on certain occasions. Indeed, you still will interfere with yourself. In order to remove the root of illness, one needs to make efforts on removing one’s adherences to reach the stage of the Samadhi of removing adherences.

The only way to remove one’s adherences is through self-introspection, which is the practice originated from the methodology of “Meditation and Contemplation” applied by ancient sages. If you do not carry out introspection, you cannot even realize what kind of person you truly are, and it will be extremely difficult to undergo your practice. People who want to engage themselves in practice need to make a thorough and complete introspection, and to search for all their weaknesses. Moreover, they have to be determined to extirpate and remove them. Once they give up all those selfish desires, their self-adherences will turn weak or even disappear. Then, the original face before their birth will be simultaneously revealed. Only when people have found the origin of life, would they believe in the eternity of life and become free from confusion, agony and fear.

The ancient sages, Wen-Tianxiang, who sacrificed his life for amiability, and Wu-Fong died for justice, both had reached the state of Bodhisattva. Without having the spirit of Bodhisattva, without the development of true self, and without the capability to monitor one’s kingdom of mind, people are very unlikely to undergo practice, or talk about sacrificing their lives for justice.

After having passed through the stage of removing adherences, one then reaches the Samadhi of no adherences and can attain An-Hsiang in every second. A quote from “The Hymn of Enlightenment to the Way” says that “Even if an iron wheel was swirling on the top of your head, you would never lose the mentality of the complete radiance of meditation and wisdom”, which is exactly the description of the Samadhi of no adherences. In fact, when people have reached this stage, they are virtually immersed into the grand universe and the great Lord, and have returned to the origin of life, where Buddha and sentient beings are equal and they and others are not dual, neither are they and objects. This is exactly the state of “Heaven and Earth simultaneously exist with me, and all beings and I are non-dual.” If you cannot practice to reach this state, you cannot claim to be a true being, and you are actually wasting your time and life.

Conclusively, by means of practice to successfully complete the mission of life, one must try to search and discover the true self which has been lost and buried. After that, one then will be able to attain brightness, delight and bliss, and likely to reward the Four Favors and to relieve the suffering from the sentient beings and give them brightness, liberation and An-Hsiang.

The above saying is what I open my heart to disclose plainly and sincerely. What I said is only a very small portion of what I have done and experienced. I presented it in front of all of you with my most sincere and devoted heart, and wish you to have your true self revealed.

I also wish you to be immersed with An-Hsiang in every second, and reach the state of completion and authentic awareness as soon as possible.