Can One Directly Practice Chan Meditation Without Eradicating the View of Self?

Question: Must one first eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) before engaging in Chan investigation to realize the true mind? Some people seem to have little understanding of eradicating the view of self and want to directly investigate Chan. If their investigation succeeds and they realize the true mind, will they naturally see that everything in the world is impermanent? Because once they know the one true thing, everything else is naturally false.

Answer: A few individuals have a good foundation from past lives, with a certain understanding and realization of emptiness and no-self, and can directly investigate Chan; during the investigation they will first eradicate the view of self, and only then can they see the mind. The vast majority have a weak foundation, with minds heavily attached to existence and self; the obstructions during Chan investigation are too heavy, and they cannot truly see the mind and attain enlightenment—these people probably all need to first eradicate the view of self, and then investigate Chan. If one investigates Chan directly without eradicating the view of self, the best outcome is intellectual understanding (jie-wu); it may look good and smell sweet, but its practical value is not great.

At the time of intellectual understanding, there are two selves existing side by side in parallel, without conflict, which only increases the view of self and afflictions. The "understanding" in intellectual understanding is equivalent to inference, not personal realization, so it will not eradicate the view of self; moreover, one feels the true mind is another self, and this is a great obstruction to practice. Therefore, for those with a heavier view of self, it is better to focus first on eradicating the view of self; only when the view of self is eradicated and the obstructions are gone will it be easy to realize the true mind.

Most people do not even achieve intellectual understanding—intellectual understanding is also not easy. If one truly has intellectual understanding, then as long as one additionally cultivates meditative concentration (samādhi), and within that concentration uses the manas to investigate Chan anew, or verifies what one has understood, when the conditions and season ripen, it will turn into realization. The prerequisite is that precepts, concentration, and wisdom must all be cultivated to perfection, including the thirty-seven factors of the path and the bodhisattva's six pāramitās. When one truly has intellectual understanding, the general direction is already clear, and practice will go faster. The worry is that hardly anyone can truly have intellectual understanding—most merely understand without awakening.

Establishing theoretical knowledge and views, compared with actual diligent practice, is much, much easier. If the knowledge and views are learned from elsewhere, the difference in difficulty between the two is more than one to ten. If the knowledge and views are worked out through one's own practice and exploration, the difference in difficulty is less than one to ten. In practice, one mainly relies on one's own concentration and wisdom; the time of exploration is the time of actual diligent practice—once one has explored out the method, the skill also becomes proficient, and seeing the Path will come quickly.