Is Chan Contemplation the Only Method for Seeing One's True Mind and Nature?

Seeing one's true mind and awakening to self-nature is one of the small goals on the path to buddhahood, and also a starting point. The cultivation and realization of the Buddha's path: the first step is the Small Vehicle's elimination of self-view (ahaṃkāra-mamakāra-parityāga), the second step is the Mahāyāna's seeing one's true mind and awakening to self-nature, and the subsequent steps gradually deepen, drawing ever closer to buddhahood. The final destination is attaining buddhahood and realizing anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.

Throughout the entire process of cultivating the path—whether the initial elimination of self-view and seeing one's true mind and awakening to self-nature, the realization of bodhisattvas at the various bhūmis, or the ultimate seeing of the path at the buddha stage—all are attainments of wisdom at different levels. And attainments of wisdom at different levels cannot be separated from contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) and investigation at corresponding levels. Only contemplative practice and investigation can break through ignorance (avidyā), realize the truth, and clearly understand the reality both worldly and transcendent; this is the only way to obtain wisdom. The only difference is that at different stages of cultivation, the levels of the dharma being contemplated and investigated differ, while the methods and means are the same. Of course, this wisdom is not merely the wisdom of the mind consciousness; it is primarily the wisdom of the manas. With the manas's wisdom as the ruler and main thread, the mind consciousness follows closely behind, the two advancing side by side. After three major levels of transforming consciousness into wisdom, ultimately the wisdom of the first five consciousnesses is also sublimated and transformed, and the eighth consciousness is transformed into the great perfect mirror wisdom (ādarśajñāna). When the four wisdoms are all perfectly luminous, sentient beings become the supreme honored one of the three realms and ascend to the Buddha's throne.

Moreover, contemplative practice and investigation at different levels are all accomplished within meditative concentration (samādhi) of corresponding levels. Apart from meditative concentration, there can be no contemplative practice or investigation, let alone the arising of meditative absorption (samādhi) or the seeing of the path. Meditative concentration is the required course and the necessary path to seeing the path—it cannot be avoided. Learning Buddhism and the dharma without meditative concentration has nothing to do with practice; it belongs to the stage of studying the map, not yet possessing the conditions to set out on the road, much less to reach the destination.

Meditative concentration is the cohesiveness of the mind. Only when the mind consciousness is unified and undistracted can mental power coalesce, forming the strength to break through all obstructions and difficulties, allowing the wisdom of the manas and the mind consciousness to well forth, peeling away the dark clouds of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) to behold the sun of true suchness. From then on, the mind-ground becomes luminous and ignorance gradually thins. If the mind consciousness is distracted and grasping at objects, there is no meditative concentration, and no cohesiveness can form for contemplative practice and investigation. Therefore, one must observe the precepts to regulate the conduct of the mind consciousness, so that the mind does not transgress the bounds, does not grasp at the various dharmas of the world, and follows the great way of bodhi. Then samādhi and wisdom will be complete: the true fire of samādhi burns up the firewood of afflictions and ignorance, the true water of samādhi moistens the field of the ignorant mind, the true wind of samādhi scatters the floating clouds of the world, and the true earth of samādhi nurtures and brings forth immeasurable merit, wisdom, and virtue. With this immeasurable merit, wisdom, and virtue, one gradually ascends to the summit—the sacred city of the buddha stage, where the hopes of all converge.

Therefore, precepts, samādhi, and wisdom are the three untainted trainings (trīṇi aśrāvāṇi) of studying the Buddha's path. If the mind is tainted (with defilement), then the three trainings are deficient, and one must still strive diligently in the hope of reaching perfection. From this we can know that seeing one's true mind and awakening to self-nature can only be achieved through the single method of investigating Chan. "Investigating" means contemplative practice and inquiry; "Chan" is the Mahāyāna true suchness and buddha-nature, with precepts, samādhi, and wisdom carried through the entire process of investigating Chan. If in this life one learns to investigate Chan and inquiry, and cultivates the skill of contemplative practice, then in future lives one may possibly achieve understanding without a teacher—one will naturally observe the precepts, know how to cultivate samādhi, and naturally be able to apply contemplative practice and investigation, so that seeing the path can be expected and awaited. From the cultivation of the twenty-five sages' perfect penetration methods in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, and from the fifty-three visits of the youth Sudhana in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, we can see that from the initial elimination of self-view to the wisdom attainments of a bodhisattva of equivalent enlightenment, all are manifestations of the three untainted trainings of precepts, samādhi, and wisdom; all employ the skill of contemplative practice and investigation; and all involve the arising of different states of meditative absorption (samādhi). So let us follow the direction in which the sages cultivated, tread in the footsteps of the sages, and bravely and resolutely hasten toward the sacred city!