Cultivation of Concentration and Chan Meditation for Realization of the Way (Part 1)
Section Two: Misconceptions About Seeing the Mind
1. Settling the Mind Without Right Deliberation Is Not the Proper Path of Practice
Some people who study Buddhism believe that abiding in the present moment is all that is needed, and that the Buddha's dharma has thereby been accomplished. They do not know that this is merely a method of cultivating meditative concentration, and moreover it is close to the methods of non-Buddhist paths; it fundamentally cannot realize the Buddha's dharma and give rise to liberating wisdom. Practicing Buddhism is not just about making the mind quiet and stable; this is not liberation and cannot solve the problem of birth and death. Solving the problem of birth and death requires contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) and deliberation upon the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) themselves while the mind is calm and stable in meditative concentration, in order to understand and recognize the true characteristics of the world of the five aggregates, to recognize the arising-and-ceasing, impermanent, and selfless nature of the world of the five aggregates, and thereby to see through the world of the five aggregates and let go of the self—only then can liberation be attained.
Nowadays there are very many people who practice blindly, without any aim or method, who do not know what genuine practice is, nor what practice is ultimately for. As a result, all kinds of inventions and innovations have emerged. Some people say: practice is simply abiding in the present moment; if one gives rise to no thoughts, one can see the mind and see its nature, and can become a Buddha. Little do they know that this is the practice method of non-Buddhist paths; at most one could become a successful non-Buddhist practitioner. But people today do not at all possess the meditative power and the mind of renunciation that non-Buddhist practitioners of the past had, so they cannot even accomplish non-Buddhist concentration, let alone the great prajñā wisdom of seeing the mind and seeing its nature—they cannot even catch a glimpse of its shadow. Therefore practice must not merely seek peace and stability of mind; one must also give rise to right deliberation, practicing with the goal of giving rise to liberating wisdom.
2. Seeing the Mind Necessarily Means the Deluded Mind Realizes the Tathāgatagarbha
Question: Practitioners of the Chan school say that when both body and mind are empty, or when body and mind drop away, that is seeing the mind and seeing its nature, and at that time he knows that (knowing). If seeing the mind and seeing its nature is the mind consciousness discriminating, how could he see the mind? How could he see the nature?
Answer: First, some people say that at enlightenment both body and mind are empty and body and mind drop away—who said this, what exactly does it mean, has this person attained enlightenment, and how does one judge whether this person is enlightened or not? On what basis—on the dharma's meaning or on reputation? Second, he knows that he has seen the mind and seen its nature—how does he judge that he has already seen the mind and seen its nature, and on what basis? On what grounds do you believe that his judgment about his own seeing of the mind and nature is correct? Third, at the time of truly seeing the mind and seeing its nature, is it the mind consciousness that sees the mind and its nature, or does the manas also simultaneously see the mind and its nature, or can the tathāgatagarbha itself see the mind and see its nature to prove its own existence? Can the tathāgatagarbha see its own nature and function by itself? Can the tathāgatagarbha understand itself? Can it know how it cooperates with the five aggregates and the seven consciousnesses to produce the myriad dharmas?
Fourth, if it is the tathāgatagarbha that knows these things and understands itself, then it would have broken through beginningless ignorance, and the tathāgatagarbha before that would have been ignorant—this would contradict the Heart Sutra's statement of "no ignorance and no ending of ignorance," and would contradict the prajñā sutras. Fifth, if the tathāgatagarbha itself sees the mind and sees its nature and understands itself, that is the tathāgatagarbha's own affair, unrelated to the five aggregates and seven consciousnesses; the five aggregates and seven consciousnesses have not seen the mind and its nature, have not understood, are still ignorant, have not broken ignorance, and the five aggregates are still the body of an ordinary being, not a sage who has seen the mind and its nature—then there has been no seeing of the mind and its nature. Sixth, on what basis is it said that after seeing the mind and its nature the mind consciousness no longer discriminates and has no deluded thoughts? What is the situation and what realm is it to have no discrimination and no deluded thoughts? What is the essential nature of the mind consciousness? Seventh, when body and mind are both empty and body and mind drop away—is this the realm of seeing the mind and its nature, or a spiritual response, or a state of meditative concentration?
If one were to ask, there are many, many more questions here. If everyone studying Buddhism truly wants to achieve results, they should not blindly follow; they must be careful and careful again, pondering over and over and pondering yet again, seeking verification from many sources, studying the sutras extensively, and being down-to-earth and solid. Be willing to devote your body and mind; you must make things difficult for yourself, be hard on yourself, do not too readily comply with your own habits of ignorance, do not cherish yourself too much, and do not assume that everything you think is right and good.
3. When the Mind Consciousness Sees Not a Single Dharma, That Is Not the State of Enlightenment
When sentient beings practice Buddhism, they easily fall into a misconception: they like to solely cultivate meditative concentration, believing that when concentration is cultivated until the mind is pure, that is enlightenment and seeing the original mind. So some people, having cultivated until the mind is occasionally a bit pure and without thoughts, believe they see nothing at all, and they take this empty state of not seeing a single dharma as enlightenment, not knowing what enlightenment actually realizes, not knowing that the content and target of realization is the original mind, the tathāgatagarbha.
In fact, when not seeing a single dharma, it is simply when the mind consciousness happens to be without thoughts. Even then it is not that not a single dharma is seen; rather, the mind consciousness itself sees that it is empty and without thoughts—there is still seeing and a dharma, still knowing and the known. This is the mind consciousness's power of introspection (pratyavekṣā-bala), the mind consciousness's self-validating cognition (svasaṃvedana). If the mind consciousness saw nothing at all, how could it know that it was without thoughts and not seeing a single dharma? Who knows and who sees this? It is the mind consciousness that knows and sees—the mind consciousness is not seeing no dharma at all. This is also not the state of enlightenment, because nothing has been realized. Some people precisely claim that this is enlightenment; this view about enlightenment is a view of annihilatory emptiness/nihilistic emptiness (uccheda-śūnyatā), holding that even the tathāgatagarbha dharma does not exist, that nothing exists, and that inwardly negating the existence of all dharmas with an empty, hollow mind is enlightenment. This view of annihilatory emptiness is a kind of wrong view/false view (mithyā-dṛṣṭi) of the non-Buddhist paths; its result is that sentient beings cannot realize the mind of ultimate reality (dharmatā-citta), the tathāgatagarbha, and cannot open the great wisdom of the ultimate reality of the dharma realm.
The views of sentient beings either fall into the side of existence or fall into the side of emptiness, always swaying between the two extremes of emptiness and existence. The view concerning "existence" is the eternalist view, which holds that the mind consciousness among the five aggregates truly exists, can continue into future lives, is a continuous mind, and takes this mind to be sentient beings' original mind. This then obscures one's own mind, so the original mind is not seen and the ultimate reality of the dharma realm is not realized. Another portion of sentient beings' views fall onto an emptiness of nothing whatsoever; this view of emptiness, like floating clouds, again covers their own mind, and they also cannot see the original mind. Those who are always entangled at the two ends of emptiness and existence and do not walk the middle way, no matter how long they practice, remain bound by birth and death and cannot attain liberation.
That mind which knows not a single dharma during sitting meditation and entering concentration is the mind consciousness that knows there is not a single dharma; the mind consciousness is not the originally existing, unborn and unceasing true suchness mind. If one mistakenly takes the mind that knows not even a single dharma to be the tathāgatagarbha mind of emptiness/voidness (śūnyatā), believing that the mind at this time exactly matches the nature of the tathāgatagarbha mind and is the tathāgatagarbha, then one has mistaken the master of the house. The result is that one cannot break ignorance, cannot end birth and death, and cannot attain liberation.
4. Realizing the True Mind Is the Prerequisite for Accomplishing the Buddha Way
Practice is accomplished jointly by the Buddha's power and sentient beings' own power; and within one's own power, it is only when the true mind's power and the deluded mind's power combine that accomplishment is possible. Therefore one should seek out, amid all sorts of affairs, which is the true mind's power and how it operates; do not take everything as happening naturally, as just being the way it is. At every moment raise doubts and deliberate about all bodily, verbal, and mental actions—this helps to open wisdom and elevate understanding.
After realizing the true mind, prajñā wisdom is developed, and subsequently attained wisdom can gradually manifest; slowly one can give rise to the wisdom of the varieties of paths, and then the omniscience/wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā) of the buddha stage will certainly also be obtained in the future. Therefore realizing the true mind is the prerequisite for accomplishing the Buddha way, and a stage that must be passed through.
No matter in which buddha land of the ten directions one practices, one must pass through this stage. If some dharma gate says that one can directly and quickly become a Buddha without realizing the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha, and can accomplish it in this very life, then be careful about such a dharma gate—it is certainly wrong. We should properly protect ourselves from taking wrong paths and wasteful detours. In every buddha land of the ten directions, no matter how each person practices or what dharma gate they cultivate, they must pass through the gate of the Chan school's seeing the mind and seeing its nature; all practices must converge at this point, and no one can bypass it. Moreover, the content of enlightenment must accord with the essential nature of the true suchness eighth consciousness as taught by the Buddha; it is impossible that what the various schools and gates realize should differ. However, enlightenment is not attained through deliberation, yet it also cannot be separated from the deliberating mind consciousness and the manas; when the mind consciousness and manas have cultivated meditative concentration and wisdom, realization can occur, and the wondrous functions of the true mind can be discovered and observed.
5. After Enlightenment One Must Still Diligently Cultivate Meditative Concentration
After realizing the eighth consciousness, seeing the mind, and attaining enlightenment, the principles of the Greater and Lesser Vehicles must continue to be deeply contemplated and verified through contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā); the Chan public cases (gong'an) must be continuously investigated from shallow to deep, in order to strengthen the wisdom of general characteristics of the eighth consciousness tathāgatagarbha obtained at the time of seeing the mind, to give rise to deeper and subtler wisdom of specific characteristics, to contemplate and bring forth more and subtler operational patterns of the eighth consciousness's functioning, and to know the deeper and subtler functional nature of the eighth consciousness. At the same time one must continue to cultivate meditative concentration (dhyāna): on one hand, to enable better and deeper contemplative practice; on the other hand, to subdue one's own afflictive obstruction (kleśāvaraṇa) and afflictions, and in the future to cultivate the first dhyāna concentration in order to sever afflictions. When meditative concentration has deepened and merit is also sufficient, one should contemplate the illusoriness of the five aggregates and attain the contemplation of illusoriness. Then the first dhyāna arises, and one has the ability to sever afflictions; on the side of the Lesser Vehicle one can attain the third fruit (anāgāmin), and on the side of the Greater Vehicle one can attain the contemplation of mirage-like appearances; then passing the Chan school's final barrier, and later attaining the contemplation of dream-likeness, the three stages of the wise faith of the Greater Vehicle will be completed.
After enlightenment, meditative concentration, merit, wisdom, and the bodhisattva's six perfections must all be cultivated more deeply within the inner gate; the principles of the Greater and Lesser Vehicles must all be preliminarily mastered, the Chan public cases must all be thoroughly mastered, and one should then further study Consciousness-Only, preparing to enter the first bhūmi and become a true child of the Buddha.
6. The Sequence of Practice After Enlightenment
After enlightenment, there are two paths of practice. One is to cultivate merit and meditative concentration, to see the Buddha-nature with one's own eyes, attain the contemplation of illusoriness, experience the feeling that body, mind, and world are illusory and conjured, attenuate all afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, and enter the tenth abode stage; then continue practicing upward, attain the first dhyāna concentration, sever the afflictions of greed and hatred, become an anāgāmin, then deeply and subtly contemplate prajñā, attain the contemplation of mirage-like appearances, and become a bodhisattva of the ten conduct stages; then investigate Chan and pass the three gates of the Chan school, contemplate the various dharmas of the five aggregates, attain the contemplation of dream-likeness, and then have the ability to enter the first bhūmi, thereafter progressing sequentially to the eighth bhūmi and up to the buddha stage. This is one mode and path of practice and realization.
The other path is that one may skip the stage of seeing the Buddha-nature with one's own eyes—it is enough to see the Buddha-nature before the ninth bhūmi. After enlightenment, one diligently practices contemplation and cultivates concentration, attenuates greed, hatred, and delusion, empties the five aggregates, and becomes a person of the second fruit (sakṛdāgāmin); then the first dhyāna arises and one becomes a person of the third fruit (anāgāmin); one deeply and subtly contemplates prajñā, attains the contemplation of mirage-like appearances, then investigates Chan and passes the final barrier, and subsequently deeply and subtly contemplates the five aggregates, attains the contemplation of dream-likeness, and thereafter studies Consciousness-Only and the wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā), entering the first and second bhūmis, up to the eighth and ninth bhūmis, and finally accomplishing the Buddha way.
Attaining the contemplation of illusoriness corresponds to the second fruit of the Lesser Vehicle: knowing that both inside and outside, body and mind are illusory, false appearances, not truly existent, no longer taking any dharma of the world of the five aggregates as real. From then on the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion become extremely slight, almost nonexistent, and profound meditative concentration will arise, even giving rise to the first dhyāna concentration. After seeing the mind, one gradually feels that both inside and outside, body and mind are unreal, like conjurations, and from then on greed, hatred, and delusion all become very slight. Later, meditative concentration will advance and reach the first dhyāna, severing craving and resentment, becoming a person of the third fruit; with both kinds of afflictions cleanly severed, one sequentially passes the three gates of the Chan school, masters the Buddhadharma of the Greater and Lesser Vehicles, and enters the first bhūmi. This still involves many details of realization, which will not be elaborated one by one for now, because we are still very far from the fruit of the first bhūmi.
If one has not seen the mind but directly attains the second fruit, attenuating the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, one still cannot attain the contemplation of illusoriness; seeing the mind is the prerequisite for attaining the contemplation of illusoriness. Without seeing the mind, even if one cultivates to the fourth fruit (arhat), one cannot become a bodhisattva of the seventh abode stage, still less a bodhisattva of the tenth abode stage, because there is no contemplation of prajñā and no arising of prajñā wisdom. However, once the great arhats see the mind, they are not necessarily at the seventh abode stage—perhaps higher—and their practice of the Greater Vehicle will be extremely rapid.
