What the Chan Patriarchs Most Abhor: Students' Mental Conjecturing and Speculation

Many modern Buddhist practitioners like to engage in research, especially literati and scholars of various kinds. In fact, research is the domain of the conscious mind, similar to emotional speculation and intellectual interpretation.

In reality, the cultivation and realization of the Buddha's Dharma is absolutely not a matter of doing research, nor can it rely on emotional speculation, intellectual interpretation, or conjecturing beneath the concepts. The Chan patriarchs of the past also most abhorred such conjecturing. Yet nowadays conjecturing is done openly—brazenly conjecturing and speculating emotionally, without honestly and genuinely doing real practice—while watching Buddhism gradually degenerate. What can be done? The pace of worldly life has quickened, and fast food is all the rage, leaving people's bodies unhealthy. Buddhism has also gone along with the trend, serving up fast food, with the result that people's thinking has become unhealthy, manifesting a kind of pathological state—yet without being aware of it, and instead displaying this pathology as beauty.

Buddhist fast food arises from the restless minds of the masses, and its result is even greater restlessness. There are many who are glib of tongue and do not engage in genuine practice. Therefore Buddhism is not a religion of research; it requires seeking verification and cultivating the path in a down-to-earth manner, one step at a time. Thus it requires letting go of body and mind, requires a thorough and complete awakening from the very marrow of one's heart, requires a total transformation of body and mind from head to toe, from inside out. Only then can one truly transform consciousness into wisdom, and only then can an entirely new self appear—a five-aggregate world like that of the Buddha.

The path of cultivation is long; take it slowly. Sometimes one truly cannot rush. What is important is to lay a solid foundation in the Buddha's Dharma. One must not seek quick success, must not build skyscrapers on a sandy beach. Without a foundation, no matter how tall the building, it will eventually collapse. When we study the Dharma, we should be down-to-earth and must not pursue quickly seeing the true mind and one's nature; otherwise the consequences are serious, detrimental both to Buddhism and to the individual. I hope that when conditions are not ripe, when merit is lacking, everyone will not rush into investigating Chan, will not rush to see the true mind. A shaky foundation is building a castle in the air, which may one day collapse. The drawbacks of rapid enlightenment will gradually appear: progress on the path will be very slow, and arrogance can easily arise—that is the greatest obstruction to the Path—and one may even create unwholesome karma and suffer its retribution in the future.

When conditions are not complete, do not pursue rapid enlightenment. Instead, one should contemplate and practice vipaśyanā on the principle of no-self, and solidly eliminate the self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi). This brings great benefit to oneself, to others, and to the community. People in today's world have especially heavy afflictions, all arising from the notion of "I." Once the self-view is thoroughly eliminated, afflictions become slight, and the likelihood of creating unwholesome karma diminishes. But if one awakens to the true mind without having thoroughly eliminated the self-view, one will still create unwholesome karma because of the "I" without knowing it; one may even create unwholesome karma with a clear conscience, mistaking it for wholesome karma. This shows that the merit and benefit of truly eliminating the self-view is immense—it is the most important link in studying and practicing Buddhism.