How to Practice Zen Meditation

In the past, a student asked a Chan master: "How should one apply the mind during Chan meditation?" The master replied: "Investigate Chan by separating from the mind consciousness."

Question: What does it mean to "investigate Chan by separating from the mind consciousness"?

In the past, nearly all Buddhist practitioners possessed meditative concentration. Those with such concentration found it easier to apply effort and knew how to apply it skillfully, thus creating favorable conditions for enlightenment to ripen. Although the masters did not fully comprehend the intrinsic nature of the manas (the seventh consciousness), they understood how to practice Chan investigation. They instructed their disciples on the essential method: not to speculate intellectually, not to interpret through emotional reasoning, but to detach from the discriminating consciousness and minimize intellectual analysis. This approach to Chan investigation was profoundly deep and grounded in solid practice. When the master ascended the platform to give teachings, those below could awaken at any moment. To outsiders, this seemed effortless, yet their diligence was impeccably maintained. Throughout all twenty-four hours of the day, they focused exclusively on Chan investigation without distraction—whether working in the fields, lighting fires and cooking meals, or even while sleeping. If one relies solely on conscious effort, the practice ceases during sleep; but when the manas is engaged in practice, even sleep does not interrupt the work.

Later, some practitioners ceased applying earnest effort. Gathering in small groups, they would analyze koans together. When the Chan master observed this, he would disperse them with a shout or a strike of his staff, forbidding such discussion and study. Reading was prohibited—even Buddhist scriptures were not allowed—so that they might devote their entire being to the practice of Chan investigation.

Subsequently, as the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch became widely circulated, genuine practitioners gradually diminished. Everyone began holding forth eloquently on the Platform Sutra, debating with torrential rhetoric, each convinced of their own realization. Thus, Chan Buddhism declined and withered. People today surpass even those of that era in glib speech and vehement debate—exceeding them without matching their substance. All can talk, parroting words without true accomplishment. Though their mouths proclaim "genuine practice and realization," their feet remain suspended in clouds, ascending without heavenly ladders.