[14]
In the earlier part of the the Sung Dynasty (960-1279), Zen had
implicitly stressed koan study, which may have made it appear
that only monks could fully study Zen.[15]
Hua-t’ou practice then allowed that lay people too could
also fully study Zen and achieve enlightenment in this life
time.
Interestingly, Ta-Hui instructed most of his lay students, the
literati, through mail exchanges. The literati were spread
across China. They therefore only rarely, if at all, had a
chance to see Ta-Hui personally. These letter exchanges have
been collected into book form and are an important part of
monastic training for Korean monks up to the present day.[16]
c) Hua-T’ou as a Balance to Rational Thinking
The literati were in their important positions because
they had passed the highly competitive civil service exams, the
subjects of which were what Ta-Hui referred to as the “nine
classics and the seventeen histories.” The literati were highly
educated thinkers whose formal education started at age five or
six and continued until about thirty. Their informal education
continued thereafter deepening their understanding, truly a
life’s work.
What struck Ta-Hui most was that the education of the literati
had fostered a rational approach to knowledge and understanding.
This emphasis on the intelligent mind and the vast amount of
learning required to pass the state exams deflected the literati
from achieving self-knowledge or developing virtuous or wise
conduct, leading them instead to focus on mastery of detail and
rational thought.[17]
Knowledge for them was something gained from the outside.
According to Ta-Hui, Zen wisdom can be gained in an instant if
the rational mind is cut-off. Focusing on the hua-t’ou can bring
the practitioner to a point where the rationalizing and
conceptualizing mind is stopped, enabling a person to realize
Zen awakening.
The Relevance of Hua-T’ou Practice Today
There are obvious parallels between the literati that interested
Ta-Hui and western people today who are interested in Zen. For
one, many if not most Zen practitioners today are lay people who
hold jobs with some level of responsibility. As the literati had
to function in their daily lives as laymen, so do many Zen
practitioners today. In addition, most practitioners and people
interested in Zen today are well educated and almost all are
raised in an environment that values rational thinking, one
characteristic of western traditions. People today are often
afraid to give up rational thought just as Ta-Hui claimed was
the case with the literati.
Another aspect worth mentioning is the existence of a growing
number of people interested in spiritual practice who are not
part of a sectarian practice center, specifically a Zen center.
These people are spread across the country, not part of a Zen
community much as the literati of the Sung Dynasty were spread
across China. Whether because of personal preference or location
of their home or because of their past experiences around
practice centers, these people today are practicing alone or
through distant communication of one sort or another, the
computer and phones being the most popular means today.
My own opinion is that the
hua-t’ou method of meditation
is well suited to many Zen practitioners today. However, as
mentioned above, there are two strands of Zen practice. One
strand requires the belief in the need for an instant of
awakening, an actual moment in time in order to fully realize
what our timeless original Nature truly is. For those
practitioners today who feel this way, I think the hua-t`ou is
well suited. For those people who believe in
pen chueh,
meaning that we are perfectly enlightened from the beginning,
looking for a moment of enlightenment in this life just adds
trouble in the form of greed for an experience. For these people
shikantaza (just sitting) is better suited, believing
that zazen expresses the full endowment of realization.[18]
Now it is also true that people practicing
shikantaza can
and do experience a moment of awakening, it is only that it is
not a point of focus from the beginning.
I also think it is suited to other people who are in mental pain
or facing an existential problem and see meditation as a way to
ease their suffering. When their pain starts to ease from the
positive feedback of meditation, their thoughts may turn to
wanting to know their true self. Though these people started
from wanting to ease suffering, through the fruits of meditation
their minds turn to wanting to know their true Nature through
experiencing a moment of awakening.
Once familiar with the method, we do not require the many
private interviews (sanzen or
dokusan) with a
teacher to consider the hundreds of
koans and their
accompanying commentaries, at least partly in poetic form, as is
the case when going through a Japanese style
koan
curriculum.
One of the important reasons for practicing the
hua-t’ou
today is that, as lay people, it allows us to practice a good
part of our days, rather than just when on the cushion. Its
practice really demands that we confront important issues of
life, often throughout the day. The practice calls for us to
work on the hua-t’ou throughout the day so that the doubt
becomes part of our lives, a fertile doubt, at times, seemingly
working below our conscious level.
Yet I want to be very clear that I do not mean to say that
hua-t’ou practice is better than
silent illumination
favored by some Chinese affiliated Zen practitioners or
shikantaza[19]
favored by the Soto sect of Zen in Japan and now in the West or
going through a koan curriculum as is the case in Rinzai or
Sanbokyodan Zen. It is wonderful that there are different
methods of practice that are suited to individuals with
different mentalities, personalities, and beliefs.
Examples of Hua-t’ou
Let us look at a few examples of well-known
hua-t’ou:
1. “What is it?”
This hua-t’ou is popular with Korean teachers. It
supposedly comes from an interaction between the Sixth Patriarch
of Zen, Hui-Neng (638–713) and a disciple.
2. “Who is repeating the Buddha’s name?”
This hua-t’ou is popular with Chinese people who often
chant Amitabha Buddha’s name. Chanting Amitabha Buddha’s name is
a Pureland practice based on devotion and faith in the Buddha
Amitabha leading to a better rebirth. The
huo-t’ou
practice of examining “Who is repeating the Buddha’s name?”
changes this into a Zen practice looking for awakening in this
life-time.
3. “Who is dragging this corpse around?”
This huo-t’ou was popularized in modern times by Hsu-Yun.
According to his autobiography, it was given to him by Master
Yang-jing of the Tian-tai sect. Hsu-Yun gave it to many others
as their first practice.[20]
4. “Who am I?”
The famous 20th century Indian teacher Ramana Maharshi also used
this phrase as a focus in meditation with his students, but he
used it in a different manner.
5. “What was my original face before my father and mother were
born?”
This hua-tou or critical phrase is taken from the words
of the Sixth Patriarch, Hui-Neng in the case known as “Not
thinking of good or of evil.” It is also the 23rd case in the
well known koan collection, the Mumonkan.
6. “What is Mu?”
Mu is Japanese and Wu is the Chinese for ‘no’ or ‘has not’ or
‘nothing’ or ‘empty.’ This is taken from perhaps the most famous
koan case, known as Joshu’s Mu. It goes as follows, “A monk
asked Joshu, ‘Does a dog have Buddha-nature or not?’ Joshu
replied, ’Mu.” Joshu is the Japanese name of Chao-Chou (778 –
897) who was a famous Chinese master. This case is often given
as the first koan for people going through a Japanese
style koan curriculum. This Mu or Wu is not the expected
answer as according to Zen teaching all sentient beings have
Buddha-nature as the monk asking the question certainly would
have known. This is the first case in the Mumonkan.
In the example just given above of Joshu and “Does a dog have
Buddha-nature or not?” the whole story is a koan, while the
hua-t’ou would be “no” or commonly practiced as “Mu” or
“Wu.” Similarly, in example five above, the whole case of which
“not thinking of good or evil, what was my original face before
my father and mother were born” is only a part, the whole case
is the koan, while when practicing with this hua-t’ou,
“What?” is the focus. When practicing with a
hua-t’ou one
focuses all their energy on the
hua-t’ou, which is to
say, the “Who?” or “What?”, thereby bringing the discriminating
tendencies of the mind to a halt.
Perhaps the first aspect to notice is that all
hua-t’ou
are questions that appear open ended. They seem more to tease or
provoke our minds to look deeply into the nature of being and
our very own being. Another aspect to notice is that
we
are the subject of the practice,
this body,
this
mind, not some far away being. Entering into hua-t’ou
practice is inviting ourselves to be taunted or perhaps even
tormented with a basic question of being and life. We are
forcing ourselves into a situation where it is necessary to
confront our very being. This is not exclusively a “feel-good”
process, it can be very frustrating, frightening at times,
disappointing, and boring at times. But it can also be fertile
and lead to seeing our true Nature and to directly entering the
world of Zen.
One Way to Practice Hua-t’ou Meditation in Zen
The short answer to how one actually does
hua-t’ou
meditation is that one concentrates on the
hua-t’ou by
silently repeating it with a questioning, unknowing,
investigating, enquiring and introspecting mind, a mind of
wonder. We focus at first on the whole
hua-t’ou but once
the sense of it is established, we concentrate on “Who” or
“What” trying to bring the
hua-t’ou to life, to generate
doubt. That is the barest description of the method, or at least
one way of doing the practice. Please keep in mind there are a
number of different methods utilized for doing this practice
depending on the teacher’s background and personal experience.[21]
Also, we should not think that working on a
huo-t’ou is
limited to seated meditation. Just as Ta-Hui propagated the
method with lay people in mind, specifically lay people holding
responsible jobs, so can we consider the method applicable for
any working person today. Lay people were meant to practice the
method throughout their daily life while engaged in the world.
However, I think we have to back up a bit and place the practice
in a larger context to actually understand how to do it in a way
that can be meaningful and effective. Actually to do the
practice requires us to be familiar with what is called the
Three Greats. That is: Great Determination, Great Faith, and
Great Doubt.[22]
Great Determination:
we must be determined to see or awaken to one’s true nature, who
we really are. We must feel it is important and should feel a
pressing and constant need to solve this problem. Much of
Mahayana Buddhism, of which Zen is one branch, believes that
each person has “Buddha-nature,” that is, that each person is
originally enlightened, albeit only a few have already realized
it. That we have not awakened to this is our own doing. So this
could or should make us angry or unsettled with ourselves for
not realizing what our birthright is. We haven’t realized this
because we have been distracted by all manner of things in the
world: pleasures, career, money, travel, family, sex, fame, etc.
This dissatisfaction with our own state of not knowing can be a
force or engine driving our determination and doubt about who we
are. To heighten the desire for enlightenment, Ta-Hui and other
Zen teachers over the ages have reminded their students of their
approaching death.
We must be willing to spend time and energy in answering or
solving this problem of who we really are, what is our true
nature. It must matter to us. If we think “oh well it would be
nice to awaken but if I don’t, well that is OK too” then most
likely with this attitude we will be lacking in motivation to
make progress with the method. Or if we sit back and wait
thinking, “Maybe one day I will be awakened” this too is not the
best attitude for hua-t’ou practice. As our practice
develops, we must reach a point where we must be determined to
realize our true nature in a moment of awakening! Now it is also
true that this determination for awakening often grows as one
practices with diligence. As the practice deepens and we taste
some fruit of practice, our passion for knowing- for awakening -
grows. Yet it is still a step or two or three ahead of us, and
we still don’t know, therefore determination often becomes more
intense. As determination grows and the practice deepens, at
times bodily unease, irritation, frustration and disappointment
with ourselves, or even anger enters the process. This is not a
time to withdraw. This is just the time to forge ahead with
renewed resolve.
It is important for the practitioner not to be afraid of these
states or to stop or pull back. It can be helpful to know that
other practitioners have also faced these problems and continued
to forge ahead. In fact, the practitioner at some point must
become ferocious in his determination and cut off all
distracting thoughts and keep digging into the
hua-t’ou.
There is a strange sensation that can appear that makes us feel
like we are in a trap; we cannot stop and back out yet going
ahead seems difficult and blocked. In spite of all manner of
difficulties, one must maintain or increase one’s determination
to get to the bottom of the affair of who one really is, to see
one’s true nature.
However, as determined as we may be, once into the practice of
examining the hua-t’ou in order to realize our true nature, we
have to forget this idea and just wholeheartedly examine the
hua-t’ou. If we allow thoughts about awakening to arise, or
wondering how close or far we are from awakening, it can be
guaranteed that awakening will never happen.
Ta-Hui placed great emphasis on what can appear as two
contradictory mental attitudes in order for the practice to be
successful. One was definite, absolute faith, and the other was
doubt.[23]
Let us look a little closer at each of these two aspects which,
on the surface, may seem contradictory.
Great Faith:
we must believe that the practice can be effective. That is,
this is a practice that many people have done in the past and
that many people do in the present; that it has worked well for
them, and, importantly, that it can work well for us. We must
believe this is a valid and good practice and clearly have great
faith in this particular method.[24]
In this manner, we must also believe in ourselves, have
confidence that we can actually do this practice just as others
have done in the past and are doing in the present. We must also
have faith in ourselves and have a strong sense of being or
identity. If not, we will, as Lin-Chi said, “do nothing but seek
outside.”[25]
If someone thinks that working with a
hua- t’ou was a
terrific practice for great practitioners long ago or maybe some
people today but thinks “I don’t know about me,” and “I am not
as good a practitioner as so and so” and on like that, then this
person will most likely have trouble here and not get very far
with the method. We need to develop confidence in ourselves, if
we want to succeed with this method.
Importantly, we should believe in our own Buddha-nature and that
awakening is a birthright. We should believe that from the
beginning, we are a Buddha, as is everyone else,[26]
only we have not realized this yet. Every person essentially has
Buddha-nature and has the potential to awaken to it. By applying
ourselves to the practice with energy, faith in our own
Buddha-mind will grow. We must develop and cultivate having
confidence in our original Self-nature, having confidence in
that which is not yet known with certainty. As we practice the
hua-t’ou and get a taste for our thoughts slowing down
and the hua-t’ou becoming alive, the belief in and
determination for awakening to our Buddha-nature will become
stronger. It is not blind faith! Ta-Hui wrote to one of his lay
students, ”Right faith and right determination are the
foundations of Buddhahood.”[27]
Great Doubt:
cultivating doubt is the main and key component of the practice.
Lin-Chi and others placed emphasis on faith, but it was Ta-Hui’s
stroke of creative genius to placed doubt at the core of
hua-t’ou practice. Doubt is the beginning and end of
hua-t’ou practice. Hua-t’ou meditation is entirely
based on generating doubt. We need to have great faith in having
Buddha-nature, that there is nothing to gain, in the sense that
we are fundamentally complete from the beginning. This is
necessary so that we are not looking outside for something to
gain. This belief is also instrumental in generating doubt,
because we do not know this with absolute certainty. Without
generating doubt, we are said to be meditating on “dead words”
as opposed to meditating on “live words” as when the “doubt
sensation” truly arises. As the doubt rises it has the feeling
of literally coming alive, it takes on an energy and life of its
own, it appears spontaneously while distracting thoughts lose
their power and eventually completely disappear. As the doubt
sensation grows and becomes more powerful it fills our total
being until there is nothing in the world but Great Doubt
accompanied by great energy. It becomes like a speeding
locomotive racing down the tracks. If we can stay with this
state of “only doubt,” in time the doubt may break open and we
will realize the state of mind Zen is pointing at.
Yet Ta-Hui was not blind to the traditional Buddhist
understanding of doubt as a hindrance to enlightenment. The
greatest hindrance is doubt about the Way, about the Buddhist
path itself. But Ta-Hui took the idea of doubt further. He
believed that all doubts are in fact one doubt, and that a
hua-t’ou is an instrument that raises doubt in our minds. He
believed that if we focus all our attention on that one doubt,
the hua-t’ou and destroy it, then all of our doubts would
be destroyed in that singular moment.[28]
There is a saying about hua-t’ou meditation that condenses Ta-Hui’s
thoughts: “small doubt, small awakening, Great Doubt great
awakening, no doubt, no awakening.”[29]
Specific Advice on Working With a
Hua-T’ou
Please keep in mind this is only
one method that is
suited to some people. I in no way mean to say that this
is a method for everyone or that it is the best method. There
are other methods that are better suited to other people.
Everyone has to find a way to practice that is suited to his or
her disposition and mentality.
The hua-t’ou method of practice however, begins and ends
with raising doubt. I would also like to underline here that
there are many different ways of working on a
hua-t’ou; I
am giving only one way. When I say “the
hua-t’ou method”
I mean one way of working with a
hua-tou, not the
only way. However, common to every way on working with a
hua-to’ou I have ever heard mentioned, as well as from my
own personal experience, raising doubt and then cultivating
small doubt into Great Doubt is the key to experiencing
awakening. Though below, I mention a number of different mental
states that can arise, each person’s experience will be
different. One should not compare and measure one’s experience
of the practice to others, but rather, focus all one’s energy on
the hua-t’ou, giving one’s self over to the method
completely. Do not be concerned with someone else’s food. I only
mention some mental states so that people should know these
states may arise and that there is no reason to panic or think
something especially strange or unique is happening.
To be absolutely clear, in this method we concentrate on,
examine, question, and look into our
hua-t’ou with the
intention of cultivating doubt. But it is important “not to turn
to externals and give rise to other doubts. Doubt can destroy
doubts, but only if all of our doubting energy is totally
focused on this one doubt and we can raise the doubt sensation.
That is the function of the
hua-t’ou.”[30]
An important aspect of any meditation practice is breathing. In
fact, there are many forms of meditation that focus, in one way
or another, primarily on the breath. With
hua-t’ou
practice, though breath is not the primary focus, we still need
to breathe. I recommend NOT to synchronize your breath with
questioning or asking the
hua-t’ou. This can lead to
breathing problems and to straining and tightening in the body
and often in the face. Some people will even tighten their
facial muscles and grind their teeth. This should definitely be
avoided. If you become aware of tight muscles, especially facial
muscles and teeth grinding, then stop examining the
hua-t’ou.
Instead, pay attention to relaxing the tight muscles. When the
muscles are relaxed continue to examine the hua-t’ou.
Keep a relaxed though unknowing and questioning attitude.
Approach the hua-t’ou as friend or as someone we want to know,
who as yet we do not understand. There is no need to look at the
hua-t’ou as an enemy we are attacking and who we will
destroy. Most likely with that attitude we will exhaust
ourselves and cause all manner of problems for ourselves. There
is no need to force the process, as with steady and continual
uninterrupted questioning, eventually the doubt will arise and
generate its own energy and power.
So, gently ask or enquire into the
hua-t’ou constantly.
Do not allow wandering thoughts to arise in the spaces between
asking the hua-t’ou, while trying to maintain the sense
of doubt or unknowing. Keep asking in a smooth and
uninterrupted manner. We do not need to speed up the asking of
the hua-t’ou in order to reduce the space between our
questioning. That method too easily leads to treating the
hua-t’ou like a mantra. The important point is not to have
thoughts come into the spaces between enquiring into the
hua-t’ou. The size of the space between asking the
hua-t’ou is not important as long as you maintain the sense
of the hua-t’ou and thoughts do not enter.[31]
With the hua-t’ou method, if we can stay focused on
examining or looking into or investigating the hua-t’ou,
thoughts will begin to subside and lose their power to drag us
along into their drama, so to speak. All our thoughts have a
sense of “me” as a basis –
me thinking of the past or the
future or some slight or some anticipated joy and so on. As in
many forms of meditation, a focus on one point, here the
hua-t’ou, can quiet the mind. We should focus on the “Who?”
or “What?” with a questioning or unknowing mind and let the
other thoughts drop away. Definitely do not follow the thoughts
and get into the thought process and create a chain of thoughts
and stories. If you do get caught in a chain of thoughts, when
you realize this, just gently drop them and come back to the
hua-t’ou with a gentle and questioning mind and a relaxed
body.
States of Mind That May Arise During
Hua-T’ou Practice
For people early on in hua-t’ou meditation, answers will
present themselves but these should all be rejected as any kind
of final result, no matter how wise or compassionate they may
seem. Acknowledge them as seeds of truth that will continue to
germinate as you continue the practice. This often happens in
the beginning because it seems natural or is easy to focus on
the meaning or to want to know the meaning, that is, our
intellect is the first tool we tackle the problem with. This
reaction eventually stops. This is a desired state though not
always so pleasant. When the answers stop appearing, the
hua-t’ou may appear tasteless, flat and boring yet the Doubt has
still not become alive. It is called “tasteless” because there
is nothing for the discriminating mind to attach to.[32]
The focus should then become strictly on the word: the “Who?” or
the “What?” The student however, must continue on despite the
hua-t’ou appearing tasteless. Examining the
hua-t’ou
for meaning is sometimes referred to as the ”dead word,” as it
is composed of conceptual understanding. When the hua-t’ou is
being examined just as a word itself, it is referred to as the
live word.“ The “live word“ is a weapon that can destroy the
defects of conceptualization. Investigation of the word alone
allows no intellectual understanding, so is more difficult.
This may be a good place to mention that as the mind quiets and
wandering thoughts become fewer and those thoughts have less
power to gain our attention, we are also losing the sense of the
world and our place in that world that we create in our minds.
That is, we construct the world with our thoughts and make our
place in the world this way. I can think that I will meet my
friend next week and run an errand later tonight and go to work
in the morning and talk to my wife and so on. This is pretty
normal and this is who we think we are. It is satisfying as it
lets us know in a way who and what we are in the world. It is
not however completely satisfying as we are still uncertain of
our essential nature and often leaves us with a nagging feeling
of uncertainty and doubt of who we really are. It is precisely
this nagging undercurrent of doubt that is to be cultivated in
the hua-t’ou method. Many people learn to cover over
pretty well this nagging undercurrent of doubt by many means,
even with meditation, but that is to be absolutely avoided.
Again, it is this feeling of uncertainty, of not knowing with
certainty who we really are that must be cultivated in the
hua-t’ou method. It is necessary to make this “Who?” or
“What?” into a living word, so that a small, often only an
occasional nagging doubt becomes a living Great Doubt to destroy
all our doubts.
As the mind quiets and wandering thoughts cease or lose their
power to attract, this can be scary as one feels lost, even
losing a sense of being a person. Depending on how strong a
sense of self we have and how much and how quickly the
hua-t’ou has become alive and thoughts have dropped away
will determine how we react to this state. This happens at
different places in the process with different people. With some
people it happens very quickly, before the doubt has any real
power. It seems these people become too rattled or unsettled,
becoming psychologically troubled. The
hua-tou may not be
the best practice for these people. With others, it happens only
well along in the process, but it is something that most, if not
all, people will have to encounter. We enter a situation where
the wandering thoughts have lost their power or have slowed
almost completely, or have ceased. The
hua-t’ou becomes
alive and is going by itself, while the Doubt is rising quite
spontaneously and quickly, but now we no longer have the mental
markers mentioned above telling us of our place in the world.
All the planning for tomorrow or thoughts about what we did last
week, that is, our ordinary thinking processes that also gives
us our mentally constructed sense of who we are, are gone. Our
ordinary ideas of who and what we are no longer clearly present
or they are there only in a very faint form. The mind of
rational thought and of distinctions is no longer functioning.
At the same time, the Doubt is alive and going by itself, often
with much force. This can be very frightening indeed - the
feeling being that we will just go ZAPP!, drop into a black hole
and be no more, never to return. A great fear of falling into
emptiness can arise with the feeling that we will just
disappear. It is common I think for most people to stop the
process at this point because they are scared. There are many
ways to do this: just raising a thought of any kind or
entertaining the idea that we are going to take a short break
and will continue shortly, or laughing, or thinking some very
compassionate or other elevated thought, or some thought of
gratefulness towards someone or situation, or crying for
whatever reason and so on. Often these thoughts will be or sound
elevated or spiritual, but in the end their purpose is to stop
the fear. Unfortunately it always works! That is, it brings back
a sense of the self. However, it is rare that we will
immediately be able to return to the concentrated state we were
in when the fear got the best of us. The power and energy gained
through continual and lively practice will be lost at this time.
However, going through this process a number of times, maybe
many times, can make us more determined not to stop next time,
more determined to get past the fright when it arises again,
more frustrated or angry with ourselves for stopping short of
realizing who we really are. We mustn’t give up or stop because
of fear getting the best of us. To maintain the practice and to
actually increase our determination in spite of stopping because
of fear, I think is one of the reasons why it is so important to
cultivate great faith. Great faith being belief in our original
Buddha-nature, belief in the efficacy of the
hua-t’ou
method and belief in and confidence that we too can awaken to
our nature.
On the other hand, it should be pointed out that we can be
satisfied too easily. After gaining some power and sense of well
being, we can become satisfied with ourself. We lose the drive,
the vigor or need to really see who we are. Perhaps we lose the
determination necessary to confront and once again go through
the fear of falling into emptiness. It is similar to being
satisfied with a car running on three cylinders when it really
has six cylinders.
Another possibility is as the mind quiets and thoughts lose
their power to attract and pretty much stop, then one can enter
very pleasurable states, states of calm and a sense of purity,
or slip into a state of stillness, peace with an accompanying
sense of control. Though often we hear that in Buddhist
meditation peaceful, still, and pleasurable states are desired,
in the context of hua-t’ou practice we should not let
ourselves be side-tracked by these satisfying states where the
hua-t’ou is lost; be aware that these pleasures can be
extremely enchanting and enjoyable. These pleasurable states and
silent and peaceful states can be very captivating and in fact,
be very difficult to leave once entered. Though these states
show that the mind has settled and is stable, we must not forget
that the hua-t’ou method is based on raising doubt.
Resting in inviting or pure feeling states are not a condition
of doubt, or useful for raising doubt. These states should be
recognized as they arise, but not lingered in, because they are
very seductive, but they do not allow for raising the doubt.
Hence, it is best for these states to be avoided for one using
the hua-t’ou method. However pleasurable and stable these
conditions are, from the point of view of
hua-t’ou
practice, they are a waste of time.
In addition, since many practitioners are laypeople living
active lives, there may be a desire to escape the daily
pressures of worldly life and retreat into silence and
stillness, really withdrawal from the world. But stillness that
is the opposite of motion, quietness understood as the opposite
of disturbance, is merely an illusion of quietness, it is not a
truly peaceful mind. A practice seeking quietness is actually a
form of attachment to the present moment and state of mind. This
is sometimes referred to as
entering the ghost cave. Ta-Hui,
in a letter to a student, mentions that the problem with quiet
sitting is not the practice itself, but that the stillness of
mind may be taken for the ultimate Principle itself.[33]
Ta-Hui saw a retreat into silence and stillness as a particular
problem for people busy and under pressure in the world. He
feared that when they “obtain a state of having no trouble in
their breasts, they grasp onto this state and think it is the
highest final peace and joy…”[34]
In fact, I knew a man who had a demanding technical job in the
computer field. He also had the ability to go into silent and
still states for hours at a time. In a way that is similar to
the situation that Ta-Hui warned about, this fellow wrongly
insisted this was Zen enlightenment.
Another point worth mentioning here is that when doing
hua-t’ou practice from moment to moment we do not know what
will be next. I think it is important to be comfortable with
that thought. When meditating, if things are not going well, or
if we feel tired or agitated or whatever, we should not think
this is a waste of time, maybe I’ll stop now and try again later
or tomorrow. Just come back to the method, whatever the method.
In a flash, that state can change. It is impossible to know what
the next moment will be! We can begin being tired or foggy or
agitated or feeling sick or ordinary and a moment later the mind
we will be focused and clear and vice versa. In accepting that
we do not know what the next moment will bring, we will feel
less pressure to judge our meditation, we will get used to
uncertainty which is an aspect of life, we will continue to stay
with the hua-t’ou though there is no clear roadmap, and will to
a degree short- circuit the logical problem solving mind.
Though we look at the “Who?” or “What?” with a questioning mind,
we should also want to know - be determined to resolve the doubt
raised by the hua-t’ou. Ta-Hui in fact reminded his students of
their impending death and their not knowing who they are in
order to make them feel the need to break through their
hua-t’ou. It can, however, not be figured out by the
rational mind – unlike knowing what X is in the equation XY + Y
=124 if Y=6. As mentioned above, early in the process, seemingly
rational answers will often appear, however, they must be
rejected. Nevertheless, we must have faith that the
hua-t’ou
is a question that can be resolved and that it is important to
solve it. We should think that it is the hua-t’ou that will
answer us, not us answering it.[35]
There is really no secret trick to the practice. We just keep
probing deeper and deeper, giving up “discussion and thought,”
asking and asking and we will reach a place that Ta-Hui
describes as a place “with no place to put one’s foot or hand.”
He says, people “won’t believe that where there is no place to
put one’s hands and feet is really a good situation.”[36]
We must keep probing , and should not be satisfied until the
doubt grows into Great Doubt and that doubt consumes all of us,
until there is nothing but Doubt. The faintest or subtlest
clinging to a self must be dropped. Everything aside from Doubt
must be dropped completely, totally abandoned. Ta-Hui says, ”all
at once, annihilate every splendid thing.”[37]
If one can stay with this great Doubt, this all consuming Doubt,
in time, in an instant it may finally break apart and collapse
and open to the world of Zen.
Most importantly, we must put away any thought which waits for
or anticipates awakening or a breakthrough to occur. All we need
to do is keep coming back to the
hua-t’ou. After all, any
such thought that anticipates awakening is based on a thought of
the self. If we hold onto a thought that waits for an awakening,
that awakening will never come! We need to put down all
thoughts, all logical discriminations, all thoughts of good and
evil, love and hate, liking life and fearing death, all thoughts
of “I” no matter how subtle that thought may be, of
understanding, of views, and of knowledge, all pleasure in
stillness or clinging to purity or turning away from
disturbance. Absolutely everything must be put away until only
doubt remains.
As was stated earlier, hua-t’ou practice is not only
about seated meditation. We should keep or examine the doubt as
much as is possible. But I would like to add a strong caveat,
that is, as most people live in cities with cars and traffic and
other elements that call for alertness, we also have to be
sensible and responsible when practicing. This caveat cannot be
stated too strongly. We should NOT investigate our
hua-t’ou
when driving a car or any vehicle, when walking in a busy
traffic situation or when riding a bicycle or using a dangerous
machine or anything similar to that. I know someone who did not
take this caveat seriously and rode her bicycle into the side of
a car while looking into her
hua-t’ou. Luckily she did
not get hurt too badly, but badly enough. In fact, this woman
was lucky she did not get killed. Please, if we decide to do
this practice, do it wisely.
Yes, as our environment allows it, we should keep investigating
the hua-t’ou as constantly as our situation permits. I
have found there is a certain power to the investigation when
done during eating or going to the bathroom. I have also found
it particularly fruitful is to keep investigating the
hua-t’ou while lying in bed going to sleep - when having
done this, it is not uncommon to wake in the morning with the
hua-t’ou running in my mind. At times this has made me feel
uneasy, to wake from sleep in a state of doubt with the hua-t’ou
running on its own.
Personal Experience Practicing the
Hua-T’ou
Another state of mind that may arise is anger. In my own case I
can think of times of anger arising. One example was on a group
retreat - probably the fifth night of a seven day retreat. At
this place the teacher, Shifu Sheng Yen gave a talk each night
for about 45 minutes. On this particular night, he mentioned the
word “ego” and then he kept on talking. About fifteen or so
minutes later he ended his talk and we began to meditate for the
night period. As soon as I started to sit, the word “ego” popped
into my mind and I thought something like, “What a crock of shit
that word is. It doesn’t mean anything!” I was literally furious
at the word or idea and kept repeating it and silently
screaming, ”it is bullshit, it is bullshit.” Somehow, I then
switched to the hua-t’ou and all the energy and anger
moved over to the hua-t’ou. I was totally concentrated
and energized then on the
hua-t’ou, the anger and energy
focused in the doubt. Immediately there was nothing but doubt,
everything else fell away but this driving, forceful Doubt. At
some point it just broke open. I don’t know how long I stayed in
that state. At some point the thought appeared, “I have to leave
this now.” Just then the bell rang to end the last meditation
period of the night.
This state continued after the bell rang although I recognized
people and the meditation hall itself. It was just that
everything felt easy and appeared clear and also a bit funny or
amusing. We then had a short closing service which was done at
the end of each night. I went to Shifu and told him I wanted to
see him in private. We went into a separate room and he asked me
what happened, I told him, upon which he asked me a few
questions which I don’t remember now except that they were easy
to answer. They were easy to answer because it was clear, there
was no figuring, just answering.[38]
He confirmed my experience. This is called “seeing the nature”
in Shifu Sheng Yen’s tradition.
On another occasion, I was doing a seven day retreat alone in my
apartment. During the afternoon sitting of the fifth or sixth
day things seemed to be quite stable. About an hour into the
afternoon somewhat quickly a driving anger arose into the
hua-t’ou. I was angry, really furious at not knowing, at the
doubt about the hua-t’ou. It got progressively stronger
and energetic and driving. Everything but doubt was completely
gone – there was only raging doubt. I don’t know how long that
lasted but sometime late in the day it just exploded open.
What was this experience of the
hua-t’ou breaking open?
The experience was of emptiness, emptiness of what or who I
considered myself to be and emptiness of others and things. At
some point it seemed very funny to have taken myself as all that
I thought I was. The same view applied for others. It seemed
completely ridiculous or comically foolish that I had done so.
It was exactly as the Heart Sutra states, “form is emptiness and
emptiness is form.” It was a stark realization that the Heart
Sutra was really describing things just as they are. It was also
clear that there was nothing to attain, so what had been the big
struggle? This also seemed amusing. It seemed like an ever
abiding present - there was no time.
The first state of anger I described above happened many years
ago so I would not like to go into too much detail. In the Zen
tradition these states are not described in detail and
definitely not clung to. I’ve had experiences before this that
are essentially completely forgotten. Clinging to the experience
and remembering it is a form of living in the past instead of
moving with life. We can also fall into trying to repeat the
experience again, recreate it, but that also is trying to relive
the past. Some of the experience remains though in most cases,
in time it is not what it originally was. What seemed to remain
the most in this case was a connection to the world - a sense of
intimacy or being in the world. However, in some sense it became
a memory. This was a minor experience on the Zen path, though it
is important to have direct experiences. Besides having a direct
experience of what Zen is about, these experiences are important
because they strengthen our faith in the teaching (the Dharma)
and faith in the practice. After having direct experiences, Zen
is no longer blind faith or based on something that seems
correct or reasonable. Nor is it the philosophy or the teachings
and catchy stories. Rather, Zen is now digested. It is in our
bones and Zen has taken root. We know that what the Zen
tradition is talking about and pointing at is real. This is
faith itself as the Dharma manifests in us, the awareness of
Mind itself.
After a Zen awakening, the
hua-t’ou seems to lose all its
power, at least for a time. That is a common experience. It was
impossible to raise any sense of doubt, so when I sat I did
shikantaza (just sitting). I would try the
hua-t’ou
periodically but I think it was a week or two before any sense
of the doubt sensation arose. I am pretty sure that after two
weeks I was working on the same
hua-t’ou again. I believe
this is common in Chinese and Korean Zen, that is, to stay with
the same hua-t’ou after having a Zen experience.[39]
The hope is that one will have a deeper experience at a later
date. From this perspective one hua-t’ou is as good as another.
This is different from Japanese Rinzai Zen and the new
Sanbokyodan Zen sect popular in the West where students go
through a koan course or curriculum composed of maybe 200 or 300
or more koans as well as other material. However, going through
a koan course does not mean someone actually has an awakening
while working on each koan. There is a certain being moved along
in the curriculum, learning to talk in a Zen way, gaining an
intellectual view of the koans, and keeping a written notebook
about the koans containing material mostly coming from the
private interviews (Jp., sanzen or dokusan) with the teacher, no
doubt for future reference.
Hakuin, the famous 18th century reviver of Japanese Rinzai Zen
is said to have had fifteen major experiences and something like
seventy minor experience before he “put the rhinoceros to rest.”
The Chinese master Ta-Hui also had many experiences and was
asked to take over a large monastery but refused because he
still had some questions about his practice. We should not make
too much of small openings or even many openings. The important
point is how well the practice and awakening becomes integrated
into our life and becomes living Zen. All too often we have seen
how that has not been the case with Zen in the West over the
last forty-five years, instead it is often seen mostly as an
activity while ”sitting on a cushion” with little attention
paid to integrating it into daily life or what that means.
Meaning of Zen Awakening
As for “seeing the nature” Zen writings refer to having a
“no-self” experience, which is the experience that I talked
about above. Previously, I described it in terms of seeing
clearly that “form is emptiness” and so on. Those ideas came to
me quickly after the bell. They seemed funny and amusing because
it seemed so simple and so very obvious. It was a joy of
recognizing something that had always been there but not seen so
clearly. From one point of view, this is considered the
beginning of practice. It should definitely not be considered
the culmination of practice!
The second example given above of the energy from rising anger
during meditation leading to the
hua t’ou breaking open
was not so much a “no-self” experience, though that was there,
but rather, as seeing the world as a totally interconnected
dynamic web of all phenomena. It was seeing the world of people
and objects and emptiness as interconnected and interpenetrating
each other. I also remember with this experience that physically
much heat and sweat was generated leading up to the breaking
open the hua-t’ou. I also feel this experience was a
deeper realization than just realizing the emptiness of self and
others and things.
Interestingly, some people mistake a “oneness” experience for
“seeing the nature.” This is a very big mistake though not
uncommon, and it is also not uncommon for people perceiving
“oneness” to then cling to this experience. “Oneness” is
actually a step away from “no-self,” though it is a big step to
take. In “oneness” there is a sense that we are one with the
universe. There is usually a wonderful feeling accompanying this
experience and it is easy to get very taken with it. However, no
matter how subtle the self or sense of “I” may be at this time,
and that can be quite subtle, there is still a self, and a
universe to be one with. The next and important step of letting
go of a subtle self can be very difficult. In Zen parlance this
is sometimes referred to as taking a step off the top of a
hundred foot pole.
Ta-Hui’s Ten Defects of Hua-t’ou Practice
Above I mentioned a number of states that arise and instructions
on how to examine a hua-t’ou. Ta-Hui at one point condensed his
instructions for working on the hua-t’ou by giving what we call
the Ten Defects in working on the “Mu” hua-t’ou:[40]
“As long as the affective consciousnesses have not been
destroyed, the fire in the heart will continue to rage. Keep
your attention of the hua-t’ou at all times and deepen
the doubt toward it. You should always be concerned with keeping
this question [the hua-t’ou] before you and your attention
always focused. From the left you cannot get to it; from the
right you cannot get to it.”
Ta-Hui then went on to list the Ten Defects related to working
with the “Mu” hua-t’ou, which apply to practicing with
all hua-t’ou.
1. You should not understand it to mean yes or no.
2. You should not take it to be the no of true nonexistence.
3. You should not consider it in relation to doctrine.
4. You should not ponder over it logically at the mind
consciousness base.
5. You should not think the master is explaining the
hua-t’ou when he raises his eyebrows or twinkles his eyes.
6. You should not devise stratagems for resolving the
hua-t’ou through the use of speech.
7. You should not busy yourself inside the tent of
unconcern.
8. You should not consider the
hua-t’ou at the place
where you raise it to your attention.
9. You should not look for evidence in the wording.
10. You should not grasp at a deluded state, simply waiting
for enlightenment.
”Once the mind is without any abiding place, do not fear falling
into emptiness. It is certain to be a good place there” says Ta-Hui.[41]
Chinul, the 12th century revitalizer of Korean Zen
and Korea’s first great proponent of hua-t’ou practice comments
on the above adding that “once a student has been given this
sort of explanation and has been given his
hua-t’ou, he
should then merely raise it to his attention and investigate it
during the twelve periods of the day and in all four postures …
If there is even one thought left of knowledge or conceptual
understanding regarding the Buddha-dharma, he is enmeshed in the
ten defects of understanding.”[42]
Chinul refers to defect # 3 as creating “the obstacle of
understanding.”[43]
This is exactly what I have been saying earlier in the paper,
that any kind of rational thought or conceptual understanding
has to be put aside and one should only be concerned with
examining the hua-t’ou, examining the word and raising the
doubt.
Chinul later adds advice for Zen practitioners of
hua-t’ou,
“Straight off, they take up a tasteless
hua-t’ou and be
concerned only with raising it to their attention and focusing
on it. He importantly notes that they should “stay clear of any
idea of a time sequence in which views, learning, understanding
or conduct are to be developed.”[44]
Hua-t’ou is a sudden practice meaning one does not
understand or awake to it half or three quarters. Awakening to
the hua-t’ou happens in an instant. However, there are
depths to the awakening and certainly levels of integration into
our life.
Ta-Hui, Chinul and more recently, the famous modern Chinese
master, Hsu-Yun[45]
instructed their students in very much the same way, which is
the way I have practiced and described it in this paper. Take up
the hua-t’ou and raise it to your attention as much as is
possible throughout the day, while dropping all ideas we have
about knowledge and truth and conceptual understanding. In a
sense, we must give up our intelligence and embrace not knowing,
ignorance. We must forget or lay aside all our ideas of truth,
all our external knowledge and search inside for our own minds.
It is also mandatory to “stay clear” of any ideas of development
of understanding in time, as stated above. There is nothing left
to do but focus on the hua-t’ou, to investigate the word.
This is the way to the “truthless ultimate truth.”[46]
Some Concluding Remarks and Cautions
Early in this paper I discussed Ta-Hui, the leading exponent of
hua-t’ou practice in Sung dynasty China and his lay
students, referred to as literati. I also mentioned that the
literati did not have much contact with Ta-Hui and the contact
they did have was through mail, probably fairly slow in China at
that time. I also mentioned that I thought
hua-t’ou
practice was very well suited today to certain western lay
practitioners of Zen. In particular, though not limited to, it
is well suited to certain experienced meditators who for
whatever reason are not part of a Zen center. This is a growing
but largely unknown group of people. I think it is a practice
well suited to people who are part of a Zen group as well, but
that must be worked out in the context of the center and its
teacher.
For those working on their own it would be good to have some
contact with someone familiar with the practice to discuss
whatever aspect that comes up that is perplexing for you or
which you would like to discuss with someone. Finding a good
spiritual friend, a kalyanamitra can very helpful.
Hua-t’ou practice for the most part doesn’t really take much
discussion, once one understands the basics. Nevertheless, I
think it is good to have another person to speak with. However,
for people new or newer to meditation having someone to talk
with is more important. In either case, books are also a good
place to look, again especially so for beginners. Below, I list
a few books I recommend specifically in relation to
hua-t’ou
practice.
Again, this practice is suited for people who believes strongly
in their innate true-nature or Buddha-nature, are determined to
realize this innate nature at a given time in this very life,
believes in their ability to do so, that the
hua-t’ou is
a good method for doing so, and finally, are determined to
actually work towards this goal. To this end, a few words are
needed to place actual awakening in a bigger context. For
instance, is awakening to one’s innate nature the end of
practice? How does one judge the maturity or immaturity of one’s
insight? These are just two of many questions that arise in Zen
practice.
Many of us in the West have been attracted to Zen first, because
we desired an end to suffering, and secondly, as our suffering
lessened, because of a wish or desire for freedom and
independence that practice and awakening promises. And indeed,
Zen practice and awakening can alleviate our suffering and
deliver this freedom and independence, to one degree or another.
However, it is not as simple as many of us originally may have
thought or wished. Zen stories are filled with an encounter
between a master and a disciple which in an instant the disciple
is enlightened or awakened. That is often presented as the end
of the story. We also know and hear of Dharma transmission and
people being given the title roshi or Zen master, empowering
these sanctioned people by their participation in a Zen lineage
and the mythology accompanying it. This leads others to think
that institutional sanctioning implies a complete or near
complete enlightenment. This virtually is never the case, but
rather to a large extent, Zen sanctioning is an institutional
necessity to keep the lineage alive, to spread a lineage, to
fulfill the need for a teacher and so on. These teachers may be
able to help people with their
hua-t’ou practice, but
maybe not. But certainly they have not finished the path.[47]
This is to say, for all practitioners, there needs to be
vigilance with our practice, almost more so after an awakening,
when inflated thoughts of self and our attainment have a way of
creeping in. Fortunately, many teachers from the past were well
aware of this need.
Ta-Hui in China and Chinul in Korea were also concerned with
these post-awakening problems and questions, as were other
well-known teachers of the time. Without going into a long
discussion of different ideas of practice, Zen mostly follows a
scheme known as “sudden awakening/gradual cultivation.”[48]
That is, though awakening happens suddenly, there still remain
strong habit energies or selfish tendencies or karma or however
one chooses to label tendencies that do not disappear because of
one awakening or even many awakenings. Chinul names these
initial awakenings as “understanding-awakening” where there is a
clear comprehension of nature and characteristics in which one
has clearly comprehended the mind-nature. So while the student
may have the correct understanding, his practice would be too
immature to act consistently enlightened. He would need gradual
cultivation to counter his defiled tendencies and to cultivate
wholesome qualities.[49]
This calls for focusing on integrating the awakening insight
into each aspect of one’s daily life.
But some people think otherwise, become infatuated with the
level of their awakening or think they are above everyone else
because of their awakening experience or with the power imputed
to them by Zen institutional titles and authority, and they let
the power and authority go to their heads. Some think because
they have seen their nature they are free to act as they please.
However, this can cause suffering for oneself and for others. It
has led to many unfortunate problems for individuals and for Zen
centers in western Zen over a period of forty-five years. I
think more emphasis on embodying and integrating the insight is
called for.
Perhaps the most direct clear warning discussing the level of
one’s maturity in the practice is seen in Chinul quoting the
famous Zen and Hua-Yen teacher Tsung-Mi (780-841):
“If the manifesting formations are not yet severed and the
defilements and habit-energies persist, or whatever you see
leads to passion and whatever you encounter produces
impediments, then although you have understood the meaning of
the nonarising state, your power is still insufficient. You
should not grasp at that understanding and say, “I have already
awakened to the fact that the nature of the defilements is
void,” for later when you decide to cultivate, your practice
will, on the contrary, become inverted. Of course, the nature of
defilements is void, but they can still cause you to feel the
results of karma. That karmic result might have no nature, but
still it acts as the cause of suffering. Although the pain of
suffering is empty, how difficult it is to bear! Hence it should
be clear that if words and actions are contradictory, the
correctness or incorrectness of one’s practice can be verified
[emphasis mine]. Measure the strength of your faculties; you
cannot afford to deceive yourself. Examine your thoughts and
guard against error; you must be absolutely thorough in this!“[50]
This warning not to cling to some awakening experience as the
end of practice is very clear and straightforward. We must
measure our actions, be aware of our habit-energies, and be
clear with ourselves as to how we act and think as we encounter
the world. This is our practice so of course we must examine our
thoughts and actions and must be “absolutely thorough in this!”
In simple terms, to repeat Tsung-Mi’s words “if words and
actions are contradictory, the correctness or incorrectness of
one’s practice can be verified.” With this simple line, we can
clearly tell the maturity of our practice.[51]
Chinul goes on to add the need for a vow of compassion. “After
the understanding gained through awakening is achieved, one
should contemplate the sufferings of sentient beings through
discriminative wisdom and make the vow of compassion.”[52]
In Mahayana, for wisdom to be liberating it must also be
compassionate. In a sense then, our practice becomes a practice
not for ourselves, but for others.
Chinul chides those who after having an awakening declare the
nature of the defilements are void and then fall into a carefree
attitude. He talks of these people not having “shame” when they
make karma producing acts. He calls this the “contamination of
conceit” and that their “vigor and willpower are entirely
lacking.”[53]
Later he adds, “although the approaches to cultivation are
incalculable, loving-kindness and forbearance are their origin.”
Chinul mentions cultivating compassion, loving-kindness and
forbearance as wholesome qualities. We can add generosity,
morality and diligence to the list.[54]
I think by taking seriously the words of these teachers from
earlier times quoted above and applying them thoroughly, we can
tell the maturity or immaturity of our practice, whether it is
hua-t’ou or any other practice. By taking the words of
these long dead Zen teachers to heart, we can avoid the
“contamination of conceit.”
Recommended Reading
Buswell, Robert, The Collected Works of Chinul,
University of Hawaii Press, 1983. Especially relevant are pages
238 – 261, ”Resolving Doubts About Observing the Hwadu”and pages
262- 374, ”Excerpts From the Dharma Collection and Special
Practice Record with Personal Notes.” The book is a treasure for
Zen practitioners. Buswell’s ”Introduction” and extensive notes
to each chapter are especially rewarding. Sadly, the book is out
of print but available from libraries.
Swampland Flowers: The Letters and Lectures of Zen Master Ta-Hui,
tran. by J.C. Cleary, Shambhala, 2006. This is a collection
mostly of Ta-Hui’s letters to his literati students.
Unfortunately, the book only contains Ta-Hui’s replies without
the letters he is replying to. Nevertheless, there is much to be
gained by reading his replies. The letter exchanges of Ta-Hui
and his students are studied to this day in Korean monasteries.
Luk, Charles, Chan and Zen Teaching, First Series, Rider
and Company, 1969, see pp. 19 – 48 for a discussion of hua-t’ou
practice. See pp. 49 – 109 for Hsu-yun’s daily lecture given at
two one week retreats in Shanghai, in 1953.
Batchelor, Stephen, The Faith to Doubt: Glimpses of Buddhist
Uncertainty, Parallax Press, 1990. I recommend the whole
book but especially see pp.19 – 36 for a discussion of the
hua-t’ou, ”What is it” and pp. 37- 58, ”Questioning.”
Kusan Sunim, The Way of Korean Zen, translated by Martine
Fages, Weatherhill, 1985. Especially relevant are pp. 59 – 72,
”Instructions for meditation.” This section includes Kusan’s
short commentary on the Ten Diseases (Defects) of Ta-Hui.
Sung Bae Park, Buddhist Faith and Sudden Enlightenment,
Suny University of New York Press, 1983.
Sheng Yen, Shattering the Great Doubt: The Chan Practice of
Huatou, Shambhala. 2009. There is some good advice here, but
there is also much repeating of Chan sectarian mythology as
fact. He also presents stages in the practice which for analytic
type people can cause problems as they try to figure where they
are in his stage scheme.
Levering, Miriam, Ch’an Enlightenment for Laymen: Ta-Hui And
The New Religious Culture Of The Sung, Phd. Dissertation,
Harvard University, 1978, available from UMI Dissertation
Publishing. For those with a scholarly bent, this dissertation
gives a background of Ta-Hui’s thought in the context of Chinese
religious, social, and political ideas and environment of his
times. See pp. 207 – 239 ”Hua-yen Thought and Lay Practice.”
There is also much material about the hua-t’ou and why and how
to practice it, see pp. 240 – 282, ”Hua-tou Practice: The Need
For The Hua-t’ou, and pp. 283 – 311, ”Faith, Doubt, and the
Hua-tou.”
[1]
A shortened version of this paper was delivered at the Oslo
Buddhist Studies Forum, Feb. 28th, 2012. I would like to thank
Meredith Churchil, Ute Huesken, Jeff Larko, and Chuan Zhi of the
Hsu Yun Temple for help and support.
The paper takes a position reflecting Chinese Ch’an more
than modern influenced Hakuin Rinzai or Sanbokyodan Zen.
I welcome comments to the paper: [email protected]
[2]
Miriam Levering , PhD. Dissertation,
Ch’an Enlightenment
For Laymen: Ta-Hui And The New Religious Culture Of The Sung,
Harvard University, 1978, p. 240. Throughout this article, I
will use the better known word Zen even when referring to
Chinese Ch’an or to Korean Seon.
[3]
Besides practicing the
hua-t’ou method for roughly
thirty years, for roughly ten years, while at the Ch’an
Meditation Center of Shifu Sheng-Yen in NYC, I conducted private
interviews with mostly western students during seven-day
meditation retreats. A good percentage of those students were
doing hua-t’ou practice.
[4]
The Collected Works of Chinul, trans. by Robert Buswell,
University of Hawaii Press, 1983, p. 67.
[5]
In the context of koan literature, a Zen master is someone in
a Zen lineage who was given the title Zen master by his master.
[6]
The practice is not widely done in Japanese Zen where going
through a koan curriculum is the favored form of practice for
Rinzai and the modern Sanbokyodan sect practitioners. Soto Zen
pracitioners as a rule do not use koans or hua-t’ou as a
meditation practice, but practice
shikantaza (just
sitting).
[7]
Levering, p. 246.
[8]
He also feared the literati would be attracted to the growing
popularity of the Tsao-Tung tradition and their ”still form” of
meditation. See Schlutter, Morten,
How Zen Became Zen,
University of Hawaii Press, 2008, p. 180).
[9]
Levering, p. 273.
[10]
Levering, p. 274.
[11]
There are others who have had success with the method who
did not require this as a prerequisite, though I believe this is
a minority view.
[12]
Schlutter, p. 109
[13]
Levering, p. 240.
[14]
Levering does not translate the Chinese characters, which
are pronounced shi-tai-fu. However, in this paper I will use the
common translation ‘literati’. In a private email, Levering said
the term was formerly translated as ‘scholar official’.
[15]
Schlutter, p. 180.
[16]
I spent three months in Songgwangsa monastery in South Korea
in the 1990’s and was informed that Ta-Hui’s letters were part
of the curriculum studied by new monks during their first few
three-month training periods. This seems to be different in
Japan. In the late 1980’s I spent time at Dai Shu-in, the temple
of Morinaga roshi located in Kyoto. None of his monks I spoke
with knew of Ta-Hui or Daie, his Japanese name. Morinaga roshi
offered me a beautiful bound version of the complete works of
Ta-Hui, which I refused because I do not read Japanese. He said
“take it, none of the monks have any interest.”
[17]
See Levering, pp. 246–260 for a discussion of Ta-Hui’s view of
the misguided education of the literati and the need for Zen
practice.
[18]
Leighton, Dan, “Zazen as an Enactment of Ritual,“ in
Zen
Ritual, ed. by Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright, Oxford
University Press, 2008, p.183. This article, based on Dogen’s
understanding of Zen, presents a very different understanding
of Zen practice from Ta-Hui.
[19]
Though silent illumination and shikantaza are seemingly
similar practices, I have heard Chinese affiliated people say
they are different.
[20]
See Empty Cloud: The Autobiography of the Chinese Zen
Master Xu Yun, trans. by Charles Luk, revised and ed. by
Richard Hunn, 1988, Element Books Limited, pp.7,8. My thanks to
Chuan Zhi of the Hsu-yun Temple for this reference and for many
helpful suggestions.
[21]
See ”Gradual Experiences of Sudden Enlightenment: The Varieties
of Ganhwa Seon Teachings in Contemporary Korea,” Ryan Bongseok
Joo, paper delivered at the 2011 AAS conference in Honolulu,
Hawaii.
http://international.uiowa.edu/centers/caps/documents/RyanJooAAS2011.pdf.
This is an extremely interesting and unique paper discussing the
understanding and practice of ganhwa (huo-t’ou) practice by
three leading Korean teachers. Each of the three teachers
discussed has views different from the other teachers and
different from the Chinese way of practicing the hua-t’ou.
[22]
Sung Bae Park,
Buddhist Faith and Sudden Enlightenment,
State University of New York Press, 1983, p. 67. The Three
Greats were introduced in the 14th century by Ch’an
master Kao-feng as the “three essentials of questioning
practice” in his book, Ch’an-yao or
The Essential of
Ch’an Meditation.
[23]
Levering , p. 283.
[24]
Hsu Yun, perhaps the most famous Zen master in China since
the 19th century, favored
hua-t’ou practice
and also stressed the need for great faith in the method. See
http://www.hsuyun.org/chan/en/essays/bychuanzhi/759-huatoupractice.html
(date of last access: 2.6.2012). The Hsu Yun Temple website,
http://www. hsuyun.org (date of last access: 2.6.2012) has much
material from Hsu Yun and a wide assortment of articles related
to practice. Of particular interest are the articles by Chuan
Zhi.
[25]
Levering, p. 288. The full quote is, “Unwilling to have
faith in the possession within your own house, you do nothing
but seek outside.”
[26]
Park, Buddhist Faith and Sudden Enlightenment, p.20.
Park, quoting Chinul calls this patriarchal faith, that is,
believing that everyone is originally Buddha. This is opposed to
doctrinal faith, which encourages people to have faith in the
principle of cause and effect (p. 19).
[27]
Levering, p. 294.
[28]
Schlutter, p. 109.
[29]
Levering, p. 301.
One’s enlightenment will be in proportion to one’s doubt: “A
great doubt must be followed by a great enlightenment.”
[30]
Levering, p. 302.
[31]
Sheng Yen,
Shattering the Great Doubt, Shambala,
2009, pp. 83-90.
[32]
Buswell, 1983, p. 68.
[33]
Levering, p. 270.
[34]
Levering, p. 264.
[35]
Shifu Sheng Yen in oral instructions.
[36]
Cleary, Christopher,
Swampland Flowers: The Letters and
Lectures of Zen Master Ta Hui, Grove Press, 1977, p. 57.
[37]
Buswell, 1983, p. 249.
[38]
See”Gradual Experiences of Sudden Enlightenment: The
Varieties of Ganhwa Seon Teachings in Contemporary Korea,” by
Ryan Bongseok Joo, paper delivered at the 2011, AAS conference
in Honolulu, Hawaii. The three modern Korean Zen teachers
discussed in this paper seem concerned with the state of the
student before the awakening moment rather than after, as is
common with Japanese and Chinese Zen traditions, where the
student is given “checking questions” to determine the depth of
their experience.
[39]
Levering, p.310. Though Ta-Hui never recommends changing
your hua-t’ou after an awakening to deepen an insight, he
in fact changed his hua-t’ou under direction from his
teacher Yuan-Wu and had a more profound experience.
[40]
The “Mu” hua-t’ou is: “Does a dog have Buddha-nature or not?
Joshu (Chao-chou, Ch.) replied: Mu! (not!).”
[41]
Buswell, 1983, p. 246.
[42]
Buswell, 1983, pp. 245, 246. Chinul being Korean used the
word hwadu as did Robert Buswell, the translator, but to keep
the discussion consistent, I have replaced the Korean hwadu with
the Chinese hua-t’ou.
[43]
Buswell, 1983, p. 240.
[44]
Buswell, 1983, p. 250.
[45]
Luk, Charles,
Chan and Zen Teachings, First
Series, Rider and Co., 1960. See pp. 19 - 109 for Hsu-yun’s
teaching on hua-t’ou practice and talks given at two- one week
retreats in Shanghai in 1953.
[46]
Buswell, 1983, p. 251, Chinul quotes the Korean monk Wonhyo,
a famous contemporary of Chinul. Wonhyo was the most prolific
Zen writer in history. Wonhyo traveled back and forth to China
and was an influential force in Chinese Buddhism. A project is
underway to translate all of his extant works into English.
Prof. Buswell is in charge of the project.
[47]
I have a number of papers on the internet that discuss
problems related to Zen’s institutional sanctioning and to a
large measure, misleading people as to the meaning of Dharma
transmission and of the titles Zen master and roshi. <Lachs.inter-link.com>
. For an important paper discussing Dharma transmission,
especially so as related to Soto Zen, see, Bodiford, William M.,
“Dharma Transmission in Theory and Practice,” in
Zen Rituals,
ed. by Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright, Oxford University
Press, 2008, pp. 261-279.
[48]
I think in part the problem of post awakening practice in
Zen comes from the Lin-Chi (Rinzai, Jp.) sect’s ideological
stance of sudden awakening/sudden cultivation which holds that
in the sudden awakening experience, the path is fully completed,
hence the term sudden cultivation. I think this is mostly an
ideological stance maintaining the superiority of Zen’s sudden
approach over the gradual approach of other sects of Buddhism.
Hence we see little or no talk of ethics or in developing
wholesome qualities. However, Hakuin, Ta-Hui, Chinul, and Hsu-Yun
all cultivated after their initial experiences and had other
awakening experiences after an initial awakening, as have almost
every other famous Zen person. Songchol, a recently deceased
leading Korean Zen teacher was rare in that he maintained the
sudden enlightenment/sudden cultivation view, but he was very
demanding in what he considered sudden enlightenment.
[49]
Buswell, Jr., Robert E., “Pojol Chinul and Kanhwa Son:
Reconciling the Language of Moderate and Radical Subitism,” in
Zen Buddhist Rhetoric in China, Korea, and Japan, ed. by
Christoph Anderl, p. 347, Leiden: Brill, 2012.
[50]
Buswell, 1983, p. 305.
[51]
At times what appears to many as self-serving behavior by
teachers has been explained away as “crazy wisdom,” the actions
of supposed highly enlightened beings that only seem
self-serving because ordinary folk cannot understand so highly
evolved people. I hazard to say that people this highly
enlightened are extremely rare, the proverbial needle in the
haystack at best. I find it interesting that virtually all of
this supposed behavior labeled “crazy wisdom” seems to bring
pleasure to and to serve the needs of the wise one acting so,
often to the detriment of others and themselves. Similar
behavior displayed by other people would be called self-serving,
a weakness or an addiction of some sort.
[52]
Buswell, 1983, p. 308.
[53]
Buswell, 1983, p. 310.
[54]
The Six
Paramitas, the perfections to reach the other
shore (Buddhahood): giving (dana), morality (shila),
patience (kshanti), diligence (virya), meditation
(dhyana), and wisdom (prajna) are basic to all of
Mahayana Buddhism. Zen however places most importance on wisdom
with its emphasis on formal meditating together as a group,
seven day or longer meditation retreats, and daily meditation.
In addition, the emphasis on wisdom can be seen in the daily
morning and evening chanting of the Heart Sutra, a condensation
of the vast body of wisdom (Prajna)
literature. In fact, there is little institutional concern with
regards to activities not related to meditation and wisdom. The
koan collections along with the Collected Sayings (yulu)
literature, which so define Zen, are overwhelmingly concerned
with wisdom. I think there may be an institutional weakness in
Zen, at least as it has come to the west, by and large from
Japan, in that developing wholesome qualities are not given
enough attention or even valued. The rhetoric that idealizes the
actions of Zen Masters also clouds the issue.