r/zen • u/essentialsalts Dionysiac Monster & Annihilator of Morality • Feb 28 '18
Huangbo's Teaching Compared with the Laṅkāvatāra Sutra
Mind Only
Huangbo: Chun Chou 1
All the Buddhas and all sentient Beings are nothing but the One Mind, beside which nothing exists.
Lanka: XXVI
The world as nothing but mind / this is what bodhisattvas see.
Examining the Mind
Huangbo: Chun Chou 11
Students of the Way should be sure that the four elements composing the body do not constitute the 'self', that the 'self' is not an entity; and that it can be deduced from this that the body is neither 'self' nor entity. Moreover, the five aggregates [skandhas] composing the mind (in the common sense) do not constitute either a 'self' or an entity ; hence, it can be deduced that the (so-called individual) mind is neither 'self' nor entity. The six sense organs (including the brain) [ayatanas] which, together with their six types of perception and the six kinds of objects of perception, constitute the sensory world, must be understood in the same way. Those eighteen aspects of sense [dhatus] are separately and together void. There is only Mind-Source, limitless in extent and of absolute purity.
Lanka: XXIV
The assemblage of the skandhas [aggregates], the dhatus [six sense-realms, six types of sense-object, and six sense-consciousnesses] and the ayatanas [six senses] and arises from ignorance, karma, and the desire and includes neither a self nor anything that belongs to a self. As the grasping and attachment of such senses as the eye to form gives rise to consciousness; [so too], bodies, houses and the world of objections that are perceptions of one's own mind are fabricated and manifested from one's own projections. They change and disappear every moment, like a river or a seed or a candle or the wind or a cloud… impelled by habit-energy without beginning, like figures produced by some sort of magic trick or spell…
Huangbo: Chun Chou 25
The homogeneous spiritual brilliance is the One Mind, while the six harmoniously blended 'elements' are the six sense organs. These six sense organs become severally united with objects that defile them-the eyes with form, the ear with sound, the nose with smell, the tongue with taste, the body with touch, and the thinking mind with entities. Between these organs and their objects arise the six sensory perceptions, making eighteen sense -realms in all. If you understand that these eighteen realms have no objective existence, you will bind the six harmoniously blended 'elements' into a single spiritual brilliance-a single spiritual brilliance which is the One Mind. All students of the Way know this, but cannot avoid forming concepts of 'a single spiritual brilliance' and 'the six harmoniously blended elements'. Accordingly they are chained to entities and fail to achieve a tacit understanding of original Mind.
Lanka: IX
...consciousness arises together with the minutest sensory objects and sensory material of the various sense organs, and with it arise external realms as well like so many images in a clear mirror or like the ocean when a strong wind blows. And as the wind of externality stirs the sea of mind, its waves of consciousness never cease. Whether there is any difference or not among the characteristics of causes and effects if due to a deep attachment to what arises from karma. Because people cannot understand the nature of such things as form, the five kinds of sensory consciousness function. And due to the differentiation of appearances, Mahamati, you should know that these five kinds of sensory consciousness serve as the cause of conceptual consciousness. But as they function, they do not think that they are the cause of changes in appearances, which change as a result of attachment to projections that are perceptions of one's own mind. And as every appearance changes and disappears, the different realms that are distinguished themselves change.
Words and Letters
Huangbo: Wan Ling 6
I hear you have studied the sutras of the twelve divisions of the Three Vehicles. They are all mere empirical concepts. Really you must give them up! So just discard all you have acquired as being no better than a bed spread for you when you were sick. Only when you have abandoned all perceptions, there being nothing objective to perceive; only when phenomena obstruct you no longer; only when you have rid yourself of the whole gamut of dualistic concepts of the 'ignorant' and 'Enlightened' category, will you at last earn the title of Transcendental Buddha.
Lanka: XXV
The teaching of emptiness, non-arising, non-duality, and the absence of self-existence pervades all the sutras spoken by the buddhas. Every sutra teaches these truths. But because every sutra responds to the longings of beings, they differ as to how they express these truths, which are not really in the words. Just as the sight of a mirage confuses a herd of deer, whereby the deer imagine the appearance of water where there is no water, likewise the teachings of the sutras are meant to gladden people's hearts. But buddha knowledge is not to be found in words. Therefore, trust the meaning and don't cling to words.
Huangbo: Wang Ling 14
When all the Buddhas manifest themselves in the world, they proclaim nothing but the One Mind... This is called the Law of All the Buddhas. Discuss it as you may, how can you even hope to approach the truth through words? Nor can it be perceived either subjectively or objectively. So full understanding can come to you only through an inexpressible mystery.... If you wish to understand, know that a sudden comprehension comes when the mind has been purged of all the clutter of conceptual and discriminatory thought-activity. Those who seek the truth by means of intellect and learning only get further and further away from it.
Lanka: XXXIII
...Words are not ultimate truth, nor is what they express ultimate truth. And how so? Ultimate truth is what buddhas delight in. And what words lead to is ultimate truth. But words are not ultimate truth. Ultimate truth is what is attained by the personal realization of buddha knowledge. It is not a realm known by means of projections of words… Words arise and cease and shift, with their occurrence depending on changing causes and conditions…. Whatever depends on changing causes and conditions does not express ultimate truth…
Existence
Huangbo: Wan Ling 26
For the sake of convenience, we speak of Mind as the intelligence; but when it does not respond to circumstances, it cannot be spoken of in such dualistic terms as existence or non-existence.
Huangbo: Chun Chou 34
You must get away from the doctrines of existence and non-existence, for Mind is like the sun, forever in the void, shining spontaneously, shining without intending to shine. This is not something which you can accomplish without effort, but when you reach the point of clinging to nothing whatever, you will be acting as the Buddhas act. This will indeed be acting in accordance with the saying: 'Develop a mind which rests on no thing whatever.
Lanka: XIX
Furthermore, Mahamati... existence and nonexistence are the perceptions of one's own mind, the existence or nonexistence of which does not arise. Mahamati, nothing that exists arises. Everything is like horns on a rabbit or a horse, the mistaken projections of an imagines reality by ignorant beings. Therefore, Mahamati, nothing that exists arises. The non-arising that characterizes all that exists - this is the personal realization of the realm of buddha knowledge, not the dualistic realm of projections of the ignorant. The existence that characterizes such things as your body, your possessions, and the world around you, Mahamati, is the interplay of grasping and the grasped of repository consciousness.
Lanka: LXXII
I do not teach materialism. Nor that anything comes or goes. I only teach what does not come and what does not go. Mahamati, what comes refers to what gathers and appears. What goes refers to what scatters and disappears. What neither comes nor goes does not arise and does not cease. The meaning of what I teach cannot be counted among the fabrications of materialism… it is not attached to an external existence that does not exist. Dualistic fabrications cannot affect those who dwell on the perceptions of their own mind. The external world and its forms do not exist. Once you see that they are perceptions of your own mind, fabrications that are perceptions of your own mind do not arise. And when fabrications do not arise, you enter the empty, formless, effortless threefold gate of liberation, which is why it is called liberation.
Transcendence
Huangbo: Chun Chou 18
If an ordinary man, when he is about to die, could only see the five elements of consciousness as void; the four physical elements as not constituting an 'I'; the real Mind as formless and neither coming nor going; his nature as something neither commencing at his birth nor perishing at his death, but as whole and motionless in its very depths; his Mind and environmental objects as one--if he could really accomplish this, he would receive Enlightenment in a flash. He would no longer be entangled by the Triple World; he would be a World-Transcendor.
Lanka: VIII
Who sees that the habit-energy of projections of the beginningless past is the cause of the three realms and who understands that the tathagata stage is free from projections or anything that arises, attains the person realization of buddha knowledge and effortless mastery over their own minds.... Therefore, Mahamati, you should devote yourself to the cultivation of personal attainment.
Gradual or Sudden?
Huangbo: Chun Chou 6
This Mind is no mind of conceptual thought and it is completely detached from form. So Buddhas and sentient beings do not differ at all. If you can only rid yourselves of conceptual thought, you will have accomplished everything. But if you students of the Way do not rid yourselves of conceptual thought in a flash, even though you strive for aeon after aeon, you will never accomplish it. Enmeshed in the meritorious practices of the Three Vehicles, you will be unable to attain Enlightenment. Nevertheless, the realization of the One Mind may come after a shorter or a longer period. There are those who, upon hearing this teaching, rid themselves of conceptual thought in a flash. There are others who do this after following through the Ten Beliefs, the Ten Stages, the Ten Activities and the Ten Bestowals of Merit. Yet others accomplish it after passing through the Ten Stages of a Bodhisattva's Progress. But whether they transcend conceptual thought by a longer or a shorter way, the result is a state of BEING: there is no pious practicing and no action of realizing.
Lanka: XIV
Mahamati: Bhagavan, how is the stream of perceptions of beings' minds purified? By degrees or all at once?
Buddha: By degrees and not all at once. Like the gooseberry, which ripens by degrees and not all at once, thus do tathagats purify the stream of perceptions of beings' minds by degrees and not all at once. Or like a potter, who makes vessels by degrees and not all at once… Or like the earth, which gives birth to living things by degrees and not all at once… Or like when people become proficient in such arts as music or writing or painting by degrees and not all at once…
Or just as a clear mirror reflects formless images all at once, tathagatas purify the stream of beings' minds by displaying pure, formless, undifferentiated realms all at once. Or just as the sun and moon illuminate images all at once, tathagatas likewise reveal the supreme realm of inconceivable wisdom all at once to those who have freed themselves of the habit-energy and misconceptions that are perceptions of their own minds. Or just as repository consciousness distinguishes such different perceptions of one's mind as the realms of the body, its possessions, and the world around it all at once, nishyanda buddhas likewise bring beings to maturity in whatever realm they dwell all at once and lead practitioners to reside in Akanishtha Heaven. Or just as the nishyanda buddhas… radiate light, the personal realization of buddha knowledge likewise illuminates and dispels erroneous views and projections regarding the existence or nonexistence of dharmas and their characteristics.
Conceptual Thought
Huangbo: Chun Chou 15
If I refrained entirely from conceptual thought, what would be the use of all the Dharmas?' Attach yourselves to nothing beyond the pure Buddha-Nature which is the original source of all things.... it is wrong to conceive of an environment separate from the pure, unvarying nature of all things.
Huangbo: Chun Chou 21
People are often hindered by environmental phenomena from perceiving Mind, and by individual events from perceiving underlying principles; so they often try to escape from environmental phenomena in order to still their minds, or to obscure events in order to retain their grasp of principles. They do not realize that this is merely to obscure phenomena with Mind, events with principles. Just let your minds become void and environmental phenomena will void themselves; let principles cease to stir and events will cease stirring of themselves... The ignorant eschew phenomena but not thought; the wise eschew thought but not phenomena.
Huangbo: Wang Ling 4
Since Mind is the Buddha, the ideal way of attainment is to cultivate that Buddha-Mind. Only avoid conceptual thoughts, which lead to becoming and cessation, to the afflictions of the sentient world and all the rest; then you will have no need of methods of Enlightenment and suchlike.
Lanka: LIII
Mahamati: ...why does the Bhagavan speak of getting free from [the sixth form of consciousness] conceptual consciousness and not the seventh form of consciousness [the manas, or will; the evaluating, judging and individuating type of consciousness]?
Buddha: Because, Mahamati, it is the cause and the supporting condition whereby the seventh form of consciousness does not arise. And it is the division and the attachment of conceptual consciousness regarding external realms that produces the habit-energy that nourishes repository consciousnesses. And it is the will, together with its attachment to a self and what belongs to a self and its reflection on causes and conditions, that gives rise to the characteristics of [a body that survives from one life to the next]. And it is attachment to an external world that is a perception of one's own mind that is the cause and supporting condition of the repository consciousness... It is like the ocean and its waves, which rise or cease as the wind of externality that is a perception of one's own mind blows. Thus, when conceptual consciousness ceases, the seventh form of consciousness also ceases.
Enlightenment
Huangbo: Chun Chou 13
...to awaken suddenly to the fact that your own Mind is the Buddha, that there is nothing to be attained or a single action to be performed--this is the Supreme Way; this is really to be as a Buddha.
Huangbo: Chun Chou 15
If you wish to experience Enlightenment yourselves, you must not indulge in such conceptions. They are all environmental Dharmas concerning things which are and things which are not, based on existence and nonexistence. If only you will avoid concepts of existence and non-existence in regard to absolutely everything, you will then perceive THE DHARMA.
Lanka: XXXVIII
Nirvana is the realm of personal realization of buddha knowledge. It is free from the existence or nonexistence of projections of permanence or impermanence. And why is it not permanent? Because projections of individual or shared characteristics are impermanent. Therefore it is not permanent. And why is not impermanent? Because it is the personal realization attained by all sages of the past, the present, and the future. Therefore is not impermanent. …Nirvana is not annihilation or death. If nirvana, were death, there would be the continuity of something reborn. And if nirvana were annihilation, it would be characterized as something created… Nirvana isn't lost and nirvana isn't found. It isn't impermanent and it isn't permanent. It doesn't have one meaning, and it doesn't have multiple meanings.
Lanka: LXXIV
According to what I teach, Mahamati, nirvana means fully understanding that it is nothing but the perception of one's own mind, and is not something that exists externally, and that it transcends the four possibilities [existence, non-existence, both and neither]. It is seeing what is real without falling prey to dualistic projections that are perceptions of one's own mind and that are devoid of perceiver and perceived. It is not accepting the validity of any rule or measure or following anyone ignorant of reality. Rather, it is letting everything go in favor of attaining the personal realization of buddha knowledge whereby one knows the two kinds of no-self [no stable substance in things, no stable self in beings], avoids the two afflictions [afflictions of the senses and what arises from them], removes the two obstructions [passion and knowledge], gets free of the two kinds of death [death of the body and imperceptible transformation deaths], advances to the higher stages and the profound Samadhi of the Illusory of the tathagata stage, and transcends the mind, the will, and conceptual consciousness.
All passages are translated by John Blofeld (Huangbo) and Red Pine (Lanka). Sadhu.
0
u/rockytimber Wei Mar 01 '18
The zen characters in the zen stories, cases, conversations did not follow the fork(s) in the road that Zongmi Guifeng (780–841), Yongming Yanshou (904–975), Tiantai Deshao (891-972), Shoushan (or Baoying) Shengnian (926-993), Zanning (Tonghui Dashi 919–1001), Qisong (1007-1072) Gaofeng Yuanmiao (1238-1295), Juefan Huihong (1071–1128 Zhongfeng Mingben (1263–1323) took.
There are other subreddits to deal with Pure Land or Soto, etc. but this is a subreddit about the zen characters, what they said, what they did, where they pointed, and the literature that documented that.
McRae relied upon Zongmi for his interpretation of the zen characters, and for him the Song Period Chan Buddhist Orthodoxy that was fabricated by the synthesis of Pure Land interpretations for zen was to him and his closest academic peers, the standard of "zen buddhism". The zen characters themselves are sidelined as iconoclastic, romantic, oddities. Anyone who can recognize what was happening with Dongshan, Layman Pang, Mazu, etc. would not give Zongmi, McRae, undue credibility, but like me, anyone has the right to talk about the body of historical information that is out there in the public domain, and it was one of McRae's admirers, Elizabeth A. Morrison, in her book on Qisong, who did the most to set the record straight on the fabrication of the fraudulent Song Period Chan Buddhist orthodoxy. So, yes, McRae's interpretations have been thoroughly exposed, disputed, and now, dismissed.
Have you looked into who Pei Xiu was, or did you learn from me that he had been a student of Zongmi? Its clear Huangbo had blown his mind, he was stuggling to reconcile. But here is the text, and I think you are lying about excessive sutra quoting:
https://terebess.hu/zen/huangboBlofeld.html
My copy doesn't show a lot of sutra quoting, and its not attributed to Huangbo. So, if I am wrong, I apologize, maybe you have a different translation?
So, if you can't recognize zen when you see it, and dredge up McRae as legitimate, where does that leave you?