(Chapter 19) A Brief Talk about The Scripture of Forty-Two Chapters Said by Buddha
Co-translators in the time of Eastern Han Dynasty, China(A.D. 25 - 200) :
Kasyapa Matanga and Zhu Falan (Who translated the said Scripture from Sanskrit into Chinese. )
Translator in modern time (A.D.2018: Tao Qing Hsu (Who translated the said Scripture from Chinese into English.)
Teacher and writer for explaining the said Scripture: Tao Qing Hsu
Chapter 19: Perceive the fake and real
at the same time
The Buddha said,” Observe the sky and
land, have a thought of the impermanence; observe the world, have a thought of
the impermanence; perceiving the spiritual awakening is the Bodhi. Those who
have such knowledge gain the Dao quickly.”
To have the feeling about the impermanence is one of the most
important teachings in Buddhism, because it is the basic concept to enter the
gate of Buddhism. If we have no feeling about the impermanence in life, it
would be hard for us to understand what is taught by Buddha.
A story enlightens us to know the
impermanence.
There are a lot of stories and news to enlighten us to know the
impermanence. In the ancient India, there is a woman whose child died. This
woman cries every day and feels very sad for losing her child. One day, she
meets the Buddha Sakyamuni, and tells him, ”Could you use your spiritual and
magical power to let my child to revive? The Buddha Sakyamuni tells her, ”You
go and ask each family in this lane whether they have any family member not to
die. If you could find a family which has no dead family member, I promise you
to let your child to revive.”
This woman feels hopeful and asks each family in the lane, “May I
ask you whether there is no dead family member in your family?” “No, my
grandpapa is just past away.” The person replies to her. She finishes all asking
and finds that each family has its own dead family members.
The woman disappointedly comes to the Buddha Sakyamuni and tells
him what the outcome is. The Buddha Sakyamuni consoles her, “Now you know each
family has ever the dead family member. The impermanence of life exists in the
world, and also exists in each family and in each person. The dead family
member is gone. Abandon the worry of missing and sadness in heart. Let your
child go. He would be well in heaven.”
I am
also very consoled by this story. I have ever read some news that the person is
too sad to die suddenly or to suicide, because of his loved family member
dying. It is usually happened in those who have the more closed relationship
with the dead family member. This is true. According
to the psychological research, such emotion and feeling is normal. We would
abandon such sadness gradually with our intellect, if we know that the
impermanence of life exists in the world. However, it may be not for those who
have no such concept. That is why they will feel more painful and sad. The
worst is that some people use drug or wine to resolve their pain and sadness,
and which makes their life bad.
“Observe the sky and land, have a thought of
the impermanence.”
From
the sky, we observe the change of the climate, such as the strong wind, heavy
rain, heavy snow or ice storm; from the land, we observe the change of earth
crust. The severe earthquake, severe tsunami or volcanic eruptions always happened in seconds and
without warning; and which always bring a lot of disasters and cause many
damages, lost of fortune, and deaths of humans. What happened is in the
twinkling of an eye. Under the circumstances, we do not know whether we are
alive or death in the next moment.
Understanding such impermanence of the sky and land, we will humble
ourselves to the sky and land, and know that we should get along well with the
natural environment, and not destroy it too much when developing the original
natural environment.
“Observe the world, have a thought of the
impermanence”
We observe the impermanence of life. We also have observed the
worldly impermanence, which include the impermanence of romantic love and
marriage, and of the personal and others emotion and feeling, and of career,
working, and of the friendship, planning, attending school and disease, even of
the politic.
As we know, the romantic love and any vows for the love are the
myth. Many people finally quarrel, break up, and go their own way, because of
any trivial matters in daily life. There is no forever romantic love. Romantic
love can't bear the real challenge. If we can know it earlier, we will focus on
how to cultivate our own noble character to love the humanity and have the ability
to live in the reality, and not to count on the romantic love and the unreal
opposite sex for living.
If we cannot face the impermanence of love and marriage, we can
easily fall into hatred and desire to control the opposite sex. That is because
we are afraid of betrayal, and we are addicted to love and marriage. This is
why we cannot make our hearts free. In any case, there is the similar
situation.
So, it doesn’t mean that there is no love in marriage. On the
contrary, it makes us clearly know how we can properly deal with the
relationship between lovers or spouses in love and marriage. In life and
economic, the more independent and the more respect to each other will be
better in love and marriage.
Most of the working and career is
impermanent.
Working in a privately owned company does not guarantee that we
can keep working until retirement, because any company may face the operational
or failure risks. Secondly, we may also leave any company because of the
personal factors, such as the health problems, or accidents. Even in the
government institution, there are also a lot of changes and it may not
guarantee that our career is always the same.
The risk of suicide due to unemployment exists in every country
and society. However, what surprise me is that civil servants committed suicide
because they were unable to adapt to the transfer of duties.
Knowing the impermanence of the working and career, we can prepare
in advance, to save enough money, leave self a back lane for survival, or
prepare another skill to survive for a runway switch in career. And we will be
flexible when we face any impermanence in job.
The impermanence of emotion or
feeling may affect and disturb our life steps.
Everyone has its own mood obstacle. Most people’s personal emotion
or feeling is easy to be affected by others mood such as anger, anxiety,
excitement or depression. Especially, in a family or in a group, the member’s
mood may affect to each other. When the mood is negative, such as anger,
hatred, complain, sad or anxiety, it may affect the member’s ability to learn
anything and may result in the bad performance in studying or in career.
Of course, our personal mood may also affect the emotion of others.
Some people’s mood is easy to come and go. For example, they may be in
happiness at this moment, however, they may be in anger at next moment and thus
to shock us.
Knowing the impermanence of joy and anger, we know that we should
learn and train our minds and emotions to be stable and to keep our heart at
peace. But, how can we do that? Learning Buddha is one way. Meditation-sitting
and keep mindfulness is a good way. Doing so would also help us resist the
negative effects from the other negative emotions.
It is possible for us to
experience the impermanent friendship.
For the teenage, friendship is the very important in their life.
Maybe you are experiencing the wonderful friendship or the worst relationship
with friends. Whatever it is, it is the experience in life. As we work after
graduating from school, any friendship seems to be diluted gradually. We have
found that many friends are disappeared from our life, and we don’t contact to
each other for a long time.
Then, we establish the new relationship with new friends in work.
However, we have found that such friendship is no longer pure like what we
owned in the time of school. The worst is that we may meet the villain. Don’t
worry. The best is that we may meet the noble friends who support and help us a
lot in many ways by his sincerely heart and ability.
Sometimes, we may do many things for our friends, but to receive
the complaining from them. If we are cheated or betrayed by our friends, it may
cause us angry and distrust them. Whatever it is, we find that the friendship
is temporary. It seems hardly to keep the long term friendship, unless we
cherish it very much.
So, the friendship is also impermanent. When it comes in life, we
welcome it. When it goes away, we don’t keep it. At the moment, there will be
no burden in our heart.
Planning has always not kept up
with change.
There is a Chinese saying, ”Artificial calculations are not as
good as those of heaven.” It also means that human calculations cannot keep up
with heaven's calculations. That is, any planning about our life may not be as
good as the arrangement for us from the heaven. It seems the destiny. But, it
also tells to have the open-minded attitude and not to tangle in the stuck
situation. It may be a good choice to turn around the way. And the light of our
future may be there.
So, the planning is also impermanent. But, it doesn’t mean that we
do not need to plan anything in our life. There is a saying, “The only constant
thing in the world is change.” When we know the impermanence of change, we
would have more flexibility in mind to deal with any change.
That all doing is impermanent is
a law of generating and eliminating.
Because that all doing is impermanent, any barely force to pursue
external things will bind our heart. When we do everything, we comply with any
cause and condition naturally, but not climb up by social ladder by barely
pursuing. Then, our heart will be free.
Understanding, facing, and dealing with the worldly impermanence,
and letting go of it after resolving it, nothing is occupied in our heart. Any
impermanent change will not be regarded as frustration, failure or regret, but
the wisdom growth of any experiences for us that enables us to face the change
of life with our open-minded.
When Buddha Shakyamuni entered the Nirvana, he said the following
verse:
That all doing is impermanent is a law of generating and
eliminating. Generation and elimination are eliminated. Stillness and
elimination are joy.
Everything is impermanent is a law of generating and eliminating,
which include to generate and eliminate a self thought, and thereafter to
generate and eliminate any self behavior and attitude.
So, the whole thing is basically concerned about self perceiving
and self reflection in heart. On the basis, we thereafter perceive and reflect
the external world. However, some beginners of learning Buddha don’t perceive
and reflect self, but to see and criticize the mistake of others and thus to
cause others to feel bad and hate Buddhism. If we will learn Buddha, it is
better for us to avoid such mistake.
Perceiving the spiritual awakening is the
Bodhi.
What is the spiritual awakening and what is the Bodhi? Relative to awakening is sleeping. It is a kind of describing.
When we don’t know our self Buddha-nature which is the serenity and stillness
in mind and nothingness in heart, we are like sleeping in the dark room and we
couldn’t see the brightness. Once we know our self Buddha-nature, it is as we
are awakening from the sunshine and could see the brightness, which is also
called enlightening. This is the simple and short explaining about spiritual
awakening.
There could be a lot of explaining about Bodhi. According to the
different degree of learning Buddha, Buddha Shakyamuni or the Master in
Buddhism will offer the different meaning from shallow to deep. We will read
the different meaning for Bodhi from the different Buddhist scripture. So, be
wise and don't be bind by one meaning.
Bodhi is originally the Sanskrit and means a tree which names
Bodhi. That is because Buddha Shakyamuni seat in meditation under a tree, where
he is enlightened and prove the supreme-equality-wisdom by self. Then, this
tree is called Bodhi tree. So, Buddha Shakyamuni uses the word “Bodhi” as
“enlightenment” or “prove the supreme-equality-wisdom”. The masters in Buddhism
usually explain Bodhi as compassion, wisdom, or becoming Buddha.
Perceiving the spiritual awakening is to have seen the self
Buddha-nature and to enlighten and to prove the self natural wisdom, and then
becoming Buddha, which whole experience is Bodhi.
How to perceive the spiritual awakening? There are three important
methods. That is, to listen to Buddha’s teaching or to read the Buddhist
scripture and its explanation, to think and to reason what the Buddha has
taught, and to put Buddha’s teaching into practice. The spiritual awakening
means to know self heart which is self nature, self Buddha nature.
Learning Buddha is to perceive the self spiritual awakening, not
to worship Buddha Shakyamuni. For the masses, they may not have such knowledge.
But, to worship Buddha will bring them hope and peace in heart. It is better
for us to understand such situation with our empathy.
Pinch a flower and smile. Outside of teaching,
other imparting, one heart to confirm the other heart.
When Buddha Shakyamuni is on the spirit-vulture mountain, he
pinches a flower and shows to his disciples and the masses. All of them are
silent, and do not understand what the meaning is. Only a Buddhist monk Mahakassapa comprehends about this with smiles.
Then, Buddha Shakyamuni says, ” I have the correct-law-eye-treasure,
Nirvana wondrous heart. The true phenomenon is without phenomenon. The wondrous
law-gate, no text is established. There is the other imparting outside of
teaching. These exhorts are imparted to Mahakassapa.”
This is the origin of Zen. “The correct-law-eye-treasure” is
translated from Chinese into English. “Law” here means “Buddha-law”. “Correct
law” means the whole Buddha law. “Eye” here means “to see and reflect the all
things clearly.” “Treasure” here means “hiding the treasure to include the all things.”
So, what Zen is imparted is the whole Buddha law which is
reflected the all things and it could be seen by us. It is the treasure which
could lead us into the Nirvana with our wondrous heart. What is the wondrous
heart? It is to realize that the true phenomenon is without phenomenon. How can
we go into the gate of such wondrous Buddha law? Its password and secret is the wondrous heart and no text. Such special and wondrous Buddha law is outside of
the normal Buddha’s teaching and these imparting are delivered to Mahakassapa.
Mahakassapa is the first generation of India Zen. The word
"Zen" is transliterated from Chinese. The system of Zen imparts from
the first generation which is the only one, to the next generation which is
also the only one. The method is one heart to confirm the other heart. In other
word, at the same generation, the second person has no chance to gain the
confirming from the Zen master. This rule continues until the sixth generation
of Chinese Zen. After him, Zen is broadly imparted and delivered in China.
The India Zen is from Mahakassapa to Dharma. Dharma can speak and
read in Chinese and he imparts Zen in China. He is respected as the first
generation of Chinese Zen. In Zen, each Zen master will leave his verses as
confirmation of enlightenment.
There is no text. Why? That is because it is from one mind to
communicate to the other mind in the emptiness. Where you can find the text? It
is unless someone records it on the paper.
If someone could not perceive the self spiritual awakening, it is
hardly for him to experience and prove the emptiness-nature, and to experience
the communication from one mind to the other mind in the emptiness. It is
hardly for us to be imparted and confirmed from Zen master in the emptiness, unless
we are the top supreme wise person, and have the merit and virtue in learning
Buddha.
In the worldly, there are golden-thread dresses and bowl to be
used as Zen heritage tokens which is ceased to happen after Zen master Huineng who is
the sixth generation of Chinese Zen.
Zen is not easy to be understood by the masses. That is why it is
single imparting, and why the Zen is the mystery and puzzle for the masses, and
why it is not publicly known in India.
Zen is publicly known by the masses since the Master Huineng, the
sixth generation of Chinese Zen. His time is in A.D.638-713. The master Huineng
imparts Zen for five disciples who are confirmed to be enlightened in Zen.
Then, these five disciples develop Zen everywhere in China. And at the same
time, Zen is also imparting to Japan and Korea.
The Zen master Huineng is illiteracy. As we know above, no text is
established in Zen. That is what the interesting. The illiteracy doesn’t be the
obstacle to be enlightened in wisdom. That is a special record in the Buddhist
history. This record also lets us know that, whatever the language is spoken,
it is not the obstacle for enlightening our natural wisdom. Why?
Any language is developed in a social group. As we have mentioned
before, the grandest Dao is speechless. That is, our natural wisdom is
speechless. Once we realize our natural wisdom, whether we are illiteracy or
what language we speak is not so important. Any text or language is just to
help us more easily understand what our natural wisdom is. In other word, any
text and language itself is not the natural wisdom. When we want to enlighten
our natural wisdom, we even have to abandon any text and language in the
temporarily.
Then we know human appearance or color of skin is also not
obstacle to enlighten our natural wisdom. As Buddha said, the true phenomenon
is without phenomenon. Human appearance or color of skin is the phenomenon
which could be changed in any time. And it is also the impermanence.
Verses demonstrate whose natural
wisdom is enlightened.
Zen master Hong Ren (A.D.601-674) was the fifth generation of
Chinese Zen. He directed a large Zen temple where many disciples learned Zen
from him. One of his disciples named Shenxiu was the chief professor who also
taught Zen. However, his heart had not yet been confirmed by the heart of the
Zen master Hong Ren.
All the disciples thought that the chief professor Shenxiu would
be the sixth generation of Chinese Zen. And they expected it to be true. One
day, Zen master Hong Ren asked his disciples to write down verses on the wall about
what they have enlightened in wisdom.
All disciples invited Shenxiu to write verses. Then, Shenxiu wrote
verses:
The Body is Bodhi tree.
The heart is like a stand of the bright mirror,
Which have to be often wiped
diligently, and
Do not make it provoked by dusts.
The dusts meant annoyance, trouble, or mistake. The verses meant
that we should remove any annoyance, trouble and mistake. It looked reasonable.
All disciples agreed with it cheerfully, and thought that everyone should
follow the verses to practice. They all thought that the sixth generation of
Chinese Zen must be Shenxiu.
At that time, Huineng passed by there from kitchen where he worked
and felt curious what they were talking about. A colleague told him what verses
Shenxiu had written.
Hearing that, Huineng had verses in heart and asked his colleague
to assist him to write down the verses on the wall:
There is no tree in the Bodhi
originally.
The bright mirror is also not a stand.
There is nothing in the
original.
Where the dust could be provoked?
All disciples read these verses curiously, did not understand what
they meant, and were all stunned.
Zen master Hong Ren came here and had read the verses on the wall.
He knew that Huineng had enlightened his natural wisdom. At the midnight, Zen
master Hong Ren spoke Diamond Sutra for Huineng and imparted the Zen to him,
including the golden-thread dresses and bowl. From the moment, Huineng was
confirmed by Zen master Hong Ren and became the sixth generation of Chinese
Zen. That is because his self spirit was awakened naturally.
Those who have such knowledge gain the
Dao quickly.
Basically, there is no wrong for the two verses. But, do you know
the difference of the verses said above between Shenxiu and Huineng? Shenxiu
has not yet seen his self nature. However, Huineng has already seen his self
nature. The self nature is the Buddha nature. That is what the difference
between them, and such difference has decided their different destiny and
future.
What is the difference? In a word, it is the difference of the
general person and the Bodhisattva. It is also the difference of distinguishing
wisdom and no-distinguishing wisdom. It is only the difference by a thought. It
is so simple. However, it is very hardly to be understood by the masses.
What is the difference between distinguishing wisdom and
no-distinguishing wisdom? For the general people, they are good at the
distinguishing intellect, especially the elite. The ability of analysis,
research and debating is the distinguishing intellect. But, it is not the no-distinguishing wisdom.
The distinguishing wisdom could help us distinguish what is the
true virtue and what is the true evil, and we know that we should do the true
virtue and not do the true evil. So, to have the distinguishing wisdom is a
good thing. For the general people, they may have the distinguishing wisdom. But,
it is not enough, if we want to learn Buddha.
To learn Buddha, we must realize the no-distinguishing wisdom on
the basis of distinguishing wisdom. Only we are in the state of
no-distinguishing wisdom, we will realize the wisdom without binary opposition.
That is the top supreme wisdom.
If we want to realize such wisdom, we have to realize the
emptiness nature. However, it is hardly to realize it for anyone. So, Shenxiu
may have the distinguishing wisdom. But, he does not have the no-distinguishing
wisdom. That is why he cannot be the leader of the sixth generation of Chinese
Zen.
For the masses, some people even do not have the distinguishing
ability to distinguish what is good and what is evil, let alone to have the
distinguishing wisdom. That is why they do the evil things and even do not have
the feeling of shame.
Perceiving the sky, land and the world, to have a thought of the
impermanence, it would lead us to realize these natures and essences are
emptiness. The essences of the impermanence is the emptiness nature. The changing of phenomenon is the impermanence, this is like the illusion, and is not real, and this is the perceive of fake. The essences of the impermanence is the emptiness, this is the real and permanence, and this is the perceive of truth. From that, we extend to
realize that the nature and essence of our spiritual awakening is also
emptiness. Then, what they mean for us? It is the wisdom of no obstacle, and
which is the all wisdom, including the distinguishing wisdom and the
no-distinguishing wisdom. The changing of phenomenon and the corresponding impermanence are belonging to the distinguishing wisdom. The essences of the impermanence is the emptiness, this is the truth and permanence, and is belonging to the no-distinguishing wisdom. The essences of all of them are the wisdom of emptiness nature. That is, the fake and the real are one, the illusion and the truth are one. Huineng
realize it and that is why he can be the leader of the sixth generation of Chinese
Zen.
If we have such knowledge as said above, we gain the Dao quickly.
What the next we should do is to practice it, realize it and confirm it. In the
Heaven and in the world, no one is as superior and wondrous as Buddha. The
merit and virtue of Buddha is deep as sea. Life is short and it is difficult to
gain our human body. If we have the chance to read this article, it is better
for us to cherish our Buddha nature to learn Buddha.
p.s. Dao is Tao, which is
transliterated from Chinese. The original meaning of Dao is the way and it is
extended to be the truth of life that we can learn and practice in our lives.
Supplementary note: Dao is transliterated from Chinese, meaning way and method, deeper meaning as a system of learning or religion.
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