Principles

This guy’s nick name is Meditation Wisdom

Zen’s Chinese Heritage By Andy Ferguson What follows is an excerpt from the introduction to The Complete Compilation of the Sources of Zen by Guifeng Zongmi (780-841) Chan is an Indian word. It comes from the complete word chan na [in San- skrit, dhyana]. Here, we say that this word means "the practice of mind" or "quiet contemplation." These meanings can all be put under the title of "med- itation." The source of Zen is true enlightened nature of all beings, which is also called "buddha nature," or "mind-ground." Enlightenment is called "wis- dom." Practice is called "meditation." Chan" is the unity of these two terms. This nature is the fundamental source of Zen. The ancients called it "Zen's source," or "Chan na," or "The practice of principle." This fundamental source is the Zen principle. When_ one forgets the passions and meets this principle, then that is Zen practice, which is what the ancients called the "practice of prin- ciple." Of course, now authors from the various Zen schools all write much 246 THE CLASSICAL PERIOD About the Zen principle/ but very little about Zen practice. For this reason I have entitled this book, "The Sources of Zen." In these times there are people who have seen that true nature is Zen, but they have not attained the practice of principle, and moreover they don’t understand the meaning of these Chinese and Indian sounds. There is a Zen body that is not separate from true nature Yet living beings are confused about the truth and are caught up in the world This is known as distraction-" When the world is left behind and one unites with truth , this is zen meditation." If we speak directly about "fundamental nature," then there is no truth and no "delusion," no "leaving behind" and no "uniting with," no "meditation" and no "dissipation." So what is it that we call "Zen" ? Moreover, this true nature is not only the source of the Zen gate. It is also the source of the ten thousand things of the world. Thus, it is also called Dharma nature. It is also the source of the delusion and enlightenment of living beings and is thus called [in the Surangama Sutra] the "Tathagatas' Storehouse Consciousness." It is also the source of the ten thousand virtues of the buddhas, and thus it is called "buddha nature." It is also the source of the ten thousand practices of a bodhisattva, and thus is known as the "mind-ground." [In the Brahma-Net Sutra] it says, "It is the fundamental source of all buddhas; it is the foundation of the path of practicing bodhisattvas; and it is the source of all beings and all buddhas." These ten thousand practices do not go beyond the six paramitas. Zen meditation is only one of the six paramitas. It is the fifth one. ., it can be said that anyone who witnesses true nature is practicing Zen. Moreover; the practice of Zen meditation is most sublime and mysterious, and it fosters an imperturbable wisdom upon its practitioner's nature. All of the sublime functions, the ten thousand practices, and the ten thousand virtues that lead to the pervasive spiritual light come forth from.Zen meditation. For this reason, persons of the three vehicles [Buddhists] who wish to follow the sacred path must all practice Zen. Aside from this there is no other entrance gate. Aside from this there is no other path, including the paths of calling out Buddha's name to gain birth in the Western Paradise, practicing the sixteen pre- Cepts/ attaining Samadhi by chanting Buddha's name, practicing the pratyupanna samadhi, and so on. True nature has no pollution or purity, nor is there a difference between sacred and mundane. Zen schools that hold to ideas of "shallow" and "deep various //Stages" of practice, and so on or who claim to have some mystical strategy or who practice while taking pleasure in what is above and despising TWELFTH GENERATION 247

what is down below, are practicing heretical Zen. If someone believes in karma and practices with the idea of good and bad, then that is the Zen of ordi. nary people. Practicing for the sake of the partial truth of self-enlightenment is the way of Hinayana Zen. Practicing for the enlightenment of the self and all beings is the way of Mahayana Zen. (Within these four types of Zen, each has its own different type of form and emptiness.) If you instantly realize that your mind is fundamentally pure, that from the beginning there are no defilements, and that you are fully endowed with an imperturbable wisdom, then you know that this mind is buddha mind, without any difference. Practicing in this manner is the Zen of the highest vehicle, and it is known as the pure Zen of the Tathagatas, the Zen of one practice and three samadhis, or the Samadhi of true thusness. Guifeng died in the year 841 while visiting Xingfuta Monastery to perform ordination ceremonies.