How far we can depend on the earlier part of this traditional account is much questioned, for it is not supported by any documents dated earlier than the eleventh century. It is not our purpose in this chapter to make a scholar-ly examination of this problem. Suffice it to say that no scholar today takes
* For the traditional account, see Yang Yi (974-102.0), Ch'uan Teng Lu or Record of the Transmission of the Light, ch Han I.
418 CH'ANISM: THE PHILOSOPHY OF SILENCE
the tradition very seriously. Indeed, as we have already seen in the last chap-ter, the theoretical background for Ch'anism had already been created in China by such men as Seng—chao and Tao—sheng. Given this background, the rise of Ch anism would seem to have been almost inevitable, without looking to the almost legendary Bodhidharma as its founder.
The split in the Ch an school caused by Shen —hsiu and Hui —neng is, however, a historical fact. The difference between these founders of the Northern and Southern schools represents the earlier difference between the Hsing tsung (Universal Mind school) and K ' ung tsung (Empty school) that was described in the last chapter. This can be seen in Hui—neng s own au-tobiography. From this work we learn that Hui -neng was a native of the present Kwangtung province and became a student of Buddhism under Hung—jen. The account continues that one day Hung—jen, realizing that his time was nearly over, summoned his disciples together and told them that a successor must now be appointed; this successor would be the disciple who could write the best poem summarizing the teaching of Ch anism.
Shen—hsiu then wrote a poem which read:
The body is like unto the Bodhi-tree, And the mind to a mirror bright; Carefully we cleanse them hour by hour Lest dust should fall upon them.
To refute this idea, Hui—neng then wrote the following poem:
Originally there was no Bodhi-tree, Nor was there any mirror; Since originally there was nothing, Whereon can the dust fall?
It is said that Hung—jen approved Hui—neng s poem and appointed him as his successor, the sixth Patriarch.*
Shen-hsiu's poem emphasized the Universal Mind or Buddha Nature spo-ken of by Tao-sheng, while Hui-neng s emphasized the Wu (Non-being) of Seng-chao. There are two phrases that often occur in Ch anism. One is, "The very mind is Buddha"; the other, "not-mind,and not-Buddha. ' Shen-hsiu's poem is the expression of the first phrase, and Hui-neng 's of the sec-ond.
* See the Liu-tsu T' an-ching or Sulra Spoken by the Sixth Patriarch, chtitml.
420 CH' ANISM: THE PHILOSOPHY OF SILENCE
The First Principle Is Inexpressible
In later times the Ch'an school in its major development followed the line set by Hui —neng. In it the combination already begun between the Empty school and Taoism reached its climax. What the Empty school called higher sense truth on the third level, the Ch'anists called the First Principle. As we have seen in the last chapter, on this third level one simply cannot say any-thing. Hence the First Principle is by its very nature inexpressible. The Ch' an Master Wen-yi (died 958) was once asked: "What is the First Principle?" To which he answered: If I were to tell you, it would become the second principle. {Wen-yi Ch'an-shih Yii-lu or Sayings of the Ch an Master Wen-yi. )
It was the principle of the Ch an Masters to teach their disciples only through personal contact. For the benefit of those who did not have opportu-nity for such contact, however, written records were made of the sayings of the Masters, which were known as yii lu (recorded conversations). This was a practice that was later taken over by the Neo -Confucianists. In these records, we often find that when a student ventured to ask some question about the fundamental principles of Buddhism, he would often he given a beating by his Ch'an Master, or some quite irrelevant answer. He might, for example, be told that the price of a certain vegetable was then three cents. These answers seem very paradoxical to those who are not familiar with the purpose of Ch anism. But this purpose is simply to let the student know that what he asks about is not answerable. Once he understands that, he under-stands a great deal.
The First Principle is inexpressible, because what is called the Wu is not something about which anything can be said. By calling it "Mind ' or any other name, one is at once giving it a definition and thus imposing on it a limitation. As the Ch anists and Taoists both say, one thereby falls into the "net of words." Ma—tsu or the Patriarch Ma (died 7^8), a disciple of ihe dis-ciple of Hui-neng, was once asked: "Why do you say that the very mind is Buddha?" Ma-tsu answered: "I simply want to stop the crying of children."" Suppose they do stop crying?" asked the questioner. Then not-mind, not-Buddha," was the answer.*
Another student asked Ma-tsu: "What kind of man is he who is not linked to all things?" The Master answered: "Wait until in one gulp you can drink up all the water in the West River, then I willtell you. (Ibid.) Such an acl is obviously impossible and by suggesting it Ma-tsu meant to indicate to the stu-dent that he would not answer his question. His question, in fact, was really not answerable,because he who is not linked to all things is one who tran-scends all things. This being so, how can you ask what kind of man he is?
Yi-tsang (of the Sung dynasty), Ku-tsuii-hsii Yu-lu or Recorded Sayings of Ancient Worthies, chiion 1.
411 CH'ANISM: THE PHILOSOPHY OF SILENCE 1
There were Ch'an Masters who used silence to express the idea of Wu or the First Principle. It is said, for example, that when Hui-chung (died 775) was to debate with another monk, he simply mounted his chair and remained silent. The other monk then said: "Please propose your thesis so I can ar-gue. Hui—chung replied: I have already proposed my thesis. The monk asked: What is it? Hui—chung said: I know it is beyond your understand-ing," and with this left his chair. (Record of the Transmission of the Light, chiian 5.) The thesis Hui—chung proposed was that of silence. Since the First Principle or Wu is not something about which anything can be said, the best way to expound it is to remain silent.
From this point of view no Scriptures or Sutras have any real connection with the First Principle. Hence the Ch an Master Yi —hstian (died 866), founder of a group in Ch anism known as the Lin—chi school, said: If you want to have the right understanding, you must not be deceived by others. You should kill everything that you meet internally or externally. If you meet Buddha, kill Buddha. If you meet the Patriarchs, kill the Patriarchs.... Then you can gain your emancipation." (Recorded Savings of Ancient Worthies, chiian 4-)
Method of Cultivation
The knowledge of the First Principle is knowledge that is nonknowledge; hence the method of cultivation is also cultivation that is non-cultivation. It is said that Ma-tsu, before he became a disciple of Huai-jang (died 744), lived on the Heng Mountain (in present Hunan province). There he occupied a solitary hut in which,all alone, he practiced meditation. One day Huai-jang began to grind some bricks in front of the hui. When Ma-tsu saw it, he asked Huai-jang what he was doing. He replied that he was planning to make a mirror. Ma-tsu said: "How can grinding bricks make a mirror? Huai-jang said: If grinding bricks cannot make a mirror, how can meditation make a Buddha?" By this saying Ma-tsu was enlightened and thereupon became Huai—jang s disciple. (Recorded Sayings of Ancient worthies, chiian 1.)
Thus according to Ch anism, the best method of cultivation for achieving Buddhahood is not to practice any cultivation. To cultivate oneself in this way is to exercise deliberate effort, which is yu—wei (having action). This yu-wei will, to be sure, produce some good effect, but it will not be ever-lasting. The Ch'an Master Hsi-yiin (died 847), known as the Master of Huang—po, said: Supposing that through innumerable lives a man has prac-ticed the six paramitas [methods of gaining salvation], done good and at-tained the Buddha Wisdom, this will still not last forever. The reason lies in causation. When the force of the cause is exhausted, he reverts to ihe imper-manent." (Recorded Sayings of Ancient Worthies, chiian 3-)
Again he said: "All deeds are essentially impermanent. All forces have their final day. They are like a dart discharged through the air; when its
424 CH'ANISM: THE PHILOSOPHY OF SILENCE
strength is exhausted, it turns and falls to the ground. They are all connected with the Wheel of Birth and Death. To practice cultivation through them is to misunderstand the Buddha s idea and waste labor. (Ibid.)
And yet again: "If you do not understand wu hsin \_absence of a purpose-ful mind], then you are attached to objects, and suffer from obstructions.... Actually there is no such thing as Bodhi [Wisdom]. That the Buddha talked about it was simply as a means to educate men, just as yellow leaves may be taken as gold coins in order to stop the crying of children....The only thing to be done is to rid yourself of your old Karma, as opportunity offers, and not to create new Karma from which will flow new calamities. (Ibid.)
Thus the best method of spiritual cultivation is to do one's tasks without deliberate effort or purposeful mind. This is exactly what the Taoists called wu—wei (non—action) and wu-hsin (no—mind). It is what Hui—yuan s theory signifies, as well as, probably, the statement of Tao—sheng that a good deed does not entail retribution." This method of cultivation does not aim at doing things in order to obtain resulting good effects, no matter how good these ef-fects may be in themselves. Rather it aims at doing things in such a way as to entail no effects at all. When all one's actions entail no effect, then after the effects of previously accumulated Karma have exhausted themselves, one will gain emancipation from the Wheel of Birth and Death and attain Nirvana.
To do things without deliberate effort and purposeful mind is to do things naturally and to live naturally. Yi-hsilan said: "To achieve Buddhahood there is no place for deliberate effort. The only method is to carry on one s ordinary and uneventful tasks: relieve one s bowels, pass water, wear one's clothes, eat one's meals, and when tired, lie down. The simple fellow will laugh at you, but the wise will understand." (Recorded Sayings of Ancient Worthies, chiian 4.) The reason why those who try to achieve Buddhahood so often fail to follow this course is because they lack self-confidence. Yi-hsiian said: "Nowadays people who engage in spiritual cultivation fail to achieve their ends. Their fault is not having faith in themselves....Do you wish to know who are the Patriarchs and Buddha? All of you who are before me are the Patriarchs and Buddha. ' (Ibid.)
Thus the way to practice spiritual cultivation is to have adequate confi-dence in one s self and discard everything else. All one should do is to pur-sue the ordinary tasks of one's everyday life, and nothing more. This is what the Chan Masters call cultivation through non-cultivation.
Here a question arises: Granted that this be so, then what is the difference between the man who engages in cultivation of this kind and the man who engages in no cultivation at all? If the latter does precisely what the former does, he too should achieve Nirvana, and so there should come a time when there will be no Wheel of Birth and Death at all.
To this question it may be answered that although to wear clothes and eat meals are in themselves common and simple matters, it is still not easy to do
42-6 CH' ANISM: THE PHILOSOPHY OF SILENCE 1
them with a completely non—purposeful mind and thus without any attach-ment. A person likes fine clothes, for example, but dislikes bad ones, and he feels pleased when others admire his clothes. These are all the attachments that result from wearing clothes. What the Ch an Masters emphasized is that spiritual cultivation does not require special acts, such as the ceremonies and prayers of institutionalized religion. One should simply try to be without a purposeful mind or any attachments in one s daily life; then cultivation re-sults from the mere carrying on of the common and simple affairs of daily life. In the beginning one will need to exert effort in order to be without ef-fort, and to exercise a purposeful mind in order not to have such a mind, just as, in order to forget, one at first needs to remember that one should forget. Later, however, the time comes when one must discard the effort to be with-out effort, and the mind that purposefully tries to have no purpose, just as one finally forgets to remember that one has to forget.
Thus cultivation through non-cultivation is itself a kind of cultivation, just as knowledge that is not knowledge is nevertheless still a form of knowledge. Such knowledge differs from original ignorance, and cultivation through non-cullivation likewise differs from original naturalness. For original ignorance and naturalness are gifts of nature, whereas knowledge that is not knowledge and cultivation through non-cultivation are both products of the spirit.
Sudden Enlightenment
The practice of cultivation, no matter for how long, is in itself only a sort of preparatory work. For Buddhahood to be achieved, this cultivation must be climaxed by a Sudden Enlightenment, such as was described in the last chapter as comparable to the leaping over of a precipice. Only after this leaping has taken place can Buddhahood be achieved.
Such Enlightenment is often referred to by the Ch'an Masters as the "vi-sion of the Too. P u-yiian, known as the Master of Nan-ch tian (died 830), told his disciple: "The Too is not classifiable as either knowledge or non-knowledge. Knowledge is illusory consciousness and non—knowledge is blind unconsciousness. If you really comprehend the indubitable Too, it is like a wide expanse of emptiness, so how can distinctions be forced in it between right and wrong?'" (Recorded Sayings of Ancient Worthies, chiian 13.) Com-prehension of the Too is the same as being one with it. Its wide expanse of emptiness is not a void; it is simply a state in which all distinctions are gone.
This state is described by the Ch'an Masters as one in which "knowledge and truth become undifferentiable, objects and spirit form a single unity, and there ceases to be a distinction between the experiencer and the experi-enced." (Ibid., chiian 32..) "A man who drinks water knows by himself whether it is cold or warm. " This last expression first appeared in the Sutra Spoken by the Sixth Patriarch (Hui-neng), but it was later widely quoted by
