2.1. The Thought of Buddha-nature in Chan

Among Chinese Buddhist schools, Chan or Patriarch-meditation is a unique school that advocates its practice does not rely on the canon, but can help people directly realize their Buddha-nature to become the Buddhas.^[1] The Chinese term Chan is an abbreviation of Channa transcribed from the Sanskrit “Dhyāna” meaning meditation. However, in fact, Chan usually refers to the Chinese term Chanzong, i.e. Chan School, one of the Chinese Buddhist schools, rather than Indian meditation. Chan does not follow customary methods in Buddhist sacred books, but either directly points the human mind to realize the Buddha-nature, or uses its own special and strange methods such as shouting, beating, gongan, huatou, or sitting in silent and illuminating meditation (mozhao), etc. to help practitioners to realize their own nature and become the Buddha.

As mentioned above, the doctrinal foundation of Chan is based on the following verses:

A special transmission outside the scriptures
No dependence upon words and letters
Direct pointing to the human mind
Seeing into one’s own nature and attaining Buddhahood

These four verses were attributed to Bodhidharma by Chan tradition; however, modern scholars said that they were formulated later and not by Bodhidharma himself. D.T. Suzuki suggests that Nanquan puyuan (738-835 C.E.) of the Tang dynasty (618-907 C.E.) might be the author of these verses.^[2] The verses clearly emphasize the practice of “ Direct pointing to the human mind” and the aim of “ Seeing into one’s own nature and attaining Buddhahood” in Chan. “Human mind” here is the Aālayavijñāna; seeing into “one‘s own nature” is to realize that the nature of human mind is the Buddha-nature. In other words, when the human mind or the Aālayavijñāna or the Buddha-nature is uncovered from all defilements and ignorance, the Buddhahood is attained. Therefore, the verses indirectly mention a pure, original Buddha-nature which inherently exists in everyone but becomes obscured by mental pollutants or ignorance. Thus, according to these verses, no meditation but “direct pointing” was needed to “see the Buddha-nature” (jianxing 見性), to “attain all-at-once enlightenment” (dunwu 頓悟) and to “become the Buddha” (chengfo 成佛). However, these teaching and practice of Chan appeared only after the time of Shenhui (670-762 CE), the dharma heir of the sixth patriarch Huineng, although some scholars accused Shenhui of intellectualizing the process; because it was agreed, as in the Platform Sūtra of Huineng, that samādhi (ding) and prajña (hui) of the Buddha-nature are indivisible and equal, one can clearly and instantaneously see the Buddha-nature.^[3]

Some modern historians place Daosheng in the lineage of the Chan School, for instance, Hu Shih takes him as the founder of this school;^[4] however, most scholars reach a decision that Bodhidharma is the founder of this school. So, it may be safe to consider Daosheng as the theoretical forerunner of Chan because, as already discussed above, his doctrines of sudden enlightenment and the universality of the Buddha-nature are only intellectual, noetic and cognitive, without practical approaches.

Thus, the evolution of Chan in China is associated with Bodhidharma (470-534 CE), who brought Chan practice from India to China. The date of his arrival in China is different. One early account claims that he arrived during the Liu Song Dynasty (420–479 CE) and later accounts date his arrival to the Liang Dynasty (502–557 CE); however, modern scholars agree his arrival date about the early 5^th century, i.e. 520 CE.^[5] According to Chan tradition, He is the twentyeighth patriarch after the Gautama Buddha in the Indian lineage, and the first Chinese patriarch or the founder of Chan. However, the Indian lineage of the twenty-eight patriarchs of Chan in India, according to Suzuki, is only a fictitious production of the early writers of Chan history in China. Although Bodhidharma is a historical person, his life is covered by various legends. There are two legends about his biography. One says he is a Persian, the other says he is South Indian.

The life of Bodhidharma, according to the four earliest texts concerning with the history of Chan, is as follows:

- The Record of the Buddhist Monasteries of Luoyang (Luoyang Qielanji), which was compiled in 547 by Yangxuanzhi, is the earliest work mentioning Bodhidharma.

The text describes that at that time, there was a monk of the Western region, a Persian Central Asian, named Bodhidharma:

時有西域沙門菩提達磨者,波斯國胡人也.^[6]

-The Tanlin‘s preface to the Two Entrances and Four Acts (Putidamodashi Luebiandacheng Rudaosixingguan), a text traditionally attributed to Bodhidharma, identifies Bodhidharma as the third prince of a great Indian king of South India. Lamenting the decline of the true teaching in the outlands, Bodhidharma became a monk and subsequently crossed distant mountains and seas to China to propagate the Buddha‘s teaching.

The Tan-lin‘s preface also mentions two Bodhidharma‘s special disciples, Daoyu and Huike:

是婆羅門國王第三之子也.神慧疏朗.聞皆曉悟.志存摩訶衍道.故捨素隨緇.紹隆聖種冥心虛寂.通鑒世事內外俱明.德超世表.悲悔邊隅正教陵替.遂能遠涉山海遊化漢魏.亡心之士莫不歸信.存見之流乃生譏謗.于時唯有道育惠可此二沙門.^[7]

- Chronicle of the Laṅkāvatārasūtra Masters (Lengqie Shiziji) by Jingjue (683-750 CE) dates from 713-716 CE. The text writes:

The teacher of the Dharma, who came from South India in the Western Regions, the third son of a great Brahman king:

法師者.西域南天竺國.
是大婆羅門國王第三之子.^[8]

- Further Biographies of Eminent Monks (Xugaosengzhuan) by Daoxuan (596-667 CE) in 645 CE, writes that Bodhidharma is of “South Indian Brahman family”:

菩提達摩.南天竺婆羅門種.^[9]

Other later texts also mention the biography of Bodhidharma such as the Records of the Transmission of the Lamp (Jingdechuandenglu)^[10] by Daoyuan in 1004 CE, in the Jing-te era of the Song dynasty, etc.

According to the Bodhidharma’s Two Entrances and Four Acts (Putidamodashi Luebiandacheng Rudaosixingguan), the Bodhidharma‘s teachings and practices were comprised in two ways: entering by principle (Li 理) and entering by practice (xing 行):

夫入道多途。要而言之不出二種。一是理入。二是行入。理入者謂藉教悟宗。深信含生同一真性。但為客塵妄想所覆不能顯了。若也捨妄歸真。凝住壁觀。無自無他。凡聖等一堅住不移。更不隨文教。此即與理冥符無有分別。寂然無為名之理入。行入謂四行。其餘諸行悉入此中。何等四耶。一報冤行。二隨緣行。三無所求行。四稱法行。云何.^[11]

“Now, in entering the path there are many roads. To summarize them, they reduce to two types. The first is entrance by principle and the second is entrance by practice. Entering by principle means that one awakens to the thesis by means of the teachings, and one deeply believes that all living beings, common and sagely, are identical to the True Nature; that it is merely because of the unreal covering of adventitious dust that the True Nature is not revealed. If one rejects the false and reverts to the real and in a coagulated state abides in wall-examining, then self and other, common and sage, are identical; firmly abiding without shifting, in no way following after the written teachings -this is mystenously tallying with principle. It is non-discriminative, quiescent, and inactive; we call it entrance by principle. Entering by practice means the Four Acts, for all other practices are included within these. What are the four? The first is the practice of requiring injury; the second is the practice of following conditions; the third is the practice of having nothing to be sought; and the fourth is the practice of according with Dharma.”^[12]

The practice of these Four Acts can be understood as follows. The first is the practice of requiring injury (baoyuanxing) that involves the ripening of bad karma-fruits of the faults of one‘s past lives. The second is the practice of following conditions (suiyuanxing) involving perceiving suffering and joy, gain and loss, and accepting them with equanimity, for both arise from and follow conditions. Mind has neither increase nor decrease. The third is the practice of having nothing to be sought (wusuoqiuxing) involving detaching oneself from worldly existence by awakening to reality, keeping quiet mind and practicing no-action. The fourth is the practice of according with Dharma (chengfaxing) means according to principle of intrinsic purity. Thus, in order to eliminate false thought, one practices the six perfections, and yet there is nothing that is practiced.^[13]

Another important concept in the “Entering by principle” is the practice of Bodhidharma‘s biguan. Bi 壁 means “straight-standing wall” and guan 觀 means “examining”. Biguan 壁觀 literally means “wallcontemplating,” “wall-examining,” “wall-gazing,” or seeing into the straight-standing wall. So biguan may be also understood as a state of human mind, it indicates the undefiled state of human mind like a straight-standing wall in front of both external contacts and internal defilements; it is not extinction despite recklessness, because it always awakes itself. Suzuki said that biguan was the most significant phrase in the Bodhidharma‘s text, so he did not translate it into a literal sense.^[14] In the text,^[15] biguan is described that all living beings, common and sagely, are identical to the True Nature; that it is merely because of the unreal covering of adventitious dust that the True Nature is not revealed. If one rejects the false and reverts to the real and in a coagulated state abides in wall-examining, then self and other, common and sage, are identical.

Thus, biguan or “wall-examining” mentions the coagulated state in which all unreal covering of adventitious defilements are destroyed and the True Nature or Buddha-nature is uncovered. In other words, biguan is not simply a method of meditation practice like the practice of śamathavipaśyanā in the Early Buddhist meditation; it is a state of uncovered Buddha-nature or the dharmakāya, a state of the Buddha mind.

Relating to the biguan, Chan tradition tells the story of Bodhidharma‘s Nine years of wall-gazing. It is said that Bodhidharma has travelled to the northern Chinese kingdom of Wei to the Shaolin Monastery after he failed to make a favorable impression with Emperor Liangwudi in Southern China. After either being refused entry to the shaolin temple or being ejected after a short time, he lived in a nearby cave, where he faced a wall for nine years, not speaking for the entire time. So he became to be known as the “Biguan Brahman”.^[16]

Suzuki also quoted and translated from the Records of the Transmission of the Lamp to explain further the meaning of the biguan. It is the conversation between Bodhidharma and his disciple Huike:

“Externally, keep yourself away from all relationships, and internally, have no hankerings in your heart; when your mind is like unto a straight-standing wall you may enter into the Dao”. Huike tried variously to explain the reason of mind, but failed to realize the truth itself. The master simply said, “No! No!” and never proposed to explain to his disciple what was the mindessence in its thoughtless state that is, in its pure being. Later said Huike, “I know how to keep myself away from all relationships.” “You make it a total annihilation, do you not?” queried the master. “No, master,” replied Huike, “I do not make it a total annihilation.” “How do you testify your statement?” “For I know it always in a most intelligible manner, but to express it in words -that is impossible.” Thereupon, said the master, “That is the mind-essence itself transmitted by all the Buddhas.”^[17]

Thus, the Bodhidharma‘s biguan is the state of realization of the Buddha-nature leading human mind to the state of calmness like a straight-standing wall in order to enter the absolute reality or Dao. it is the mind-essence or Buddha-nature itself transmitted by all the Buddhas.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Dīghanikāya.Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011). Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism, Vol. I, p. 176

[2]:

Ibid.

[3]:

Robert E. Buswell, Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Vol. I, p. 130.

[4]:

Hu Shih, “Development of Zen Buddhism in China,” Chinese Social and Political Science Review 15, no. 4 (January 1932), p. 483.

[5]:

Robert E. Buswell, Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Vol. I, p. 57.

[6]:

Luoyang Qielanji 洛陽伽藍記, Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011) [T51n2092], p. 1000b19-20.

[7]:

Putidamodashi Luebiandacheng Rudaosixingguan 菩提達磨大師略辨大乘入道四行觀, Xuzangjing 63n1217, pp. 0001a08-11.

[8]:

Lengjia Shiziji 楞伽師資記, Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011) [T85n2837], p. 1284c21.

[9]:

Xugaosengzhuan 續高僧傳, Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011) [T50n2060], p. 551b27.

[10]:

Jingdechuandenglu, Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011) [T51n2076], pp. 196-467

[11]:

Putidamodashi Luebiandacheng Rudaosixingguan, Xuzangjing 63n1217, p. 0001a20.

[12]:

Jeffrey L. Broughton, The Bodhidharma Anthology: The Earliest Records of Zen, p. 9

[13]:

Jeffrey L. Broughton, The Bodhidharma Anthology: The Earliest Records of Zen, p. 9. Cf. Xuzangjing 63n1217, p. 0001b03-18.

[14]:

Dīghanikāya. Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011). Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism, Vol. I, p. 170.

[15]:

Xuzangjing 63n1217, p. 0001a20.

[16]:

Dīghanikāya. Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011). Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism, Vol. I, p. 189.

[17]:

Dīghanikāya. Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011). Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism, Vol. I, p. 185