El público en los estadios

When you read this book, it is like going to the market to buy veg­

etables. Once you have bought the vegetables, you have the basic ingredients to do your cooking. I hope that when you read the mate­

rial, after you have understood my ideas, you yourselves will go seek realization and cultivate practice. The essential framework for the previous two chapters was threefold: seeing the truth of the Buddhist teaching, cultivating realization, and carrying out vows. These are the keys to self-cultivation.

Cultivating samadhi is no more than one item in the process of cultivating realization. Samadhi, or meditative concentration, is a com­

mon method in the world that the Buddha Dharma and the non­

Buddhist paths have in common. Meditative concentration is not a method peculiar to the Buddha Dharma. Therefore, do not equate meditative concentration with the Buddha Dharma. You must clearly recognize that the method that the Buddha Dharma does not share with other paths is prajna, or wisdom.

Samadhi is one form of cultivating practice, but cultivating wis­

dom is not apart from samadhi. In other words, people following non­

Buddhist paths can all achieve meditative concentration. How could it be that those of you who are studying Buddhism could not manage to do this? Shakyamuni Buddha said, "The buddhas can master all forms of knowledge, and penetrate to the source of the myriad dhar­

mas." The buddhas can master all the myriad teachings, and be teach­

ers to devas and humans. Since you want to study Buddhism, naturally you must all learn samadhi and develop prajna.

In your prajna is not sufficient, then the Buddha Dharma becomes a realm of delusion, which we cling to and make into a "self." For example, the realms of the five skandhas-the skandha of form, the skandha of sensation, the skandha of perception, the skandha of syn­

thesis, the skandha of consciousness-become equal to the fifty kinds of delusion involving the skandhas that they can generate. When some people sit in meditation, as soon as they hear of "running into

42 I Master Nan Huai-Chin

the fire and going among the demons of delusion," they are terrified.

Thus they go among the demons of delusion on the spot, and can­

not keep sitting.

In reality, where does the fire come from? Where do the demons of delusion come from? The Chinese character for "demon of delu­

sion" is a transformation of another character, which was devised in order to transliterate the Sanskrit word mara; originally there was no such character. Just as the people of the whole world speak of ghosts, this concept of demons cannot be separated from the pattern of think­

ing of the human race. When it comes to "heaven" and "spirits," the ideas of West and East are all the same. When there are ghosts in your consciousness, then ghosts come. As the saying goes, "You open your mouth and the spirit breath scatters, your mind moves and the fire work goes cold." Running into the fire and going among the demons of delusion is your mental activity going wrong, some­

thing you make for yourself. It is yourself deluding yourself, that's all.

There are fundamentally no such things as demons in the world: it is just a case of ordinary people making trouble for themselves.

The saying, "Running into the fire and going among the demons"

is something written at random in a novel about wandering warriors.

Why do I mention it? Because we have cited the realms of the five skandhas. Each of the skandhas has ten realms of delusive demons. In fact, there are not only ten: Buddha was just speaking of the basic principle when he used the figure ten. Everything in present-day soci­

ety, and human psychology, and the development of civilization, is the realm of the demons of delusion, but no one has seen this clearly.

One reason is that the Buddhist scriptures are already too ancient, and people are perplexed by them. The other reason is that people are too modernized, and do not see clearly. Combining these two fac­

tors, we know that our Buddha, the Tathagata, with his great com­

passion, has already explained everything.

If I were to give a complete explanation of the fifty kinds of delu­

sion associated with the skandhas, it would take several months, so for now I'll be brief.

When I first introduced the realm of the skandha of form, I mentioned the scriptural statement that "solidified false thoughts are its basis." Buddha has analyzed false thinking very clearly. Some peo­

ple do not understand what the phrase "solidified false thoughts"

means. You have all paid a visit to a hospital for the mentally ill, haven't you? That unbreakable pathological psychology which creates

WORKING TOWARD ENLIGHTENMENT / 43

mental illness is one form of solidified false thoughts. Strictly speak­

ing, if we enlarge our scope of discussion, the whole of the realm of the skandha of form is all in the province of solidified false thoughts.

We must exhaust the skandha of form: only then can we break out of

·· the boundaries of false thought.

Let us now take another look at what the situation is after we have exhausted the skandha of sensation. The sutra says: "When a person has cultivated samadhi to the point that the skandha of sensa­

tion is exhausted, even though defilements are not totally ended, the mind separates from the physical form like a bird escaping from a cage. This the person can already accomplish. From this body of an ordinary person, he mounts through the sixty holy stations of the bodhisattvas, and attains an embodiment generated by will, so that he is unobstructed wherever he goes."

When we feel comfortable as we sit in meditation, when after a little while our legs get numb, these feelings are all within the scope of the skandha of sensation. The skandha of sensation is exhausted only when we escape from these configurations of feeling. When the skandha of sensation is exhausted, by no means is it like being a dead man. It is a feeling of joy, of comfort, of merging with the universe, of merging with space. It is indescribable, and I don't want to describe it, because if you have not reached this realm, there is no way for you to understand.

After the skandha of sensation is exhausted, even though we have still not reached the end of defilement, still the mind is already capable of leaving the physical body, like a bird escaping from a cage, and we attain the bodhisattva's body generated by will.

When you read this, do not falsely imagine that if you can reach this level you can go to America without having to buy an airline ticket, that you can say "I'm going" and just go, that other people will not be able to see you, but you will be able to see them!

[The sutra says:] "It is like a man sound asleep who talks in his sleep. Though this man knows nothing about it, his words are clearly enunciated and in order. Those who are not asleep understand everything he says. This is called the domain of the skandha of conception."

When you arrive in this realm, you are like a man talking in his sleep while dreaming. In his dream, he talks very clearly and in an organized way, but after he has spoken he forgets it. He must ask a bystander, and the bystander will tell him exactly what went on.

·H I _Ma:;/er Nan Huai-Chin

Buddha uses this metaphor to explain that while people can detach from mind, but cannot be their own masters, it is like talking in a dream. The person talking in his dream seems to understand, and also seems not to understand. When you reach this realm, you are still within the scope of the abilities of thinking, you still have not left the realm of consciousness. This still is within the scope of the skandha of conception. In other words, your false thoughts are still moving.

But Buddha did not stop when he had said this. He went on to add: "If moving thoughts are ended, and floating conceptions are dissolved away, toward the mind of enlightenment it is like getting rid of dust and dirt, so that birth and death are equalized, and there is perfect awareness from beginning to end. This is called exhausting the skandha of conception. The person who does this then can tran­

scend the defilements of affliction. If we observe what this comes from, dissolving through false thoughts is its basis."

When you have transcended the realm of conception, then it is as if there is no more dust and dirt on the illuminated true nature of mind. If no thoughts are moving in the mind, and floating ideas and miscellaneous concepts are all gone, then it is as if there is no more dust and dirt on the mind of illumination. Only at this point can you begin to talk of birth and death. The biggest problem for people is the fear of death: they do not know where they come from when they're born, or understand where they go when they die. Hence the saying, "On the road ahead, birth and death are both very vague."

If a person in the dark is afraid of ghosts, it isn't really ghosts that he fears, it's mainly fear of the unknown. When you find out what sort of thing ghosts are, then you no longer fear them.

If at this very moment the skandha of conception were ended, then you would know how you come to be born and where you go when you die. Arhats of the lesser vehicle can end the portioning out of birth and death to themselves. What is the birth and death por­

tioned out to us? It is the retributive reward of the three realms [the realm of desire, the realm of form, and the formless realm] and the six planes of existence [as celestial beings, as human beings, as angry demigods, as animals, as hungry ghosts, as hell-beings] that we attain in response to all our defilements, our good and evil karma, the bar­

riers of affliction, and the factors which help us toward enlighten­

ment. These retributive rewards have differences in the way they are portioned out, and so they are called "portioned out birth and death."

WORKING TOWARD ENLIGHTENMENT / 45

All ordinary people with deluded perceptions and thoughts are all in the midst of portioned out birth and death.

Cycling in the six planes of existence is the birth and death por­

tioned out to us. Arhats can stop the portioning out of birth and death to them, but this is not the ultimate stage, because they have not fin­

ished with the birth and death of transformation: they have only asked for some time off. (The so-called "birth and death of transfor­

mation" refers to the rewards of pure lands beyond the world, brought about by the karma of stainless virtue and the factors aid­

ing enlightenment, but which still rely on the barriers of knowledge.

This is the birth and death experienced by the sages, from the level of arhats who have cut off deluded perceptions and thoughts, on up.) Only when they reach the realm of bodhisattvas can they finish with the birth and death of transformation. Therefore, if you don't want to come back next time, it won't be that easy! Even arhats can do no more than request a long vacation.

At this point, after you have managed to achieve the state where thoughts do not stir, you have to pay attention to the next sentence in the sutra's teaching: "Floating conceptions are dissolved away." Many people who study Zen fall into this realm where thoughts do not stir, and think that this is the ultimate. Thus it is very easy for those in the Zen school to fall into the realm of the lesser vehicles, hold onto that emptiness, and think that it is enlightenment. Though this lecture is on the Mahayana, in fact the goals of Mahayana are very difficult to accomplish. Mahayana takes carrying out the bodhisattvas' vows as the principle thing, with seeing truth and cultivating realization as auxiliaries. How could it be to carry out the vows of bodhisattvas?

It is very difficult!

When your meditation work reaches this level, this is still only dissolving false thoughts. You must reach another realm before you can be free of afflictions. At this point you have only dissolved away superficial false thoughts-"Floating concepti ons are d issolved away"-this cannot be separated from the functioning of false thoughts. Buddha has given a very clear account: at this point, you are still within the scope of the capabilities of thought.

The sutra says: "When a person has cultivated samadhi and the skandha of conception is ended, this person's ordinary dreamlike thoughts are dissolved away, and he is always the same whether awake or asleep. Illumination is empty and pure, like a clear sky, without any more reflections of the coarse sensory objects before him.

46 / Master Nan Huai-Chin

He views the world's lands and mountains and rivers as images in a clear mirror, which come without sticking, and depart without a trace.

He perceives and responds with empty receptivity, without any of his old habits. All there is is a single pure essential reality. From this point, the root source of birth and death is revealed. He sees all classes of sentient beings in all the worlds of the ten directions in all their varieties. Though he has not yet fully comprehended the particular originating points of each of their lives, he sees the basis for the life they have in common. It is like a wavering haze, glittering, pure but whirling about. This is the ultimate pivot point of floating sense fac­

ulties and sense objects, so this is called the domain of the skandha of synthesis."

Form, sensation, conception, synthesis, and consciousness-the five skandhas-are equivalent to fifty realms. According to the prin­

ciples in the Buddhist scriptures, there are more than several tens of millions of kinds of realms. Thus, the average person's mental state is never correct nor everlasting. Saying they are not correct nor ever­

lasting doesn't sound too good, so the average person is termed an upside-down deluded sentient being.

The spiritual powers that go with ending the skandha of con­

ception are great indeed! First of the supernormal spiritual powers is the power of remembering past lives. In the past when I was in Mainland China, there was an old monk whose mindfulness was uni­

fied and purified, whose practice was always consistent, and who was able to influence the material world using his spiritual powers.

He asked me to become his disciple, but I did not. Indulging in spir­

itual powers is forbidden by the disciplinary precepts of monks: they cannot be trifled with. Those who violate the precepts are usually punished. Later on this monk lost both his arms, and he was driven out of the monastery.

What then does it mean, to exhaust the skandha of conception?

The Heart Sutra tells you: "There is no ignorance, and no ending of ignorance. " Where does ignorance go? It is transformed. Doesn't Vijnanavada philosophy tell you that we transform consciousness 'into wisdom? In reality, this explains it completely, but this explana­

tion is useless, and has harmed people. But if it did not explain com­

pletely, this would also harm people. Thus Buddha said, "Don't speak! Don't speak!" It's best to keep our mouths shut about such matters, because they are too difficult to go into.

WORKING TOWARD ENLIGHTENMENT / 47

The foregoing discussion is all in the area of the skandha of con­

ception. I'll tell you a secret, the Tathagata's secret basis: the center of the five skandhas is conception. In Vijnanavada, they categorize con­

ception and thinking among the "five omnipresent actions" as the most important.1

Thus, you take the Buddhist scriptures and try to reach a syn­

thesized understanding of them; you search through the whole Buddhist canon section by section; you bore into it until you cannot crawl out of it. Anyone who is able to crawl out of it then will be able to say, "It's no more than this." However, the people who can bore their way out of it are not the same: this is idle talk. Now I'm telling you: it is this realm when the skandha of conception is exhausted.

If we move along another step, it is the realm of the skandha of synthesis. After the skandha of conception is exhausted, ordinary dreamlike thoughts are obliterated. In The Heart Sutra it says: "Far removed from delusions and dreamlike thoughts is final nirvana."

The phraseology is similar to The Surangama Sutra 's "dreamlike thoughts are dissolved away," but what is being described metaphor­

ically in the two texts is not the same. The Heart Sutra is talking about reality itself, while The Surangama Sutra is talking about cultivation and realization. The main themes are not the same, and so we should not confuse them.

What does it mean to say "dreamlike thoughts are dissolved away"? There's the saying, "Sages have no dreams, ignorant people have no dreams." For now it doesn't matter whether or not you have dreams while you sleep, because many people forget them when they wake up.

But if we are talking about having no false thoughts and still being able to speak and do things, "to respond when things come, and not try to hold onto them when they pass away," so that this mind is even and still-can people who study Zen manage to be like

1 The five omnipresent actions are: intentionality, contact, sensation, con­

ception, thinking. The Ch'eng Wei-shih Lun, a Vijnanavada treatise, says: "This [alaya] consciousness interacts with several mental states. It is always inter­

acting with contact, intentionality, sensation, conception, and thinking. The alaya consciousness, from time without beginning, as long as it is not yet transformed, revolves through all stations, always interacting with these five states of mind. Thus it is controlled by these five omnipresent mental states."