Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán: Entanglement Is Not Entanglement, Zen Is Not Zen — A Dead Tree's Dragon Song Illuminates the Great Thousand Worlds (VII)

2006/2/2 10:48:30

All religions and faiths in this world, though outwardly different, are essentially the same: whoever is not of my kind is a demon or evil; whoever does not believe in me is evil or demonic. The so-called "comply and you prosper, resist and you perish" — all of it is karma born of greed, anger, delusion, doubt, and arrogance. Zen has no self to identify with, no kind to categorize; no negation to negate, no Zen to be Zen; no Buddha to become, no Mara to destroy. All sameness and difference, compliance and resistance — all are equally equal.

As for so-called equality, there is no one who makes things equal. They are originally equal — so why would one need to equalize them? If equality requires someone to make it equal before it can be equal, then the one who makes it so necessarily stands above — that is not equality. All those in this world who advocate equality are wolves in sheep's clothing, using the fine-sounding word "equality" to deceive the masses and pursue private gain.

All sentient beings, since beginningless time, are universally equal. If someone preaches that there is a thing, a person, or a matter that can stand above all other things, persons, or matters, that person is simply one in whom the five poisons of greed, anger, delusion, doubt, and arrogance run rampant. Those who believe such a person and their words simply have their own greed, anger, delusion, doubt, and arrogance resonating in kind — it is all a farce. Zen is neither god nor saint, neither God nor sovereign, not a person's person nor a thing's thing, neither mind nor self, neither Buddha nor Mara.

All that can equalize and all that is equalized — the subject and object of equalization — are all conditioned co-arising. Zen is neither subject nor object, neither cause nor condition. Sentient beings are not equal because of Zen. Sentient beings do not become Buddhas because of Zen. Those who say Zen is about "illuminating the mind and seeing one's nature, sudden awakening and becoming Buddha" commit a great error. If there were a Buddha to become, then there would be a Mara to become. If one can become Buddha, then one can become Mara. But originally there is no Buddha to become, and therefore also no Mara to become or destroy. Heaven and hell are created solely by the mind. So-called samsara is actually non-samsaric samsara.

All things are originally equal, and therefore there exists all the inequality of this world. If all things needed to be equalized to be equal, then there would be no such thing as inequality in this world. All inequality in this world has no basis whatsoever — it is all created by mind and language. People solidify it through greed, anger, delusion, doubt, and arrogance. All inequality in this world can only be removed by inequality itself. And the so-called removal originally has nothing to remove — it is all inequality being inequality.

The inequality of this world originally has no basis; it arises and ceases through the co-arising of conditions, constantly changing without rest. Those in this world who, based on this, create scholarship, doctrines, faiths, and religions, each vainly seeking to explain and construct the world through their own so-called equal, unified theories, logic, and other structures — all of them are grasping at shadows, engaging in wishful thinking. Zen is neither worldly nor transcendent. The world is originally equal. The so-called "originally" is neither origin nor coming — it is called originally.

A verse:

Three realms — bewildering dust assails the ocean's hue,
A lone star, wordless, rests upon the chill of the empyrean.
A crazed dragon breaks its legs, crashing down the rapids in alarm,
Jade splashes — Dragon Spring plucked upon the fingertips.