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

2006/2/4 21:25:38

"My mind is the universe; the universe is my mind." The "I" here is nothing other than the aggregate of karma — mind. I is not-I, not-I yet I — this is mind. Without I, there is no aggregate; without aggregate, there is no mind. Those who commonly say "My mind is the universe; the universe is my mind" truly do not know "what makes I into I; what makes mind into mind."

Those who do not know "what makes I into I; what makes mind into mind" are legion throughout history. Those who take the lump of flesh, consciousness within the brain, or mental constructs as I and mind are legion throughout history. What people commonly call the Dao, mind, matter, self, Creator, God, Sovereign, True Lord, deity, Heaven, the One, Wuji, Brahman, Absolute Spirit, Being, and so forth — all are mental constructs.

The present moment is only direct perception — there is no pre-existing "present moment" that then becomes the present. Direct perception is only the present moment — there is no pre-existing "direct perception" that then becomes perception. In this world, there are so-called practitioners of Zen who commonly speak of "living in the present moment," not knowing that to live is itself the present moment. How could there be a living that is not the present moment! The present moment is only karma; direct perception is only karma; the world is only karma; my mind is only karma — ultimately empty.

The "I" as spoken of by fools is the sixth consciousness — a phantom of the third layer. Manas and alaya, the seventh and eighth consciousnesses, are not academic terminology — they can only be known through realization, not by bookworms or fools. All eight consciousnesses are phantoms, existing through phantoms. Those in this world who call themselves practitioners of Zen, who discuss awakening without having penetrated Consciousness-Only, have no standing; those in this world who study Consciousness-Only but discuss it without awakening also have no standing.

Subsequently, Consciousness-Only nearly vanished in China, and after that, the Chan school was overrun by wild foxes. Zen does not violate a single worldly dharma — how could it violate Consciousness-Only! The Chinese love simplicity, not knowing that the simple is actually complex and the complex actually simple. Consciousness-Only has many terminologies but is not actually about terminology; the so-called Zen practitioners of today discard terminology yet are actually mired in terminology. Without penetrating Consciousness-Only, one cannot discuss Zen; without penetrating every worldly and transcendent dharma, one also cannot discuss Zen.

A verse:

A scorching sun in the vault of heaven, dripping blood,
Rain-jade, wind-blue, shaking the pillars of the earth.
Surging waves tumble — the dragon's drum urges on,
Mountains leap in masses — ghosts wail in sorrow.
Dust contains ten thousand phenomena — present is past,
Dharma binds without words — marrow is also skin.
The sky's curtain for paper, stars for characters,
Hard to find a single phrase that belongs to true knowledge.