Dharma Talk, August 27, 2012: Illuminate the Source

Many thanks to Rachel Croft for transcribing this lecture.

Download: http://www.riversidechan.org/lectures/Dharma_Talk_20120827.mp3

Ref: http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/HistoricalZen/Bright_Field_of_Spirit_Hongzhi.html

This is our regular Monday night class. Good evening to you and hello to all those who are listening by way of the Internet. Today we will continue on with our study of Silent Illumination and Shikantaza. We've been concentrating on Master Hongzhi. Master Hongzhi is from roughly around 1100 A.D., and while he was not the architect of Silent Illumination, he was certainly one of its strongest proponents.

During that time period, there was the Linchi method which involved the use of Hua-tuo, and Master Hongzhi used this as his method for Silent Illumination. It's also referred to as Cao Dong, which in Chinese means simply "just sitting."  The idea of just sitting is an important idea in terms of the method, because it's sometimes referred to as "the method of no method." In some ways, this makes it very difficult, because it invites the practitioner to just sit with no idea of personality, ego, life, or being...just simply sitting...and to look directly into the self-nature of mind, and in order to do that, one has to remove all vestiges of the idea of individual self.

This part is not easy because of the fact that we've habitually created the idea that we have an individual self. It's difficult for us to push forward, because we're dragging this illusory self and saying that this self needs put that down or pick that up. Even when we say to ourselves, "Don't put down anything or pick anything up," the habitual energy is still there that keeps us reminding ourselves that we're doing a very good job, or that we aren't doing well. Later, we begin to sit more carefully, and we superimpose the idea of a self over the environment, and enter into what is called a unity of mind, but this too has to be overcome.

The unity of mind is simply when one feels like they are in unity with the surroundings, but we push through, beyond that, into letting go completely, essentially snuffing out all the traces of the self. The idea of snuffing out the traces of the self is not to snuff out the images appearing mind. The images that appear mind are naturally happening. They're there, as we talked about last time, as echos of habitual energy and force.  What we snuff out is our attaching to it and generating the idea of the semblance of the individual, or of life and being, or of ego.

This comes from stringing together, like in a string of pearls, all of these thoughts connected by this string that we cannot see because all the pearls are covering it. These are not pearls of wisdom, however, they're pearls of habitual energy, and we can't see in between the pearls to the attachment that is there that creates the illusion that the necklace is a single object, not a collection of individual pieces. All it is are the images arising in the mind and the attachment, which are both phenomena. There's no string and it's not a solid object.

We talked about that last week. Our thoughts are not a string of life and being. Each one is just another pearl, so small that we cannot see it, and the reason why we cannot see it is that we've manufactured the idea of this self that looks and says "I don't see it." Of course your self doesn't see it, because by nature it only feels like there is the self, but as we begin to sit, and quiet the mind, and work on the method of no method, what happens is that mind is able to discern that there are thoughts arising and that these thoughts are attaching thoughts, they attach to whatever comes up.  When something like a pleasant image comes up, the self attaches a pleasant idea to it. If it's a bad image, it attaches a negative image. When we begin to see this, then the mind is becoming quiet and illuminated.

I wanted to read to you a little from this book, which is called The Art of Just Sitting by John Daido Loori. In it, he talks about the essential writings on the Zen practice of Shikantaza. In the beginning, there is an introduction, which is interesting, so I just want give you some little snippets of it before we go into Hongzhi's teachings. It says, "One way to categorize the meditation practice of Shikantaza is as an objectless meditation. This is a definition in terms of what is not."  It's very interesting what's being said here. "This is definition in terms of what is not. One just sits, not concentrating on any particular object of awareness, unlike most traditional meditation practices," and he lists a bunch of them, "that involve the intent to focus on a particular object," such as things like a candle flame or a circle or something along those lines. We're dealing with something that has no structure to it, no subject and object, and that's the difference between it and most other meditation practices. For instance, in the Theravadin practices, you sometimes begin with viewing a circle of a particular color. At first, you look at a circle that is painted, but then you take that circle away and try to use the mind to recreate that circle and the background in order to develop concentration. That's what those methods lead to, being able to concentrate the mind.

In Shikantaza, or Silent Illumination, all that's taken away...all those extra goals...and it's presumed that when you sit in Shikantaza, or Silent Illumination, that you already have the ability to keep the mind concentrated on the method. Simply because there's no method there, it becomes difficult and the mind strays easily, but if the mind is very calm, it will not stray.

"Objectless meditation focuses on clear, nonjudgmental panoramic attention to all of the myriad arising phenomena in the present experience." This is a very, very good definition of what this meditation practice does. He say that it's objectless meditation, meaning that there is no experience of a person that's sitting or viewing, but simply of just sitting. As I mentioned before, it's like a tree stump that's just sitting, but there's more to it than that. It's not a dead tree stump. It's very, very active. But, it's not active in the idea of subject and object; we'll get to that later.

As one sits, like one master said, you should be like dead wood with bright pearl eyes, like those of the dragon, so that one has a spirit there. It's not the spirit in terms of a sense of object or ego, but the spirit of mind itself.

So when he says it "focuses on clear, nonjudgmental," again that goes back to the fact that whatever is arising in mind is very clear as it arises simply because no one is adding a like or dislike to the picture. When one does not add these, essentially the mind is free, nonjudgmental, and the potential for successive thought is cut off. If one is attaching to something, eventually that one attachment will go out and connect to another thought.

Then we have the "panoramic attention," and this is a very good term, and it's kind of a term that I've been looking for to mention to people because it's the same as when I tell you "give the mind a very broad pasture to be in." When you are looking at a painting critically, it's not very panoramic; it's just right in front of you and your focus is on some aspect of it. That's what many people do when they sit to meditate. They just focus on what's in mind, in it's very center part, and they try to see what is arising in this way, but panoramic attention is different. It's like you are at the top of the Grand Canyon looking out and seeing everywhere around you; noticing everything. The awesomeness of the Grand Canyon doesn't come from focusing on one particular spire there, or one color, or the clouds above, or whatever; it's the entire scene. It is the splendor of the entire panorama that one sees when their mind is open that really touches the heart and makes it awesome.

Likewise, when one sits in meditation with a panoramic view of mind, then one's heart is well touched, because one's heart is open to the potential of all the things that are arising in mind. All of these things become so clear in mind, because the mind is in a state of equanimity; it is letting go of any kind of a concept of what it's seeing. We're going to get into Hongzhi in a moment, and this is kind of a preface to it so you can understand his words, but Loori says "Objectless meditation focuses on clear, non-judgemental, panoramic attention to all of the myriad arising phenomena in the present experience."

The reason that we look at this and break it down is because if one just reads it, one might say, "that sounds good," but then go on to the next sentence and really miss the awesomeness of the description. When it says this panoramic attention to all of the myriad, myriad being uncountable things, that are arising in mind, what are some of the thoughts arising in mind at this moment? People coming and people going out of the room, people talking, people listening, the fans that are there, the fans over there, cars going by, the lights in the windows, and what's been said and what's being said, all of these can be seen with a panoramic attention to everything here. All the myriad of colors, all things that come up in my mind, the mind will be aware of it, completely aware of it, and in a state of equanimity. It's nonjudgmental. As soon as you judge a moment and say, "I like or dislike it," you've lost it. Your mind is focused with blinders only on what you concentrated on. When you see this panorama, then it changes things tremendously. This is Silent Illumination.

It's not trying to focus the mind and concentrate; what it's trying to do is say the concentration is relaxation. Once the mind is relaxed, it becomes disentangled from the next thought. Then, whatever thoughts are arising in the mind, the mind is automatically aware of. Let's say it's not just a 360 view but it's seeing completely in all 3D directions. When one is able to see mind in that way, now that's Shikantaza, just sitting, and it leads into Silent Illumination. We're no longer merging and becoming part of the environment. The environment is seen just as it is, as being phenomenal, constantly changing.  The environment has merged with mind versus an illusory self merging with illusory environment. All illusions of things that are arising in mind are simply returned to mind. This is how one practices.

This is a bit of a poem from Hongzhi "With the depths clear," depths here meaning from top to bottom, "utterly silent," so think of it like a clear pond. "Utterly silent," the silence is not attaching to anything, no mental chatter, "thoroughly illuminate the source." Ah, now we know what the quarry is, what we're going after. We're not trying to stop thoughts arising in the mind. They're arising naturally. He's saying "thoroughly illuminate the source." What source is he talking about, Stan?

Stan: The true mind.

Gilbert: The true mind. Where the thoughts come from. When we illuminate the source is phenomena also illuminated?

Student: Yes.

Gilbert: And why is phenomena also illuminated, Rick?

Rick: Because, like the Heart Sutra says, form is none other than emptiness and emptiness is none other than form.

Gilbert: Yea, and the phenomena is not other than mind itself. We tend to take phenomena and create this idea of consciousness being apart from mind itself, versus returning it right directly back to the source. Once we do that, this is right view. We see things very clearly. We don't have to expel thoughts from the mind; we just have to realize that the thoughts are naturally arising. Yes, go ahead.

Student: So are true mind and conscious mind two separate things?

Gilbert: Yes and no, because we could say that in apparent reality they're separate, but they're one in the same, and that's what he's getting to. The consciousness is what arises in mind.  The mind is always there. You could say it's the matrix that allows consciousness to arise and the senses to contemplate, but the consciousness is constantly changing. It's illusory. Ego, personality, or life and being, arises in consciousness so it is not permanent. That which is permanent is the noumenon, or matrix, or mind ground. It's the true nature and it's always there. It's what allows these other things to manifest. When we see that, we see that it's like seeing ocean spray and thinking it's different than ocean. It's not. It's just the ocean. In the moment, we see what appears to be two separate things with different realities, but it is not that way.

Student: So the conscious mind isn't attachment to the mind?

Gilbert: Well, it's not attachment to the mind, it's attachment to the consciousness.

As things arise in the mind, there's this illusory consciousness, a habitual energy, that attaches. We can't see that...it's very, very vague...but as we become more adept at the practice, we notice that it's there. And when I say "we," it's not really "we." It's our self-nature that can perceive it there. That's the difficulty with using language to explain things because sometimes it's like this. It's not "we" or this ego; it's the mind illuminating itself to see these things arising. Once it's arisen and we have attached, it becomes very difficult, because it becomes part of the pearl necklace that we can't see in between. I've said it in other classes and I'll repeat it: A sage returns consciousness to mind while a fool turns mind into consciousness.

He said, "thoroughly illuminate the source," and then he describes it as empty and spirited. This is very important. It's empty, but spirited. As I mentioned before, there's a dynamic resonance to the mind itself, a potentiality, or what they call spiritually potency; it's already there. The reason it is there is because everything is connected via mind. "Vast and bright. Then you must take the backwards step and directly reach the middle of the circle from which the light issues forth." Fantastic. Now for some of you who are just coming and listening for the first time this may be beyond ABC's, and I apologize for that. Don't worry about that, though. Just try to feel with your heart and that will lead you to look into it more.

What we're talking about is what mind is, and when we talk about the idea of reaching the middle of the circle from where the light issues, it's touching directly on the self-nature of mind. How is that done? By understanding how mind works and using that understanding, this right view, to have a penetration into mind itself where the self is no longer the predominant character, but mind is. It reverses things all of a sudden so that the dog looks and goes, "you know that thing that was in front of me that I was chasing is my tail and I never knew that. It was so interesting that I wanted to catch it." That's the way a lot of people do when they when practice Chan; they chase their tail going, "I want it. I want it. I want it." not realizing it's the bum side of the whole thing.

When you see it that way, it's not so inviting. What he's saying is inviting, however. Take a step backwards and "directly reach the middle of the circle from which the light issues." From where the light issues, what is that? That's mind. That's enlightenment. Enlightenment doesn't come from outside; it comes from within. The enlightenment is simply the illumination of all things that are arising in mind at any moment. When that happens, it's good. Why? Let me put it into practical terms: you are not stuck in suffering. When things arise in your life you realize they are there because you put them there. You suffered because you attached to this. You make these people suffer because you attach to things, and you don't want to make them suffer, because you don't feel good about that anymore. You'd rather have peace in your life.

If you want to have peace in your life, then you look at things and you say, "This is not so difficult what he's talking about. For a moment it sounded difficult, but when you put it in everyday terms and say that if I don't attach to this I won't have suffering. I attach to myself and I make suffering. Whatever I do is this way, but if I use the beginner's mind and say to myself that whatever I encounter is new and wonderful, it's very, very easy." When we see that, then we get into the wondrous functioning of the mind. And you go, "Ah, I would certainly like to share this with other people because this is helpful. It helps me not create problems in my life. It helps me not pull out the plastic every time I see a bright, shiny, new pair of shoes, or whatever else that titillates your senses. It helps me not say things that I shouldn't be saying because there's no self there to say, â€˜Say it! Say it! Call him a liar!'" which would get you in trouble if it happened to be your boss that you said it to.

You are constantly doing that, but when your mind is very, very calm, it can sit; it can sit and you can listen. That's one of the most important parts of our practice. It's not talking. Sometimes when you're talking to people, you'll see that they have their finger pointing up toward the sky. You're talking and their finger might be wagging like this. What are they doing? They're just waiting for you to stop moving your lips so they can tell you something. They stopped listening long ago. All they want to do is make a comment on what you're saying, and anything after that finger went up, they're deaf to. You won't get anywhere with them.  You're better off trying to talk to a wooden totem pole then trying to convince them of anything.

When we listen, we observe. We listen from our heart and observe everything around us. The practice of meditation is not just the practice of sitting on the cushion to make yourself feel good for while, or taking a break from the world. Quite to the contrary, it's running directly into the world and reality and saying, "now I understand how this world works. If we all are running around with our egos we're going to mess this place up. We're going to cause wars, harm people, kill people, rape people, steal from people, lie to people," all sorts of bad things that this mind is capable of manifesting simply because of our delusion that there is an ego that needs or wants something that's often the complete opposite of what is wholesome.

When we have wholesome thoughts, meaning thoughts when we're not attaching to thought itself, then it is very easy for us to walk around and harmonize with people. On the contrary, when we have the idea of a self we're not very happy, and we want other people not to be happy too...misery loves company. We're always poking at people, poking and poking and poking at them, to try to get some kind of a negative response. Of course you guys don't do that, but you might know a few people who do.

Now, let's go back to the same article that I was reading from. We've talked before about the idea of the connection between silence and illumination, which is this idea of Samadhi, being calmness, and the Vipassana, which is insight, and how they need to be in balance. This means that there can't only be calmness, because then you'll just fall asleep, or fall into dead Samadhi, and there cannot be illumination without calmness because you'll just be looking at thoughts when there is nothing there. When there is calm, then wisdom arises. The wisdom enables you during your everyday life to know what to say in any particular situation. Not bad, right? It's like you have a life caddy, and this they just follow you around and say, "Well, I don't really think you should call your Mom a jerk, you know? Better to harmonize with her little bit," and all of a sudden you've got this life caddy that enables you to be able to deal with the things around you and suggest some alternatives. That's wisdom.

Here in this writing from Hongzhi it says, "But in illumination if silence is lost, then aggressiveness will appear but, in silence, if illumination is lost, then you become turbid and will leave behind the Dharma. But when silence and illumination both are awakening and are complete, the lotus flower opens and a dreamer awakens." They continue in the commentary on this section: "These passages show clearly both necessity of balance of both calm and awareness, and suggest that at some point in this process of dwelling, in this objectless meditation, an awakening experience will occur," and that will happen if one is able to put down the self and maintain this panoramic view of all the thoughts arising in mind. Insight will happen. Wisdom will happen.

In the beginning, you won't know it because it will just be tiny little flashes, but there may be a moment when it completely drops off and it might be very surprising. This is especially true for a novice, like the experience Maria had. It dropped off for her and this shocked her and scared her, and she got out of it because she was afraid of disappearing. During that moment her self actually dropped off and she had to pinch herself to feel like she existed again. Poor Maria.

The process advocated by Hongzhi is one of continual refining of the clarity of awareness and nonattachment. Again here, this awareness means you're sitting and you're very, very aware, but in a non-attaching way.  The only way you can do that is if you understand these concepts so that when you practice, you're just constantly letting go, letting go, letting go. In the beginning you actually have to say "Let go. Let go. Let go."  Later on, you'll no longer have to do that. It's just kind of a push start in the beginning and later on, you'll let go naturally. There will be a moment when it will be like *boom*, there's a very clear pond on an autumn day and one can see all the way down to the bottom. What is the bottom? It's us taking a step backwards to the source, the self-nature of mind. Anyone in this room is capable of doing that so long as they follow the method when practicing.

Again, in Master Hongzhi's words,

"Silently dwell in the self. In true suchness abandoning conditioning. Open-minded and bright without defilement. Simply penetrate and drop-off everything."

Again, he is saying to let go and silently dwell in the self, he's not saying the ego, he's talking about the self-nature of mind. Letting go of any conditioning. Conditioning is when that image of a Krispy Kreme donut arises in your mind, and you let it go. A fancy car, a man or woman, or whatever, you let them all go because you conditioned yourself to do this. I've said before that I've been in court talking to an attorney, and all of a sudden his head will start swiveling like an owl because there's a girl that's walking by. His head is just bouncing up and down with her steps and he's totally oblivious to what I'm saying. He's so oblivious to what I'm saying because he's conditioned himself to do that all the time, and the more he allows himself to do it, the less control he has over it.

Through practice, we become aware in our minds of that, and watch the things that titillate our senses. Those are the first things that are going to come up, and then later it will be much more subtle things that will titillate our senses, and we won't be aware of them. Eventually, we become adept at the conditioning of what is happening.

 "...open-minded and bright without defilement, simply penetrate and drop-off everything."

         The open-mindedness, again, is this panoramic view. Without defilement means that we're not trying to cling to anything. The commentary on this says: " This is not a process of obtaining something new, but rather recognizing what is already there." Not bad. You already have it.  "Today is not our first arrival here, but rather since the ancient home before the empty kalpa clearly nothing has been obscured. Still, practice is needed. Although you are inherently spirited and splendid, still you must go ahead and enact it. When doing so, immediately display every atom without hiding a speck of dirt."

I remember an incident that shows my own lack of mindfulness. I was trying to get on a plane to go into Canada to teach in Toronto, and they wanted my ID so I showed them my passport, my brand-new passport. The man behind the ticket counter is looking at me and says, "Well, that's nice but there's something wrong with it."

I go, "No there's nothing wrong with my passport. It's brand-new. It's not counterfeit or anything."

"No something's wrong. It's no good."

And I'm going, "No, no it is good. I tell you it's good."

He says, "I tell you it's no good."

You know what was wrong? I hadn't signed it yet. So I sheepishly signed it there and while he was just looking at me smiling. He got me, you know? It made his day. That's the way the practice is. No matter how much Hongzhi tells you, "Okay here it is. I'm issuing each of you a card." It's not any good unless you sign it. When you sign it, when you start practicing, then you make it your own. Until that time, it's just somebody else's words. We'll continue,

"...dry and cool in deep repose profoundly understand an aggressive desire to attain enlightenment, however, is an obstacle. If your rest is not satisfying and you yearn to go beyond birth and death there can be no such place. Just burst through, and you will discern, without thought dust, pure without reasons for anxiety."

So he's saying try to discern without thought dust. Don't try to hang onto any preconceived notion of what you might be thinking, "Wears the light? I'm going to be enlightened. The beam of light should be shining on me at any moment."

"Stepping back with open hands, giving up everything, is thoroughly comprehending life and death. This freedom does not lead to a quietistic self-absorption."

This is very important. This is not just sitting there like cold stone and dry wood. As we've talked about, they'll burn your hut.
Then, again the commentary says, "Here, as elsewhere, Hongzhi stresses how clear awareness and nonattachment lead to a perfect accord with all conditions and to the service of others."  And then Hongzhi speaking,

        "Immediately you can sparkle and respond to the world."

Cool words! Immediately you could sparkle and respond to the world. Right now I'm responding to the world. I don't know if I'm sparkling, maybe a couple little bursts here and there, but I'm responding to the world.

"Merge together with all things. Everything is just right."

He's talking about not "you" the self merging, but the self-nature of mind merging with everything. It's different than having a unity of mind, like the Beatles song that goes I am you, and you are me, and we're all together. No, it's all mind. As Hongzhi writes elsewhere, you're transforming according to circumstances. You're constantly transforming in accordance with what you do.  If you need to be stern with your kids, you will be stern with them...not angry, but stern. If you need to give people attention, you do it.  You act spontaneously in accordance to what's there and what needs to be there.

"Meet all being as your ancestors."

Not bad. You know you certainly wouldn't want to kick a dog if the thought it could be your grandmother.  Instead, you would treat everything in a very, very positive way.

"Essentially you exist inside emptiness."

Very incredible. These words are pretty cool. This is Silent Illumination. This is the practice and the illumination of mind. "You exist inside emptiness." What's inside emptiness? Mind, just simply mind.

"...and have the capacity to respond outwardly without being annoyed, like spring blossoming, like a mirror reflecting forms. Amid all the noise, spontaneously emerge transcended."

Pretty cool stuff. If he was a musician, he would be Mozart or Beethoven, it flows so beautifully. And when we understand how to use this teaching in our practice when we sit to meditate, and in our everyday lives, then we're not too far from it. We shouldn't be worried about when we're going to become enlightened. The more you practice, the less that becomes an issue, the less it becomes something that you are seeking, because you know there's no reason to seek it. You just simply do what you need to do in any given moment. You do the things that are right...not the things that your self or ego tells you to do, because that's just habitual energy coming up and saying, "I want more of this. If one beer is good, then why not a whole six pack?" and I'm sure that none of you have drunk more than you need to. That's the ego telling you to go for it, instead of sparkling, and going, "No, I don't think so. I'll be the designated driver."

Not bad, but you can't go around to everybody saying, "You're all fools. Don't you know you're all fools? You're an illusion etc..." You'll scare everybody. You accomplish this through demonstration of your practice. That's important. Chan is demonstration, like John Daido Loori says, the practice is a verb. Chan means practice and you demonstrate it every single moment. Can you do that? Yes, of course you can already. You just have to learn to sustain it. Not bad.

The payoff of learning to sustain it is that you're going to make your life a lot easier, you're going to be calmer, you're not going to suffer, and, more importantly, the people around you are going to like you a lot better because you're not causing them any suffering.