A Bird in Flight Leaves No Trace

by Seon Master Subul

  When you cling to conditioned external appearances, you suffer. But if you turn one thought around and penetrate to the fact that they are illusory fictions — and go even further to see that truth exists in those illusions — it can be said that you have opened your eyes and tasted the truth. Whether walking, standing, sitting, or reclining, whether speaking or keeping silence, whether active or still, you do not depart from the enlightenment site. Neither do wriggling creatures or invisible things.

  The enlightenment site is neither brought from somewhere nor created. It is always present throughout past, present, and future. Although it is never separate from the myriad things, there is nothing that cannot be accomplished there. Therefore it is said that the real nature of ignorance is the nature’s true form.

  [A monk] asked, “Is ignorance [wuming/mumyeong 無明; lit. “absence of brightness”] bright or dark?”

  The master replied, “It is neither bright nor dark. Brightness and darkness are alternating dharmas. Ignorance is not bright, but it is also not dark. Not being bright is just the original brightness. This one phrase ‘not bright but not dark’ confuses the eyes of the people of this world.

  云 無明者 為明為暗 師云 非明非暗 明暗是代謝之法 無明且不明亦不暗 不明祇是本明 不明不暗 祇這一句子 亂卻天下人眼.

  The true form of ignorance is neither bright nor dark. If you just learn the words without opening your eyes to the Buddhadharma, you will be unable to figure out what ignorance really is. Therefore the practice that leads students to experience the Buddhadharma is most precious of all.

  What is truly bright is bright because it is free from all notions of brightness. It does not fall into the relative concepts of brightness or darkness. Since it brightens the myriad things, we may force on it the name “brightness,” but by this we don’t mean the brightness that is the opposite of darkness.

  Since the original real characteristic of things stays separate from forms, it is infinite. It cannot be said that it exists from here to there. If this is illuminated, all discrimination will be ended.

  “Therefore, it is said,

  Even if this world were filled

  with [śrāvakas] like Śāriputra,

  and all of them together tried to comprehend it,

  they still could not fathom the Buddha’s wisdom.213

  “His unobstructed wisdom extends throughout empty space; there is no prospect of you being able to explain it verbally.

  所以道 假使滿世間 皆如舍利弗 盡思共度量 不能測佛智 其無礙慧 出過虛空 無你語論處.

  As the Lotus Sūtra states, even smart persons like Śāriputra cannot measure the great wisdom of the Buddha. There is a difference between these people and the Buddha that is as huge as that between the material and immaterial realms. Therefore, it is said, “If there is a hair’s breadth of difference,/ heaven and earth are rent asunder.”214

  We may have a form subject to limitations, but shouldn’t there be a way to fathom the true form that the Buddha himself realized? The Buddha appeared in this world and revealed teachings by which sentient beings could remove ignorance and be endowed with wisdom. We are fortunate that a path has been opened whereby we can attain awakening through Patriarchal Seon. We have to be grateful to the Buddha and patriarchs for their kindness in teaching us.

  “Śākyamuni Buddha is as vast as the trichiliocosm. A bodhisattva suddenly appeared and stepped over him in a single stride. But even though he stepped over the entire trichiliocosm, he could not escape from a single hair follicle of Samantabhadra. Now what innate talent can help you study that?”

  釋迦量等三千大千世界 忽有一菩薩出來一跨 跨卻三千大千世界 不出普賢一毛孔 你如今把什麼本領擬學他.

  No matter how hard the monkey king Sun Wukong 孫悟空 tried, he could not escape the Buddha’s palm;215 so too, we cannot escape from a single hair follicle of Samantabhadra, the bodhisattva who sits at the Buddha’s right side. What else is there to say?

  The Buddha’s enlightenment is this immense! Since it transcends all words and thoughts, we cannot reach it by applying some special skill.

  [A monk] asked, “If it cannot be obtained by studying, then why is it said,

  Returning to the source, the nature is nondual,

  but expedients involve many gates.”216

  云 既是學不得 為什麼道 歸源性無二 方便有多門 如之何.

  If there is nothing to be attained because of this original nonduality, then why should we practice, and why are there so many expedient gates?

  Only those who are awakened have the capacity to help sentient beings open their eyes to wisdom. You must be able to realize your original nature through actual practice, not just by believing in and following the Buddha’s teachings.

  The master answered, “ ‘Returning to the source, the nature is nondual’ means that the real nature of ignorance is the nature of all the buddhas. ‘But expedients involve many gates’ refers to the following. Śrāvakas see the production of ignorance and the extinction of ignorance. Pratyekabuddhas see only the extinction of ignorance but not the production of ignorance, so they realize tranquil extinction thought after thought. All the buddhas see sentient beings produced all day long without ever being produced and extinguished all day long without ever being extinguished. To be free from both production and extinction is the fruition of the Mahāyāna. Therefore, it is said,

  When fruit ripens, enlightenment is complete;

  when flowers blossom, the whole world appears.217

  師云 歸源性無二者 無明實性 即諸佛性 方便有多門者 聲聞人見無明生 見無明滅 緣覺人但見無明滅 不見無明生 念念證寂滅 諸佛見眾生終日生而無生 終日滅而無滅 無生無滅 即大乘果 所以道 果滿菩提圓 華開世界起.

  Since the original nature is nondual, the real nature of ignorance is in fact the buddha nature. Śrāvakas aim to realize impermanence by observing the production and cessation of ignorance. Pratyekabuddhas pay attention only to the cessation of ignorance, not its production, and thereby enjoy tranquil extinction; but this is also suffering. The buddhas realize that all phenomena that are produced, decay, and disappear are illusions and awaken to the fact that there are originally neither causes nor effects; therefore they are not subject to the law of causality.

  Since originally there is no birth and death, it is said that the real nature of ignorance is the true nature.

  Huangbo is quoting Prajñātāra, the twenty-seventh Indian patriarch, who conferred on Bodhidharma the following dharma-transmission verse:

  In the mind-ground sprouts all the seeds;

  it is from phenomena that the principle arises.

  When fruit ripens, enlightenment is complete;

  when flowers blossom, the whole world appears.

  “ ‘Lifting one’s foot’ is to be a buddha; ‘putting down one’s foot’ is to be a sentient being. All the buddhas are ‘foremost among the bipeds’ (dvipadottama), for they have the foot of principle and the foot of phenomena, the foot of sentient beings and the foot of birth and death, as well as all other kinds of feet. Since they are endowed with these feet, they need not seek them out.

  舉足即佛 下足即眾生 諸佛兩足尊者 即理足 事足 眾生足 生死足 一切等足 足故不求.

  Since the original place is complete in and of itself, it is neither redundant nor deficient. That is where there are no distinctions of either time or space.

  Since there is no way adequately to explain this matter, there is nothing else we can say except that “the buddhas are endowed with all these kinds of feet.” This is the true form of nirvāṇa. To try to explain such matters through doctrinal understanding will always reveal the limitations of language. We must never forget the greatness of the Buddha, who experienced the truth for himself and opened a way forward for sentient beings. As bipeds ourselves, we should strive to emulate the Buddha and also become foremost amo
ng the bipeds.

  “Nowadays, when you emulate the Buddha thought after thought, you are despising sentient beings. If you despise sentient beings, you slander all the buddhas of the ten directions.

  是你如今 念念學佛 即嫌著眾生 若嫌著眾生 即是謗他十方諸佛.

  Ignorance is the collection of defilements and illusions. Everyone tries to abandon ignorance and to stay in the pure, quiescent, and clear place of the nature. However, all phenomena, whether good or evil, are not separate from that place and arise from there. Do not delude yourself into believing that good and evil come from some other source. They arise from there in accordance with causes and conditions. Therefore, to emulate the buddhas but despise sentient beings is as foolish as slandering all the buddhas of the three time periods.

  “Consequently, when a buddha appears in the world, he picks up a shit pail and hauls away all the shit of conceptual proliferation. He just teaches you to get rid of the ideas of training the mind and seeing the mind that you have developed thus far. By completely removing them, you will not be swept away by conceptual proliferation. This can also be called ‘hauling away shit.’

  所以佛出世來 執除糞器 蠲除戲論之糞 祇教你除卻從來學心見心 除得盡 即不墮戲論 亦云 搬糞出.

  As a matter of fact, it is foolish to use the verb “to appear” in describing the manifestation of the buddhas. We simply use the expression “a buddha appears in the world” to make it easier for sentient beings to understand. “Picks up a shit pail and hauls away all the shit of conceptual proliferation” means that a buddha removes all traces of various types of ignorant thoughts. If you do not depart from the original true reality of the middle way, then whatever words you say will be like “hauling away shit.”

  “[A buddha] just teaches you not to produce states of mind. If states of mind are not produced, you will naturally be one of great wisdom. You must never discriminate between buddhas and sentient beings. Only by not engaging in any kind of discrimination can you finally enter our Caoxi gate [that is, the Southern school of the Sixth Patriarch].

  祇教你不生心 心若不生 自然成大智者 決定不分別佛與眾生 一切盡不分別 始得入我曹溪門下.

  If you do not arouse the mind, then even though you hear loud noises all day long, you accept them without showing the slightest sign of being annoyed or bothered. This is because liking and disliking both belong to the functioning of the mind; they are like images reflected on the surface of a mirror. Whether things are illusory or real, how would their reflections ever be different from one other?

  “Therefore, since ancient times, the previous saints have said, ‘There is just a modicum of practice involved in my dharma gate.’ Consequently, nonpractice is my dharma gate; there is only the gate of the one mind. Everyone arrives there, but no one dares to enter. But do not say no one does, for there are a few people who will succeed — those are the buddhas. Take care!”

  故自古先聖云 少行我法門 所以無行為我法門 祇是一心門 一切人到這裡盡不敢入 不道全無 祇是少人得 得者即是佛 珍重.

  The phrase “a modicum of practice” refers to the state in which you practice without practicing. Since practice and nonpractice are nondual, it is like a bird flying through the sky all day long that leaves no traces. That empty sky contains neither ignorance nor enlightenment. You may work hard to enter the gate, but after you have entered it, there will remain neither the gate nor the person who entered it. Even though you entered the gate, you actually never entered anything.

  The buddha is not somewhere else. When you turn your mind around, you will know.

  44. How Not To Fall into Practice Ranks218

  [A monk] asked, “How may we ensure that we don’t fall into practice ranks [i.e., the fifty-two stages of the bodhisattva path]?”

  The master replied, “ ‘I eat all day, but without ever chewing even a single grain of rice.’219 I walk all day, but without ever stepping on a single spot of ground. In these instances, there are no such characteristics as ‘self’ and ‘others.’ Without staying far removed from worldly affairs the whole day long, you are nonetheless not deceived by any sensory phenomena. Only then are you called an autonomous person.

  問 如何得不落階級 師云 終日喫飯 未曾咬著一粒米 終日行 未曾踏著一片地 與麼時 無人我等相 終日不離一切事 不被諸境惑 方名自在人.

  There are, in fact, no ranks in practice. Those who encounter the opportunity to attain sudden awakening immediately leave behind all characteristics and leap directly to the Tathāgata’s realm. Such people chew without chewing anything and walk without walking anywhere. Their physical mouths may chew rice, but it is not their physical mouths that know how to chew. You should learn to emulate this principle of chewing without chewing anything. If you know what makes your mouth chew, you will be able to digest the meaning of these words. But if you don’t, you will face a sheer precipice. It is not the mouth that chews; it is not I that chews; it is not that there is no chewing. You must directly awaken to this matter yourself. If you approach it only intellectually, you will never be able to escape the endless cycle of birth and death.

  Seon is not something that exists outside this world. Know that thing that is unmoving when you move. In other words, digest what it means “to be unmoving while moving.” This was already explained over a thousand years ago. If you still haven’t digested it, then shame on you.

  “At each and every moment, do not discern characteristics. Do not discern the three time-periods from the past into the future. The past has not vanished; the present does not remain; the future will not arrive. If you can comfortably sit upright and remain insouciant, without being bound by anything — only that is called liberation. Make every effort! Make every effort! Of the thousands or tens of thousands of people in this school, only three or five of them have gotten it. If you do not apply yourself to this matter, the day will come when calamity will strike. Therefore, it is said, ‘If you work at taking care of this lifetime, who will suffer any lingering calamities in successive kalpas to come?’ ”

  念念不見一切相 莫認前後三際 前際無去 今際無住 後際無來 安然端坐 任運不拘 方名解脫 努力努力 此門中千人萬人 祇得三箇五箇 若不將為事 受殃有日在 故云 著力今生須了卻 誰能累劫受餘殃.

  “Do not discern characteristics.” The master may exhort you in this way, but you should be able to demonstrate that you originally discern nothing.

  Although the master says to “comfortably sit upright,” you should not just follow his words, misunderstanding that that’s what you’re supposed to be doing. If you want to demonstrate that you always sit without ever leaving the seat of enlightenment, you should be able to go with the flow and live in the state of nonaction.

  Because it is not easy to cultivate the Way, only one or two among many are able to cultivate this practice. Since you are fortunate to have been born human and to have encountered the Buddhadharma in this lifetime, you should complete this great matter right now.

  The master passed away on this mountain in this year [850] during the Dazhong era of the Tang dynasty. Emperor Xuanzong granted him the posthumous title Seon Master Duanji 斷際 [“Breaking all Limits”]. His stūpa was called Guangye 廣業 [“Expansive Action”].

  師於唐大中年中 終於本山 宣宗敕謚 斷際禪師 塔曰廣業.

  After the Huichang persecution of Buddhism (842–45) during the Tang dynasty, Emperor Xuanzong ascended to the throne. His reign was called Dazhong [“The Great Mean”]. During this reign period, Master Huangbo passed away on Mount Huangbo in Gao’an province.

  Master Duanji Huangbo’s reliquary stūpa still stands today in the bamboo grove on Mount Huangbo.

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  Notes

  1This description derives from a verse attributed retrospectively to the founder of the Chan tradition, Bodhidharma 菩提達磨 (ca. late-fourth to early-fifth centuries). This first line of the verse initially appears in the Anthology of the Patriarchs’ Hall (Zutang ji祖堂集) compiled in 952, and the complete verse in the Garden of Matters from the Patriarchs’ Hall (Zuting shiyuan 祖庭事苑), compiled in 1108; see Robert E. Buswell, Jr., and Donald S. Lopez, Jr., The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014), 385, s.v. “jiaowai biechuan.” For background on the importance of lineage in justifying Chan’s sense of its own unique pedigree within Buddhism, see Seong-Uk Kim, “Three Places of Mind-Transmission: The Polemical Application of Mind-Transmission Stories in Korean Sŏn Buddhism,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 133.4 (2013): 635–50.

  2This term is also seen transcribed in Western literature on Korean Buddhism as kanhwa Sŏn and in Chinese as kanhua Chan or kan-hua Ch’an. For an overview of traditional ganhwa Seon practice in Korea, see Robert E. Buswell, Jr., The Zen Monastic Experience: Buddhist Practice in Contemporary Korea (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992), and Robert E. Buswell, Jr., “The Short-Cut Approach of K’an-hua Meditation: The Evolution of a Practical Subitism in Chinese Ch’an Buddhism,” in Peter N. Gregory, ed., Sudden and Gradual Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought, Kuroda Institute Studies in East Asian Buddhism 5 (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press 1987), 321–77. For historical background on the development of kanhua Chan in China, see Morten Schlütter, How Zen Became Zen: The Dispute over Enlightenment and the Formation of Chan Buddhism in Song-Dynasty China, Kuroda Institute Studies in East Asian Buddhism 22 (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press 2008). For a brief overview of this meditative technique, see Buswell and Lopez, Princeton Dictionary, 415–16 s.v. “kanhua Chan.”