英語訳
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contemplation should be cultivated. Those who awaken through contemplation are transformed into dharma-practice. If one cultivates contemplation but does not awaken, one must further listen to the dharma, and if one gains awakening by listening to the dharma, one is transformed into faith-practice. Teaching becomes the contemplation gate, and contemplation becomes the teaching gate. Up to the twelve hundred gates of Jokeṅ City—how could the true characteristic dharma city have only one track?" etc. This text is a clear determination that Chan and teachings cannot be separated. Therefore, promoting both Chan and teachings without mutual interference is the correct dharma. If one clings to one and abandons the other, this is harmful. The extreme of harm is heresy. Now I establish two meanings to demonstrate that Chan and teachings are indispensable. What are these two? First, regarding the breadth and narrowness of embracing capacities; second, regarding the sequence of study and practice. The first, breadth and narrowness of embracing capacities: the capacities of all sentient beings are not the same, but can be bundled into two categories—namely faith-practice and dharma-practice. If there were Chan but lacked teachings, by what would those of faith-practice enter principle? If there were teachings but no Chan, those of dharma-practice would have no way to gain awakening. How could Chan and teachings not proceed together to completely embrace all capacities? Second, regarding the sequence of study and practice: those who study Buddha in one transformation in Jambudvīpa take as the correct track first listening to correct dharma, next engaging in correct contemplation, then establishing correct cultivation. Why? If a person has the power of past good roots and gains hearing of correct dharma, they will necessarily generate correct faith and understanding. Generating correct faith and understanding, they will necessarily initiate correct cultivation. When correct cultivation approaches the true stage, one must leave the characteristic of written words, leave the characteristic of verbal expression, leave the characteristic of mental conditions, leave grasper and grasped, leave the aggregates, sense-fields, and elements. When all characteristics are absolutely transcended, one then generates the light of non-discriminating wisdom. This is called knowledge according to principle. From this wisdom, subsequently-attained knowledge according to quantity is generated without interval. All dharmas illuminated by these two wisdoms are simultaneously empty, provisional, and middle—the inconceivable ultimate
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truth that is not the realm of conceptualization by mind, mental consciousness, and consciousness. Therefore, entering Chan from teachings is precisely the progressive sequence of all students—principle naturally should be thus. How could Chan and teachings not mutually complete each other and be indispensable? Therefore, those who study teachings remain confined to the courtyard of conceptual and doctrinal studies without advancing to the inner chambers of transcending written words and conceptual characteristics—this is ignorance. Those who engage in Chan investigation rely on "not establishing written words, special transmission outside teachings" while investigating a Chan that does not accord with teachings—this is heresy. Now among these two types of entry, so-called principle-entry is for sharp-facultied dharma-practitioners, yet it still first says "relying on teachings to awaken to the essence" and later states "no longer following textual teachings." The method of progression well accords with the teaching vehicles' approach. These two types of entry can be called the study model for those not yet awakened.
Like those treatises on "Breaking Characteristics and Awakening to Nature," which partially criticize existence-characteristics, this was probably to heal the disease of contemporary people chasing after doctrinal understanding and rigidly clinging to existence-characteristic views, not to close the gate of expedient progressive approaches. From then afterward, during the Chen, Sui, and early Tang periods, the way was pure and simple without further different approaches. When it reached the Fifth Ancestor's disciples, two branches emerged with somewhat different sectarian styles. Datong still followed the ancient track—expedient means and correct cultivation, dual operation of principle and technique, employing both mechanisms. This was called the Northern School. Dajian solely raised the fundamental portion, standing like a cliff of ten thousand fathoms, his way absolutely not involving side-branches. This was called the Southern School. The Northern School gradually declined while the Southern School progressively flourished. The Southern School gradually branched to form five lineages: Linji, Caodong, Weiyang, Yunmen, and Fayan. Although the five lineages' Chan had different approaches, their ultimate
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realization was one. Weiyang's father-son pair had towering reputations, pure and distant sectarian style, with thousands respectfully submitting, greatly resonating in their time. After the two masters, their profound teaching ceased to echo and is no longer heard. The Fayan school's way was transmitted three generations to Yongming, when the sect greatly flourished, but lacked succession and did not flow in the world. According to tradition, this school was promoted in Korea. The Yunmen school saw dharma flourish greatly by the time of Xuedou, but later gradually weakened with few successors. Only the Linji and Caodong two schools remained, their ways flourishing and spreading widely. Like the Linji school's approach, the sectarian style was precipitously absolute—a single word or half-phrase like an iron dumpling that cannot be chewed, a single question and answer like vast empty space that cannot be grasped. It requires students to directly reach the ground where the path of intellect cannot go and suddenly turn the mysterious mechanism. Those who have cultivated prajñā through many lives and possess great faith and great wisdom, encountering these methods, have the divine verification of breaking ten thousand kalpas of darkness in one moment and awakening from a thousand years of nightmares in one call. But if those of middle or lower capacities easily investigate this Chan, they become agitated, recognizing the root of life and death as Buddha-knowledge and Buddha-vision, calculating discriminated false emotions as ordinary mind—exactly like covering an abscess with brocade. The most extreme become reckless and destructive characters.
What Nanquan called "ordinary mind is the Way" is precisely what is attained after the mysterious mechanism suddenly turns once, transcending aggregates, sense-fields and elements, departing from roots, objects and consciousness—the ultimate meaning mind that encompasses the three times and contains the ten directions of space. The deluded cling to the great disaster-mother accumulated by false habitual influences from beginningless time, taking this as ordinary mind and the great Way—like treasuring the Yan stone
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as a night-shining pearl.
Like the Caodong school's approach, the sectarian style is meticulous and the Chan cultivation allows no leakage. It simply uses unpretentious sincerity to embrace students—truly a secret technique for healing liver-cheating and muddled confusion. After long duration, this way gradually produced problems. Some take suppressing mental thoughts as ultimate, resembling the brahmins' calculation of thoughtless absorption as liberation. Others darkly certify in the realm of self and dharma, recognizing it as sage understanding—almost similar to the various rice-measuring sects' calculation of a divine self. Compared to reckless and destructive characters, their error seems slight, but as Chan sickness they are the same. In the Song there were Yongming, Yangqi, Huanglong, Yuanwu, Dahui, Hongzhi, Zhenxie, etc. In the Yuan there were Gaofeng, Zhongfeng, etc. In the Ming there were Chushi, Zibai, Hanshan, Yunqi, Gushan, etc. These various great elders diligently supported and promoted the ancestral way, earnestly correcting and rescuing contemporary problems. I cannot know the depth of their inner realization, but reading their remaining writings, their understanding is balanced and correct, their discussions substantive, their capacity distinguishes mature from immature, their dharma distinguishes orthodox from heterodox, clarifying that unawakened and awakened cannot be confused, demonstrating that expedient means and correct cultivation cannot be separated. They can be called bright models for learning. Their books are currently circulating—those who need them can search for them.
Third, regarding cultivation and realization. Here I divide into two parts: first, correctly clarifying cultivation and realization; second, distinguishing unawakened from awakened. The first, correctly clarifying cultivation and realization: the vessels for studying the Way generally have three categories—namely superior, middle, and inferior capacities. Regarding superior capacity, I will not discuss for now.
The ancients spoke of "five periods of five hundred years, gradually becoming longer and more diluted, increasingly declining"—comparing this to phoenixes and ordinary birds. There is also the saying: "Even the six-group troublemakers during Buddha's time were still superior to post-extinction figures like Aśvaghoṣa and Nāgārjuna."