Chan is finding our original heart/mind, our original face. How shall we look for it? It is like seeing the sun after the clouds have dispersed. When the clouds open up, the sun simply appears in the sky. What are these clouds we are speaking about? The clouds stand for our grasping after and our attachment to the things of the world of phenomena, our desire for material things. These are desires that lead our spirit astray. What we need to do is to clear up these clouds. In the Chinese practice of Chan there is a method called “The contemplation of the door of nothingness.” In this contemplation we see that everything in this world is short-lived, that all things of the phenomenal world are nothing but a change of time, and that there is no way for us to control them. However, we often get lost in the midst of these short-lived and impermanent phenomena and thereby lose ourselves. To find ourselves again has nothing to do with believing a certain religion, but simply requires a practical method of returning home. This is a practical method that enables us to realize that what is impermanent and short-lived is not real, but empty (of self-existence). Therefore we need to understand the nature of phenomena first before we can enter the world of the spirit, and gradually, come to know that the spirit does not belong to the world of phenomena.

Before we assumed this form of a human being, our spirit was already there, ever present. Our spirit is without any phenomenal character, without any structure. It is pure radiance, an existence without form or shape. If this is so, how then can we return to it? It is through the practice of Chan, by relaxing, step by step, by letting our heart and mind calm down and return to its origin. Our body will decay, but our spirit will never perish. Therefore we need to practice Chan to discover it. We need to take on a method to slowly let it calm down and settle, to purify it. We will come to realize: the present moment is our Pure Land. The present moment is the world of the heart/mind.

How can you find your own heart/mind? When we are very busy, it is very difficult to discover its existence. But if we practice Chan, we discover it as something that is so familiar and intimate, so heartwarming, so fulfilling. As long as we have not yet discovered our own heart/mind, we remain hungry and thirsty, until we experience what is most intimate, perfect and fulfilling. Chan practice allows us to enter deep inside and know our heart/mind, and experience our own heart. It is indeed something worth exploring, investing in, and realizing!

Dharma Master Hsin Tao
(Translated by Maria Reis Habito)

你們可以找到自己的心嗎？

每個人都有本自具足的靈性，但是被我們對現象的貪著覆蓋住了，覆蓋住了我們的靈性、覆蓋住了我們的心，所以我們只能看到有形有相的肉團心，只看到攀緣現象的心，找不到我們的靈知靈覺，靈性的心，而禪修就是把這一切幻有的現象做一個淨化。

禪就是找回我們本來的心、本來的面目，怎麼去找呢？就叫做撥雲見日，把雲撥開了，太陽就出來了，什麼是雲呢？就是我們對現象的執著跟貪戀，我們對這些物質慾望的貪著，讓我們的靈性迷失了，所以我們要撥開這些雲霧。中國的禪修有「無門觀」的法門，所謂的無門關就是我們要看到世間種種都是短暫的，一切的現象只是時間的變化，我們沒辦法去掌控，但是我們卻常常迷失在這個短暫而無常的現象裡面而失去自己。所以找回自己，不是什麼信仰，就只是回到自己的一個方法。就是因為無常、短暫，所以不真實，是空的，所以我們要瞭解現象的本質，才能夠慢慢進入靈性的世界，明白靈性不屬於現象。

當我們沒有這個「人」的造型以前，這個靈就存在了，我們的靈性是沒有現象、沒有結構，是光明的、它是一個沒有形象的存在，所以怎麼回到我們的靈性？就是要經由禪修，慢慢放鬆、讓心歇下來，回到原點。我們的身體會壞，但是我們的靈性不會壞滅，所以我們坐禪就是要發現它，用我們的方法慢慢寧靜了它、純化了它，當下就是我們的淨土、當下就是心的世界。

你們可以找到自己的心嗎？

當我們在忙碌的時候，很難發現它的存在；當我們在禪修的時候，我們會發現它是那樣的親切、是那樣的溫暖、它是那樣的滿足。如果沒有找回這個心，我們是飢渴的，直到找回這個親切、圓滿、滿足的心。所以禪修是一個能夠進入我們的內在、瞭解 我們的心、成就我們的心，是值得探討、值得投入、值得去實踐的！

─── 心道法師