Chan finds its origin in the Buddha’s
lifting up of a golden Lotus flower on Vulture Peak without
saying a word. The great assembly that was eagerly awaiting
his sermon could not understand the meaning of the Buddha’s
lifting up of the flower. It was only Kashyapa who smiled, and
thereby a heart to heart, mind-to mind transmission occurred.
At that very moment, Kashyapa understood the Buddha’s heart/mind,
and he also understood his own heart/mind. Smiling at the Buddha`s
lifting up of the flower, Kashyapa beheld the flower, and beheld
his own heart/mind. When Buddha Shakyamuni saw Kashyapa`s smile,
he said: “I have the treasury of the eye of true dharma, the
marvelous mind of Nirvana, the true formless form, the subtle
gate of dharma. It does not depend on letters, and is especially
transmitted outside of the teachings. This I have entrusted
to Kashyapa.”
In fact, everyone has this treasury of the eye of true dharma,
but it has been covered up. We need the Buddha`s guidance
to discover that our own mind is the wonderful heart of Nirvana,
that it is without any shape or form, and that it is unborn
and never dies. Now that we want to recover our original face
which is without form or shape, how shall we go about it?
Chan is the method to recover our original face. If there
is a person with sudden realization, that person can immediately
grasp the wonderful heart of Nirvana that is unborn and never
dies, in a direct experience. But if we cannot come to a sudden
realization, what shall we do? In that case we need a method
for practice. The four steps of our peace meditation is a
method that can help us attain the realization of our original
nature through constant practice, over and over again.
Our present societies are so over-flooded with information
that most people no longer have a clear value system in their
lives. In their confusion, they don’t know where life is going
or where it is coming from. Our Chan practice is the way home:
it lets our heart return home. What is the meaning of returning
home? Our heart/mind constantly rushes to the outside world
and gets entangled with it, so that we cannot get a hold of
our heart and simply let it return home. Most often we don’t
even know what we are so busy with. If we practice of Chan
we will discover that letting the heart return home is the
greatest joy, the greatest comfort, that it gives us the greatest
peace. This does not mean that we have to throw and empty
everything out. It only means that if our heart has ample
inner space, it can embrace everything. When our heart has
ample inner space, we will feel content in the moment. Without
this ample inner space, we will engage in dualistic thinking
and bickering.
The myriad things of the world of phenomena and Emptiness
can be likened to the waves and the ocean. All the waves are
brought forth by the ocean, and all of the phenomena are brought
forth by Emptiness. The waves are our deluded thoughts, and
all of the waves want to return to the ocean, since this is
their true from. All things without exception, all things
that exist, want to return to emptiness, which is the only
place of true peace and stability. Our Chan practice is a
method to let the waves of our deluded thoughts return to
the ocean. Chan is the way home – it lets the heart return
home.
Dharma Master Hsin Tao
(Translated by Maria Reis Habito)
正法眼藏
禪修是釋迦佛在靈山拿著一朵金色蓮花不語，大眾不知佛想要表達的意思，只有大迦葉微笑，跟佛以心印心。迦葉領悟了佛的心，也領悟了自己的心。拈花微笑是看到花，也看到了心。釋迦佛看到迦葉領悟了心法，就說：「吾有正法眼藏，涅槃妙心，實相無相，微妙法門，不立文字，教外別傳，付囑於汝。」其實每個人都有正法眼藏，可是覆蓋住了，要經過佛的引導，我們才能知道自己的心就是涅槃妙心，無形無相、不生不滅。現在我們要找回沒有形象的本來面目，要怎麼找呢？
禪就是找到本來面目的方法，如果是頓悟的人，馬上可以知道不生滅的涅槃妙心，如果沒辦法頓悟的話，怎麼辦呢？那就要有方法，我們平安禪的四步驟就是可以經過漸次漸次練習以達到見性的方法。
現代的社會資訊太多，人們大多不明白生命的價值觀是什麼，所以會盲目，不知道生命何去何從。而禪修就是回家的路，讓我們的心回家。什麼是回家？我們的心一直向外跑，攀緣外在，抓不回來，常常不知道在忙什麼。禪修的話就會發現心能回家是最快樂、最安定、最平安的。這不是說要空掉一切，而是當我們的心有空間的時候就能容納一切，心有空間的時候，會覺得富足；反之，心沒有空間的時候，就會分別計較。
現象與空性就像浪花與海水，所有的浪花都是海水變的，所有的現象都是空性變出來的，浪花就是妄念，浪花要回到海水，才是真如。一切萬有要回到空性才會安定，而學習禪修就是讓妄念浪花回到海水的方法，禪修就是回家的路，讓心回家。
─── 心道法師
