Chan is the buddha’s mind. The purpose of Buddhist cultivation is to realize our pure and intrinsic awareness, to realize this present mind. Chan Buddhism teaches, “With sudden enlightenment to the original mind, one becomes a buddha.” Here, buddha refers to our intrinsic mind. Once we extinguish all afflictions by way of self-reflection and attain perfect wisdom, this very mind of ours will be full of brightness, unhindered in any respect, and reach a state where motion and stillness are nondual—this is the buddha.
Becoming a buddha requires that we cultivate and realize the buddha of wisdom and the buddha of suchness. The buddha of wisdom is the ability to cast the light of our awareness inwards, to practice self-reflection, and to reform our wrongdoings. The buddha of suchness is a mind without deluded thoughts and distortions, neither thinking of the past, present, nor future, and always maintaining stillness in suchness. By cultivating these two aspects, everyone can become a buddha. We must all learn to take on the mind directly—then, we will find life’s true value.
Purify the mind through self-reflection.
The root of Buddhadharma is found in human beings. The root of human beings is found in the mind. The root of the mind is in awakening to awareness. Our thoughts can come in many forms: good, bad, coarse, subtle, right, wrong, wise, or misguided. The key question is: how should we control and purify these thoughts so we can realize our pure and intrinsic awareness?
Confucianism tells us, “Sages who succumb to their thoughts become deluded beings. Deluded beings who subdue their thoughts become sages.” To subdue means to restrain: by restraining unwholesome thoughts, one can enter the realm of sages. On the contrary, those “who succumb to their thoughts become deluded beings.” This means if we cannot restrain our thoughts and give rise to delusions, ignorance, distortions, and self-attachment, then we will become deluded beings and fall into the lower realms.
Similarly, Chan masters say, “Fear not the arising of thought, only the absence of awareness.” In Buddhist cultivation, we must constantly practice self-reflection; do not fear raising unwholesome thoughts, but only that we lack a mind of awareness—the awareness of observation and reflection. When we observe that a negative thought has arisen and eliminate it immediately, this is the cultivation of learning to realize buddhahood.
Buddhist cultivation generally progresses through various stages: at first, we feel the Buddhadharma is something beneficial and practice the six paramitas diligently. At this stage, we see ourselves as bodhisattvas who are making good progress on the path. As time passes, however, we uncover much ignorance and afflictions in our mind. We may think we have regressed, but before practicing Buddhism, we simply did not realize they were there. So, being able to observe our ignorance and afflictions means that we have made progress compared to our previous state.
Nowadays, society emphasizes emotional management. From a Buddhist perspective, managing our emotions and thoughts is just one part of cultivation. We must also purify and elevate ourselves. To do so, the first step is to begin with self-understanding. By understanding ourselves, we can discipline our thoughts and emotions, which is to achieve self-benefit. We must be able to help ourselves before we can benefit others.
When the police catch a thief, only detaining him is not enough. They should also help him reform, so he can become a good person, a sage, or even a bodhisattva. This analogy describes Buddhist cultivation. First, we must recognize the ignorance and afflictions in our mind, which are like thieves, always stealing our merits and virtues. Then, we must discipline this very mind. This means constantly reminding ourselves to refrain from raising deluded thoughts; to maintain the four deportments in walking, sitting, and resting; and to observe the rules of our monastery. The next step is to purify our mind: when we raise afflictions and perform wrongdoings, we should have contrition, practice repentance, and reform our actions. We must always be aware and perform self-reflection in order to thoroughly transform our afflictions.
Enter the Way through awareness of observation and reflection.
Buddhadharma teaches us that awareness has three facets: (1) awareness of observation, (2) awareness of reflection, and (3) pure and intrinsic awareness. Having awareness of observation is to turn our awareness inward, to look into the mind and examine our afflictions. This is extremely important. Most people tend to direct their attention outwards and judge others rather than seeing their own faults. When faced with difficulties, one who judges others, blames society, or always thinks they are right lacks awareness of observation. For example, during economic downturns, some people may think, “Society is wrong, unjust, and unfair. The rich become richer and the poor become poorer. My friends aren’t helping me; my family isn’t helping me…it’s all a big mess.” This is the way ordinary beings think.
However, if we observe inwardly with awareness, then we will not blame society, peers, family, or friends. Instead, we will perform self-reflection: “The poverty and misfortunes I experience in this life are because I did not put in enough effort, raise enough wholesome thoughts, or cultivate enough merits and wisdom in the past. From now on, I will constantly practice self-reflection and perform all good deeds, leaving no good deed left unperformed.” This is to have awareness of observation.
Let’s take family life as an example. Some parents get angry when they see their children slacking off in school and getting poor grades. They scold their children and soon, everything in the house starts to irritate them. So everywhere, they find something to blame. Failing to observe one’s afflictions with awareness is to be a sentient being. If parents understand how to observe with awareness, they will reflect upon themselves: “I am a member of this family, so if my child is underperforming, then I am also responsible. I should show compassion and teach my child to cultivate the right causes, guide them to practice repentance, change for the better, and find their own bright path.” In this way, to begin everything with self-reflection is to have awareness of observation.
Once we have awareness of observation, we must then bring forth awareness of reflection. This is to apply awareness to reflect on and eliminate the afflictions in our mind. For example, parents might observe that they are easily angered and often scold their children, resulting in unwholesome speech. This is to have awareness of observation. After observing the problem, we must constantly pay attention. When we give rise to anger, transform it by means of chanting sutras, mantras, buddhas’ names, or practicing repentance, etc. This is to have awareness of reflection. Everyone has six fundamental afflictions—greed, anger, ignorance, pride, doubt, and erroneous views—that must be dealt with. When we mindfully observe the ignorance and afflictions in our mind, we can chant “Amituofo” to bring awareness back to our mind. We can also use bodhi wisdom to contemplate: “Who is the one getting angry?” When we reflect inwardly like this, our anger will naturally disappear.
Those with the lowest spiritual capacities do not know when they raise afflictions, scold others, or perform bad deeds. Even if others point out their behavior, they do not accept their criticism. Those with middling spiritual capacities realize only after the fact that they lost their tempers and think, “Oh gosh! I got angry and raised afflictions again.” Remember, “Fear not the arising of thought, only the absence of awareness.” Although this second capacity is not the best, but since they have awareness of observation, it is still pretty good.
Those with good spiritual capacities recognize afflictions and ignorance as they arise, and can reflect and eradicate them on the spot. Those with the best capacities constantly maintain right mindfulness, and thus afflictions naturally do not arise. We must understand these teachings. When this very mind constantly observes and reflects with awareness—this is the buddha of our inherent nature. This is how every buddha and bodhisattva has accomplished their cultivation.
When the virtue of cultivation is accomplished, the intrinsic nature appears.
Buddhist cultivation requires us to have awareness of observation and awareness of reflection. Only then can we take the next step: awakening to our pure and intrinsic nature. “When the virtue of cultivation is accomplished, the intrinsic nature will naturally appear.” Through observing and reflecting with awareness, we eradicate the afflictions in our mind; then our inherent buddha nature will appear. Since beginningless time, we have habitually given rise to afflictions, so the seeds of greed, anger, ignorance, pride, doubt, and erroneous views are ingrained within our eighth consciousness. Now, we must eradicate these afflictions by upholding the precepts, chanting sutras and mantras, practicing sitting and walking meditation, performing repentance, practicing the six paramitas and thirty-seven factors of enlightenment, and other Dharma gates. This is “the virtue of cultivation.” When we successfully accomplish the virtue of cultivation, our inherent buddha nature will naturally appear. Without putting our efforts towards this, we will take a long way off the path, squandering opportunities to practice as our lives pass idly by.
Our buddha nature, this pure awareness, is inherent. It is just as it is, without beginning and without end. When we overcome our afflictions by observing and reflecting with awareness, we will fully realize the intrinsic awareness of our true nature. Our life will then be one without beginning and without end. On the contrary, if we do not cultivate, do not practice observing and reflecting with awareness, even though our intrinsic nature is this same awareness, we will still live in confusion and ignorance. Creating unwholesome karma as a result, we condition ourselves to cycle through samsara, undergoing rebirth in the six realms of sentient beings. Facing up, a hand shows the palm; turned down, it shows the back. Everything depends on how much effort we put in.
Buddhadharma is the teaching of the mind. All buddhas from past to present teach the Dharma gate of the mind-ground. To be able to hear and understand the Buddhadharma is life’s greatest blessing. Knowing that everyone has pure and intrinsic awareness, we must focus our cultivation on this awareness. This is the true cultivation that leads to complete enlightenment. Once this very mind awakens to its true nature, then we are bodhisattvas. Once we attain complete and perfect enlightenment and eradicate all trace of afflictions, then we are the tathagatha, the buddha.