Category: Karma

Email: Master Xu Yun - Burned-Finger - and "Self-Immolation"! (26.1.2025)

1/25/2025

Dear J

Thank you for your interesting email.

Please find attached a photograph clearing showing the missing digit. According to Xu Yun, he was sad and regretful for the fact his mother died soon after giving birth to him (he probably later witnessed what women experience during pregnancy and birth) - and for the distress he caused his father by leaving home to become a Buddhist monk (without permission). This had all kinds of knock-on effects as although he was forced into marrying two young women (sisters) - he did not consummate the bond - or produce a son to carry-on the family name. Not producing a son was one of the worst things a dutiful son could NOT do with regard to his father (and by extension - his mother). In reality, it was a Confucian duty for an older son to produce an heir to inherit the family name and family wealth-business.

I believe there is a section in the Surangama Sutra describing various types of (similar) self-mortifications (usually linked to the selfless lives of Bodhisattvas). Furthermore, such ideas recur in various other (usually Mahayana) texts (the Mahasiddhi stories of the Tantrayana also contain all kinds of unusual activity). The usual argument is that such descriptions (which are either not found - or if they are present - are criticised by the Buddha in the Pali Suttas) are purely figurative and not intended to be taken literally (due to their negative and destructive tendency).

Given this is the case, what is Xu Yun doing? He is putting into practice the idea of "self-mortification" from a Buddhist point of view. Not all Buddhists accept this interpretation and I advocate freedom of thought and self-determination. Think for yourself. Xu Yun believed that by voluntarily inflicting "pain" upon his person (by copying the sutras) - he could "burn-off" bad karma AND transfer this credit-making exercise to provide for the well-being of another person (or persons) in the after-life. Of course, there is much to philosophically work-through - but this is similar to Medieval (monastic) Christian beliefs within certain traditions. This type of self-harm is open to interpretation and it should not be lightly treated or literally advocated. Remember, the Classical Greeks (Apollonius of Tyre and others) - recorded that an Indian Buddhist sat atop a pile of wood and "self-immolated" in-front of a crowd in Athens (I believe in the 1st century CE). Wapola Rahula also discusses "self-immolation" (see attached).

Peace in the Dharma

Adrian Chan-Wyles

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Buddhist Freedom from Dualistic Judgementalism

8/16/2024

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Buddhist Philosophy Rejects Dualism and Eternal Damnation!

Strictly speaking, the philosophical Buddhist view is that human awareness (and consequential habit of thought and behaviour) is a product of a certain orientation of the onging stream of consciousness. This is to say that the Judeo-Chrstian habit of affixing a permanent identity to speech-patterns and bodily-actions does not apply - and herein lies the chasm which divides the Buddhist and Christian view of the world. The same can be said to be true even within a modern (secular) society that has evolved out of the Judeo-Christian tradition - which is dependent upon the false dichotomy of good and evil.

All thought, speech, and action is a result of a temporary congealing of conditions within the mind and body of the individual which generate certain modes of expression. If a particular cycle of expression keeps repeating within the life of a particular individual - then regardless of the nature, import, or complexity of these expressions - the individual should NOT be permanently associated with these behaviours - on the grounds that their expressions only seem permanent from a deluded viewpoint that is misunderstanding what is happening.

As the Judeo-Christian tradition does not understand the Buddhist assessment of the ever-changing Five Aggregates (a process occuring from moment to moment - according to the Abhidhamma) - such a theistic tradition cannot grasp the fact that an individual only temporarily exists - and that there is no underlying "soul" (psyche) or "atma" which serves to link materially living beings to an immaterial divine entity. There is no permanent spiritual foundation that can be punished by an unseen sky-spirit. Given that this is true, the entire edifice of Judeo-Christian dualistic notions of "justice", "law", and "punishment" simply does not make sense. How can an ever-changing being be punished - when there is nothing permanent to be punished?

Contemporary Western society insists that its citizens should be punished or "corrected" if their speech and action violates the current definition of what such a society thinks is acceptable. The consequence of Buddhist philosophy completely disagrees. Compassion and loving kindness recognises the continuously changing nature of an individual (which is a combination of ever-changing processes) and therefore never holds such a person as being negatively anchored to any (or specific) sets arising out of his or her own thought-stream, speech-pattern, or behavioural habit. Just as the Buddhist is free of all (dualistic) judgementalism - the non-Buddhist individual should be made free of all attachment to their own patterns of repetitive expressions that define their existence.

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Sri Lanka: Letter (Number 1) From Buddhist Monk Mangala Thero [Regarding My Eldest Daughter Sue-Ling-Chan-Wykes] (13.8.1997)

10/23/2021

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My oldest daughter - Sue-Ling-Chan-Wyles - was born on August 8th, 1997. I was married to her mother - Cindy Chan - in Beruwela, (Sri Lanka) on December 13th, 1996. The Venerable Mangala Thero (a very learned Theravada Buddhist Monk now deceased) gave Sue-Ling the Dharma-Name 'Dhammika' - or 'She Who Diligently and devotedly Adheres to the Dhamma'. The Buddha advised a follow of His Dhamma to 'avoid' mixing with evil or negative persons - as their psychological and physical 'taints' (kilesa) or negative karma generated by excessive greed, hatred and delusion. Such people must help themselves - with those already possessing a pure mind (that is beyond corrupt) assisting them in this task. Those still attempting to purify and stabilise their minds must - for a time - separate themselves from the masses until their minds are strong enough to truly help and assist others. Sue-Ling is a grown woman now finding her own way in the world - and she is engaged in a number of ongoing projects designed to help and assist many different people. This is the ;essence' of Dhamma!

Greece: Me (Left), Sue-Ling (Top) and Por Por (Right) - Late 2001

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The Buddha’s Attitude to the Health of the Body...

3/19/2021

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The Buddha recognised that all physical bodies are born, exist and then die. This logical observation serves as the foundation of the Buddha’s Teaching. It is an inevitable process that every living-being must experience. An individual will be born, will live their life in any number of ways, and will then pass away through natural (old age) or unnatural (illness, injury or accident, etc) causes. According to the Buddha, the state of an individual’s mind is responsible for the ‘willed’ (volitional) actions performed through the body. The frequency of these decisions can be ‘healing’ and ‘compassionate’ or ‘debilitating’ and ‘horrible’ - it all depends upon the past conditioning (karma) of the individual mind (and body).

By permanently ‘stilling’ (and ‘expanding’) the mind, all karmic production is eradicated. This is a moment of karmic purification of mind and body. The ‘ridge-pole of ignorance is destroyed forever’ as the Buddha states in the Dhammapada. This is the experience of nirvana whilst still inhabiting a human-body – and when death arrives the body will ‘fall away’ - revealing the state of experiencing ‘nirvana’ without inhabiting a body. Through adhering to the Vinaya Discipline – this strict regulation of the mind and body in the environment has a beneficial effect with regards to health. This is because every rule is designed by the Buddha to ‘remove’ a particular negative (karmic) trait that causes ‘suffering’ in the mind and body of the individual and which permeates out into the environment if not ‘checked’ through the deployment of purposeful discipline.

This is how the Buddha strives to reduce suffering in the mind and body of the individual (and in the world). This process is cemented by emptying the mind of greed, hatred and delusion – whilst directly ‘perceiving’ the empty essence of the perceiving (and ‘non-perceiving’) mind. This is how the Buddha strives to eradicate all ‘illnesses’ (and illness generating ‘delusion’) from the mind, body and environment through the application of a strict discipline. This is why Master Xu Yun (1840-1959) was of the opinion that the Vinaya Discipline is a vital (foundational) element of ALL genuine schools of Buddhism – and refused to follow the example of Japan in ‘abolishing’ the Vinaya Discipline as a guide for monks and nuns. If a person wants to live longer and in a healthier manner – then follow the Vinaya Discipline!

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Email: Arahats and Bodhisattvas... (20.11.2020)

11/20/2020

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Dear B

The Buddhist Sutras state that at the point of enlightenmet realisation - all karmic activity ceases and all gods-goddesses are understood to be non-existent. Indeed, the only karma left is the lifespan of the current human-body - which must be lived-out - but with any potential (debilitating) effects greatly diminished through the - volitionl capacity of subject-object attachment - being transcended. Of course, this matter is complicated by the Bodhisattva principle which states that an appropriate 'deluded thought' is produced at the point of physical death so as to initiate yet another bodily existence (through force of habit) - which is selflessly used to help all other life-forms - whatever they may be (human, animal, environment and alien, etc). Pali scholars suggest this Mahayana teaching is 'nonsense' - whilst Mahayanists consider it natural and inevitable - take your pick. However, when an existence is completely 'finished' (as with Buddha and Master Xu Yun) - the individual concerned enters 'parinrivana' and that is very much that. Remember, the gong-an (koan) literature contain a wealth of wisdom regarding these matters. When enlightened Masters are asked what they have been practicing of late - they often reply 'not even the four noble truths.' Why practice an expedient teaching when one's mind (and body) exists in a permanent state of integration with the ultimate position (i.e. the 'empty mind ground')?

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Seated Transformation (坐化 - Zuo Hua)

10/8/2019

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Adrian Chan-Wyles - Buddhapadipa Temple - Wimbledon

Shuffling off the mortal coil, within the context of Chinese Ch’an Buddhist practice, is often associated with the male or female practitioner leaving the body whilst sat in the cross-legged, upright meditation position. Breathing slowly reduces until it can no longer be discerned, and the bodily processes come to a gentle halt. Chinese Ch’an literature is replete with recorded stories of men, women and children dying whilst standing, sitting or lying down, whilst retaining a particular posture. Some enlightened peasants have also passed away at a whim whilst working in the fields without a moment’s hesitation. Such an activity is inherently associated with the attainment of enlightenment and is still fairly common, even within Mainland China today. This is known as the practice of ‘Seated Transformation’ (坐化 - Zuo Hua), and is common in both advanced Buddhist and Daoist practice. By the time Richard Hunn passed away on October 1st, 2006, his body had been substantially weakened through months of spreading cancer and the effects of various radiation treatments – but he stated to me that he was going to die whilst ‘sitting up’, and that was that. As matters transpired, Richard Hunn passed away whilst sat-up in a Kyoto-hospital bed – and as his life-processes dissipated, he asked to go to the bookshop and buy some Wordsworth... I have researched both ancient and modern cases of ‘Zuo Hua’ in China and studied the photographs and eye-witness reports. The 6th Patriarch of Ch’an - ‘Hui Neng’ (坐化) - died in 713 CE and his body still sits upright in meditation, as does the body of Master Han Shan (憨山) who died in 1623 CE. There are many more – Daoist and Buddhist – scattered throughout the temples of China, and added to this are the hundreds and thousands of other ‘ordinary’ people who passed away sat-upright in-front of witlessness (often with written and photographic evidence). In my own seated practice, I understand that although the spine can be kept ‘buoyant’ whilst still consciously aware, the head inevitably drops forward when the sleep process is triggered, or the death process manifests. Many modern seated deaths end with the upper-body leaning (naturally) forward as the muscles completely relax. I am told that the alignment of the bones is the answer – (as in the advanced practice of Taijiquan). If the bones are aligned properly whilst seated, then the posture (I.e. ‘bones’) will be self-sustaining when all muscle-tension and control dissipates at the point of death. Elongating the vertebrae of the neck whilst pulling the chin slightly in should prevent the head from drooping at the point of death. Should my partner – Gee – be present when I experience ‘Zuo Hua’, I have requested that she photograph and film the experience for the progression of scientific understanding.

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Is There any Relevance for Enlightenment in the Modern Era?

10/5/2019

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What is the point of Ch’an (or Buddhist) enlightenment in the modern age? Many, if not all of the world’s great scientific breakthroughs have been made by human minds that have not undergone the Buddhist training, and which have not uprooted greed, hatred or delusion, transcended duality or perceived the empty mind ground. My personal opinion is that Buddhist developmental methodology is not a religion, despite the fact that many manifestations of Buddhism have assumed the garb of religiosity. Buddhism is not anti-science as the theology of other religions is often presented, and yet the Buddha and his disciples (although many of them ‘learned’), could not read or write. Many are surprised by this, but at no point in any of the 5000 plus Buddhist texts does the Buddha mention the modern notion of literacy, despite the Buddha’s thought processes appearing to be very modern despite manifesting at sometime between 2,500-3000 years ago in ancient India. As the concept of modern science has now mainstreamed in the world, together with literacy being the preferred norm, the Buddha’s path no longer seems that special or important. An effective scientist does not need to meditate or gain enlightenment to be an effective servant of humanity, and profoundly assist in its development and welfare. On the other hand, I have read Professors at Oxford University state that in their opinion, the Buddha was the first ‘modern’ thinker at a time when logical thinking was thin on the ground, with Carl Jung opining that the Buddha appeared, through a sheer act of will, to think ‘outside’ the era within which he existed. This on its own is an extraordinary feat, if it is accepted that he was the world’s first modern thinker in the true sense. In today’s world, being intellectually astute is inherently linked to simultaneously possessing a high degree of literacy and coming from an economically rich background, and yet the Buddha had none of these things as a spiritual-seeker. Indeed, today he would be considered one of the homeless community and what he had to say would be deliberately excluded from what is considered the general (and valid) discourse of mainstream existence. It is perhaps ironic that most that refer to themselves as ‘Buddhist’ in the contemporary West are of the privileged economic class that the Buddha rejected. The enlightened Buddha combines poverty, homelessness and unemployment with selflessness, non-attachment and sublime wisdom. What is interesting is that if a person were to live in a peaceful forest or on top of a hill far from the cares of the ordinary world, then the Dharma certainly does prove to be a ‘way out’ of ordinary suffering (by following the Vinaya Discipline). However, within the Ch’an School (and the Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra), the Buddha explains the path of the enlightened lay-person. Such a person lives amongst the pleasures and pains of the world and remains non-attached to arising and falling thoughts (and emotions), and is unmoved by words of praise or blame. The empty nature of material reality is always perceived as underlying the continuous play of phenomena. Although a busy street or a quiet mountain top may differ in outward appearances, they both share exactly the same empty mind ground, and other than the practicalities of different manifestations, no real difference can be discerned. Understanding this is the further training required after enlightenment. From my own perspective, training as a young man directed, strengthened and freed the full intellectual and wisdom capacities inherent in my mind, whilst allowing me a completely different way of relating to and controlling my physical body. This led to tremendous academic success and the mastery of our family martial arts system.

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Email: Master Xu Yun - Burned-Finger - and "Self-Immolation"! (26.1.2025)

Buddhist Freedom from Dualistic Judgementalism

Sri Lanka: Letter (Number 1) From Buddhist Monk Mangala Thero [Regarding My Eldest Daughter Sue-Ling-Chan-Wykes] (13.8.1997)

The Buddha’s Attitude to the Health of the Body...

Email: Arahats and Bodhisattvas... (20.11.2020)

Seated Transformation (坐化 - Zuo Hua)

Is There any Relevance for Enlightenment in the Modern Era?

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