Category: Reason

Venerable Old Master Xu Yun Dharma-Talk – Introduction & Pre-Requisites for Practicing Ch’an Meditation! (7.6.2025)

6/7/2025

(Translated By Adrian Chan-Wyles PhD)

27.5.2017 – Source: Lineaage Transmission Network

“Give-up all attachments and do not give rise to a single thought.”

These are the prerequisite for practicing genuine Chinese Ch’an meditation. Now that we know this, how can we achieve this objective?

The first example involves the most karmically able - who will immediately cease their thinking-processes forever (achieving a permanent “stillness” of mind) - whilst directly perceiving the empty mind ground. The state of “no-birth” is then entered. Bodhi is attained in an instant (like a finger-snap) - without any hesitation. When all this happens correctly (and in good order) - no further words are required.

The second level of karmic-ability involves the cultivation of logic and reason as a means to eliminate the uncontrolled stream of thought, and to modify behavioural-patterns when interacting in the material world. This method possesses many stages that vary according to the character of the practitioner. There is seated meditation, physical discipline, and much additional thought on the subject when not meditating - as a means of building resolve and motivation to practice. It must be understood that the “Original Nature” is pure and clean from the very beginning - and cannot be polluted by any expedient thought or action. By cultivsting this type of “wisdom” (Bodhi) – all “troubles” (klesa) will eventually come to an end. Birth, life, death and nirvana are all false constructs.

These things are like insubstantial and non-permanent dust that cannot pollute the “True Nature”. Everything is a dream, and an illusion. The four elements of the body the mountains, the rivers, and the earth, all manifest and pass-away within the “True Nature” without staining the empty essence one iota. Cultivate non-attachment to all phenomena as it arises, manifests, and passes-away. Do not chase after life, death, reward, wealth, or any worldly activity. None of these things exist within the empty mind ground. Give-up right and wrong, like and dislike – and become like a dead tree stump – or a body with no reaction to (internal or) external stimulus. Remain indifferent to all things. This is how rhe root-cause of greed, hatred, and delusion is uprooted and the stream of consciousness “purified”.

All troubles and difficulties will automatically disappear. In this way all pain, discomfort, suffering, happiness, hunger, cold, fullness, warmth, honour, disgrace, life, death, misfortune, fortune, good or bad luck, disgrace, gain or loss, safety or danger - are all laid to aside. Only in this way can we say that we have let go of the force of (ignotant) karmic-habit that keeps us trapped in duality – continuously fixating over fleeting externals which produce human suffering. Once you let go - you must let go of everything - forever. This is called “letting go of all attachments”. When all attachments are let go, delusion disappears, discrimination does not arise, and attachment ceases. At this point, non-thought (“stillness”) is achieved, the perceived True Nature is bright - and expands throughout the physical body - and out into the environment without limit. At this point, all the conditions for effective Ch’an meditation are met. If you work hard to truly meditate and study, you will be able to see your empty mind ground and (expansive) True Nature.

Chinese Language Text:

https://read01.com/5k5zRa.htm

虛雲老和尚：禪修入門參禪的先決條件萬緣放下

2017/05/27 來源：傳承網

「萬緣放下，一念不生」是參禪的先決條件，我們既然知道了，那麼，如何才能做到呢？

上焉者一念永歇，直至無生，頓證菩提，毫無噦唆。其次則以理除事，了知自性本來清淨，煩惱菩提、生死涅磐皆是假名，原不與我自性相干，事事物物皆是夢幻泡影，我此四大色身與山河大地，在自性中，如海中的浮漚一樣，隨起隨滅，無礙本體，不應隨一切幻事的生住異滅，而起欣厭取捨，通身放下，如死人一樣，自然根塵識心消落，貪嗔痴愛泯滅，所有這身子的痛癢苦樂、饑寒飽暖、榮辱生死、禍福吉凶、毀譽得喪、安危險夷，一概置之度外，這樣才算放下。

一放下，一切放下，永遠放下，叫做萬緣放下。萬緣放下了，妄想自消，分別不起，執著遠離，至此一念不生，自性光明，全體顯露，至是參禪的條件具備了，再用功真參實究，明心見性才有分。

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Email: Deconstructing John Blofeld's Delusion! (26.11.2023)

11/26/2023

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In My Edition of Blofeld's Yijing - I Do Not Possess This Extract - Which Must Be From Another Edition!

Dear B

Douglas Harding used to hold Zen meditation sessions by lying on the floor. He had no time for formal structure - as 'having no head' also apparently meant that 'he had no body' - although most people who encounter his work seem not to realise the latter. Richard Hunn knew John Blofeld and Douglas Harding - although if he knew Terrence Grey - nothing was said to me. Blofeld mentions meeting Xu Yun - but Xu Yun does not mention meeting Blofeld. This need not negate the encounter - as Xu Yun was photographed with numerous Westerners - many of whom are not mentioned in his biography.

In the UK - the barbarous treatment meted-out by the Imperial Japanese Army to British POWs and civilians is still remembered with disgust and derision - as is their savage treatment toward tens of millions of Asian victims. Just what Blofeld is talking about does not ring true. Richard told me that Blofeld eventually retired to Thailand - and 'gave-up' Buddhism in the last years of his life - becoming anti-Asian and pro-Christian, so perhaps his wayward attitudes express these changes.

I inherited Charles Luk's papers, and having looked through the volumes, I can say that there is no mention of John Blofeld, Douglas Harding or Terrence Grey. Charles Luk was opposed to Japanese religious corruption and actively campaigned against it. He certainly would not have assisted Blofeld if he knew of his pro-Japanese attitudes. As to hilly Hong Kong mountains - he is probably speaking of the Sai Kung area of the New Territories - where our Ancestrial village used to be. As the area is now a 'National Park' - the US social media has extended the so-called '411' mythology to include this area. Whenever I visited the area - I used to make sure I was with Chinese relatives who knew where they were going.

Yes - Richard Hunn gave me his copy of John Blofeld's Yijing. It is a peperback to which Richard added a stouter cover. Of course, it is not the full Yijing, but only the Hexagrams, its line commentaries, the Judgements and Images. From what I can see, I believe Blofeld is copying Wilhelm and is not working from the original Chinese language text. It is a re-interpretation of a translation. Of course, I suspect there are hundreds of these re-interprtations in the English language by now - and that a certain selection can grant an overview of the original text.

I am told that an astonishing 600,000 Americans go missing each year in well sign-posted National Parks and National Forests - although all but 6,000 are found safe and well - and that this finding is through the application of the scientific method. When people's lives are at stake I doubt superstition can replace logic and reason. In the days that Blofeld is referring to - the New Territories were strewn with hundreds of villages - many of them Hakka (he does not know this because he never went there). The distance between villages was quite often miniscule. I would say that getting truly lost would have been very difficult as there were settlements everywhere. These are the settlements the Imperial Japanese Army raped and pillaged their way through - killing at least 10,000 people in a relatively small area (1941-1945). The Yijing certainly did not assist the ethnic Chinese escape this fate. One last point that Blofeld is missing is that the Imperial Japanese Government 'banned' everything 'Chinese' - and this included the study of the Yijing. Blofeld is, therefore, misinformed and I would say, not to be trusted.

With Metta

Adrian

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The Mind Precept

8/11/2020

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The paradox of the Chinese Ch’an tradition is that it expects lay-people and monastics alike to realise full enlightenment - ‘here and now’. What does this mean? Regardless of the circumstances of an individual’s life, the insight capacity of the mind must be turned inward with such a high degree of focus and precision, that perception is permanently ‘altered’ so to ‘see’ and ‘understand’ more than what was understood before. Being a Buddhist monastic is no guarantee of success in realising enlightenment, just as being a lay-person should be no barrier. Individuals will learn at their own pace and in their own way, with all kinds of psychological and physiological factors coming into play (traditionally referred to as ‘personal karma’). The ‘language of the uncreate’ is unique to Chinese Ch’an Buddhism and uses language in such a way that does not allow the habitual ‘dualism’ of conventional communication to come into play during an ‘enlightening’ interaction or dialogue. The convention of ‘dualism’ preserves delusive states of mind, and prevents clarity of insight from developing. This is why Ch’an masters (in ancient times) developed this mode of non-communication, although when Master Xu Yun (1840-1959) taught during the 19th and 20th centuries, he often used a modern example of logic and reason to describe the history, method and purpose of the Ch’an School. Indeed, whilst encouraging his disciples to fully penetrate (and realise) the empty mind-ground, he would often warn against the cultural habit of many people attending Ch’an Week Retreats to descend into ‘mystical’, or ‘nonsensical’ states of mind, each of which was nowhere near the authentic realisation of the empty mind ground! Uttering nonsense about ancient masters, does go much beyond the nonsense being uttered! However, once the empty mind ground is realised, then every word spoken by the Buddha is understood exactly and clearly, as is every odd action and utterances of the ancient Ch’an masters!

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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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Venerable Old Master Xu Yun Dharma-Talk – Introduction & Pre-Requisites for Practicing Ch’an Meditation! (7.6.2025)

Email: Deconstructing John Blofeld's Delusion! (26.11.2023)

The Mind Precept

Is There any Relevance for Enlightenment in the Modern Era?

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