ON 'SILENT ILLUMINATION' BY HUNG-CHIH (1091-1157) | Getting The Buddha Mind

The style of meditation called “Silent Illumination” is one of the great practices of the Ch’an tradition. Silent Illumination originated around the 11th century, and its greatest advocate was Master Hung-Chih Cheng-Chueh of the Ts’ao-tung sect, which became the Soto sect in Japan. In Tibet, the mahamudra practice is very similar. The practice originated in India, where it was called samatha-vipasyana, or serenity-insight. The aim of this practice is a mind unburdened with thoughts. This leads the mind to profound awareness about its own state.

Silently and serenely one forgets all words, Clearly and vividly it appears before you.First there is silence, then comes illumination. Ordinarily people express themselves through a never-ending succession of words and images. This is moving away from serenity. On retreat we have the rule of no talking. Even so, is your mind ever without thoughts or words? In interviews, people tell me that their biggest problem is that they can’t stop thinking. Even when you’re sitting there, wordless and silent, you may be conversing with mental objects all the time. After fast-walking today, I asked you to relax and put down all thoughts. Had you been able to do this, you would have achieved a state of silence and serenity, and you would be practicing at an advanced level.

Silent Illumination is a very peaceful style of meditation in which there is not one thought, yet your mind is extremely clear. I use three phrases to describe this state: first, “bright and open”; second, “no scattered thoughts”; and third, “not one thought.”

When the mind drops all use of words, it becomes bright and open; this is the first characteristic. Next, “no scattered thoughts” refers to single-mindedness -total concentration on the method. But when you finally forget the method itself, and not one thought remains, that is genuine serenity. Ultimately, Silent Illumination is the method of no method. Counting and following the breath are methods of collecting the scattered mind, and kung-an is the method of applying great pressure to achieve a sudden breakthrough. Silent Illumination is just dropping all thoughts and words and going directly to the state of Ch’an.

I do not recommend this method to people too often. More often, I ask them to work on kung-ans. First, you must have a firm practice to really benefit from it; you must be at a stage where there’s no problem becoming settled, when you can sit with unbroken concentration, with almost no outside thoughts. The other reason is that it is hard to tell whether your mind is truly “bright and open, ” or just blank. You can just be idling, having very subtle thoughts, and believe you are practicing Silent Illumination. You can be silent without illuminating anything.

The key is in the line “Clearly and vividly it appears before you.” What are you clear and vivid about? About everything in your mind, which, though motionless, reflects everything, like a mirror.
When one realizes it, time has no limits.

When experienced, your surroundings come to life.When silence is achieved, time has no duration. It is only because thoughts come and go that we are aware of time. When there are no thoughts, neither is there
time. Time is limitless, beyond measure. One night, when Great Master T’ai-Hsu was meditating he heard the evening bells. Immediately afterwards, he heard the morning bells. Because he was in samadhi, a whole night had passed during which he had no sense of time.

The next line refers to space, a clear and vivid sense of the environment. When your mind is moving, your awareness is narrowly focussed by your thoughts. If you could see and hear without using your mind, and be very attentive at the same time, you would sense limitless space. But this is not an especially high state. Higher yet is the state of “not one thought.” In this state distinctions of vast or small just don’t exist.

There is a saying that all the Buddhas of the past, present, and future are turning the Dharma Wheel on the point of a fine hair. When you can empty your mind of all thoughts, the mind becomes all-inclusive and sees no difference between the infinitesimally small and the infinitely large.

Singularly illuminating is this bright awareness, Full of wonder is the pure illumination.The bright awareness that illuminates is that of a Buddha who sees sentient beings in their perfection, unlike ordinary awareness which is confused, and sees the world as dark. This brightness throws its light on all things, which take on the aspect of wonder. This is like the songs of Milarepa, which reveal the harmony between all things great and small. It is the wonder of the Avatamsaka Sutra, where everything is seen in such detail, from every point of view. A mind so illuminated could see the cosmos in a grain of sand. This is the realm perceived by wisdom arising from samadhi.

The moon’s appearance, a river of stars,
Snow-clad pines, clouds hovering on mountain peaks.

The state of Silent Illumination is like the moon unobscured by clouds-clear, soft, and cool. The moon rather than the sun symbolizes enlightenment, because the moon is cool and serene, while the sun is hot and active. “… a river of stars” refers to the Milky Way where the dense stars form a river of light. “Snow-clad pines…” All these are images of brightness and openness.

Have you ever seen clouds move freely through upthrusting mountain peaks? This symbolizes the liberated mind which, even when it encounters obstructions, is not bound by them.
In darkness, they glow with brightness.

In shadows, they shine with a splendid light.These lines contrast the mind of wisdom which shines even in the dark in the midst of vexation, and the mind of foolishness which remains in the dark. Wise persons, perhaps seeming stupid, prefer obscurity. Yet they express their power in everything they do.

Like the dreaming of a crane flying in empty space,
Like the clear, still water of an autumn pool,
Endless eons dissolve into nothingness,
Each indistinguishable from the other.

The mind of Silent Illumination is broad, high, and deep. It is like the crane in flight, feeling the vastness of empty space, unaware of its own existence, silently floating in a timeless dream. The autumn pool, despite its great depth, is so still that the bottom is clearly seen. In autumn the pool is not as thriving with life as it is in summer. The active elements have settled, and with settling there comes a clarity, and the depths can finally be seen.

Into the sky of the crane’s dream and the depths of the autumn pool, eons of time dissolve into nothing. Why nothing? Because our sense of time comes from the endless succession of thoughts and images passing through our minds. This flow of experience also gives rise to a sense of a separate self. If you could cease the march of thoughts through your mind, and fix on just one constant thought of Silent Illumination, time would freeze. If you could then forget even that thought, time would dissolve.

Can you fix your mind on one thought for even a minute? Is it dangerous to stop a plane in midair? Of course. But you must be determined to stop your thoughts, and not be afraid of dying. If you panic, you will be filled with thoughts. You must more than ever drop everything and concentrate on just the practice, abandoning all thoughts of life, body, fears, desires, everything but the method.
In this illumination all striving is forgotten.

Where does this wonder exist?There are many wonders to discover in Silent Illumination. But the mind of practice cannot be the seeking mind, even if the goal is enlightenment. For a while these thoughts exist they are obstacles. “All striving is forgotten” means that nothing exists except illumination itself; there is no thought of losing or gaining anything. The wonder is in abandoning confusion and with a clear, bright mind, just dedicating yourself to practice.

Brightness and clarity dispel confusion On the path of Silent Illumination, The origin of the infinitesimal.When we are practicing the method, vexation and ignorance diminish, wisdom and compassion increase.
When vexation and ignorance reach the extreme of smallness, they vanish; when wisdom and compassion reach the extreme of largeness, they too vanish. Therefore, for all sentient beings, bodhisattvas, and Buddhas, the path aims at lessening vexation and increasing wisdom. But at the stage of Buddhahood, neither vexation nor wisdom exist.

To penetrate the extremely small, There is the gold shuttle on a loom of jade.The gold shuttle and jade loom are used to weave the clothing of the devas, or heavenly beings, and symbolize the wisdom which harmonizes the realms of being. With wisdom, the nature of the least of things can be directly perceived.

Subject and object influence each other.

Light and darkness are mutually dependent.These lines refute the dualisms of ordinary thinking. Subject and object are mutually dependent, like light and darkness. Silent Illumination dispels the idea that wisdom is simply the absence of vexation. During this retreat, one student came to me in a very emotional state, saying that her compassion had been moved powerfully; that she felt pity for suffering people and wanted to help them. From her point of view this seemed like a very good experience to have, but I scolded her, saying, “You’re just rolling around in sentimentality. This is not wisdom. In the mind of wisdom, there is no such thing as people needing to be pitied.” Compassion is not simple sentimentality; it is just a natural response to help people.

There is neither mind nor world to rely on,
Yet do the two interact, mutually.

When the distinction between self and others is dropped, when there is no sense of self or outside world, inner and outer become one, and even that one will disappear. When you are practicing poorly, you can’t even connect two successive thoughts, much less dissolve the boundary between inner and outer. The previous lines describe the serene, internal aspect of Silent Illumination. The following lines deal more with functioning in the world.

Drink the medicine of correct views.

Beat the poison-smeared drum.To drink the medicine of correct views is to infuse your being with the Dharma; to beat the poison smeared drum is to help sentient beings kill delusion and vexation. (In Indian mythology, a drum smeared with a certain poison can kill enemies who hear the drum, even from a great distance.) Yet, while there is compassion and helping, there is no sense of saving sentient beings. You must rely on three pillars of practice-precepts, samadhi, and wisdom. Of these, samadhi produces concrete results the most easily. Someone who has had their self-centered point of view demolished even for a short time can understand Silent Illumination. But ultimately the essence of this practice is simply to sit, just sit, and keep on sitting. It is like letting the impurities in a murky pond settle until the water is so clear you can see to the bottom.

When Silence and Illumination are complete, Killing and bringing to life are choices I make.The spirit of the bodhisattva is this: the path of delivering oneself from suffering lies in relieving the suffering of others. Even with this ideal, if your practice is weak, your most sincere actions cannot help. But when your practice reaches the level described in this poem, your power to help flows spontaneously, even in ways that seem unconventional. “Killing and bringing to life” means that the bodhisattva applies any skillful means, even increasing a disciple’s vexation, to bring him to realization. We kill vexations to give life to wisdom, we give life to vexations to exercise wisdom.

At last, through the door, one emerges. The fruit has ripened on the branch.When practice is fulfilled, the meditator passes through the door of samsara-the cycle of birth and death-and emerges on the path of wisdom. Having labored long and hard, his practice has ripened. The fruit of the Bodhi tree, the Buddha’s tree of awakening, is ready for picking. In Ch’an practice, this “door” is described as consisting of three thresholds one must pass. The first threshold is called ch’u ch’an, or “initial Ch’an.” By investigating Ch’an, and smashing through the wall of great doubt, you cross this threshold to see one’s self-nature, or Buddha nature. This is the first taste of the fruit, a glimpse of enlightenment, but not final liberation, for vexation is still deeply ingrained.

On the darkest of nights, moonless and starless, a bolt of lightning splits the sky; for an instant you see everything with stunning clarity, then darkness again. But having seen it once, your faith is increased, and you will never totally lose your practice.

The second threshold is in fact many thresholds. It is called t’seng kuan, the “multi-layered pass.” This is like a mountain range with ever-ascending peaks, which you must pass, one by one. The peaks are your own obstructions and vexations. This stage takes a long time, but with every peak crossed, your strength grows, and the peaks seem less high while vexations get lighter.

The third and last threshold is called lao kuan, the “prison pass, ” so-called because one emerges from this into final liberation from the wheel of samsara ─ the temporal realms of past, present, and future. This liberation is called Nirvana. At this stage, the bodhisattva’s capacity to help sentient beings is vast and unhindered.

Only this Silence is the ultimate teaching.

Only this Illumination, the universal response.Silence is the ultimate teaching. After a billion words are uttered, they are still not the Dharma. No description of enlightenment can approach the direct experience. Silence is itself the teaching that transcends words. Illumination is perfect wisdom. Only with perfect wisdom can you respond to all sentient beings.

The response is without effort. The teaching, not heard with the ears.Illumination is without effort because there is no serenity through striving. The effortless response is the way of the bodhisattva. While others see in him great compassion, he sees himself as ordinary.

Throughout the universe all things Emit light and speak the Dharma.It is said that green bamboo and yellow flowers are the Buddha speaking the Dharma. But is there anything that is not a manifestation of Buddha Dharma? There is a story of Master Tao-Sheng who spoke to a pile of rocks because nobody attended his lectures. According to the story, when he was finished, the rocks nodded in appreciation. But, in fact, everything is the Dharma body of the Buddha, and the illumined mind simply sees the world as bright and full of vitality.

They testify to each other
Answering each other’s questions.
Mutually answering and testifying,

Responding in perfect harmony.In this conversation between all things, when everything speaks the Dharma, the response is always on the mark. The illuminated mind includes all, and in it, all things are friendly and harmonious, without lack, without excess. It is a perfect conversation-the perfect answer to the perfect question; all without words.

When illumination is without serenity,
Then will distinctions be seen.
Mutually testifying and answering,
Giving rise to disharmony.

When there is illumination without silence, thoughts intrude and distinctions are made. Things lose their quality of being “just this.” The dialogue between things is discordant-the wrong answers to the wrong questions.

If within serenity illumination is lost,
All will become wasteful and secondary.In the previous lines the poet speaks of illumination without silence. Here as earlier, he speaks of silence without illumination. Neither state by itself is complete, neither is the goal of practice.
When Silent Illumination is complete,
The lotus will blossom, the dreamer will awaken.
These lines say clearly that the proper practice of Silent Illumination can lead to enlightenment. Silent Illumination is complete when serenity and illumination are both present. Much hard work and persistence are needed to get to this point. Ultimately, the Buddha lotus inherent in you will blossom, and you will awaken from the deep dream of samsara, the dream of vexation.

The hundred rivers flow to the ocean,
The thousand mountains face the loftiest peak.

The hundred rivers are like sentient beings who are attached to thinking, and suffer vexations. Each river, following its own course, flows into the great ocean of wisdom where it loses its sense of self, and becomes one with the ocean. The thousand mountains suggest discriminating minds that see themselves as separate, but each one ultimately gazes upon the lofty peak of wisdom, which sees only the one great mountain of all sentient beings.

Like the goose preferring milk to water,
Like a busy bee gathering pollen,
When Silent Illumination reaches the ultimate,
I carry on the original tradition of my sect.

The goose choosing nutritious milk over water, the bee busily gathering pollen, are both expressing natural intelligence, you might say animal wisdom. When practicing Silent Illumination you are doing the same thing, completing the natural process of attaining wisdom. Just as the bee does not waste time looking for pollen in a dead flower, the wise practitioner does not waste time just sitting with a blank mind. Just as the bee is unsparing in its efforts, the serious practitioner works until he tastes the honey of wisdom. When the poet has brought his practice to fruition, he is transmitting and honoring the tradition of his sect. But fundamentally, what is he transmitting, and whom is he honoring? He is really transmitting the method discovered by the Buddhas, and he is honoring the Buddha-nature that is intrinsic in all sentient beings.
This practice is called Silent Illumination.

It penetrates from the deepest to the highest.These lines speak of faith-faith in a tradition of practice that has been handed down without interruption from the Buddha onward, through countless generations. Is there anyone who can practice it and not find in it all of the Buddha Dharma ─ from the deepest to the highest?

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