Day 1 Following the Guidelines of Buddhadharma | The Sword of Wisdom

When criticized by others, let them wrong you;
They will tire themselves trying to burn the sky with a torch. When I hear abuse, it is like drinking ambrosia;
Melt it, and suddenly one enters the inconceivable. If we regard criticism as merit,
The critics will become reliable friends.
Do not hate those who slander you;
How else can you manifest the unborn power of compassion?

These stanzas do not address methods of practice. Rather, they offer the Ch’an practitioner pertinent advice concerning problems he or she might face in daily life.

Yung-chia says that we should endure the insults, criticisms and slanderous remarks of other people. If someone slanders you or your practice, you must refrain from getting upset and harboring anger or hatred against that person. Instead, you should feel great joy, as if you were suddenly given a delicious drink when you were dying of thirst. Kan-lu, translated here as ambrosia, is a legendary drink which bestows immortality. When people slander you, you should receive their words as you would ambrosia.

You should be thankful to people who criticize you, because their remarks are beneficial to your practice. Even if you are not what the critics claim, and even if you have done none of the things they accuse you of doing, such criticism will make you more alert. It will sharpen your vigilance; it will help to prevent you from becoming what critics perceive you to be, and from doing what critics think you have done. If you deal with criticism and insult as Yung-chia advises, then your behavior will be correct, and your practice will flourish.

Thoroughly understanding both basic principles and teaching,
Samadhi and wisdom are complete and clear without stagnating in emptiness.
Not only do I accomplish this now,
The essence of uncountable Buddhas is just the same.

Yung-chia says it is necessary to thoroughly understand both the “basic principles” and the “teachings.” “Basic principles” are the Mind Dharma, which can only be comprehended through practice. “Teachings” refer to the Dharma that is expressed through words and language, which is absorbed through the intellect. Both basic principles and teachings are important. We learn Buddhadharma through an intellectual understanding of scripture, and we realize the basic principles, or Mind Dharma, directly through practice. Most, if not all of you, first encountered Buddhism through words and language. As a result of studying Buddhadharma, you then chose to adopt a method of practice. Yet, you continue to use Buddhist teachings as a guideline for practice and behavior. Eventually, through practice and study, you will experience the Mind Dharma. It is incorrect to say, “Since I am originally endowed with Buddha-nature, I don’t have to study or practice.” The Buddha-nature which is within us must be discovered through study and practice.

Ch’an Buddhism tells us not to rely on words and language, yet all Ch’an masters speak about Buddhadharma in order to help others. A master must teach his students in the most appropriate manner. If a master does not teach methods of practice and correct concepts and attitudes about practice, students will get lost along the outer paths (heterodox teachings), or develop physical or psychological obstructions.

One person who studies with me in Taiwan has been on several retreats. During one retreat, while he was meditating, he heard a voice saying, “Listen, I’ll teach you the correct way to practice the fastest way to reach Buddhahood.”

This person said, “I’ll have to ask my Shih-fu first.”

The voice said, “Why bother? The method I teach you will make you reach Buddhahood quickly. Even your Shih-fu hasn’t reached Buddhahood yet.”

My student answered, “I have known my Shih-fu for many years, and I know a lot of people who have studied with him, and they say that he has the correct concept of Buddhadharma. But this is the first time I have ever met you.”

The voice said, “Whether or not this is the first time does not matter. Your karmic conditions have ripened, so now I’m going to teach you.”

The student said, “I’m going to talk with my Shih-fu.” He stopped meditating and told me about his experience. I told him that he should ignore the voice and forget the experience.

Another student wrote to me recently, and said she had just finished reading a book about a man who claimed to be the incarnation of a Tibetan lama, and who felt his purpose was to come to the West and spread the true teachings of the Buddha. Actually, the man was British, and he had been seriously ill. Miraculously, he recovered, but when he did, his personality had completely transformed. He said the spirit of a lama had taken over his body. My student said that his teachings seemed to differ from what she believed to be correct Buddhadharma. She asked, “If he is truly a Tibetan lama, then why does he sound so far off the mark?”

I told her, “It’s not a lama’s spirit that has taken over this man. At most, it’s either a deity or ghost that claims to be a lama.”

Similar situations can happen to anyone who practices hard for a long time. These are usually called demonic obstructions. If people follow the advice they receive during such encounters, they will fall into demonic states. The beings who claim to be Bodhisattvas or high-ranking deities are simply ghosts or demons. If you want to learn Tibetan Buddhism, study with a lama. If you want to practice Ch’an, study with a Ch’an master. Don’t study with ghosts.

It is difficult to tell the difference between a true teacher and a ghost, especially for those who do not have a sufficient or correct understanding of Buddhadharma. That is why this stanza emphasizes the importance of cultivating Mind Dharma as well as studying the written teachings of Buddhadharma. Genuine penetration of Mind Dharma is based on and supported by the written and spoken word of Buddhist teachers. Also, it is possible to gradually experience Mind Dharma through a thorough understanding of the teachings.

There are exceptions, such as the Sixth Patriarch, Hui-neng. Before he attained enlightenment, he could not study any written teachings because he was illiterate. The first time he encountered the Dharma was when he heard a monk chanting the Diamond Sutra. As soon as he heard genuine Buddhadharma, he understood completely and directly, and instantly became enlightened. Hui-neng is the exception to the rule.
An ordinary practitioner should not seek a master based solely on his own judgment, or go to the mountains to practice in solitude until he has the right ideas and understanding of Buddhadharma. He will not be able to distinguish a good master from a false or bad master. If he goes to the mountains to practice by himself, he will most likely run into problems. The prerequisite is that the student must experience seeing his self-nature. Until he has an enlightenment experience, he should study with someone who is widely acknowledged as being a good master. The master’s behavior may not be in perfect accordance with the Buddha’s, but so long as his understanding of the Dharma is correct, the student will have no problems.

Thoroughly understanding both basic principles and teachings is the prerequisite of practice. The results of practice are samadhi and wisdom. There are two kinds of samadhi and wisdom, those with outflows and those without outflows. Samadhi and wisdom are simultaneously and mutually enriching. When samadhi arises, wisdom also arises; when wisdom becomes deeper, the power of samadhi also gets stronger.
Sometimes, a person who practices seriously experiences a false sense of emptiness. It is not the genuine emptiness of Ch’an. A person experiencing false emptiness can be passive and apathetic. Nothing will matter to him. He may even have an aversion toward society and life. He may not care deeply about anything ─ family, career, a future ─ because, to him, everything is an illusory attachment, a form of bondage. He will want to leave everything behind.

This happened to one of my students. After he participated in a Ch’an retreat, he found everything to be empty. He went home and spent all his money treating his friends to dinner. Then he threw all his possessions away. His friends worried that he was going crazy, so they had him committed to a mental hospital. Throughout all of this, he kept insisting that he was not crazy. He was right. What his friends mistook for insanity was a temporary condition brought on by a false sense of emptiness. It does not last too long. Within a short period of time, his normal world view would have returned of its own accord.

There is a second type of false emptiness which can be more serious than that which I have just described. After a person has been practicing for a long time, he may suddenly find everything to be empty and feel that everything is an illusion. The past, present and future are illusions. There are no Buddhas, no Bodhisattvas, no causes or consequences. A person with this attitude may feel he can do anything. He may
think, “Even if I kill somebody, I may suffer the consequences in my next life, but actually, it’s just another illusion. It has nothing to do with me.” This type of false emptiness is potentially dangerous. A person with this condition can do great harm to himself and others.

Someone experiencing this type of false emptiness might throw away his Buddha statues and sutras. He might break the five precepts, rationalizing, “Since everything is Buddha, why do I have to practice or keep precepts? Precepts are for ordinary people. I, on the other hand, have reached Buddhahood.” Unfortunately, he is deluding himself.

That is why the text says, “Samadhi and wisdom are complete and clear without stagnating in emptiness.” In this line, emptiness refers to the two kinds of false emptiness. An enlightened practitioner abides neither in emptiness nor existence. Samadhi and the “perfection of the mind in wisdom” are not to be understood in terms of emptiness and existence. You must not cling to emptiness, and you must not cling to existence. Do not look for any results ─ including the experience of emptiness ─ in your practice. The proper attitude is to view practice itself as the result: practice is the result of practice. Treat all experiences you encounter during practice as illusions. Ignore them.

At the end of this stanza, Yung-chia declares that he is not alone in his ideas. All the Buddhas, as many as the sands of the Ganges River, have also achieved the same understanding.

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