The seventh step is Right Mindfulness.
In addition to keeping our minds focussed on our mantra
whenever we have undertaken to follow this method and in observing the disciplined thoughts required to discriminate the real from
the false should we have chosen this method, we must also remain
mindful of the causes and effects of all our actions.
Dear friends, we should never allow a day to pass without
reflecting upon our conduct. Have we done all we could to be kind
and helpful to others and to put them at their ease? Have we acted in
ways that are contrary to the Buddha Dharma? Have we been petty
or mean? proud or lazy? gluttonous or greedy? jealous or angry?
Have we sullied ourselves or others with lascivious thoughts or
words or actions?
It is not easy to see our own faults. Sometimes we strain to
detect them but can see nothing.
At night, if we stand in a brightly lit room and try to look
out a window at the dark landscape, all we'll see is our reflection in
the glass. We'll see nothing more than what we already know - the
image of ourselves and that small confined space in which we are
enclosed. If we want to see beyond ourselves, we have to turn off
the lights. We have to dim our egos or shut them off entirely. Only
then will be we able to see through the glass.
The eighth step is Right Meditation.
1. The Hua Tou
Dear Friends, according to ancient wisdom:
If a man wishes to be happy for an hour, he eats a good meal;
If he wishes to be happy for a year, he marries;
If he wishes to be happy for a lifetime, he grows a garden;
If he wishes to be happy for eternity, he examines a Hua Tou.
What then is a Hua Tou?
Hua Tou means "head word" and we may contrast Hua
Tou with Hua Wei which means "tail word". If a dog were to walk
past us, then, before we saw the dog's body we would see its head;
and after we saw the body we would see its tail. So far, so good. So
the head word or Hua Tou is the point at which the thought originates - the point before it enters the "body" of ego-consciousness.
The tail is a subsequent thought. We'll get to the tail word later.
In ancient times, it was regarded as sufficient merely to
point to the stilled mind in order to realize Buddha Nature. Bodhidharma spoke of "quieting the mind" and the Sixth Patriarch talked
about "perceiving Self-Nature". Both advocated a simple recognition of the mind's true state of undefiled purity. But pointing wasn't
as simple as it sounded.
As the years passed and Chan became popular, people
with differing degrees of ability were attracted to it. Many practitioners claimed to have found easy ways to reach exalted states of
enlightenment. They boasted of possessing the Dharma's precious
jewels, but the jewels they described they had merely seen in the
possession of others.
True Chan masters could, of course, see right through
such false claims; but beginners couldn't always tell a lie from the
truth. The masters, worried about the confusing effect such bad
information was having on new practitioners, decided to devise
methods of authenticating and standardizing accomplishments.
One of the methods they devised was the Hua Tou.
So, what is a Hua Tou? It is a statement designed to concentrate our thoughts upon a single point, a point that exists in the
Original Mind's "head", a point immediately before the thought
enters our ego consciousness. It is a "source" thought.
Let us examine the Hua Tou, "Who is it who now repeats
the Buddha's name?" Of all the Hua Tou questions, this is the most
powerful. Now, this Hua Tou may be stated in many different ways,
but all the ways indicate one basic question, "Who am I?" Regardless of how the question is stated, the answer must be found in the
same place that it originated: in the source, the Buddha Self. The
ego cannot answer it.
Obviously, quick and facile answers are worthless. When
asked, "Who is it who now repeats the Buddha's name?" we may
not retort, "It is I, the Buddha Self!" and let it go at that. For we
must then ask, "Who is this I?" We continue our interrogations and
our confrontations. A civil war goes on inside our mind. The ego
fights the ego. Sometimes the ego wins and sometimes the ego
loses. On and on we battle. What is it that makes my mind conscious of being me? What is my mind, anyway? What is consciousness?
Our questions become more and more subtle and soon
begin to obsess us. Who am I? How do I know who I am? These
questions go round and round in our minds like tired and angry
boxers. Sometimes, we may want to quit thinking about the Hua
Tou, but we find we can't get it out of our mind. The bell won't ring
and let us rest. If you don't like pugilistic metaphors you could say
that the Hua Tou begins to haunt us like a melody that we just can't
stop humming.
So there we are - always challenged, always sparring.
Needless to say, a Hua Tou should never degenerate into an empty
expression. Many people think they can shadowbox with their Hua
Tou and just go through the motions of engagement. While their
minds are elsewhere, their lips say, "Who is repeating the Buddha's
name? Who is repeating the Buddha's name? Who is repeating the
Buddha's name?" This is the way of feisty parrots, not of Chan
practitioners.
