What shall we do when an elderly nun or priest begins to
slumber in the Meditation Hall? Should we strike him with a stick?
Are we confusing laziness with sleepiness? Perhaps the sleepy person has been up most of the night tending to the sick. Should we
punish him if, in his exhaustion, he begins to drift into sleep? No.
We should offer him some strong tea. If he wants to perk up, he
drinks the tea. But if he takes a little catnap we should let him rest.
Perhaps a person's noisy breathing or restlessness is actually a
symptom of illness. Should we punish the sick person and add to
his discomfort? No. This is not the Chan way.
What should we do once, of course, we are sure that his
noisiness has not arisen from fatigue or illness? We should use the
sound of his breathing or his movements as we would use the sound
of an auto's horn or a child's shout. We should just register the
noise without thinking about it at all. We should not let our ego get
involved in the noise. Just let it pass through our minds unhindered,
like a guest at an inn. A guest enters and departs. We don't rummage through the guest's belongings. We don't detain it with gossip
or idle chatter.
You know, the Buddha once asked Manjushri to choose
between the different methods of attaining enlightenment. "Which
was the best?" he asked. Manjushri easily chose Avalokiteshvara
Bodhisattva's method of using the faculty of hearing as the best.
Always remember that when meditating on sound it is
essential to remove the ego from the listening process and to let the
non-judgmental Buddha Self record the sounds that enter our ears.
In whatever place we do this, we make that place a Bodhimandala,
a sacred place in which enlightenment may be obtained.
We do not need to be in a mediation hall to practice this
technique. Every day, in all of our ordinary activities, wherever we
happen to be, we can practice it. We shouldn't try to limit our practice of Chan to those times in which we are in a Chan Meditation
Hall. In fact, the function of a meditation hall is really only to provide a place of minimal distraction for those people who have difficulty in keeping their attention focussed on what they are doing.
Sometimes people like to go to meditation halls because
they need to be forced to meditate. They won't practice at home
alone. Why should a person have to be forced to have a beautiful
experience? How foolish this is!
Sometimes people go to meditation halls because they
want to meet friends there. This is a misuse of Chan. It is converting
Chan from a Path to Enlightenment into just another dead-end,
Samsaric trail; and isn't that a pity?
3. Meditation on a Specific Object
Sometimes a guest is not a transient. Sometimes a guest
comes to the inn with the intention of staying awhile. Well, then the
host must pay him special attention.
The innkeeper does not investigate the guest-object before
he lets him sign the register. This is another way of saying that
before sitting down to meditate we do not go and study the object
that we will be meditating on.
Suppose we pick as our object a rose. This is a particularly
nice object for Chan meditation because, after all, roses are one of
China's gifts to world horticulture.
A rose can engage our senses in many ways.
After we have attained calmness and regulated our breathing, we begin by gently closing our eyes and trying to construct a
rose in our mind. We do not allow ourselves to digress into personal
recollections about roses.
We see a stem - how long it is, how thick, how green, and
so on. We see thorns, their shape, their points, their arrangements
on the stem. Again, we don't digress into thinking about specific
occasions when we were stuck by thorns. Perhaps we gingerly feel
the thorn, but only in our mind. Then we come to the various parts
of the flower. Depending on our knowledge of botany we assemble
the flower... pistil, stamen, petals, and so on. The petals are so soft.
What color are they? The pollen is so yellow and powdery. We see
the yellow dust on nearby petals. A rose has fragrance. What is the
specific scent of our rose? We actually begin to smell it.
This is how to meditate on a rose or on any object.
Remember, we never allow ourselves to digress into "Roses I have
known..." or instances in the past when roses were given or
received. No thinking at all! We just become aware of a rose in all
its parts and sensations.
Soon, the rose will glow in our mind. The rose will be of
such exquisite beauty that we will know we have seen the Ideal
Rose of Heaven, itself. Afterwards, we may squeal with delight.
Not many people are permitted to view one of Heaven's treasures.
4. Meditation on the Buddha's Name
In Mahayana Buddhism, the Buddha Amitabha, the Buddha of the West, is very important. Chinese people pronounce
Amitabha Amitofo. And so, repeating the name Amitofo is an
excellent practice.
First, we keep in our mind an image of the Buddha Amitabha. We also acknowledge our great debt to him. Did not the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara-Guan Yin spring from his brow? Where
would Mahayana salvation be without our beloved Guan Yin? So
we keep the Buddha in our mind as we repeat his sacred name.
What is the wrong way to repeat the Buddha's name?
That's easy to describe. Think of a sick person who is given a bottle
of penicillin pills. Think of him sitting there holding the unopened
bottle repeating "penicillin, penicillin, penicillin". Will that cure
him? No. He must take the penicillin into himself. He must swallow
and assimilate it. Merely repeating the name of the medicine will
not cure him.
