A View of
the Lankavatara. The continuing dialog between master and student.
A View of
the Lankavatara.
The
continuing dialog between master and student.
Student: Is it good to study the
Sutras? As a master of the Lankavatara School, would you tell me if it
is beneficial?
Hui-k'o: Not if one is addicted
to a literary understanding of Sutras. Unfortunately, today, many
students have failed to come to a real understanding of their
predecessor's words. They cling to the letter and forget the insight.
In my own transmission from Master Bodhidharma, the Lankavatara Sutra
is meant as an aid for transcending words and the mental pictures they
create. In that way, Sutras are not an obstruction.
Student: I must confess, I get
confused reading scriptures. There is so much to learn and so many
important words which I don't understand.
Hui-k'o: How true! This reminds
me of my youthful days as a student when Bodhidharma set me straight.
After I saw the inconceivable aspect of my true Mind for the first
time, I realized how dangerous clinging to words can be if one does
not have a concrete realization.
Student: That is interesting. I am not
at your level. For me, studying the meaning of words is like counting
the sands at the bottom of the ocean. There are so many difficult
ideas to learn - I shall never understand them all. I feel like I
am drowning in letters!
Hui-k'o: This is because, as
yet, you don't comprehend the single principle which unifies the
diverse aspects of the teaching and makes it coherent. I know it is
very difficult to do this. It was difficult for me. I had to remind
myself what the Lankavatara Sutra said: "Don't become attached
to the letter and the conventional view of reality."
Student: What should I do first, other
than studying scripture, becoming like a parrot?
Hui-k'o: First, it is important
to realize our true essence-lineage, called the gotra. This is a big
accomplishment in itself!
Student: What exactly is the
gotra?
Hui-k'o: It is like a precious
jewel lying in the mind that is entirely covered by the dirt of
habitual mental-picturing and corporeal sensations. After I had my
initial glimpse into the gotra, it was easy for me to set aside those
states which didn't fit with its pristine nature. If you are
fortunate, one day you will catch a glimpse of it also.
Student: I hope so! Would you tell me
more about it?
Hui-k'o: Surely. After we have
an insight into this pea-size gotra, we must direct our whole being
towards it. In that regard, we are becoming a member of the
Buddha's lineage. At this stage, it is only a tiny little
spiritual embryo! As it grows, we get wiser, eventually passing beyond
corporeal conditions, abiding no longer in this body, yet still able
to work its fingers! This was what Master Bodhidharma really taught
me. I had no idea what the true nature of Mind was at the time I met
him. But when he asked me to show it to him and I
couldn't - well, instead, I saw the gotra, you might say. In
a split second, I passed beyond the pale of my worldly body and its
inner world of mental pictures and sensations. Then after that, he
gave me the Lankavatara Sutra as an aid; he then told me to deepen and
cultivate my insight.
Student: So there is more than just
this insight?
Hui-k'o: Oh. yes. Much more. One
does not stop with this insight. Seeing an aspect of our Buddha
Mind - the gotra - is like a seed which is yet to reveal its
spiritual contents - the big Bodhi-tree! As we progressively
cultivate it, we come to transcend ourselves and our previous old ways
of perceiving reality.
Student: Is this the implication
behind Bodhidharma's Two Entrances?
Hui-k'o: Yes. We first enter by
seeing the pure image of the absolute which forms the basis of all
existence. This is the gotra, or the same, the embryo of the
Tathagata. In a finger snap we see something which is free from the
veiling clouds of delusion.
Student: This is very interesting. So
where does 'pi-kuan' (wall-insight) figure into this
scheme? I heard that Grandmaster Bodhidharma sat facing a wall for
many years.
Hui-k'o: As far as
'pi' is concerned, it is the 'unmoving' which
is like a wall, as opposed to the ever changing quality of phenomena.
Here, one sets aside the changing world of their corporeal body,
including its perceptions and emotions. When Bodhidharma sat facing a
wall, he actually faced the unmoving, becoming the more of it.
Student: Ah! I get it now. Yes,
pi-kuan is literally the insight into the unmoving.
Hui-k'o: Yes. 'Pi',
means the unmoving principle. 'Kuan' means
'insight'. In this case a direct insight into the
unmoving. Remember, too, kuan is Buddhist
'vipashyanâ' meditation. Pi-kuan is our version of
it.
Student: Ah! I get it. Is this like
the practice of the 'one pointedness of mind samadhi'
meditation exercise?
Hui-k'o: Yes. You could say
that. One mentally envisions an exceedingly small point in which the
content of it and its conceptual absence become exactly the same. In
this practice, one has penetrated through a veil, you might say. It is
like a little hole in a rice paper screen, letting in the sun's
light. Another way to think about this subject is to realize that our
sense organs have limits. The ear cannot hear all sounds; nor can the
eye see all forms. In this practice we go beyond the sensory house. We
leave by way of the sensory doors and walk outside. To do this, as
strange as it sounds, we drill a tiny hole in the fabric of reality
and keep our gaze steady on this tiny hole for a long time!
[laughing]
Student: That sounds interesting. What
happens to you in 'one pointedness samadhi'?
Hui-k'o: First, samadhi means
that spiritual light envelops us. As I sit here before you, I am in
samadhi. How do I know this? I feel the dynamic light of the Buddha
constantly energizing me. Why? Because I am in harmony with it. Over
the years, I have chosen to be more of this mysterious light and less
of this old mortal body. Now, if I even think of 'one
point', I am totally enveloped in a superessential light.
Student: That is fascinating. So, what
is the second entrance about?
Hui-k'o: The second entrance is
in response to the first. In a nutshell, it means to cultivate and
expand the first entrance. However, I must caution you, both are
coordinate. You can't really separate them.
Student: I think I see what you mean.
The first entrance is like a seed. The second entrance is like being a
farmer cultivating that seed.
Hui-k'o: Yes. Even though we
possess a tiny clue as to what the absolute is, we are far from its
blessed shore. We still have to fully actualize the first
entrance - bring it to a bloom, so to speak.
Student: In other words, we still have
a lot of problems to overcome. Is that what you are saying?
Hui-k'o: Yes. Habits run deep.
What we did in the past is still with us. In the mean time, we have to
bear our past errors as we move towards our true nature. This is where
the Four Deeds come in, comprising the second entrance.
Student: What is the first deed?
Hui-k'o: The first deed is
learning to bear our suffering because, in the past, we failed to have
an insight into the absolute. So, we have to pay the price. The second
deed is to accept the outcome of karma as we have, in the past,
foolishly allowed ourself to become conditioned and seduced by
phenomenal conditions.
Student: It seems that the basis for
these two deeds is our failure to see and to cultivate our true
nature - our gotra, as you put it earlier. Instead, we believe our
true nature is to be found in living a worldly life, tied to
possessions.
Hui-k'o: Yes, that is a good
understanding. As regards possessions, this concerns the third deed.
We have to give up the habit of trying to possess things. We must see
that all things are empty - they're not sacred. There is
nothing worth possessing. This world is no more than a burning house.
So why stay in a burning house, hanging on to a piece of
furniture?
Student: What does the house mean from
a spiritual standpoint?
Hui-k'o: It signifies our
corporeal body in which we abide and play like foolish spiritual
children, unaware that the house is doomed. In Buddhism, the
'house' is a symbol for the body. To take up a house,
therefore, means to take up a body so as to possess it and deepen
one's involvement in it.
Student: How does one stop this?
Hui-k'o: This is the fourth
deed. This is to be in accord with the First Entrance which is our
gotric true nature. Some call this nature the Tathagata-garbha,
meaning the embryo of the Buddha. It is like a spiritual fetus which
is immaculate; which all the time is maturing. Eventually, it matures.
We gain a spiritual body not having thirty-two defiled marks. That is
emancipation.
Student: Is this what Grandmaster
Bodhidharma taught you?
Hui-k'o: Yes. He used to call
this practice 'spiritual obstetrics'. He said the story of
the Buddha's birth was actually a mystery which hid a secret
method for giving birth to a Buddha within oneself.
Student: This is fascinating. This
would explain words like "Tathagata-garbha" and others like it. What
other things did he teach you about spiritual obstetrics?
Hui-k'o: Many things, which at
the time, I didn't understand. Foremost, he said we must try to
develop a Buddha-body which is essentially self-actual light. I must
say, I was amazed by his words. I thought after my insight, I had
really attained something big. But after his lectures, all of a
sudden, I felt humble. I knew I was just a child in his presence.
Student: Was he a powerful person?
Hui-k'o: Yes. Just to be in his
presence one felt a powerful energy. I can't describe it. But
you could feel something very intense and at the same time blissful.
It felt wonderful to be around this energy of his. All my worries
disappeared. He was a joy to be with. He was like a warm fire in the
winter.
Student: Did you ever ask him about
this energy you felt?
Hui-k'o: Yes, of course I did.
It was so strong at times I could barely walk. Anyone would ask under
those circumstances. Basically, he said this is what comes from
cultivation. He told me that his own master had the same energy.
Interestingly, he said that without it, one is not much of a master of
anything spiritual. [laughing]
Student: How true! What a wonderful
insight. A spiritual master without spirit is like a merchant without
goods to sell!
Hui-k'o: That is about it. In my
own case, I have been content just to practice what my master wished.
I had no goods to sell! [laughing]
Student: Well, I don't know
about that! [laughing] What was it like to meditate with
Bodhidharma?
Hui-k'o: As an experience, it
was blissful beyond words. We sat and reclined our backs against
meditation boards in the cave and abided in exhilarating ecstasy.
Often he would guide me in this state, explaining various Buddhist
subjects. Even when I read various Sutras with him, the words threw me
into an ecstasy beyond measure. For many days after that, I would be
in a rapture of sorts.
Student: Were you curious as to how he
did this?
Hui-k'o: I must confess, I was
devoted to figuring out how he radiated such pure energy. I walked the
hills for days, following mountain streams, looking into my own mind
for the secret. I remember that he said it was a good sign that I
wanted to know, despite the bliss I felt around him. He said one day I
would become a Buddha. I guess this is relevant, but Bodhidharma also
mentioned that this energy is called Bodhisattva and without it, one
could not achieve Buddhahood. I must say, I was surprised by his
words.
Student: Why?
Hui-k'o: I guess like most monks
I believed that being a Bodhisattva meant that one acted like one. How
wrong I was.
Student: What do you mean?
Hui-k'o: First, it is ridiculous
to imagine that a Bodhisattva has two legs! [laughing] I can remember
one day sitting with Bodhidharma. He was looking at me strangely, as
if to focus on something. Then suddenly I felt my heart open up like a
flower! In the next moment I felt intense energy engulf me. It melted
all of my human ambitions. I felt then like warm, wet clay. I was at a
loss for words. So, I just looked at Bodhidharma and smiled! Then he
grinned at me and said, "This is the Bodhisattva in you."
Student: I don't get it. I
thought Bodhisattva was just a person who tried to save all sentient
beings. You mean this is not correct?
Hui-k'o: Your view is Buddhism
for toddlers. When someone informs you they are a Bodhisattva, run
back to your house and hide your gold! [laughing]
Student: I am confused. What do you
mean?
Hui-k'o: Have you read the story
of the Buddha's birth when he was a Bodhisattva?
Student: Yes.
Hui-k'o: Well, read it again and
pay attention to some of the details. The first one is that the
Bodhisattva is born as a spiritual body called, the mano-maya-kaya.
This is to say that the Buddha-to-be was made of a spiritual
substance. Next, consider the Buddha's birth to be like a
mystery play. It is telling us, using poetic images, that we must go
through some kind of spiritual transformation. This is what I am
driving at.
Student: So if the Bodhisattva
doesn't have two legs, what about the Buddha?
Hui-k'o: In the Sutras there are
many clues as to what Buddha, otherwise called the Illuminator, really
means. Bodhidharma also taught me that "Buddha" means "light-maker".
In other words, the Buddha is a sheer, spontaneous power from which
spiritual energy is born, you might say. When a master like
Bodhidharma taps into Buddha, the area surrounding him is flooded with
bliss beyond your wildest imagination. It is like a healing,
compassionate force. All who sense it are redeemed and are shown a new
future. One of emancipation. That is all I can say.
Student: So how does Buddha differ
from a god?
Hui-k'o: All gods are just
beings. They are different from us only in that they live in exalted
states of being. After their karma has been used up they fall from
their heavenly abodes. Buddha is not such a being, or even a
non-being. Yet, Buddha is real. Bodhisattvas know Buddha is real
because they could not be Bodhisattvas without being sustained by a
lineage of primordial Buddhas.
Student: Are you then saying that
Buddhas are ever present spiritual powers?
Hui-k'o: Yes. They sustain us by
a power we cannot imagine. Bodhidharma says that a true sage just
makes himself available to this power and thus comes to know how it is
generated.
Student: Are there any techniques for
doing this?
Hui-k'o: When one is in harmony
with the Buddha's teaching, that is the best technique. But when
studying the teachings, it is also important to distinguish between
mental concepts, true principles, and direct contemplation. Many today
are stuck in the family of scripture interpretation - they have no
idea about the family of direct contemplation. They are deeply
attached to such concepts as 'quality',
'negation', and 'relation'. Well, this
attitude is not very effective for insight into the Buddha's
deep principles.
Student: Is it best to not follow the
path of words?
Hui-k'o: It is best to use use
them as a means to realize one's true nature. What is the point
of spiritual words if one cannot manifest the spirit within which
liberates us from suffering? People who won't go past words are
no better than idle poets who recite poems; who can only dream of
sublime states.