Translated by Andrew Yang
An unhindered mind
The Heart Sutra says, “Bodhisattvas maintain Prajnaparamita, and their heart has no hindrance.” This sentence means that Bodhisattvas follow the Prajnaparamita approach (see Note 1) in their practice, and they will attain a state where their mind is not caught in klesa or be hampered in any way. Being caught in klesa means falling into the mesh of mental trouble, and being hampered means being blocked by a barrier from moving forward because of attachment.
The human mind often gets caught in klesa and hampered by a blockage, causing anxiety, frustration and fear. It would indeed be a blessing to have a mind free from any entanglement or barrier. The Chan Master Wumen Huikai (1183-1260) once wrote,
“Spring has flowers, autumn has the moon.
Summer has cool breeze, and winter has snow.
If nothing bothers the mind with everything in tune,
Then, what a perfect moment in the world, you know.”
Sure, if one had nothing bothering their mind while enjoying complete leisure, of course it would make a perfect spell in this world. But could people be free from klesa? As the saying goes, one who does not think afar will have worries close at hand. The mortals live in a bustling material society bearing all sorts of pressure from family, school, work and career. How could they be exempt from mental trouble? It is true people living a simple life suffer because of their misfortune, yet those with fame and fortune cannot escape affliction either. How should we confront and handle klesa? Master Wumen Huikai teaches us to subdue our mental suffering with an “ordinary mind”.
This ordinary mind is calm, sensible, adaptable but unyielding.
Once in adversity, one must first calm down, and not be controlled by the demons of one’s own emotions to suffer anxiety or vexation. Buddhism emphasizes self-reflection to rationally analyze what is wrong and find a solution. Thus, every year monastics gather in a vassa retreat to self-examine and atone for offences, while the laymen, whose family commitments make it hard for them to do so, also cultivate a habit of self-reflection. A proverb says that when sitting quietly one must as often as possible think about their own shortcomings. Introspection is always more meaningful than blaming other people. Never blame others, or even oneself, lest they lose their cool at the expense of their health, friendship and peace in the family.
In reality, all unsatisfactory things do not happen out of nothing. Once adverse causes are planted, one must be brave enough to endure their adverse effects. As another saying goes, “Eliminate old karma as its consequence rises, and make no more new karma.” No one has ever escaped the natural law of cause and effect, but the wise learn lessons from bad karma, review their own faux pas and stop repeating them, so they can get ready to move forward towards their goal for tomorrow.
My friends, everything is nothing more than phenomena arising from causes and conditions. The gathering of conditions leads to germination, their dispersion leads to cessation, and they are fickle and impermanent. In the vast, infinite temporal space, human life is lasts as long as a flash of lightning, and so why fixate on momentary success or failure?
The saying “An ordinary mind is the Way” was, in fact, first put forward by the Chan master Mazu Daoyi (709-788) of the Tang dynasty.
The master believes that merely eliminating all illusory distinctions in the mind (i.e., those polluting the mind) yields an ordinary mind. This mind is in the realm of enlightenment where one’s thinking is extinguished and their speech faculty shuttered, so that they are no longer entangled in the dualistic thinking of the world (such as right and wrong, love and hate and beauty and ugliness). Freed from the bondage of mental trouble, the enlightened practitioner transcends delusional discrimination approaching Nirvana.
“No No” Meditation Hall
The writer Fan Zhongyan (989-1052) was also a famous politician of the early Northern Song dynasty, and once served as deputy prime minister. His “The Story of Yueyang Tower” fully embodies his broad-mindedness and lofty ambition. From it comes this famous quote of his, “Be concerned before everyone else in the world, and have joy after everyone else in the world.” Not only has this vision been venerated by Confucian orthodoxy, but it has become a height for generations of those with lofty ideals and righteousness to aspire to. Once, Fan Zhongyan was magistrate of the Suzhou city. There is a story of how, in an expatiation ceremony for his mother, he was able to move Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva so much that the Bodhisattva decided to descend onto the earth to chant sutras with him.
It happened that when it was past the third week since his mother’s passing, in a dream she said to him, “When I was alive, I was fond of eating meat and had made a lot of evil karma through taking lives. Now I am detained in the House of Hades on Mount Tai, suffering day and night. My son, you have always been filial. Please recite the Sutra of Merit and Virtue to expiate my sins, and don’t delay it. If your mother goes to hell, she will have to wait tens of thousands of kalpas before transcending life!” Before leaving, she added, “The Sutra of Merit and Virtue I told you about is the Diamond Sutra”. The revered Mr Fan was crying when he woke up, and immediately, he took a bath and fasted before going to Mount Xuanmu Temple nearby, where he asked with veneration dozens of monks to chant the Diamond Sutra for seven days in his mother’s memory.
On the sixth night, he dreamed once more that his mother said to him, “Because my son repented with utmost sincerity on my behalf, a white-robed priest was moved to descend and chanted half a sutra. Now I have not only exterminated my sins, but have also been reborn in heaven. How incredible is Buddha’s power!”
The next day, when all the rituals were over, he asked the monks who among them had recited only half of the Diamond Sutra. The monks were all stunned and answered in a hurry, “Sin! Sin! When we monks recite a sutra, we always chant it right to the end. How could someone do it half way?!” Just then, a monk on the side calmly said, “Yesterday when the sangha was chanting the scripture in chorus, I was silently following them. At the sixteenth chapter, you the Lord came up to offer incense, and I immediately returned to work in the kitchen. I ventured to tell the truth since you had requested it”.
As soon as Fan Zhongyan heard it, he knew this person was no ordinary monk, but an incarnation of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. Thereupon, he bowed deeply, at which the monk stepped back saying, “No! No!”. With these words, he disappeared. Everyone who witnessed the amazing scene of the unknown monk agreed that he was veritably the reincarnated Bodhisattva.
Later, in order to commemorate the monk who said “No! No!” and disappeared, Fan Zhongyan built a No No Meditation Hall right next to the temple, and inscribed a stone slab to record this extraordinary event.
This anecdote is found in the volumes of Proven Power of the Diamond Sutra Through Recitation by Zhou Kefu of the Qing dynasty as well as Holy Relics in the Sacred Mountain.
Notes
Note 1: Prajna, a Sanskrit word, means “supreme understanding”, commonly called wisdom. The type of wisdom prajna denotes includes worldly wisdom and transcendental wisdom. Paramita, also in Sanskrit, means “to the other shore”. The sentence here means that pursuing the Buddhist wisdom of prajna can help the practitioner reach Nirvana.
