FROM VIPASSANA IN THERAVADA TO... compaarative study of the moeditative techniques.pdf

FROM VIPASSAN ¯ IN THERAV ¯ DA TO

GUAN XIN IN CHINESE BUDDHISM:

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE

MEDITATIVE TECHNIQUES

Caifang Zhu

Introduction

Peter Gregory remarks in the preface to Traditions of Meditation in

Chinese Buddhism that one could hardly discern how the modern Therav ¯ da

practice of Vipassan ¯ based on the Mah¯satipatth¯na Sutta differs from the

meditative techniques involved in practicing Sui Zi Yi sam ¯ dhi in Tian Tai (T’ien

T’ai) and the one-practice sam ¯ dhi in Chan. To Gregory, the meditative

techniques among the three ‘seem so strikingly similar that we must pay

attention to their doctrinal contexts” to seek possible differences’ (1986, 7).

This paper argues, however, that there are noticeable or distinguishable

differences of meditative technique and strategy in regard to Vipass ¯ na, Tian

Tai and Chan.

On the basis of the Mah¯satipatth¯na Sutta we learn that Vipassan ¯ may

take any of ‘body’, ‘feeling’, ‘consciousness’ and ‘dharma’ as the practitioner’s

object of meditation or contemplation. Such a meditation is typical of training to

become aware or mindful of the origination and dissolution of every object—be it

parts of the body, feeling, consciousness or dharmas. Realizing the impermanent

and transitory nature of all these contemplated phenomena, the practitioner is

enlightened and no longer seeks attachment or clinging to anything in the world.

He/she is thus liberated from suffering. Vipassan ¯ deﬁned as such remains to be

shared to differing degree in various derivative methods of meditation in different

schools of Buddhism developed in China. Guan (discerning) or guan xin

(discerning or investigating the mind) is a notional Chinese translation of

Vipassan ¯ . In Tian Tai (T’ien T’ai) School, Sui Zi Yi—cultivating sam ¯ dhi wherever

the mind is directed—is very close to Vipassan ¯ practice. The application of

discernment in guan xin, however, is remarkably reﬁned by Zhi Yi (Chih-i) in his

Tian Tai teachings and praxis. This reﬁned technique of meditation ﬁnds nuance in

the developmental states in what is known as the four marks or operations of

Contemporary Buddhism, Vol. 6, No. 1, May 2005

ISSN 1463-9947 print/1476-7953 online/05/010053-12

q 2005 Taylor & Francis Group Ltd DOI: 10.1080/14639940500129454

54 C. ZHU

mental activation (not-yet-thinking, being-about-to-think, actually-thinking,

having thought) (Stevenson 1986, 77). In the Chan tradition, the sinicization of

Vipassan¯ is probably best reﬂected, among others, in the claim that Chan points

directly to the mind and that seeing the nature of mind one attains Buddhahood.

Tian Tai and Vipassan¯ in the Mah¯satipatth¯na teach the contemplation of the

illusory mind (guan wan xin). Chan, however, teaches and practices contemplation

of the true mind (guan zhen xin). In this paper we shall only be able to take Kan

Hua Chan (Kan huadu) as a representative of Chan meditation to compare and

contrast with the Vipassan¯ and Tian Tai meditative praxis.

Part One: Vipassan¯ in Mah¯satipatth¯na Sutta

The Pali name of the Mah¯satipatth¯na Sutta is translated into English as The

Four Foundations of Mindfulness. The four are mindfulness of or meditation on the

body, feelings, consciousness and dhammas. They are used as objects of

meditation to achieve liberation or Nibbana, the soteriological goal. One can

choose objects other than those falling into the four prescribed categories,

although the four are indeed sufﬁcient to cover virtually all phenomena.

It seems the Sutta has a deliberate orientation in prescribing the four

foundations. The order starts from mindfulness of the body, followed by feelings

and consciousness, and ends up with dhammas. It is easily detectable that

practitioners are advised to convene meditation practice with concrete objects in

the category of the body, which includes, but is not limited to, breathing, body

postures, interiors of the body, four material elements and even cemetery

scenarios. Among these optional bodily objects of mindfulness or meditation,

breathing is introduced atop all the others, giving it a sort of prioritized position.

Following the ﬁrst foundation of mindfulness on the body, which is concrete and

even tangible, the second, third and fourth foundations seem, by and large, to be

in an ascending order of abstraction, with the last object of the fourth foundation

(dhammas) being the fourfold noble truth.

One is wrong, however, if one takes a one-perspective view that Vipassan¯

meditation follows a strict course leading necessarily from meditations on body to

meditations on feeling, consciousness and dhammas. In fact, by staying with any

one of the four prescribed categories of contemplation, the practitioner can

equally achieve the soteriological goal. This is evident from the recurring message

in the identical format that appears at the very end of each and every one of the

numerous prescribed objects of meditation throughout the Sutta. What highlights

the repeated message is, whatever object of meditation one starts from, one ends

up relating the meditated object to the law of origination or arising and

dissolution or falling (the law of dependent origination) that all things come

under. Realizing this truth—impermanence, transitoriness and unsatisfactori-

ness—the practitioner stops craving for and clinging to anything and is thus

liberated from suffering. Let us take breathing practice as an example to see how

the recurring thematic message is formulated throughout the Sutta:

FROM VIPASSAN ¯ IN THERAV ¯ DA TO GUAN XIN IN CHINESE BUDDHISM 55

He dwells contemplating the origination factors in the breath-body, or he dwells

contemplating the dissolution factors in the breath-body, or he dwells

contemplating both the origination and dissolution factors in breath-body.

...

Not depending on anything by way of craving and wrong view, he dwells. Nor

does he cling to anything in the world of the ﬁve aggregates of clinging. Thus

too, bhikkhus, a bhikku dwells contemplating the body in the body. 1

In other words, we can extrapolate that each and every meditation object

prescribed in this Sutta is directed toward Vipassan¯ , although at certain early

stages the meditation can be Shamatha, which is merely concentrating on the

object of meditation without developing awareness of anything else. Vipassan¯

taught in this Sutta trains one to ‘keep awareness on everything that is present,

everything that comes to you at the right moment’ (S¯l¯ nanda 2002, 30). This, as

we shall discuss later in the paper, pioneers the principle of Sui Zi Yi sam¯ dhi in

Tian Tai and Chan praxis. When one practices breathing, for instance, one knows

clearly that one is either breathing in or breathing out a long or short breath. ‘Ever

mindful, he breathes in, ever mindful he breathes out. Breathing in a long breath,

he knows, “I breathe in long”; breathing out a long breath, he knows, “I breathe

out long”’ (S¯l¯ nanda 2002, 176). Furthermore, one also keeps clear mindfulness of

the entire breath body (the duration of the breath) and the subtle, almost

imperceptible, breaths. Likewise, when one sees, hears, feels and cognizes, one is

fully mindful of them and when stray thoughts or distractions emerge, he/she is

aware of them and may note: this is a stray thought. I am aware, aware, aware of it.

By keeping fully aware or mindful of any rising thought or meditation object, that

thought or object must dissolve of its own in a chain or stream of thoughts or

consciousness. Realizing and experiencing the reality of this unstoppable, non-

abiding impermanence is gaining insight into the truth of the mind, life and the

world. With this insight one is free from delusion. One is enlightened and liberated

from suffering.

Part Two: Guan in Tian Tai

Zhi Yi, the great synthesizer of thought and practice of early Tian Tai

Buddhism, summarized all forms of practices in Buddhism, irrespective of their

traditions, sects and lineage, into four classes. Classiﬁed by way of physical

postures, these four as deﬁned in Mo He Zhi Guan (Treatise on the Great Calming

and Discernment) are: (1) constantly sitting, (2) constantly walking, (3) half sitting

and half walking, and (4) neither sitting nor walking. The fourth one, neither sitting

nor walking (fei zuo fei xing san mei) is also known as Jue Yi San Mei, which derives

its name from the Da Ping Jing (Pamcavimsati), and as Sui Zi Yi cultivation, which is

ﬁrst used by Hui Si, Zhi Yi’s dharma teacher. Regardless of the difference or

preference in naming, the three are denotatively in agreement: cultivating

sam ¯ dhi wherever mind happens to be directed. I will take Sui Zi Yi as an example

56 C. ZHU

and discuss how Sui Zi Yi in general resonates with and somewhat differs from

Vipassan¯ . The other three kinds of practice are to be passed by due to the lack of

close relevance to the thesis as well as limited space of this paper.

Strictly speaking, we may not see Sui Zi Yi as an independent type of

practice along Zhi Yi’s classiﬁcation based on physical posture. This is because Sui

Zi Yi permeates all the other three types. Mo He Zhi Guan says, ‘As mental activity

[or intent] arises one cultivates Sam¯ dhis right on the spot ... Wherever one’s

mind happens to be directed, one always [strives] to remain thoroughly aware of

it’. 2 So, Sui Zi Yi, apparently a method belonging to discernment or guan xin, does

not have any particular object of mindfulness or meditation. Rather it takes

whatever pops up into the sphere of consciousness as its target to be mindful of,

to watch and discern. When the practitioner or, technically speaking, the noting

consciousness 3 of the practitioner ‘remains thoroughly aware of’ the thought that

pops up or any mental activity that is going on, that object ‘shies away’

instantaneously. One does not have to chase it away if it is unwanted and nor need

one keep it if it is desirable and desired. Provided that the noting consciousness is

watching inwardly or retrospectively, it discerns the mental object or activity

running in a continuum. As William James put it, ‘States of mind succeed each

other in him’ (James, 1992, 152 ). This is the teaching of impermanence and one

who gains insight into this truth abandons attachment or clinging to anything. He

thus attains or is to attain liberation. We see the exact parallels here with the

Vipassan¯ or insight meditation that the Mah¯satipatth¯na Sutta teaches.

While the general similarity between Vipassan¯ and Sui Zi Yi is apparent,

their difference is nonetheless noteworthy. One such difference is between the

four ‘marks’ or ‘stages’ of mental activations (si yun xin xiang) in Sui Zi Yi in Tian Tai

meditation and the four kinds of breaths in Vipassan¯ . Si yun xin xiang is not

exclusive to Sui Zi Yi but, according to Zhi Yi, ‘embraces all states of mind’, 4 be they

meditative or non-meditative states of mental activity. The four marks or stages of

mental activation are: (1) not-yet-thinking (wei nian), (2) being-about-to-think (yu

nian), (3) actually thinking (zheng nian or dang nian), and (4) having thought (nian

yi). Like practicing four kinds of breathing mindfulness—short, long, entire and

virtually imperceptible breaths in the Mah¯satipatth¯na—the four marks or stages

of mental activation are meant to train the alertness, sensitivity and acuity of the

cognizing mind. When one is well trained to catch or be mindful of the stages, one

attains the insight of the rising (the ﬁrst two stages) and falling (stages three and

four), the coming and going of mental objects and states, hence the truth of

impermanence and the admonition of non-attachment. Unlike the four types of

breaths that progresses in subtlety, however, the four stages proceed in a

continuum on a plane. It seems there is no one single stage of them that is

building up depth or subtlety on top of the other. Having-thought is not to be

considered any deeper or ﬁner than not-yet-thinking or the other stages, because

the stages of mental activity are treated merely as stages of mental activation. No

content of the mental activity is paid attention to; no logic exists between the

stages; no hierarchical narrowing or abstraction is called for. The ‘stages’ are not

FROM VIPASSAN ¯ IN THERAV ¯ DA TO GUAN XIN IN CHINESE BUDDHISM 57

picking up nor going down in height, depth or subtlety. So, ‘four marks’, I believe,

is more accurate than ‘four stages’ as used by Stevenson in translating the Chinese

term si yun xin xiang. ‘Yun’ literally means operating or operation and moving or

movement. So, I would consider translating si yun xin xiang into ‘four operations

or marks of mental activity’.

The plane rather than stereo dimensional advancement of Sui Zi Yi

cultivation, however, does not signal a message that it is less than Vipassan ¯ in the

attainment of meditative acuity and power. If one thinks it is, one may have

neglected the fact that the four operations or marks of mental activity simply

jump-start from a very subtle and almost imperceptible state of mind, which is

comparable with the fourth of the breathing training in Vipassan¯ . This sort of

negligence in progressive training and the eagerness of jump-starting with a very

steep state or simply from the very destination characterizes much of the praxis

and theorization of Chinese Buddhism. ‘The ﬁrst task that confronts the

practitioner in the cultivation of sui-tzu-i is to familiarize himself with these four

phases and develop his meditative concentration to the point where he can

clearly distinguish their presence in each moment of mental activity’ (Stevenson

1986, 72 ). This ability of discernment is regarded as pre-requisite or basic. When it

is stabilized, the practitioner can proceed to work on discerning and

contemplating each of the four operations or marks.

Another noteworthy difference between Vipassan¯ and Tian Tai is

detectable and observable in the text of The Treatise on the Lesser Calming and

Discernment (Tong Meng Zhi Guan or Xiao Zhi Gaun). In Chapter Six, Cultivation

Proper (Zheng Xiu Xing), two kinds of calming and discernment are discussed: zuo

zhong xiu (calming and discerning in seated meditation) and li yuan dui jin xiu

(calming and discerning appropriation between sense-organ and sense objects in

midst of bodily and speech actions). The two methods comprise the predominant

space of the chapter, the most important of all the chapters.

Li yuan means experiencing conditions or situations that, in this case, refer

to the experiencing of walking, standing, sitting, lying down, performing tasks and

speaking. Dui Jin means the six sense-organs appropriating their corresponding

sense-objects. In a total of twelve items or dharmic things, both calming and

discernment are described in a rehearsing formula. The method of discerning

(gaun), the topic in study in this article, merits further attention and examination.

Serving as an example in the following is the description of walking in the li yuan

dui jin discernment.

What is meant by cultivating discernment amidst walking? One should think as

such: the mind causes the movement of the body, hence walking. Because of

walking, various afﬂictions, good and evil things occur. One thus should reﬂect

on or look back at (fan guan) the walking mind. Upon reﬂection, he perceives no

form nor characteristics whatsoever and thus realizes that the walker and all the

things involved in the process of walking are after all non-substantial and empty.

Such is called cultivation of gaun [of walking]. 5

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