The Dharma Approach for Pacifying the Mind in the Chan Teachings of Sheng Yen: Is the Chan Practice of “Huatou” Consistent with the Thought of “Non-Abiding”?
Author：Ping-Kun Chen
Abstract / PDF Download
“Kanhua Chan”, normally known as the Chan practice of huatou, is a famous method in the Chinese Chan tradition, while “non-abiding” is a fundamental thought in the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch. Based on the Chan method of huatou taught by Master Sheng Yen, this thesis tries to investigate whether there is consistence between the Chan practice of huatou and the thought of “non-abiding”, so as to put forward some critical comments on the Chan method of huatou.
This thesis points out that the Chan practice of huatou presupposes the thought of Lankavatara Sutra that deluded thoughts can and should be eliminated completely, rather than the thought as expressed by Huineng the Sixth Patriarch in the Platform Sutra that deluded thoughts need not be eliminated and that one should not give rise to the thought of eliminating them completely. In other words, what is consistent with the Chan practice of huatou is the thought of ever-abiding mind of tathagata-garbha that advocates “the complete elimination of deluded thoughts,” rather than the prajna thought of non-abiding that advocates “non-abiding from one thought-moment to another,” so it is a method that follows the Chan principle of Northern School, rather than that of Southern School.
Precisely speaking, therefore, the Chan method of huatou is, judged by the characteristics of its method, a Chan approach pertaining to the Northern School, not the Southern School. Although it is also one of the expedient Dharma methods for achieving liberation and buddhahood, it is, from the perspective of Huineng’s Chan teaching, not a method of practice that can truly help people pacify their mind ultimately, unless one adopts the manner Master Sheng Yen used in teaching the Chan practice of huatou, a manner that, based on some concepts derived from the prajna sutras and the Platform Sutra, strictly adheres to the thought of “non-abiding,” guiding it to the method of Chan practice that can ultimately bring about the effect of pacifying the mind.