..續本文上一頁tery of the Buddha Dharma that proved that liberation was not an unattainable goal. Through their personal example and the unparalleled originality of their utterances, the Zen masters made a great impact on East Asian high culture in the realms of religion, philosophy, and aesthetics. The prestige of Zen was such that the other schools of Buddhists, and Confucians and Taoists as well, all had to answer to its perspectives.
The Pure Land school accepted the Zen perspective as valid in principle, but questioned how many people could get results by using Zen methods. Pure Land teachers granted that Zen might indeed be the “direct vehicle,” but insisted that for most people it was too rigorous and demanding to be practicable. The Pure Land method of buddha-name recitation was offered as a simpler method by which average people could make progress toward enlightenment. The Pure Land teachers pointed out that many who scorned Pure Land methods as simplistic, and who proudly claimed a legiance to the Zen school, actually achieved nothing by stubbornly clinging to Zen methods. “With Zen, nine out of ten fail. With Pure Land, ten thousand out of ten thousand succeed.”
The Zen school itself came to make room for Pure Land methods. From the time of Yung-ming Yen-shou in tenth century China, who was a master of scriptural Buddhism, Pure Land, and the Zen school, the synthesis of Zen and Pure Land figured prominently in the teachings of many Zen adepts.
In the Zen understanding of Pure Land, Amitabha Buddha represents the enlightened essence of our own true identity, while the Pure Land is the purity of our inherent buddha mind. Buddha-name recitation is effective as a means to cut through the deluded stream of consciousness and focus the mind on its true nature. “Being born in the Pure Land” means reaching the state of mental purity where discriminating thought is unborn and immediate awareness is unimpeded.
The synthesis of Zen and Pure Land methods was epitomized by the “buddha-name recitation meditation case” taught by many Zen masters. “Meditation cases” (koans) in Zen are generally short sayings or question-answer pairs or dialogues or action- scenes which were designed for use as focal points in meditation. They were designed with multiple levels of meaning that interact with the m ind of the person meditating to shift routine patterns of thought and open up deeper perceptions. Sustained concentration on the meditation point provides the opportunity for direct insights beyond the level of words.
Examples of meditation cases are: “What was your original face before your father and mother gave birth to you
” “The myriad things return to one: what does the one return to
” “What is the Dharmakaya
A flowering hedge.” “What is every-atom samadhi
Water in the bucket, food in the bowl. ” Sayings like these were everyday fare in the Zen school. The Pure Land master Chu-hung put together a detailed compendium of how to meditate with koans.
In the buddha-name recitation meditation case, the person intently reciting the buddha-name asks himself or herself, “Who is the one reciting the buddha-name
” “Who is the one mindful of buddha
” The question is answered when the practitioner comes face to face with his or her own buddha-nature. The one mindful of buddha is the buddha within us. This is the Zen ration-ale for Pure Land practice. (Excerpted from Pure Land, Pure Mind.)
Dedication Of Merit May the merit and virtues accrued from this work, Adorn Amitabha Buddha”s Pure Land, Repaying the four kinds of kindness above, and relieving the sufferings of those on the Three Paths below. May those who see and hear of this, And all sentient beings in the Dharma Realm, All develop the Bodhi Mind, And liv e the Teachings for the rest of this life, Then be born together in The Land of Ultimate Bliss. Homage to Amitabha Buddha!
《Notes - by Van Hien Study Group》全文閱讀結束。