Having discussed the enlightenment experience of Adyashanti when he verified Nothing but Mentality and the illusional nature of the physical universe upon his enlightenment, in this post, we discuss the enlightenment experience of two people from China hundreds of years ago when they also experienced the illusional nature of the universe when the universe disappeared upon their enlightenment, as Adyashanti did.
1) Master Dajian Hui-Neng
Master Dajian Hui-Neng (638-713) (Chinese=大鑒惠能), or simply Master Hui-Neng, is best known as the Sixth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism and “a central figure in the early history of Chinese Chan Buddhism..”
Chan Buddhism, “from Sanskrit dhyāna (meaning “meditation” or “meditative state”), is a Chinese school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. It developed in China from the 6th century CE onwards, becoming especially popular during the Tang and Song dynasties.
Chan is the originating tradition of Zen Buddhism (the Japanese pronunciation of the same character, which is the most commonly used English name for the school). Chan Buddhism spread from China south to Vietnam as Thiền and north to Korea as Seon, and, in the 13th century, east to Japan as Japanese Zen.”
The lineage of Chan Buddhism began with Buddha’s enlightened disciple, Mahakasyapa (Chinese=摩訶迦葉), also known as the “father of the sangha,” who was mentioned when discussing the Flower Sermon. Indian monk Master Bodhidharma (Chinese=菩提達摩) inherited Mahakasyapa’s lineage and brought it from India to China. Bodhidharma’s transmission of Buddhism started many Buddhist schools in China, including the Chan lineage. Therefore, Master Bodhidharma would eventually be known as the First Patriarch of Chinese Chan Buddhism. Master Hui-Neng then inherited his heritage as the Sixth Patriarch.
Master Hui-Neng is best known for the Platform Sūtra of the Sixth Patriarch (Chinese=六祖壇經;) or simply the Platform Sūtra, the “key themes” of which “are the direct perception of one’s true nature.” The Platform Sūtra recorded his early stories and experiences during and after enlightenment.
Born around 638 CE, Master Hui Neng was a humble, illiterate woodchopper who made his living by cutting firewood in the nearby hills and selling it in town. His first encounter with Buddhism was serendipitous. One day, he passed someone reciting the Diamond Sūtra on his way back from delivering wood to a client. Upon hearing the phrase, “from without abiding, let Citta rise (Chinese=應無所住，而生其心),” he became “enlightened,” in his own words from the Platform Sūtra. He then asked the person reciting the sūtra about the name and source of the sūtra and was told that it was the Diamond Sūtra and that it came from the Fifth Patriarch, Dharma Master Hong Ren.” His desire to learn Buddhism was so overwhelming that he paid someone to care for his aging mother before setting out to seek instructions from Master Hong Ren.
Upon meeting his future successor, the Fifth Patriarch immediately asked Hui Neng what he came to seek. The future Sixth Patriarch answered that he came “solely to seek Buddhahood, nothing else (Chinese=惟求作佛，不求餘物).” Nevertheless, the Fifth Patriarch sent Hui Neng off to work in the kitchen, where he labored for more than eight months, never given a chance to attend Dharma talks or meditate with the others.
One day, the Fifth Patriarch summoned Hui Neng to visit him in the abbot’s room at night. There, the Fifth Patriarch gave him a sermon on the Diamond Sūtra. When it came to the same place in the Sūtra, “from without abiding, let Citta rise,” Master Hui Neng became, in his words from the Platform Sūtra, “greatly enlightened (Chinese=大悟),” realizing that “all the ten thousand dharmas are inseparable from the self-nature (Chine一切萬法, 不離自性), which referred to self-nature of the Ultimate Reality, which Buddha defined as consummate. Hui-Neng immediately reported five attributes of the consummate nature of the Ultimate Reality he realized to the Fifth Patriarch.
Upon hearing Hui Neng’s report, the Fifth Patriarch immediately understood the level of his enlightenment, designated him as having achieved Buddhahood, and appointed him his successor. In this way, the illiterate and never-allowed-to-practice woodchopper became the Sixth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism!
However, instead of asking Hui Neng to stay at the monastery, the Fifth Patriarch demanded that he leave immediately, fearing that some monks from the monastery might want to harm him. Subsequently, Hui Neng hid among wandering hunting groups as their cook for fifteen years. After fifteen years and feeling pretty safe, Hui Neng left the hunting group and travelled south.
One day in Guan Zhou, Hui Neng went to the monastery where Dharma Master Yin Zon (Chinese=印宗法師) was giving a sermon on Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra (Chinese=大般涅槃經), which is “a Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtra of the Buddha-nature genre.” During the session, the wind blew, and the banner hanging from the post fluttered. At that point, two monks began to debate about whether it was the wind blowing or the banner fluttering (Chinese=時有風吹幡動，一僧云：風動。一僧云：幡動。議論不已.”
Upon hearing the monks, Dharma Master Hui-Neng interpreted, “It is neither the wind blowing, nor is it the banner fluttering, it is your benevolent minds moving (Chinese=不是風動，不是幡動，仁者心動.” When the masses heard the exchange, it was aghast (Chinese=一眾駭然).
Dharma Master Ying Zon, however, was fully aware of the significance of the statements. He went up to Hui-Neng and inquired if the person before him was the rumored heir to the Fifth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism. After receiving his confirmation, he and his followers turned around and paid the Sixth Patriarch their respect. Furthermore, Dharma Ying Zon asked to be his student. This was how Hui-Neng reappeared as the Sixth Patriarch.
The significance of the Six Patriarch’s statement lay in the fact that these few words expressed his understanding of the role of an active mind in manifesting the universe. As Adyashanti’s enlightenment experience shows, nothing in the universe exists when the mind is inactive. Therefore, whether it was the wind or the banner, they only existed because the monks’ minds were active. However, they would disappear when their minds became quiescent.
Given that the relationship between the activities of the mind and the appearance or disappearance of everything in the universe is something only an enlightened person could understand, Dharma Master Ying Zon correctly wondered whether the person in front of him could be the rumored missing Sixth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism. Therefore, when Master Hui-Neng confirmed that he was indeed the rumored Sixth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism, he turned around and humbly asked Master Hui-Neng to be his teacher.
2) Grandmaster Yong Jia (Chinese=永嘉大師)
Grandmaster Yong Jia (665-713) of the Tang Dynasty, also known as YongJia Xuanjue (永嘉玄覺), was a grandmaster in both Chan and Tiantai Buddhism. He was a contemporary of Dharma Master Hui-Neng. While Dharma Master Hui-Neng practiced Chan-style meditation, Tiantai Buddhism focused on Samathavipasyana meditation. Grandmaster Yong Jia was an expert in both meditative techniques.
Grandmaster YongJia is best known for his Songs of Enlightenment (Chinese=證道歌), a lengthy singable poem, which “has been considered a central Zen text from the Song Dynasty to the present day. It was apparently so highly esteemed that Dahui Zonggao reported that it was translated from Chinese to Sanskrit so it could be studied elsewhere. Today, it is often memorized by Zen practitioners in East Asian countries.”
The most well-known phrases in the long poem are “While dreaming, the Six Destinies are obviously there, after enlightenment, everything is empty, including the Trichilicosm.” (Chinese=夢裏明明有六趣. 覺後空空無大千).
“Dreaming” is similar in meaning to “deep sleep of unenlightenment,” as discussed earlier. “Dreaming” contrasts the state of enlightenment when a person is said to be “awake.”
The Six Destinies (Romanized Sanskrit = sadgati; Chinese = 六趣) are the six possible destinies of determinative birth and rebirth cycles that Buddha teaches. In other words, “While dreaming, the Six Destinies are obviously there” refers to Grandmaster YongJia’s recognition that causality exists when unenlightened.
Trichilicosm (Chinese=三千大千世界), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, can be understood as “the largest possible universe.”
The significance of both the Six Destinies and Trichilicosm is that they are present only when one is unenlightened with an active mind. While “Six Destinies are obviously there” conveyed the fact about the inevitable consequences of having to undergo cycles of rebirth when one is unenlightened, “after enlightenment, everything is empty, including the Trichilicosm” signifed the understanding that even the “largest possible universe” would disappear after enlightenment because it only exists in the unenlightened mind when it is active. It is a fact that can be verified by Adyashanti, when the universe disappeared from him upon his enlightenment.
Furthermore, the fact that enlightenment happened to Buddha 2600+ years ago in modern-day Nepal, Dharma Master Hui-Neng and Grandmaster Zhang Ja in China centuries ago, and Adyashanti in contemporary America all confirm Buddha’s teaching that the Ultimate Reality is the “experience object” spread throughout the universe ready to form a dualist state of awareness with an “experiencing subject” anywhere globally and at any time.
Having verified the relationship between the mind and the universe, we will discuss the Five Aggregates in the next post to understand that the universe is illusional because it exists in the mind and its appearance is but a “mere projection of consciousness.”
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