Quietism is Not Silent Illumination

By: Rebecca Li

Incorrect understanding of the practice of Silent Illumination can trap us in quietism. Master Dahui [Ta Hui] was particularly critical of what he called “perverted Silent Illumination,” which considers wordlessness or the absence of thought as the ultimate principle. He was referring to the tendency to associate “silence” with the lack of mental activities. This kind of silence is like the absence of ripples on a pond inside a vacuum. There is no moving air that touches the water surface, nor are there leaves falling or insects alighting on the pond. The pond is quiet. It is also lifeless.

In Silent Illumination, we are fully engaged in life. There is clarity of everything including thoughts and feelings in the present moment while our entrenched habit of reacting with vexations is not activated. This nonreactivity is the “silence” in Silent Illumination.

From: Illumination: A Guide to the Buddhist Method of No-Method

Don't Cling to Stillness

By: Ta-hui Tsung-kao (Dahui Zonggao)

From a letter to Layman K’ung Hui:

Once you have achieved perfect stillness of body and mind, you must make earnest effort. Do not immediately settle down in peaceful stillness—in the Teachings this is called “The Deep Pit of Liberation,” much to be feared. You must make yourself turn freely, like a gourd floating on the water, independent and free, not subject to restraints, entering purity and impurity without being obstructed or sinking down. Only then do you have a little familiarity with the school of the patchrobed monks. If you just manage to cradle the uncrying child in your arms, what’s the use?

From: Swampland Flowers: The Letters and Lectures of Zen Master Ta Hui, translated by J.C. Cleary. Ta Hui (1089-1163) is a central figure in the Rinzai (Chinese, Linji) school of Chan. He stressed koan practice and was a critic of Silent Illumination practice (or at least certain ways in which that practice was manifested). Despite his criticism of Silent Illumination, he had a close relationship with Hongzhi, the most prominent exponent of Silent Illumination.

The Practice of Not Knowing

By: Rebecca Li

In Chan, there is a teaching called the “mind of not knowing.” Some people misunderstand this expression, believing it means not using the mind to think, and thus they consider Chan practice to be about not thinking. That is not what the teaching is about, nor what Silent Illumination is about, and it is not what the Buddha taught. The mind of not knowing doesn’t mean not being discerning, nor does it mean not using our analytical capacity to consider the information we receive to make sound judgments and respond appropriately to situations we encounter in life. What it means is letting go of the unhelpful habit of believing we already know what is still unfolding in the present moment, and what is going to unfold in the next moment. Remember, every moment is the coming together of causes and conditions and is brand-new. This moment has never happened before. We may have experienced similar ones, but we are now a different person, and the exact current conditions are unique. It is an erroneous view to believe that we already know this emerging moment. This belief represents our attachment to conceptual thoughts, and it blocks us from paying close attention and being fully, clearly aware of what is emerging in the present.

From Illumination: A Guide To the Buddhist Method of No-Method

Face Everything, Let Go and Attain Stability

By Hongzhi Zengjue (translated by Taigen Dan Leighton)

Vast and far-reaching without boundary, secluded and pure, manifesting light, this spirit is without obstruction. Its brightness does not shine out but can be called empty and inherently radiant. Its brightness, inherently purifying, transcends causal conditions beyond subject and object. Subtle but preserved, illumined and vast, also it cannot be spoken of as being or nonbeing, or discussed with images or calculations. Right in here the central pivot turns, the gateway opens. You accord and respond without laboring and accomplish without hindrance. Everywhere turn around freely, not following conditions, not falling into classifications. Facing everything, let go and attain stability. Stay with that just as that. Stay with this just as this. That and this are mixed together with no discrimination as to their places. So it is said that the earth lifts up the mountain without knowing the mountain’s stark steepness. A rock contains jade without knowing the jade’s flawlessness. This is how truly to leave home, how home-leaving must be enacted.

Note: From Cultivating the Empty Field: The Silent Illumination of Zen Master Hongzhi, by Taigen Dan Leighton. In his footnote to this passage, Leighton comments as follows: “Home-leaver” is a traditional designation for Buddhist monks, referred back to when the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, left his palace in ancient India to seek and achieve perfected enlightenment. The term also applies to Chinese Zen monks who left their society’s rigid family system to enter the monastery or wander from teacher to teacher. On a deeper spiritual level, home-leaving refers to the practitioner’s letting go of attachments derived from personal habitual, psychological, and emotional conditioning.

The Clarity of an Autumn Pool

By: Hongzhi Zengjue (translated by Master Sheng-Yen)

Your body should sit silently; your mind should be quiescent and unmoving; and your mouth, so still that moss grows around it and grasses sprout from your tongue. Do this without cease, cleansing the mind until it gains the clarity of an autumn pool and is as bright as the moon illuminating the autumn sky.

From: Hoofprint of the Ox: Principles of the Chan Buddhist Path as Taught by a Modern Chinese Master, by Master Sheng-Yen and Dan Stephenson, and quoted in Rebecca' Li’s Illumination.

Open Your Grasping Hands

By: Hongzhi Zengjue (translated by Guo Gu)

Just take a backward step and open your grasping hands. Thoroughly resolve this matter. Only then will you be able to put forth light and respond to the world appropriately, merging with the myriad objects in a manner that is just right for all occasions. It is said, “The truth of all dharmas is not hidden; from ancient times to the present, it is always revealing itself.”

Genuine Practice

By: Hongzhi Zengjue (translated by Guo Gu)

Genuine practice is to simply sit in stillness and investigate this silence. In its profound depth, there is the realization where, externally, you can no longer be swayed by causes and conditions. Mind being empty, it is all-embracing; its luminosity being wondrous, it is precisely apt and impartial. Internally, there are no thoughts of grasping after things. Vast, solitary—the mind is [orginally] free from dullness. Being alive and potent, you are able to sever all opposition and remain content. Being content has nothing to do with emotions. You must be open and spacious, relying on nothing whatsoever. Splendid and marvelous, [your mind] is full of life and spirit.

Note: This passage is taken from Hongzhi’s Practice Instructions, which are a series of beautiful and evocative pointers to the realization of Silent Illumination, or Buddha-nature. The translation is from Guo Gu’s book Silent Illumination: A Chan Buddhist Path to Natural Awakening. This is just a portion of this particular practice instruction.

On Relaxation and Dealing With Pain

By: Chan Master Sheng Yen

When trying to relax, most people either become too lax, leading them to sink into dullness, or try too hard, resulting in a tense or scattered mind.  Relaxing does not mean that the body becomes slack and the mind becomes lazy; it means that your whole being is in repose, wholeheartedly and single-mindedly aware of itself just sitting.  Without relaxing it would be difficult to gain power from this practice.  A comfortable posture will help you be at ease.  While sitting you may feel discomfort, pain, or soreness.  In this instance, to relax does not mean you should just go slack.  Take this opportunity to become fully aware of your body as a whole.  Do not focus on or localize any parts that give you pain.  Instead, see them in the context of your total-body awareness.  You know that in this whole body there is an area that is painful, but you can be detached from the pain.  Being detached from your pain means that you are aware of but not bothered by it.  But you must know this very clearly while maintaining your correct posture.  If you maintain this attitude, your awareness of the discomfort will recede.  This is how to relax.

If underlying your awareness of your body there is also an understanding of impermanence, you will gain insight into sensations as they rise, abide, and fall away of their own accord.  In fact, feelings of pain are opportunities to regulate and attune your mind.  These phenomena are there for you to develop your mind.  Do not try to escape or give in to them; rather, make full use of them.

From The Method of No-Method: The Chan Practice of Silent Illumination

Silent Illumination -- Serene Clarity

By: Rebecca Li

The Chinese words for Silent Illumination can also be translated as "serene clarity."  It is a helpful choice of words because serene does not immediately imply no sound, which tends to be the automatic association most of us make with the word silence.  The word serene evokes tranquil, calm, unflustered, or unagitated.  Letting be.  For example, seeing thoughts and allowing them rather than pushing them away.  Think of Silent Illumination as this practice of allowing.  We can be serene about what is going on and clearly aware that there are thoughts.  We needn't fall into our compulsion to push them away or act on them; instead, we can allow the thought to be here--fully seen, heard and experienced--and move on.

From: Illumination

Silent Illumination (Shikantaza) is an Act of Compassion

By: Rebecca Li

Making the mind anything but just mind as it is, is not Silent Illumination. By just staying continuously with what is going on, with clarity, we are being truly kind to ourselves and cultivating the habit of being unconditionally compassionate to everyone we encounter.

From: Illumination: A Guide to the Buddhist Method of No Method. Li is a Chan teacher and dharma heir of Simon Child, in the lineage of Master Sheng Yen.