Inquiry into the Genesis and Practice of Silent Illumination Chan (Zen)

“Silent Illumination,” or mozhao, is often associated with the Caodong (Jp. Soto) School of Chan (Jp. Zen), and specifically with master Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091-1157). The term Silent Illumination is a metaphor for the inseparability of the empty nature of mind and its function. The word “silent” refers to the fact that mind, which is the precursor to all experience, is inherently empty and it is from emptiness that all things arise. We are originally free from all constructs and narratives. When we fully understand the nature of mind and gain insight, we see that all things are impermanent, intimately connected and have no abidance. This connection with others is the realization and function of no-self, selflessness. In this talk, Guo Gu goes into detail in elaborating and explaining the nature and value of this practice.

Transcript

So today's talk on silent illumination for our friends in Boston,

Also here.

Those of you who practice insight meditation,

In particular Vipassana,

Or are familiar with it,

May find this useful.

Hopefully you'll clarify some doubts.

So the method of silent illumination.

Silent illumination is a particular method associated with one of the schools within the Chan tradition.

Chan of course is the precursor to Zen.

Zen is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chan.

At the peak of the Chan tradition,

In the 12th century,

One master articulated a particular method through poetic imagery and allusions.

This method has been since then called silent illumination.

Prior to that,

This method has been called by many different names.

But never before has it been articulated so clearly.

So this master,

His name is Hong Zhi Zhen Jue.

He articulated this practice,

Or rather realization of silent illumination,

To clarify misunderstandings of it.

And the misunderstanding was quite prevalent during his time.

Silent illumination is,

Technically speaking,

Not a method of practice.

It is actually a state of awakening,

A state of enlightenment within the Buddhist tradition.

Not only Chan,

But within the whole Buddhist tradition.

So when Buddhists talk about enlightenment,

What they actually refer to,

One way of describing it is the realization of silent illumination.

Silent illumination is merely a description of this realization.

Something to also note is that the Buddhist notion of enlightenment,

Which is equated with liberation,

It is not a state that one gains.

It is not a state that one kind of zaps into,

A kind of blissful state of meditation.

Nor is it a state that is lost.

The Buddhist notion of enlightenment and awakening is something that each and every one of you already,

Already has.

It is only due to dualistic thinking,

Scattered thoughts,

The rise and fall,

Coming and going of vexations,

Emotional afflictions,

That this intrinsic awakened state is temporarily covered up,

Concealed.

So it is not something that has to do with gaining and losing,

Coming or going,

Having or not having it.

This belongs to the world of delusion.

This belongs to the world of discriminating minds.

Vexations.

So silent illumination really describes the state of perfect intrinsic awakening.

Despite the fact that we are originally or intrinsically awakened,

Practice is still necessary.

So silent illumination,

As a description of the original awakened state,

Also entails this practical dimension.

But really,

What it describes is something that the treasure within.

What is the silence then?

The silence is the fact that originally,

We are free from all the narratives,

The self-disparaging thought,

The fragmented,

Discriminating,

Scattered mind,

The anxieties.

Originally,

The nature of our mind is free from these.

If we weren't free from these,

Then if they are originally built into the nature of mind,

Then we would never be able to get rid of them.

Just try to be angry 24-7.

You can't.

Intrinsically,

By nature,

They are impermanent.

These thoughts,

These passing emotions,

Liberate themselves moment after moment after moment.

You don't have to do anything to them for them to disappear.

Because intrinsically,

The mind is what we call empty.

Empty of a fixed,

Rigid feature or content.

And often get this analogy of this room that we are in.

This room originally,

The spaciousness of this room,

Is really not affected by the furniture in the room or the people in the room.

By the way,

We've blown out cushions.

So many of you have to sit in chairs tonight.

I'm sorry.

Usually,

We would be able to accommodate everyone.

But we have new furniture tonight.

We have chairs.

We put out chairs.

The nature of this room,

The spaciousness of this room,

Is it affected by how dirty the room is or how clean the room is?

No.

From the perspective of the room,

It's not affected.

Likewise,

Even in the midst of our vexations,

Emotional affliction,

Even in the midst of that,

Or wandering thoughts,

The true nature of your mind,

Of your being,

Has never left you.

And the true nature is originally free from these.

That's intrinsic enlightenment.

Do you understand that?

Can you follow?

So this is the Gospel.

This is the good news,

Right?

It's not like something we have to get outside.

It's not like another furniture we have to acquire.

If it's another furniture we have to acquire,

A kind of clean piece of furniture,

A blissful furniture,

Then that too will be lost.

We're not talking about gaining some state that's kind of outside of us.

So silence refers to this intrinsic,

Empty nature.

But because of emptiness,

For example emptiness of this room,

We can accommodate all kinds of people.

We can have all kinds of furniture.

We can rearrange all kinds of stuff.

Because of emptiness.

If the spaciousness of this room is fixed,

Solid,

Nothing can go in,

Nothing can go out.

Emptiness has a natural function.

What is a natural function?

Openness.

Dynamic.

Ability to change,

To accommodate.

You put four walls up,

It takes the shape of a four-wall.

If you put the walls down,

It opens up.

You see?

So this natural function,

We call it wisdom.

In other words,

Illumination.

It's kind of a metaphor.

So silence and illumination is a metaphor.

It is not a state where we're sitting and we're kind of beaming out light,

Kind of illuminating like a thousand watt bulb.

Not like that.

It's only a metaphor.

Lights,

You can feel it,

You can see it,

But you can't grasp it.

Similarly,

The natural function of wisdom,

Responding to the needs of sentient beings,

Responding to the needs of people who need help.

Naturally responding.

Without any fixations,

Rigidity of self-importance,

Self-referentiality,

Self-grasping.

It's just a natural response,

Like reflections on the mirror.

The mirror doesn't say,

Hey,

Look at me,

I'm reflecting.

Or nor does it retain any fixed images on the mirror.

If it retains some fixed images,

Then it will juncture pose with some other images,

Things that come before it,

Mixed with images,

It's a mess.

It becomes confusing.

So natural function of wisdom is free,

Dynamic,

Quite alive,

And leaves no trace behind.

So silent illumination as the awakening is just a descriptive metaphor for the realization of selflessness.

No self.

This may sound a little scary,

But it is not.

The actual experiential realization is that what we call the sense of self,

The kind of stories that we tell ourselves about ourselves,

The self-narrative,

The self-image,

All of these is just furniture.

It's not the nature of who we truly are.

They come and go,

They change constantly.

But because most people are attached to the self-narrative,

The self-reference,

Opinions,

And so on,

They bring about all kinds of problems.

They bring about all kinds of problems for themselves.

If the narrative happens to be bad,

Like they feel they are traumatized when they are young,

Or they have some sickness,

That kind of self-narrative will feed into more vexations.

So the realization of no self is no fixed self.

No fixed self.

All things change.

All things are quite alive,

Quite dynamic.

Infinite possibilities,

Infinite potential.

And I have students who testify to this.

People with ADHD,

People with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Through practice,

They can gradually ease up on the medication,

And then eventually,

No need.

They can be free.

So why?

Why can they be free?

Because originally,

All of these things are not there.

It is through our attachments,

Our grasping onto them,

Our own narrative of ourselves,

That we bind ourselves,

Mold ourselves into a certain type of person,

Mold ourselves into,

Shape ourselves into behaving in a certain way.

Our true nature,

The true natural functioning of our minds,

Is continually open,

Change,

And liberating.

Silent illumination is also a metaphor that plays off of very traditional systems of thought.

All Buddhist meditation can be subsumed under two types.

Two general types.

All systems.

First type is called shamatha.

Second type is called vipashana.

Shamatha means calming,

Or the practice of concentration.

Vipashana means insight.

The cultivation of wisdom.

Traditionally,

These are practiced sequentially,

Or in tandem,

In order to refine the mind.

First through concentration,

You can't have any insight into the nature of reality,

The nature of who you are,

If the mind is scattered.

So first,

Usually people practice shamatha meditation.

And they include all types of meditation.

Meditation on the breath,

Counting the breath,

Meditation on the certain objects,

Certain sounds,

And so on.

Once the mind gains some clarity,

Gains some focus and calming,

Then traditionally one sharpens the mind,

The clarity,

To gain penetrative insight into the nature of mind.

It's like candle flame.

Candle flame,

You first have to calm the flame,

If there's wind blowing,

Whatever you see will be fragmented in the room.

The room is dark and flickering.

The candle has to be somewhat still.

Then the luminosity of the light,

You start to see things,

Not in a fragmented way,

A lot of shadows,

A lot of darkness.

You start to see things clear and clear and clear.

And this is the analogy of once the mind is sufficiently calm,

One can see into the nature of mind,

The nature of truly who we are.

How?

Examine the nature of mind.

Mind precedes everything.

Mind shapes everything.

Mind is the precursor to our experiences.

So understanding the nature of mind.

Gain insight into that.

One will see,

One will experience that all things are impermanent,

All things continue to change,

And all things are intimately connected.

That is the realization of no self.

Selflessness.

Does it mean one forgets one's name and becomes dumb and all that?

No.

Actually,

One becomes smarter.

Less locked into a particular mode of thinking.

One becomes more free,

Able to adapt to situations like a mirror,

Able to respond,

Reflect,

And experience different images,

Instead of always seeing things a certain way.

Always behaving a certain way.

So,

It's very important.

This is liberating.

This will liberate us from our suffering.

From the problems that we have in our life.

All the problems that we experience in life come from perception.

Our mind.

You may say,

That ain't true.

My problem is my neighbor,

My boss,

My this,

This is my friend,

They're causing me problems.

No.

When we rigidly label,

Fix things into good,

Bad,

Problem,

Not problem,

That is the problem.

That dualistic thinking is the problem.

People present difficulties to us.

How come we don't label it as opportunities?

To practice patience.

To perfect your humanness.

How come we don't label it as that?

Everything that we experience is filtered through this pattern,

This mechanism,

Driven by vexations.

Self referential vexations.

Good for me,

I want.

Bad for me,

I don't want.

The labeling.

That's what I mean by discriminating mind.

So if all things,

If the self grasping is lessened,

Or you're freed from it,

And all things just as they are,

Are all opportunities.

Do you believe it?

Make sense?

But can we do it?

That's another business.

In order to do it,

We have to break free the patterns,

The habitual modes of thinking,

Behaving.

And that is very hard.

We are most of the time locked into it.

In order to do it,

The only way to do it is to engage in practice.

The only way.

You cannot think through it.

In the middle of vexations,

A lot of vexing thoughts,

Emotional reflections,

Try to use rational thought to talk yourself out of it.

It doesn't work.

You can't think through it.

It takes the direct transformation of the mind.

Your mind has to have this ability to be more flexible,

Be more adaptive,

Agile,

More free,

To become like the spaciousness of this room.

As opposed to being locked up,

Caught up with the furniture.

The only way to do it is through practice.

How?

Shamatha Vipassana.

First,

Calm the discriminating mind.

Calm the fixations,

The rigidity.

So self-grasping becomes more dissipated,

Less.

Then couple that with insight.

So silent illumination can be said to be a metaphor for Shamatha Vipassana.

In other words,

Calming and insight.

You get it?

So it plays off of these traditional ideas.

However it's not quite like traditional sense of Shamatha Vipassana.

In that these two are practiced sequentially.

The Chan Zen tradition advocates the simultaneous practice of the two.

Here comes the difficult part.

That's why this is an advanced method.

The simultaneous practice of the two.

And it reinterprets very traditional ideas such as,

Usually we understand,

Shamatha,

Pain,

Lead to eventually meditative absorption.

Samadhi,

Is a Romanized Sanskrit word.

Or the Pali word,

Ajanas.

Vipassana,

Traditionally interpreted as insight,

Leading to prajna,

Or wisdom.

Chan proposed the simultaneous practice of Shamatha,

Vipassana,

Samadhi,

And Prajna.

And it really expands the meaning of the two,

Enlarges the meaning of Samadhi,

The meaning of Prajna.

To what?

Here comes the textual reference.

Designing and insight are of one essence in their true nature.

In the Platform Sutra,

Which is a scripture,

A text,

Associated with the sixth lineage master of the Chan school.

He says that,

Calming is the essence of wisdom.

And wisdom is the natural function of calming,

Or Samadhi.

Prajna and Samadhi.

At the time of Prajna,

Samadhi exists in that.

At the time of Samadhi,

Prajna exists in that.

How is it that Samadhi and Prajna,

That is,

Calming and insight,

Are equivalent?

It is like the light of a lamp.

When the lamp exists,

There is light.

When there is no lamp,

There is darkness.

The lamp is the essence of light.

The light is the natural function of the lamp.

Although the names are different,

The essence,

In essence,

They are fundamentally identical.

The teaching of Samadhi and Prajna is just like this.

This means that the true nature of calm,

Samadhi,

Is really,

This definition has been expanded to the nature of how things actually are.

Has been expanded,

In my analogy,

To the room.

The room is originally empty.

Originally has no furniture,

Has no features,

The spaciousness.

Does it have function?

Yes,

It has function.

That is like the platform scripture talking about the light of the lamp.

It's just to illuminate.

The nature of the room is just to accommodate,

Including,

Inclusive of everything.

Adapting to all things.

That's the nature of space.

So,

Spaciousness of the room is intrinsically empty.

Because it is empty of fixations,

It is able to respond naturally.

Have all kinds of furniture in it.

You understand?

Our mind is the same.

When this is applied to human beings,

Our minds,

Our minds have two intrinsic qualities.

One,

It is empty.

It has no fixed form.

Despite the fact it has no fixed form,

Because of it,

It is able to learn.

It is able to be aware.

And in fact,

The awareness is always present.

Even when you have a lot of wandering thoughts.

Even when you have dreams.

Why?

Because most of the time,

We are just aware of the content.

We are not aware of the awareness.

So even when you have dreams,

A lot of dreams,

A lot of scattered thoughts,

The awareness is still there.

Do you understand?

We are just caught up with the furniture.

We are just caught up with the content of the awareness.

The awareness is a natural function of the mind.

Once this awareness is cultivated,

Refined,

It can be quite clear.

Quite luminous,

Radiant.

Do you follow so far?

Now,

This is the meaning of silent illumination.

So how is the practice of silent illumination done?

The practice is done in accordance with this understanding as the correct view.

So meditation for Chan practitioners practicing this method is not to gain something,

It's not to get rid of something.

No need to shuffle the furniture around in this room.

Be aware of the natural spaciousness of the room instead of getting caught up in the furniture.

So in order to do this,

Because our minds are,

For all the years we've been living,

Conditioned,

We are learned,

We have learned to get caught up with the furniture.

We are conditioned to grasp onto this,

Trying to get rid of that.

So we need something more concrete than this abstract idea.

And what is that concreteness?

Very simply put,

Just sitting.

The act of just sitting.

So as you sit,

You're not trying to contemplate the breath,

You're not trying to meditate on an object.

You are in your body.

With your body.

Body and mind one.

In this act of sitting.

Simplifying.

Reducing all the complications to this single act of just sit.

And when you're not sitting,

You bring it back to this concreteness of this act of sitting.

Now how do you know you're sitting?

You have the presence of the body.

You feel the body.

You feel the body here.

Very concrete.

You feel the body here.

So you're just restfully allowing your awareness to be with the simplicity of here,

Sitting.

When the mind begins to complicate things,

Analyze things,

Grasping onto this and that,

Focusing on the particulars,

The breath,

The shoulders,

The itchiness,

The pain,

Bring it back.

Bring it back to sit.

Make sure you press the recording button.

Good stuff.

I want to make sure I get it.

The mind needs an anchor.

Because we're conditioned to be scattered,

Fragmented,

Thinking of this and that.

It needs a very concrete anchor.

What better anchor than your own body,

Naturally,

Sitting here.

As opposed to fabricating some object of meditation or relying on something in the external environment.

Just your body,

Naturally,

Here.

The concreteness of this present moment.

The body relaxed,

The breathing natural,

And the mind clear.

So naturally,

When the mind calms down,

And concentration develops,

Naturally,

There will be a lopsidedness to concentration,

Overabundance of concentration,

And lack of this natural awareness.

The natural awareness will become overpowered by the momentum of a concentrated mind.

In other words,

Too much shamatha,

Not enough,

Or an unbalance of vipassana.

So naturally,

A person may experience different stages of practice.

So the stages of practice that I've spoken about,

Published in the Buddha Dharma magazine Winter issue 2012,

You can look up that.

It's also online on our website,

There's a link.

I don't want to go into detail about that.

This talk is a follow up to that teaching.

The different stages of practice.

It's not that they're bad.

It's not that they're good either.

The unification,

The experience of the unification of body and mind.

And then the experience of oneness between self and the environment,

Kind of blend into one.

Our mind filling the whole space in which we're sitting,

Incorporating all things,

Blending,

Self grasping,

Dissolving,

Kind of self reference,

Dissolving into the awareness of the natural environment.

So not that they're good or bad,

It's just,

That's what happens when there's an imbalance of shamatha and vipassana.

But the true form of silent illumination practice has no stages.

We rest in the concreteness,

The reality of the present moment,

Clear,

The most natural,

The most normal state of mind,

Yet free from scattered thoughts.

Free from the wandering mind.

The mind does not wander off into someplace,

Yet naturally aware.

So this awareness becomes pure.

Side note,

Scattered thoughts,

Wandering thoughts arise from grasping,

Arise from habit tendency.

When the mind is free from grasping,

Naturally no wandering thoughts will arise.

So that's the pure state of silent illumination.

Think about it,

Is there any stages to the spaciousness of this room in relation to the furniture?

There's no spaciousness to speak about.

Is there any stages to the mirror reflecting objects?

No?

You see?

So the natural,

Most natural,

Pure,

Liberated mind,

The awakened mind.

If you want to know the different,

The natural stages of practice,

You can refer to the article You Are Already Enlightened in Buddhadharma Magazine.

I want to talk about silent illumination from different angles.

From the textual source,

From the foundation of how to practice it,

And the experience.

And at the end,

Maybe compare it to Vipassana.

Or in the Pali pronunciation,

Vipassana.

This natural state of intrinsic enlightenment is what the Chan calls the sudden path.

Chan and Zen,

Within the scope of Buddhism,

Is known as the sudden vehicle.

Why is it sudden?

It's so sudden.

No expediency.

Just like the spaciousness of this room.

Just like the mirror reflecting images.

That's how sudden it is.

There's no gap.

Why?

Because we're intrinsically awakened,

Enlightened.

Do you understand?

It's not that you start practicing Zen,

And maybe in two hours you'll be enlightened.

It's pretty quick.

That doesn't mean sudden in real time.

It means sudden,

There's no gap.

It is the very ground of your being.

It is the path that you travel,

And it is also the fruit of your realization.

The path,

The fruit,

Exists because of the very ground of your practice.

You are originally awakened.

That's why it's sudden.

As for actual practice,

It takes a long time.

Don't get confused.

Now the suddenness,

The suddenness,

Is there a scriptural basis in early Buddhist teachings?

The Nikaia's or the Agamas?

Yes.

A lot of places.

Many occasions,

Especially in the Vinaya,

Stories of how the Buddhist rules,

Monastic regulations came into place.

But in different stories,

The Buddha often welcomed some people that come to the Buddhist teaching for the first time,

And suddenly upon hearing one word or one teaching,

Or just a casual phrase,

Suddenly they gain full liberation.

There are a couple of instances in which the Buddha in the Vinaya welcomed people,

Like all of you.

Come here to practice,

And the Buddha would say,

Welcome monk.

Are you monks?

No.

But upon hearing that,

Suddenly they shed all attachment.

Became an arhat.

A liberated person.

The Buddha in the Heru Parivata Sutta also says that the mind,

Referring to this suddenness,

The mind is so quick to revert itself.

So much that there is no feasible simile of how quick it is able to reverse itself.

Reverse from what?

From delusion to enlightenment.

Why?

Because you are originally awakened.

It's just the instantaneous recognition that,

The furniture has absolutely no effect on the nature of the spaciousness of this room.

The mind is originally pure.

The Buddha in another scripture,

Early text,

It's called the Prabhasa Sutta,

The Luminous.

Only the Buddha only gives teachings upon request three times.

But at one time,

The Buddha suddenly,

Without being asked,

Said to his disciple,

All monks,

Luminous is this mind.

It is only defiled by incoming defilements.

Meaning vexations.

Luminous monks is this mind.

It can be free from incoming defilements.

Luminous,

All monks,

Is this mind.

It is defiled by incoming defilements.

The unobstructed,

Or the uninstructed,

Run-of-the-mill person cannot discern that as it actually is present.

Which is why I tell you that,

For the uninstructed,

Run-of-the-mill person,

There is no development of the mind.

The well-instructed disciple,

Discerns that as it actually is.

This it refers to the nature of mind.

Which is why I tell you that,

For the well-instructed disciple of the noble one,

There is development of the mind.

Based on what?

Based on the natural,

Intrinsic luminosity of the mind.

And all vexations are only temporarily incoming.

And then they will go.

If a person can realize the mind as it is,

They will be instantaneously free.

So quick,

There's no similarities for it.

The Buddha has,

In another situation,

In another early text,

The Yogananda Sutra,

In Tendon,

Talks about,

This is spoken by Ananda,

The Buddha's attendant,

A liberated person,

Talks about the fact that liberation is always attained through calming and insight.

Samatha Vipassana.

He talks about some practitioners develop insight after having developed calming.

While other practitioners develop insight,

Then calming.

The third type of practitioner develops both simultaneously,

Calming and insight.

Scriptural evidence from early text.

The fourth type,

Usually the commentarial tradition in the early Buddhism,

Doesn't know what to do with this.

They don't know how to explain this.

Why?

Because it talks about the fourth type of person.

This is evidence of sudden enlightenment.

As being restless,

Cannot practice Dharma,

Vexed,

But they will come a time,

They will be able to suddenly settle down,

Become unified,

And liberation will be born.

The path will be born.

Usual,

Traditional Buddhism has a hard time grappling with this.

Now,

One of the reasons why it has a hard time,

Because it is bound by.

.

.

A particular lineage of commentarial tradition that focuses on sequential practice.

And that tradition is the Theravada tradition.

How many of you have heard the word Theravada?

Did you know that Theravada is only one among 18 different schools after the Buddha's passing?

That just happens to be one tradition that survived.

At the time,

After the Buddha's passing,

There were numerous interpretations.

I'm citing the scripture.

But the commentary,

The understanding,

Are quite varied.

Some of these traditions,

Proposed teachings,

They are quite similar to what we would later see in later forms of Buddhism called the Mahayana.

So the modern interpretation of this is highly skewed,

You may say.

It's not necessarily bad,

It's just historical accidents of this particular one among 18 different schools happened to survive.

Particularly skewed by this lineage of interpretation that focuses on sequential practice.

So when these commentaries in this tradition read this,

They don't know how to interpret this.

But if you look at the Vinaya,

The early stories of how disciples come to the Sangha,

Come to the community of practice,

Some of them gain insight suddenly.

Suddenly.

For example,

There's this one fellow.

Gain arhathood.

He had low intelligence.

Both his brother and him became monks.

The younger brother,

Kula Pandika.

The older brother,

Maha Pandika.

Kula Pandika was slow.

He became a monk because basically his brother became a monk.

He was so slow that he can't remember the basic,

Basic,

Basic teachings.

His brother is trying to teach him.

All things are impermanent,

Therefore no self.

Nothing has fixed self.

He remembers the first line,

Forgets the second line.

All things are impermanent.

Therefore,

Therefore,

Therefore no self.

Yes,

No self,

No self.

No self because,

Because,

Because impermanent.

His brother finally,

So embarrassed,

No one wants to teach him.

His brother brought him out to the field.

Just repeat after me.

All things are impermanent,

Therefore no self.

All things are impermanent,

Therefore no self.

All things are impermanent,

Therefore no self.

Okay,

You say it.

All things are impermanent,

Therefore,

Therefore.

And even the farmer,

The farmer next to him,

Tilting the lens,

Like,

Therefore no self.

His brother's like,

That's it.

Get out of here.

I don't want to see you again.

You're embarrassment.

Leave.

And all the younger brother can do is just cry.

He's an adult,

But he's slow.

Just cry.

His only family member,

His brother,

His parents,

I think,

Passed away.

Just cry in tears,

In tears.

His brother gave up on him.

So sad.

The story ends on a good note.

The Buddha,

Knowing what had happened,

The Buddha said to himself,

I will go teach Kuru Pandika.

So he doesn't tell him some conceptual phrase,

Trying to remember,

Having a memory,

He says,

Kuru Pandika,

Come back to the Vihara.

The forest monastery.

Basically it's made out of huts,

In the middle of the forest.

Come to the Vihara.

You sweep the ground.

Sweep the ground.

Sweep the ground made out of dirt?

It's not like cement.

It's dirt!

You sweep from one end to the other.

He says,

Just sweep the ground.

Make the Vihara clean.

I can do that.

Sweep the dirt from one end to the other end.

And the other end back to the other end.

He just sweep.

All day long,

He did this for months.

Sweep.

Sweep.

I sweep.

I sweep.

I sweep.

I sweep.

The Buddha knew that for Kuru Pandika,

Don't try to give him conceptual ideas.

Have him actually engage in the practice.

What practice?

Sweeping.

In upon his own initiative,

He swept.

One day he realized,

After a long time,

I'm just sweeping dirt from one place to another.

It's the same.

One pile of dirt sweep to another.

The ground is the earth.

It's fine as it is.

The dirt is there.

Doesn't matter if it's here or there.

And he reflected on his mind.

My mind.

It's originally fine.

It's pure.

It doesn't matter if I have thoughts or no thought,

This or that.

Upon that personal insight,

He became liberated.

Full liberated as an arhat.

Sudden enlightenment.

Do you understand?

Stories like this abound in the early texts.

The tendency to try to trace all of the later Buddhist teachings back to the early teachings,

As if the early teachings had some authority.

This is a 19th century concept of notion of religion.

The word.

Everything must be traced back to the earliest texts.

The earliest texts must be the original teachings.

This is a fallacy.

If we were to actually,

Scientifically go about studying this,

There's actually no proof whatsoever that the Nikaia's were early teachings.

Absolutely no proof.

Because the early teachings,

So called the Nikaia's,

And the so called later Mahayana teachings,

Were written down in the same time.

First century BCE.

We have absolutely no proof,

But we have proof based on one interpretation from one school's lineage.

They are claim that this is the early teachings.

This may be a little controversial for people who practice that.

And if we based on social reality,

Social reality of pilgrims from China who actually went to India on the ground,

Living with Indian monks,

Trying to understand how people actually practiced.

We understand that people,

The monks that follow so called the Nikaia's,

And the monks who follow the so called Mahayana scriptures,

Live under the same roof.

There is no division whatsoever.

There's just certain proclivities.

Some people happen to like this body of corpus of text.

Some people gravitated to another.

Because they are all part of the same tradition.

You follow?

And one of the greatest advocates of the early Mahayana tradition,

Nagarjuna,

Right?

He was a Mahasangika monk.

One of the eighteen schools.

A Sangha,

Vasubandhu,

Ordained Sarvasivada,

Which is another line of one of the eighteen schools.

Just that those line didn't happen to survive.

Theravada,

A remnant line of the sthaviras,

The earliest of the traditions.

It's just one among many schools.

So trying to trace back later Mahayana teachings and Chan Zen teachings back to the original,

Somehow proving that,

Oh if it's there it must be original,

It must be legitimate.

That's a fallacy.

But if you want proof,

I just found you the proof.

So we had to be careful.

We had to be careful of later constructs,

Particularly 19th century constructs and claims of originality and authority in the development of Theravada Buddhism in South Asian countries.

This is their claim with how things actually are.

Because how things actually are,

The Buddha Dharma has one single taste,

The taste of liberation.

And this liberation does not belong to any tradition.

Neither Chan,

Zen,

Tibetan,

Or early,

So called early Theravada.

The taste of liberation is everywhere in the Buddhist text.

Different interpretations may happen,

Elaborations,

Enlargement,

Expansion may happen,

But the true spirit,

Without discrimination.

So please do not buy into claims of original must be truer.

Subsequent must be a bastardization of Buddhism.

The Buddha has spoken about those particular type of beings who are liberated by wisdom in many different places.

There are some beings who are liberated through,

Of course,

The sequential practice of shamatha and then vipassana,

Calming and then insight.

But there are those beings who are liberated by a single phrase in the teaching.

Such as the Kitagiri Sutra.

This is a scripture spoken by the Buddha at Kitagiri.

Majjhima Nikaya,

Number 70.

The Buddha spoke about seven types of practitioners.

The first type.

Those beings who are liberated by both ways.

Second,

Those beings who are liberated by discernment or wisdom.

Third,

Those beings who are liberated by bodily witness.

Fourth,

Those beings who are liberated by attainment of view.

Those who are released through conviction,

Confidence and faith,

Which is actually tied to insight,

Wisdom.

But they're not liberated yet.

Those who are a Dharma follower,

Hasn't gained insight,

Hasn't gained a taste of liberation yet.

They're called Dharma follower.

Last one.

Those who are conviction followers.

What are those beings who are liberated by both ways?

Both ways refers to they have Samatha and they have Vipassana.

They have experienced all the different states of Samadhi's,

The Jhanas,

The meditative absorption states.

And they have attained liberation.

But there are those beings who are released just by wisdom.

The text says there is a case where a certain individual does not remain touching with his body those peaceful liberations that transcend form and that are formless.

In other words,

This is the Samadhi states,

Are form and formless states.

But having seen with wisdom,

Discernment,

His fermentations are ended.

That is,

Vexations are ended.

This is called an individual who is released through wisdom.

Regarding this monk,

I do not say that he has tasks to do with heathfulness.

Meaning he has no more tasks.

Wu Xue.

Why is that?

He has done his task.

He is capable of being.

He is incapable of being heedless.

Meaning he is incapable of transgression.

He is incapable of generating the poisons in the mind anymore.

Greed,

Aversion,

Ignorance,

Jealousy,

Arrogance,

Incapable.

Because he is fully liberated.

And he goes on to talk about different types of being.

But there is one type.

Individuals released through conviction.

What is conviction?

Is it faith?

Not exactly.

This is the case where a certain individual does not remain touching with his body those peaceful transcendent form and formless states.

While having seen with wisdom,

Some of his fermentations are ended.

And his conviction in the Tathagata,

The Buddha,

Is settled.

Rooted,

Established.

This is called an individual who is released through conviction.

Regarding this monk,

I say that he has a task to do.

Why is that?

The texts go on.

Basically because his insight,

He has tasted liberation.

But not all of his vexations have ended.

What is that experience in Chan?

Seeing the self nature.

In other words,

Kenzho.

Does that person need to practice?

Oh yeah.

The Buddha says he needs to continue to practice.

In the company of good friends.

But his conviction now cannot waver anymore.

Why?

It's like drinking water.

For the first time,

That person has tasted water himself or herself.

No one can tell that person,

Can fool that person anymore.

And the reason he has conviction in the Tathagata,

The Buddha,

Is because he has tasted the Dharma.

He has tasted the liberation state.

He has realized,

In other words,

All the furnitures,

The clutteredness in the spacious room has absolutely no effect on the original spaciousness of this room.

The furniture.

And if his insight,

Wisdom,

Is powerful enough,

Some of his vexations will have ended.

There's some left,

But still there's work to be done.

And this is likened to Chan practitioners,

Who have a powerful experience of enlightenment.

Do they resort back to self-grasping?

Yes,

The self is present.

But no longer,

Vexations manifest through speech,

And manifest through actions.

Or very rarely do they still manifest.

Is it still in the mind?

Yes.

But at that time,

It's like a volcano.

The lava.

Is it still bubbling?

Yes.

But the top is sealed.

So that person,

Very unlikely for that person to break precepts anymore.

Very unlikely.

If a person's insight into liberation is genuine,

And that person still can possibly break precepts,

Do harm to other beings,

Then that insight either is very,

Very shallow,

Could be genuine,

Either is very shallow,

Or that person has become complacent.

Stop practicing.

They think the practice is complete already,

And they stop.

Then it's possible.

That's why the Buddha warned.

It's still got work to do.

So when Chan practitioners see this,

It's just a clear description of experience of enlightenment.

And the experience of enlightenment must be,

From the Chan tradition,

Experienced again,

And again,

And again,

And again.

And that's normal,

Because our vexations are so heavy,

The patterns of our habit tendency.

One little tiny insight will not do.

We need to drop,

Let go,

This self-grasping.

So there are many places where this can be found.

In the later Mahayana tradition,

It's basically a further elaboration,

Such as the Tiantai tradition of the practice and realization of perfect calming and insight,

The perfect and sudden teaching of calming and insight,

Already developed by the 6th century in China.

Chan as a tradition arose self-consciousness as a separate tradition in the 8th century.

So by the 6th century,

The common era already developed this Tiantai tradition.

He talks about this practice in the work of Zhi Yi and his work on the great calming and insight.

He talks about this particular practice that's called the samadhi of wherever the mind is directed.

In other words,

The practice of samadhi wherever one is,

Whatever one is doing,

At all times.

It is also called the samadhi of wakefulness of mind.

And this is the practice where the practitioner,

Under all circumstances,

Whether standing,

Sitting,

Lying,

Or walking,

Whatever task at hand,

The practitioner contemplates directly the nature of mind and the anchor that contemplation based on four things,

Four phases of mind.

First,

Not yet thinking.

Second,

About to think.

Third,

Actual thinking,

Engagement of thought.

And fourth,

Having thought.

At the heart of each instant of activity in our own lives lies these four phases.

The mind is so acute and so aware.

When thought arises,

The practitioner is already aware of the subtle intentionality of the mind.

Not having thought.

Hasn't formulated into a thought yet.

And then when actually formulating the thought,

It's aware.

And also being aware of after the thought passes.

Thought precedes all of our actions,

All of our activities.

So the mind is so clear.

This is of course a very advanced practice.

So clear as to before the thought arises,

Just as it arises,

While it is engaging thought,

And the thought passes.

From one moment to the next.

How does one contemplate?

One contemplates that at the very moment of it arises,

It is identical with the nature of emptiness.

Insight.

Illuminating the fact that every one of these four phases is intrinsically a void of some kind of permanent entity.

Fixation.

And every one of these four phases of mind is intrinsically impermanent.

All things are impermanent,

Therefore what?

No self.

No self.

Thank you.

All of you are much better practitioners than Kuru Pantika.

But concepts,

Mere concepts,

Won't help.

We have to personally experience this.

So this practice is not trying to get rid of thought.

It's very different.

It's very different than getting rid of thought or having no thought.

Simultaneously allowing thought to arise,

Yet realizing it's four phases,

That it is empty.

So simultaneously existent,

And at the same time,

Empty.

This is the Mahayana approach.

The approach of the great vehicle.

Not suppress,

Nor does it follow.

Be deluded by thoughts.

Do you understand?

The practice is not suppressing thoughts,

Sitting there,

Not moving.

The practice,

The great calming,

Great contemplation or insight,

Is the practice of wherever you are,

There you are.

Originally free.

Thoughts can rise,

Thoughts can pass.

The indierizing cessation of thoughts simultaneously reveals to you the nature of your true mind,

Which is no self,

Emptiness.

You see?

So this practice is very technical,

And there's a whole doctrine behind it.

And as a reaction against this type of technicality,

Chan formulated a much simpler approach,

Streamlined into a much simpler approach.

In the practice of silent illumination,

Just be here,

Sitting.

In this very act of sitting,

You are originally not constrained by wandering thoughts,

Not limited by patterns of mind,

And you are here.

The natural awareness of the mind.

Just sitting.

With the correct view,

With the understanding of the mind is intrinsically silent,

Empty,

And yet at the same time has its natural function.

That is the illumination part.

Do you understand?

Do you follow?

So many questions.

If you need to go,

Please help yourself.

In order to do this,

However,

Usually we need an anchor.

I spoke about just sitting as an anchor.

Even before that,

You can use mindfulness of breath as a preliminary concession,

Skillful means to prepare the mind,

To gain some clarity,

Some calming before you practice it.

Otherwise it will be very hard to practice this very advanced method.

I want to talk about the experience of silent illumination.

So does silent illumination in its purest form have any stages of practice?

No.

Why do practitioners experience stages then?

They experience stages because of the lopsidedness.

Overpowering of shamatha,

Or lack of powering of shamatha,

Too much vipassana,

The mind starts to become scattered.

In the course of practice,

Balancing the shamatha vipassana.

Instead of being simultaneous,

They have to balance the two.

So one theoretically shouldn't enter into a meditative trance or absorption state.

It's not really truly practicing silent illumination.

One does not enter into meditative absorption,

Nor give rise to scattered thought.

So it is not jhana,

Absorption,

Samadhi.

And of course it's not discursive thinking either.

Is it somewhere in between?

No.

It's not somewhere in between.

It is that when you sit,

If thoughts arise,

They liberate themselves.

The not yet rising.

The arising.

The actual thought,

And the cessation.

The furniture of our mind naturally dissolves.

One simply rests in the presence of awareness.

If I were to give it a metaphor,

Rest in the awareness of the spaciousness of this room,

And not get caught up with the furniture.

Does that make sense?

Is there a need to somehow go through the stages of unifying the mind,

And bring the mind to a kind of trance state,

Meditative absorption?

It is not.

It is very difficult for modern people to do that.

For lay people to commit to meditation practice like that.

Is it absolutely necessary?

No.

Even during the Buddhist time,

People were liberated through wisdom,

As opposed to trance.

Do you understand?

There is evidence of this.

And there is evidence in the Yogananda Sutta of people that just can't get into the Dharma.

They have a lot of obstacles.

But suddenly,

One day,

They will be able to gain an entry.

So it's not necessary.

Not necessary to practice.

Oh yes.

Necessary to practice.

To familiarize yourself with that most natural state of being,

Of awareness,

Of not get caught up with furnitures.

To have that presence of mind,

That composure,

Of when you are angry.

When you are jealous.

When you have vexations,

You can actually see through the veil and perceive that they are empty.

That they are transient.

That comes from practice.

Of meditation.

But even when we practice,

We are not trying to gain something.

We are not trying to get rid of something.

We have the right understanding,

The correct understanding that these passing,

Coming,

And going of vexations are originally not there.

That is the sudden view.

That is the sudden practice.

Sometimes,

People may misunderstand this spaciousness of the mind,

The natural,

Open,

Dynamic emptiness of the mind as some kind of big self.

Some kind of big self.

And I've said very clearly in the You Are Already Enlightened article,

That the big self is not no self.

The big self,

The experience,

The big self is a state of mind.

The unified,

Samadhi state,

Kind of concentrated state,

Is a state of mind.

States of mind are like altered states of consciousness.

They are furnitures.

They are not the space,

The room.

Do you understand?

If something can be gained,

It can be lost.

All kinds of unified state.

Miraculous,

Infinite space,

Infinite kind of light,

A sense of oneness between self and others.

They are good states.

They are natural states from meditation.

We don't try to suppress them either.

Just like we don't try to suppress wandering thoughts.

But they are still furniture.

So the more we practice,

Chan practitioners,

The more they become normal.

They don't become some kind of walk around like they have some great experience.

You know,

A person walks around like they have great experience.

They carry around a big furniture on their back.

They become more normal.

More down to earth.

More connected with people.

So the experience of great self,

Big self,

Unified mind,

Definitely not no self.

Just a misunderstanding.

How does that compare to Vipassana?

I'll conclude with this.

The very nature of Vipassana is closely linked with impermanence.

The way it was taught by the Buddha,

The way it was described,

The way the practice has been laid out theoretically by great practitioners of the past after the Buddha's passing.

Closely tied with impermanence.

It is tied together with motion.

Changing,

Change,

In other words.

This has great resonance with silent illumination.

But it is not silent illumination.

For example,

Traditional way of practicing Vipassana is to contemplate what is called the four stations of mindfulness.

Body,

Sensation,

Mental factors,

And Dharma.

Body we understand.

Movement,

Change,

Constituents of the body.

Four elements,

For example,

Earth,

Water,

Fire,

Air.

It's not really meditating on earth.

It's just meditating on solidity,

Fluidity.

Heat,

Sense of warmth,

And a sense of motion.

In each one of these,

One contemplates,

Notices,

Changes.

The mind is constantly changing.

And gains personal insight into the changing nature.

All things are impermanent,

Therefore,

No self.

Same thing with sensations.

Pleasure,

Unpleasure,

Neutral.

There can only be three at each given moment.

The moments are really fast,

Making us think that actually we are pleasurable and we are unpleasurable.

But actually it's just each moment can only have one.

We only have one mind.

We don't have a lot of minds.

Each moment.

Again,

It's rested on impermanence.

It's changing.

There's no fixed nature of mind.

All things are characterized by transiency.

Same thing with mental factors.

All mental factors arise through causes and conditions.

They change through causes and conditions.

Anchoring yourself through change.

You will understand the transiency of mind.

Like the four phases that I spoke about before.

Before thought arises,

Just about to arise,

When you're engaging thought,

And when they cease.

Dharmas.

What does it mean by dharma?

Dharma as the fourth station of mindfulness relates to the 18 realms.

Six sense faculty coming in contact with six sense object,

Giving rise to six cognitive processes.

So I,

You,

Nose,

Tongue,

Body,

Mind,

Coming in contact with sight,

Sound,

Smell,

Taste,

Touch,

And so on,

Giving rise to cognitive processes of sight,

Sound,

Smell,

Taste,

Touch,

And so on.

There can only be these 18.

So realizing the interconnection of these 18,

That in the middle,

There's no self there.

It's just these processes.

What we call me,

Or mine,

Or I,

Is just the psycho-physiological flow of events.

Variations of these 18 realms.

That's a meditation on dharma.

So this is the fourth station of mindfulness.

Mahasati Patana Sutra talks about this in every text.

How is that different than silent illumination?

In silent illumination,

There's great stillness.

Within stillness,

Yes,

There's function.

But one does not enter this through an analytical analysis of impermanence.

Watching things rise and fall,

And understanding them as impermanent,

Is an analysis.

It's the workings of analytical mind.

Do you understand?

Silent illumination,

One does not engage in analysis.

One simply rests in the presence of the most natural awareness of here and now.

And in this state,

All things naturally,

In their own accord,

Come and go.

But there's no need to focus on them.

Do you understand?

Don't focus on the furniture.

Like I said,

Rest in the natural awareness of the spaciousness of the mind.

You see the difference now?

Vipassana,

As focusing on furniture,

Change.

If I were to push this analogy,

Silent illumination rests in the spaciousness.

The nature of emptiness itself,

The nature of unconstructedness,

Free from fabrication,

Free from analysis,

Directly perceiving emptiness.

If you were to theorize it.

Of course,

When we sit,

We don't think about this stuff.

Does that make sense?

It's very subtle,

Very subtle difference,

But it's a little bit different.

Is it helpful to practice Vipassana?

As a concession,

As a preliminary practice?

Yes!

I've encountered numerous Vipassana practitioners.

I have friends in that tradition.

They used to come and practice with my teacher.

We used to do retreats together.

They themselves are teachers in that tradition.

So I'm still in contact with them.

One of them wrote a blurb for my book,

Essence of Chan.

Larry Rosenberg is one of the key teachers.

Very different.

And they know.

Now,

Is somehow Vipassana inferior?

Absolutely not.

Absolutely not.

It's just getting to the same place from different scenery.

Again,

The taste of liberation is the same.

It's the same.

The scenery that one takes on the path may be different.

Coming to the center,

Some of you come through bike.

Some of you walk here.

Some of you took the car.

So far,

I've known no one that comes through helicopter yet.

But that's possible.

Or skydive,

Kind of parachute here.

The path is different.

The scenery is completely different sometimes.

But coming to this room,

Being in this space,

Is the same.

Why is it that I say that compassion arises naturally as a result of gaining insight into this wisdom?

Why?

Because compassion in the Chan tradition,

In the Mahayana tradition,

It's not necessarily being kind all the time,

Letting people step all over you.

No.

Compassion is wisdom.

Compassion is the illumination.

It's the natural function of the mind.

Free from the poisons of greed,

Hatred,

Ignorance,

Arrogance,

And jealousy.

When you are free from that,

That is compassion in action.

That is compassion in action.

True compassion.

Free from self-reference,

Self-attachment.

So true compassion is selflessness.

So compassion and wisdom is the same.

Now has the Buddha talked about this in early Nikāyas?

Of course he talks about this.

Of course he talks about it.

The Buddha describes compassion.

Which text?

The Kalama Sutra.

How many of you heard of the Kalama Sutra?

Very important sutra.

That's a sutra that Buddha said,

Don't rely on tradition.

Rely on yourself.

Don't rely on someone just because he's a teacher.

Or don't rely on scripture just because someone said it,

Like the Buddha said it.

But people usually don't focus on the other part of the Kalama Sutra.

And here's the part.

Describing the nature of compassion.

The un-greedy person,

Not overcome by greed,

His mind not possessed by greed,

Does not kill living beings.

Take what is not given.

Go after another person's wife.

Tell lies.

Or induce others to do otherwise.

All of which is for long term welfare of happiness.

And going on to every poisonous in the mind.

Deluded person,

Not overcome by aversion,

His mind not possessed by aversion,

Does not kill living beings.

Take what is not given.

Go after another person's wife.

Tell lies.

Induce others to do likewise.

All of which is for the long term welfare of happiness.

The practitioner.

Undiluted.

Not overcome by delusion.

His mind not possessed by delusion.

Does not kill living beings.

Take what is not given.

Go after another person's wife.

Tell lies.

Induce others to do likewise.

All of which is for the long term welfare of happiness.

And this was given in the context of what is kindness and compassion.

Free from the three poisons of greed,

Aversion,

And delusion.

The three root causes of suffering.

You see?

That's Buddhist word.

When a person is free from this,

Free from the poisons of the mind,

What is that?

We call that an awakened person.

An enlightened person.

We call that wisdom.

Therefore,

Wisdom and compassion is the same.

It's not even like two wings of the bird.

Two wheels of a bicycle.

It's not even that.

It's actually the same thing.

The mirror reflecting naturally the image that is compassion.

That is the function of wisdom.

The spaciousness of the room,

Naturally able to embrace all things,

All furniture.

Not grabs,

Not reject.

That is the natural function of compassion.

So compassion arises naturally.

Now can compassion be cultivated?

Of course.

Of course we have to cultivate it.

But we cultivate it on the basis of the correct view.

Not to try to get rid of something in order to cultivate compassion.

Not trying to get rid of aversion.

In order to kind of,

Firstfully,

Be kind,

Act kind.

So we understand that all beings are intrinsically awakened out of their natural respect and reverence.

The things that people say,

The things that people do,

Is just a temporary furniture.

You see?

So we're able to forgive,

Able to have compassion for the person.

It's like a person holding a stick,

Hitting you.

Do you get angry at a stick?

No one gets angry at a stick.

You get angry at a person,

Normally,

Right?

Similarly,

If a person is under the control of greed,

Aversion,

And delusion,

Under the control of greed,

And say something,

Do you get angry at what they say?

Or what they do?

No.

They're under the control of the three poisons.

You see?

The furniture,

Three big ones.

Three big furniture.

So you don't get angry at the actions,

Just like you don't get angry at a stick.

The stick is held by the hand.

Our actions are held by the three poisons.

And yet at the same time we understand the three poisons are intrinsically free.

So we're able to forgive.

Now do we correct the person's actions?

Yes!

Do we help them to change?

Yes!

Some furniture is actually better than the others.

Some are more useful than the other.

Give the person a chair instead of a stool or something.

We still correct,

But we have the correct view of not getting caught up too much with the furniture.

So things that need to be done,

Have to be done.

We don't let people push us around.

But in the process,

We help that person.

We don't let people push us around because we now are Buddhist,

We have to act compassionately.

No.

That's just foolishness.

We don't let people push around because for the sake of their benefit,

For the sake of their wisdom and compassion,

Helping them to manifest their wisdom and compassion,

We help to change them.

You understand?

So that is the Buddhist wisdom and compassion.

I think that's it.

Do you all have questions?

Questions can be endless.

Questions are endless.

People can make someone say anything.

Yeah,

Go ahead.

My question was concerning why one goes through stages of practice.

In your last talk,

You mentioned that there are two different approaches to felon elimination.

One was a very tense approach.

You said that one could work themselves to perspire,

But they would only be able to hold it for about 30 or so minutes.

Could you liken that to the process of the person who is doing the work?

Is that an imbalance of shamatha and asana?

The question is,

Previously,

Earlier times,

I've spoken about silent illumination.

It is possible to practice very tensely or very relaxedly.

And intensely,

One gains concentration,

Stability,

Clarity,

But one will not be able to maintain it.

You can only hold it for 30 minutes or a period of time.

Is that what you mean by expediency?

Is that what you mean by practicing the right way or wrong way?

No.

Silent illumination can be practiced differently according to the situations of the practitioner.

Thank you for coming,

Guys.

If a person is very drowsy,

Then the teacher will tell them to inspire them,

To encourage them to practice with more diligence.

You see?

With more diligence.

So practice tensely.

It's only expedient means.

If a person is already doing fine,

They don't have to do the tense approach.

Do you understand?

So nothing really to do with shamatha or reparsana,

Calming or insight.

Nothing really has to do with that.

It's just the psychophysiological condition of the practitioner at one particular time.

The teacher will assign them to practice in a particular way.

Does that make sense?

Yes.

You mentioned conviction and the ability to be enlightened that way.

Is conviction like an attitude of belief?

Is it a discipline of practice?

Is it behavior?

What does conviction mean?

The conviction is the ability to be enlightened.

The conviction that I mentioned about is not the practice.

One can gain liberation through conviction.

It doesn't mean that.

Rather it is the result of having tasted liberation.

Then one has personal conviction.

So in the context of the text,

It simply means the person has personally tasted the state of liberation.

In other words,

Awakening.

In other words,

The nature of mind.

Emptiness.

No self.

So it is not a particular type of behavior.

It's not something that one has to do.

It's just naturally you experience it personally.

So now,

No one can fool you anymore.

So you never drank water,

And for the first time now you drank water.

Now you know what water tastes like.

That's all.

And your faith and conviction and belief does not waver anymore.

Does not waver in the Dharma,

And does not waver in the Buddha.

The Tathagata.

Why?

You know that the Buddha spoke the truth.

See?

Because you tasted it.

Deliberation.

That's what it means in this context.

Does that answer your question?

But even,

We don't have to wait until we are enlightened to do this.

Even when we practice Dharma,

And when we practice,

Our minds are calmer.

We gain clarity.

And we see the benefits in our life.

We're less reactive to things around us.

We're more clear.

That is conviction.

No one can take that away.

You tasted it.

Now if you just read a book about it,

You haven't really experienced it,

Then maybe your conviction will be wavered.

Because you haven't experienced it.

As a practitioner,

If you experience your mind is more clear now,

And then you also experience times when you don't practice for weeks and weeks,

Your mind becomes cluttered,

You're more reactive,

That's also personal conviction.

You tasted the benefit,

The efficacy of the Dharma.

Same thing.

So the Dharma is good all around.

All around.

Before enlightenment,

After enlightenment,

Complete enlightenment.

As long as you personally practice,

It's yours.

No one can take it away.

Have you received benefit from the Dharma?

Your conviction.

Any other questions?

Okay.

Wow.

950.

Sorry.

I need a volunteer to transcribe this talk.

Reviews

Thank you. 🙏

🙏🏽

Warm and potent broth

Another masterpiece. Lots and lots and lots to take away and implement. Namaste 🙏

This has been enlightening stopping after an hour to think about what he said

A great introduction for me into the practise of "Silent Illumination". Thankyou and much gratitude for your Dharma teaching.
🙇🏼‍♀️⚙💖🌻🙇🏼‍♀️