I tried putting my notes on the actual practice Uchiyama Roshi is developing in his book, « The Sound that perceives the World » about the combined practice of recitation and silent illumination.

I came up with this small text, with the help of AI for the final editing.

The end result is very close to my original notes, without the typos and repetitions.

See how close our original practice, based in Chan and Soto Zen is from what Uchiyama describes in his book. Of course these are my words, but believe all these concepts are from HIS practice.

If only Soto Zen mainstream realized how recitation is compatible with zazen.
We are lucky it is our practice so, let’s shine that light.

I strongly advise you to read this book, it gives a Pureland Soto Zen perspective on our combined practice of recitation and zazen with conclusions that are exactly what we teach!

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The Sound That Is Practice

A Practical Guide to Chanting, Hearing, and Zazen

This practice begins with something very simple: sound and hearing. Instead of starting from posture or breath, we begin from the fact that hearing is already happening. There is no need to create a special state or prepare the mind in a special way. Sound is present, and hearing is present. Practice starts there.

When you chant, for example Namu Kanzeon Bosatsu, do not think of it as calling out to something outside yourself. Do not imagine that you are sending your voice toward a distant figure or trying to reach a goal. In this practice, chanting is not directed outward and it is not a means to obtain something. It is simply the full expression of this moment.

Let the chant arise from the whole body. Speak the words clearly and steadily, without rushing and without dragging them out. There is no need to control the breath in any particular way. The breath will take care of itself if you do not interfere. What matters is that the chant is complete in each moment, neither forced nor held back.

At the same time, hearing is already taking place. You do not need to “start listening” as something separate. The essential point is not to divide chanting and hearing into two activities. Do not chant first and then listen afterward. Do not create a position from which you observe the sound. The sound and the hearing of that sound occur together as a single event.

Remain with this: the sound that hears itself.

At first, it will feel as though you are the one who is chanting. This is natural. There is no need to try to remove this feeling or replace it with something more refined. If you try to get rid of the sense of “I,” you only add more effort and complication. Instead, simply continue chanting and hearing.

If the chant is allowed to be complete, without interference, the sense of a separate doer may begin to loosen on its own. The chanting continues, but it feels less like something you are managing or controlling. This is not something to aim for, and not something to hold onto. If you notice it, let it be and continue.

During practice, many things will arise. Thoughts, memories, plans, distractions, dullness, resistance—these are all part of the mind’s activity. Do not treat them as problems. Do not try to push them away, and do not follow them. Most importantly, do not keep correcting yourself again and again. When you notice that attention has wandered, simply return to the chant by chanting. No judgment is needed. Each repetition is complete in itself.

Do not turn this practice into a search for calm, clarity, or insight. These may appear, but they are not the point. If you chase after them, you leave the immediacy of the practice. What matters is to be fully present with the chanting and hearing exactly as they are, without adding anything extra.

It is important to understand clearly that chanting and zazen are not two separate practices. When chanting is done completely—without directing it outward, without dividing chanting and hearing, without adding a watcher—the activity of chanting is already zazen. Zazen does not begin when the voice stops. Zazen is the same practice, without relying on the voice.

If chanting continues naturally in this way, it may at some point slow down or come to an end by itself. This should not be forced. Do not decide to stop. Let the chant fade on its own, like the sound of a bell gradually disappearing into the surrounding space. When the chant fades, nothing new is introduced and nothing is lost. What remains is simply hearing without sound, awareness without an object, sitting without doing. This is zazen.

In this way, chanting naturally opens into silent sitting. But this does not mean that chanting is a preparation and zazen is something higher or more advanced. They are the same practice expressing itself in two forms: with sound and without sound. If this is understood, there is no gap between them.

When you sit in zazen, do not think that you are changing methods. Do not think, “Now I stop chanting and start zazen.” The same principle continues. In chanting, sound and hearing are not divided. In zazen, even if there is no spoken sound, hearing is still present. Sounds may arise—distant noises, the movement of the body, the rhythm of the breath. Do not focus on them and do not reject them. As in chanting, do not divide what is happening and do not create a watcher who stands apart. Zazen is simply the continuation of complete participation, without adding anything.

This unity is not limited to formal practice. Whether chanting, sitting, walking, or working, the same practice continues. Do not think that chanting is one practice, zazen another, and daily life something else. There is only one practice: complete presence without division. You may chant during daily activities, or there may be no chanting, or you may be sitting quietly. The outer form changes, but the essential point does not.

In this practice, Kannon is not understood as an external being. Kannon refers to the functioning of hearing itself, the complete openness to what is present. To chant Namu Kanzeon Bosatsu is not to call something from outside. It is to enact this very functioning of hearing and responding. When chanting and hearing are not divided, this functioning is already complete. Whether there is sound or silence, nothing is lacking.

Do not measure your practice. Do not ask constantly whether you are doing it correctly or whether it is working. These thoughts only add another layer of activity. The instruction remains simple: continue. Good conditions and difficult conditions are not different in essence. Noise, fatigue, distraction, discomfort—these are not obstacles. They are the field of practice itself. There is no need to wait for better circumstances.

Chant fully and hear fully. When chanting is complete, it is zazen. When chanting falls away, it is still zazen. There are not two practices. There is only this.

We are sincerely happy to announce that a new booklet of Introduction to the Practice of Soto Zen in the lineage of the Clear Mind Zen Order (of which our Still Center Zen Order is a Branch) has been recently released on our website’s Zen Texts/Ressources Page.

This booklet is an almost Verbatim version of a series of four teachings given by Harvey Daiho Hilbert Roshi in 2025, initially called Zen Buddhism 101. In it, he goes through some of the main questions one can ask himself regarding the practice of Soto Zen in the lineage of Soyu Matsuoka Roshi in a very personal and intimate way. Far from being a dry exposition of the practice, it is with his own words and feelings that Daiho Roshi explains the mains aspects of our practice.

It’s a fabulous booklet based on a lifetime of sincere practice. We sincerely hope you will enjoy this booklet.

It is now part of the Curriculum for our student taking Bodhisattva vows and Novice Priest/Monk Ordination.

It can also be found on our Zen Texts/Ressources Page.

Another True Gem for future Chan/Zen students of our Sangha.

With Deep Bows,

Amita Fu!

We are very happy to share that QianMen Shakya (Rev. Ivan Yumon Ferencak) leader of the German Branch of our Sangha, who became a Priest in our Chan lineage recently and his currently training to become a Priest in our Soto Zen lineage, has put recently put together (with the help of one of his students, Rachel Al Daher (LianJian / RenJin), a booklet based on a series of teachings he gave exposing the main methods of our Tradition.

Originally given in German to our German Sangha, these teachings have been translated by Rachel.

This Booklet is now available on our website at our Zen Texts/Ressources Page as well as clicking here.

We sincerely hope you will enjoy this booklet. It is now part of the Curriculum for our student taking Bodhisattva vows and Novice Priest/Monk Ordination. Its a fabulous booklet both very simple and direct yet wonderfully complete and based on years of serious practice. A true Gem for future Chan/Zen students of our Sangha.

With Deep Bows,

Amita Fu!

CLERGY MEMBERS OF THE DHARMA WINDS ZEN SANGHA

Spiritual Head of Dharma Winds Zen Sangha

Tim RyuKo Langdell Roshi (YinGuang Shakya) – Founder of Still Center Zen Order

Prior of Dharma Winds Zen Sangha

Yao Xin Shakya (Luis KaiUn Lista) – Founder of Dharma Winds Zen Sangha

Transmitted Priests of Dharma Winds Zen Sangha

Fa Geng Shakya (Massimiliano Milesi) – Prior of our Italian Sangha (Hokke Sangha)

Qian Men Shakya (Ivan YuMon Ferencak) – Prior of our German Sangha (Dharma Fox Zen Hermitage)

Assistant Dharma Teachers (ch. JiaoYuen, jp. Shusso) of Dharma Winds Zen Sangha

Rev. ShenYun (Mark Gilenson) – Prior of Bodhi and Bass Zen Hermitage

Novice Priests in Training of Dharma Winds Zen Sangha

Br. ShenGuang (Chris Johnson) – 2022

Br. ShenDao (Luis Carlos Barrera) – 2021

Br. ShenHai (James Eke) – 2021

Br. ShenFa (Frederic Loesch) – 2021

Br. ShenZhi (Axel Weith) – 2021

Sr. ShenNa (Lena Savarit) – 2017

Br. ShenYin (Yuri Reis) – 2017

Br. ShenHai (David MyoXin Guglielmi) – 2016

Retired Clergy Members

QianMing Shakya (Daniel Scharpenburg) – 2018

Br. ShenHai (James Kavajcek) – 2017

The month of November is always a special time of the year for our Sangha.

First, this is the month of the year in which we celebrate our Original Order’s anniversary. The Zen Buddhist Order of HsuYun, was founded on November 8 1997 by Great Master BenMiao Zhiding (Jydin) Shakya and ChuanYuan MingZhen Shakya with ChuanZhi Shakya has its first Western Abbot.

The Order was under the authority of the Hawaii Buddhist Association like the HsuYun Temple of Honolulu, both lead by our founder Great Master BenMiao Zhiding (Jydin) Shakya.During this month, we especially remember our dear teacher, ChuanYuan MingZhen Shakya (Emma Barrows) who passed into Nirvana on November 19th 2016. We are grateful for her wonderful teachings and the light of loving presence still shines in our community.

Secondly, this Sunday we had a ZuochanHui/ZazenKai that was a bit special for the Sangha. Indeed, we celebrated the anniversary of our original Zen Buddhist Order of HsuYun with the Apprentice Dharma Teacher Ceremony of Rev. Shenjing. Having completed the Novice curriculum, Rev. Shenjing was named a Head Novice/Apprentice Dharma Teachers and vowed to dedicate his life further on the path of teaching and sharing the practice.

We also are proud to announce that to celebrate the Buddha’s enlightenment we’ll have our traditional all night sitting.

This year, we’ll sit all night from Saturday 9th 21h30 to Sunday 10th 7pm (Paris time), alternating 25 min sitting, walking, sitting, as usual… For the first time ShengJing will be the one leading the night sitting.

As you may have noted, sitting won’t be on Sunday but on Saturday, in order for more people to be able to participate.

Feel free to come and sit for the all night or just a sitting as you can.

Every being, Burning from the same fire, One Buddha!

Silly Yaoxin,

Amituofo!

The month of November is always a special time of the year for our Sangha.

First, this is the month of the year in which we celebrate our Original Order’s anniversary. The Zen Buddhist Order of HsuYun, was founded on November 8 1997 by Great Master WeiMiao JyDin Shakya and ChuanYuan MingZhen Shakya with ChuanZhi Shakya has its first Western Abbot. The Order was under the authority of the Hawaii Buddhist Association like the HsuYun Temple of Honolulu, both lead by our founder Great Master WeiMiao Jydin Shakya.

This was also the day of our Chan Order first ordination ceremony, 24 years ago.

Secondly, this is the month were we celebrate the Ancestors and Ghosts Ceremony, some of our local groups perform the ceremony at Halloween. It is a special time to remember those who have left and to dedicate the merit of our practice to all beings, material and imaterial who need the Dharma.

During this month, we especially remember our dear teacher, ChuanYuan MingZhen Shakya (Emma Barrows) who passed into Nirvana on November 19 2016. We are grateful for her wonderful teachings and the light of loving presence still shines in our community.

Thirdly, this Sunday 7th November four new clergy brothers have received Novice Priest Ordination, completing their initial study and practice and marking their entry into our sangha’s clergy.

We warmly welcome:

Br. ShenDao 深道 – Profound Way

Br. ShenHai 深海 – Profound Ocean

Br. ShenFa 深法 – Profound Dharma

Br. ShenZhi 深智 – Profound Wisdom

May those new Novice Priests be the future pillars of the tradition as the dedication of merits of the ordination ceremony says so well.

Deep and humble bows to each one of them!

Thanks to them for being the next generation.

Dear brothers, welcome in this humble path of study and practice.

May each one of you study the Way with One Body/Mind and serve others!

One Precept!

Reveal the Source,

Save all beings.

AmituoFo !

AmituoFo !

AmituoFo !

A Conversation with Hsü Yün

After living with Uncle for a few months and continuing my lessons to private students, I felt a great urge to travel again, if only for a few days. I had just been reading the Sutra of Hui Nêng (Wei Lang) which relates how a reputedly illiterate man became Sixth Patriarch of the Zen Sect well over a thousand years ago. Another monk had composed a poem comparing an enlightened mind to a bright mirror on which no dust (illusion) can collect. On having this read to him, Hui Nêng replied with another poem in which he declared that the ‘mirror’ has no existence and asked whereon such dust can collect. In this way he expressed his intuitive understanding of the voidness of all phenomena, including both illusions and the separate minds of individuals. This expression of enlightened understanding of Zen’s deepest truth won for him the Fifth Patriarch’s symbolical robe and bowl. After his death all those centuries ago, his body had miraculously resisted decay and, according to widespread belief, was still to be seen at the Nan Hua Monastery in North Kwangtung…

… The present Abbot was no other than the Venerable Hsü Yün (虚云 / Xū Yún), who was believed to be well over a hundred years old, though still able to walk as much as thirty miles a day. He was renowned all over China as the greatest living Master of Zen; so I was delighted to hear the unexpected news that he had just returned after an absence of several months spent in a distant province. Not long after my arrival, I excitedly followed the Reverend Receiver of Guests to pay my respects to this almost mythical personage. I beheld a middle-sized man with a short, wispy beard and remarkable penetrating eyes. He was not precisely youthful-looking as I had been led to expect, but had one of those ageless faces not uncommon in China. Nobody could have guessed that he was already a centenarian. Finding myself in his presence, I became virtually tongue-tied and had to rack my brains for something to say, although there was so much I could profitably have asked him. At last, I managed to ask:

“Is this famous monastery purely Zen, Your Reverence?”

“Oh yes,” he answered in a surprisingly vigorous voice. “It is a great centre of Zen.”

“So you do not worship Amida Buddha or keep his statue here?”

The question seemed to puzzle him, for he took some time to reply.

“But certainly we keep his statue here. Every morning and evening we perform rites before it and repeat the sacred name while circumambulating the altar.”

“Then the monastery is not purely Zen,” I persisted, puzzled in my turn.

“Why not? It is like every other Zen monastery in China. Why should it be different? Hundreds of years ago there were many sects, but the teachings have long been synthesized – which is as it should be. If by Zen, you mean the practice of Zen meditation, why, that is the very essence of Buddhism. It leads to a direct perception of Reality in this life, enabling us to transcend duality and go straight to the One Mind. This One Mind, otherwise known as our Original Nature, belongs to everybody and everything. But the method is very hard – hard even for those who practise it night and day for years on end. How many people are prepared or even able to do that? The monastery also has to serve the needs of simple, illiterate people. How many of them would understand if we taught only the highest method? I speak of the farmers on our own land here and of the simple pilgrims who come for the great annual festivals. To them we offer that other way – repetition of the sacred name – which is yet the same way adapted for simple minds. They believe that by such repetition they will gain the Western Paradise and there receive divine teaching from Amida Buddha himself –teaching which will lead them directly to Nirvana.”

At once reluctantly and somewhat daringly I answered: “I see. But isn’t that a kind of –well, a sort of – of – er – deception? Good, no doubt, but…”

I broke off, not so much in confusion as because the Venerable Hsü Yün was roaring with laughter.

“Deception? Deception? Ha, ha, ha, ha-ha! Not at all. Not a bit. No, of course not.”

“Then Your Reverence, if you too believe in the Western Heaven and so on, why do you trouble to teach the much harder road to Zen?”

“I do not understand the distinction you are making. They are identical.”

“But…”

“Listen, Mr P’u. Zen manifests self-strength; Amidism manifests other-strength. You rely on your own efforts, or you rely on the saving power of Amida. Is that right?”

“Yes. But they are – I mean, they seem – entirely different from each other.”

I became aware that some of the other monks were beginning to look at me coldly, as though I were showing unpardonable rudeness in pertinaciously arguing with this renowned scholar and saint; but the Master, who was quite unperturbed, seemed to be enjoying himself.

“Why insist so much on this difference?” he asked. “You know that in reality there is nothing but the One Mind. You may choose to regard it as in you or out of you, but “in” and “out” have no ultimate significance whatever – just as you, Mr P’u, and I and Amida Buddha have no real separateness. In ordinary life, self is self and other is other; in reality they are the same. Take Bodhidharma who sat for nine years in front of a blank wall. What did he contemplate? What did he see? Nothing but his Original Self, the true Self beyond duality. Thus he saw Reality face to face. He was thereby freed from the Wheel and entered Nirvana, never to be reborn – unless voluntarily as a Bodhisattva.”

“Yet, Reverence, I do not think that Bodhidharma spoke of Amida. Or am I wrong?”

“True, true. He did not. But when Farmer Wang comes to me for teaching, am I to speak to him of his Original Self or of Reality and so on? What do such terms mean to him? Morning and evening, he repeats the sacred name, concentrating on it until he grows oblivious of all else. In time, after a month, a year, a decade, a lifetime or several lifetimes, he achieves such a state of perfect concentration that duality is transcended and he, too, comes face to face with Reality. He calls the power by which he hopes to achieve this Amida; you call it Zen; I may call it Original Mind. What is the difference? The power he thought was outside himself was inside all the time.”

Deeply struck by this argument and anxious, perhaps, to display my acquaintance with the Zen way of putting things, I exclaimed:

“I see, I see. Bodhidharma entered the shrine-room from the sitting-room. Farmer Wang entered it through the kitchen, but they both arrived at the same place. I see.”

“No,” answered the Zen Master, “you do not see. They didn’t arrive at any place. They just discovered that there is no place for them to reach.”

An Extract from The Wheel of Life by John Blofeld, Rider and Company, 1959

Source: https://thebamboosea.wordpress.com/2012/11/03/a-conversation-with-hsu-yun-john-blofeld/

The Four Ennobling Truths and the Four Immeasurable Vows

When one develops some interest in the Buddhist teachings, one of the first teachings he’ll find will be the one called the “Four noble Truth”. And we must say it is probably the most shared one of the whole Buddhist spectrum. For most of the Buddhist traditions, may they be Southern Theravada or Northern Mahayana, it is the first and most central teaching given by the historical Buddha. It is a quadruple path, a synthetic composition, gathering the great aspects of his doctrine. It is a fact that this teaching is part of the teaching corpus of every single Buddhist school, from the more traditionnals to the more modern ones.

 

But what is the content of these crucial “Noble Tuths”?

 

First, as we said earlier it is a synthetic way of looking at the crucial steps of the Buddhist path towards enlightenment. It points, thus, to the fact that the path we choose to follow, far from being a static journey, is “a dynamic harmony”. We could say it is a process, an ennobling process in a way. An ennobling process that is put into practice and flourish in our lifes day after day. We could say then that these “Noble Truths” could be called “Ennonbling Truths” to put the accent on the progressive and experiential aspects of these Truths.

 

So, what about these “Ennobling Truths”?

 

We can find this teaching in the First Sutra of the Buddha, relating his first teaching after his enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree, called the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta.

We could say in essence that they consist in:

 

The Truth of dukkha

The Truth of the origin of dukkha

The Truth of the Cessation of dukkha

The Truth of the Path leading to the Cessation of dukkha

 

Isn’t it clear now? Seriously, what is this dukkha that seems so central? It is generally translated as “suffering”… and here it is the famous preconception about Buddhism being Nihilist is back in your minds. More seriously, we could translate it as “the suffering born from insatisfaction” or lets say the suffering born from always wanting something new, always wanting to escape from impermanence by doing or wanting something. In a certain way it is the suffering born from our incessant tendency to occupy our mind and energy, what is sometimes described in the Buddhist teachings as the constant “craving”, or “desire” that seems inherent with being alive.

 

And to put it in a more Zennish way, that is the whole paradox, that is a great gongan (koan)… There is a craving which is inherent to being alive, and at the same time the Buddhist path has is consecration in Nirvana… which is exactly the end of this craving. Then how to attain this Nirvana, while being, at the same time, both alive and without cravings.

 

Well … that is not the Buddhist path. It’s a Western, very modern and quite nihilist, view of the Buddhist path.

 

There is nothing about having no desires at all in the Buddhist teachings, the whole practice of Chan/Zen Buddhism is to, ultimately, not fall into following our profound personal tendencies, the game of our Ego. But understanding that the practice is not a path of total suppression that could only result into tensions and problematic psychological subeffects is essential, because that’s the exact contrary of what True Buddhist Practice should be leading to.

 

This question could be the subject of a book by itself and I won’t carry on, but just share some basic contextual informations. In Mahayana Buddhism there is a central concept shared by the Indian scholar Bodhisattva Nagarjuna, (150 CE), in his Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, the concept of the “Two Truths”. The Two Truths of Nagarjuna, namely the “absolute truth” or “non-conditional reality” and “conventional truth” or “relative reality”. Nagarjuna states that there is no fundamental difference between these two truths, altought we feel the contrary because we are driven by our Ego. This is the Essence of the “Heart Sutra” and the majority of the Prajnaparamita Sutras.

 

“Śāriputra, form is not different from emptiness, and emptiness is not different from form. Form itself is emptiness, and emptiness itself is form

 

In Zen, we usually express this reality in terms of polarities: Form-Emptiness, Absolute-Relative, Nirvana-Samsara. But in none of these major Mahayana traditions we can find an opposition, in terms of contradiction or duality, in the two parts of these polarities. They are fundamentaly One, yet they are Multiple manifestation. And the One Net behind all these realities is fundamentally “Empty”, we could say it is a realm of “pure possibilty” of manifestation.

 

The Four Noble Truths are a simple yet synthetic formula, but it can also feel like an immense “mental cliff”, of a pharaonic difficulty suddenly rising in front of the sincere practitioner. Indead, the Four Noble Truths are of an almost gigantic scale, so much indeed that we could be horrified in front of the arduous task to accomplish.

 

Luckily for us, Shakyamuni Buddha didn’t just proclamed the the Four Noble Truths, he also revealed the Path leading to that “Cessation” when revealing the Eightfold Path. This teaching is also accepted by every school of Buddhism, even if every tradition has its own way to put it in practice. They simply don’t understand it the same way, and more profoundly, don’t make it a living reality in the same way.

 

This being said, lets get back to the Four noble Truths. What objectives do they pursue?

 

Asking oneself sincerely this question could quickly, and prosaicly, lead into asking oneself ”what has the Buddha to propose? And could maybe lead into asking “what is the utility of Buddhism”?

 

Each Buddhist tradition defines answers in his own terms, basically it is not a matter of definition or philosophy. It is about experimenting the reality that the Buddha named “Cessation” (ch.: Chi or Zhi ; jp.: Shi) of Suffering. This is the cessation, the end, of the insatisfaction born from our natural tendency to “build, nourrish and believe” in a “separate self”, or “ego”, which in the Buddhist view is purely conventional. I believe this conventional “I or Ego”, isn’t a bad thing per se, we need this kind of concept to deal with others in our day to day life. But “nourrishing this concept” as a reality, not conventional but as the “core of reality”, is a consequence of our own confusion or ignorance of “what we really are”. In this process, resides the beggining of a “profound gearing” in ourselves that inevitably separates us from “What we are” as a living reality.

 

We could thus summarize saying that the Buddha showed us a path to get out of the confusion we live into, a confusion that is the source of our suffering and insatisfaction. It is thus a method that puts us in front of “what we are” beyond our own illusions, in a non-separate or non-dual way. Here too, every Buddhist tradition elaborated their own terms to qualify the “non-separate reality” that we both “are” and “participate with”, beyond illusion, confusion, and thus beyond words.

 

Now, these concepts could seem easier to understand… beware, as we all know but forget to often, it is one thing to intellectually understand the concepts, it is another to put them in practice and to express them in our lives And here is an important aspect of the Buddhist teachings, they aren’t dogmas that should be learn by heart, but a realization that we must make flourish ourselves, in the fertile ground of our daily minds.

 

Of course, when looking for inspirations in the Buddhist teachings, we might be found guilthy of a certain affinity for what looks exotic, Asian, just different from our Western, largely Christian based background. And, in a way, it is a kind of skillful mean. We might first be interested in Buddhism because of all these exotic particularities, we will face soon or later an important matter… we don’t live in an antique Asian city, our everyday life is far from Brahmans and mango groves, and it might be disapointing at some point. But it is an important step to make in the Path, a needful realization to pass from a passive admiration to an “experimental realization”. Realizing the Truth of the Buddha’s teaching in our life and actualizing it, wich means “acting in accordance with this profound realization”, is a matter of harmonizing with each situation, and it is thus totally linked to different societal and cutural contexts we might face, Asian or Western.

 

Thus the task remains gigantic and we may be very enthousiast and dedicate, it is still very difficult to express these realities in our lifes. That is why the Zen masters of the past transmitted a teaching that is a “wonderful lever”, the “Four Immesurable Vows”.

 

These “Four Vows” are often said to be “Bodhisattva” vows, wich is an error. They are vows of immesurable scale that are a tool to the practitioner on the Bodhisattva’s Path. But too often in our informal Zen Centers, the term “bodhisattva” is used to named different things.

 

The Four vows first, but also the so-said “Bodhisattva precept”. These precepts are in fact the precepts of the “Brahma Net Sutra”, a major Sutra of Mahayana Buddhism and a sort of earlier version of the Avatamsaka Sutra. They consist, in general, in the 10 major precepts of the Brahma Net Sutra, the “lesser” 48 precepts being generally unknown to most Zen Buddhists.

 

Most Zen people never read the sutra, they thus don’t understand that these precepts are a practical articulation of a 10 step Bodhisattva Path described in the first part of the Sutra. To their defense, most Japanese monasteries, in a fashion instored by Saicho of the Tendai Sect of Japanese buddhism, only read the seconf half of the Brahma Net Sutra, the one including the precepts. Lacking thus the articulation between the two.

 

I must also note that China had his own relation to the precepts and in particular the “Bodhisattva precepts of the Brahma Net Sutra”. But they didn’t retract their view of the original 10+48, they originally didn’t generalized these precepts to every single Buddhist follower and certainly didn’t used the name “Bodhisattva” to designate a lay follower who just took his first vows, as it is so often found in most Zen Centers today.

(These notions will probably the subject of a future article in the following months… )

 

Now that these distinctions have been made, lets get back to the Four Vows. They are in fact a profound aspiration to realize the Four Noble Truths in our lives, to realize our True Nature and to harmonize with all things trough Compassionate actions.

 

We can thus put side by side the Four Noble Truths and the Four Immesurable Vows:

 

The Truth of Suffering : I vow to save all Beings

The Truth of the origin of Suffering : I vow to cut down all Illusions

The Truth of the Cessation of Suffering : I vow to master all Dharmas

The Truth of the Path leading to the Cessation of Suffering : I vow to realize the Way

 

The Buddha revealed the context, the processes that are alive in us, and makes us fooly believe in an individual and separated being in a lot of early suttas. From his first sermon, he proclamed the Four Noble Truth and lightenned the “poisonus process” in wich we engaged ourselves trough our habits and thoughts, wich are the first two Truths. He then proclamed the possibility to put an end to this poisonus process and explicited the Path leading to the end of this Self Illusion or Self-Hallucination, the two last Truths.

 

In all this what about the Four Vows? They are wonderful skillful means, pure aspirations to help us practice. They are like good seeds to plant, nourish and maintain on the Path that the Buddha gave us, the Eightfold Path.

 

Thus, each of these four vows is a method, very skillful indeed, to maintain in us a strong aspiration and dedication to realize the Four Noble Truths in our lives. But these aren’t a trivial thing, these are vows. A Zen practitioner should give importance to what he says, to what is being planted and nourished in his own MindGround. Taking vows isn’t a trivial thing indeed, but what a wonderful help.

 

Next time you recite them in your Zen Center, remember how they are related to the Four Noble Truths and, with simplicity and humility express your True Nature by a profound bow to All Buddhas and All Beings, without distinctions of time and space.

 

Amituofo!

Song of the Open Door to Dharma Winds

Heaven, earth, sun, moon, mountains, rivers, this vast world is in truth the Grand Kasaya of the Buddha. 

Every day, however, you enter through the six doors, seeking what has never left you. Stop losing your precious life! On the Zen pathless way, keep faith in your Buddha Nature, harmonize with the masters, their teachings and their methods. At every moment, investigate Zen. At every moment, look with sincerity deep inside of What Is, without adding anything. 

Right View, Right Action. Naturally, Manifest your Universal Nature. Wherever you are, when your mind is confused, shines the flame of Attention! By the attention to the breath, by the recitation of a sacred formula or by the practice of Wu/Mu, enter into Inner Silence. 

Established in Concentration, turn the Light of Attention inward. At this moment, who is attentive to the breath? Who recites the sacred formula? Where is Wu/Mu? Sincerely observe the root of what is born and what dies, without attaching to birth or death. 

Established in the Union, Concentration and Observation in harmony, All sounds are the Subtle Breath! All sounds are sacred formulas! All sounds are Wu/Mu! In the letting go, the voice of KuanYin / Kannon resonates everywhere. 

The True Door has no door. Here, neither mundane nor sacred, just the authentic person. Samadhi Sans-Traces is free of shapes and space, within the shape and the space … The Cosmic Breath. So go, without traces, and let your True Nature manifest itself in you, through you, around you.

Amituofo! Amituofo! Amituofo!

 

Rev. YaoXin Shakya