Heart Chan – A Non Religious Spirituality
The most effective way of body, mind, and spirit elevation.
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Cultivating Wisdom And Joy
To live well, we must pay attention to both our physical well being as well as our spiritual well being. What does it mean? Physical well being means all the constituents, that is detectable and sensible by our senses, contributing to the benefits of our physical self. Spiritual well being means our strive to be enlightened in this life. In Buddhist terms, physical well being is based on formed merit and spiritual well being is based on formless merit.
Chan Master Wu Jue Miao Tien
Physical Merit Is Not Spiritual Merit
What is a spiritual merit? A physical giving of money, clothing or food is a physical giving and not a true spiritual giving. Though physical giving is a spiritually rewarding deed, these deeds do not help the spiritual enhancement of the recipients. Once the charitable donations are consumed, the conditions are back to where they were. The recipients may continue to reincarnate in a certain spiritual realm.
Spiritual giving on the other hand, enables the recipient to be liberated from his karma, and attaining purer and higher spiritual realm, which may change the lives of the recipients forever. Therefore, it is important that we establish Chan centers and ferry everyone to a journey towards enlightenment. The merit of spiritual giving is immeasurable. It is the spiritual merit which helps us to be in higher spiritual realms, such as those of Boddhisattva and Buddha.
Formed and Formless Giving
Have you heard the story told by historians about the meeting of Bodhidharma and Emperor Liang in ancient China? Emperor Liang is a Buddhist. He built many temples, printed many sutras and fed many monks. Even Emperor himself chanted the sutra and be a vegetarian some of the time. The Emperor gave abundantly to all the charitable causes. Emperor Liang was somewhat proud of his accomplishment. However, when Bodhidharma came to China to teach sudden enlightenment following the Order of Chan, he told Emperor that there is no merit whatsoever in the doings of the Emperor.
For most of us, it is difficult to understand the reasons why there is no merit in the deeds of the emperor.. Some may assume that perhaps Bodhidharma was suggesting to the emperor that he should hide his doings and not be arrogant or public about it. Actually the reasons are simply the difference between physical material giving and spiritual giving.
In the Three Realms of Desire, Form and Formlessness, physical giving immerses oneself in the accumulation of physical merits within the Three Realms, which are actionable by most of us. If we could encounter an enlightened master, obtain lineage teaching, practice formless dharma, cultivating spiritual merits, then we could not only satisfy our secular responsibility, but also fulfill our spiritual obligations.
Physical giving is formed giving with its merits limited to the Three Realms, influenced by the law of cause and effect and impermanence. Like the dew, lightening and dreams, its effects are unpredictable and unreliable. On the other hand, spiritual giving or formless giving covers both physical and spiritual realms. Formless dharma is true dharma, which enables anyone to attain Buddhahood, when it is taught by enlightened master, transmitted directly from Buddha. This way, both the functional substance and its applicable forms are transmitted, different from Buddhist sutras taught only the forms. In the case of Emperor Liang, he focused on the form and he himself did not practice enough to be transmitted with the core spiritual power. In other words, he had only appearance without any true substance. Without spiritual substance, form based actions are only capable to seed good causes, but incapable to ultimately affect any karma change. In other words, form based actions, without a spiritual core substance, are unable to truly ferry all sentient beings. These are the reasons why Bodhidharma said so.
Merit Is Uncovering Our Self Nature and Attaining True Equality
This statement about the definition of merit was taught by the sixth Patriarch of Chan, HuiNeng. Practice formless dharma, let wisdom shine, clear out all delusions, eliminate generations of karma, is the only way to uncover our self nature, reaching the spiritual core of the universe, turning the invisible Wheels of Dharma, dissolving the karma of sentient beings and ferry all to Buddhaland is the first half. Then we realize that our self nature and Buddha nature and the nature of all sentient beings are one of the same. By this time, our body and spirit are one, we are awakened to realize that all are one. Brightness from our heart eradicates all forms and notions, including the notions of self, human, sentient beings and death. We have attain true equality. This makes up the second half of true merit.
Chan practitioners are recommended to accomplish the Four Merits. First is the Merit of Practice of our present and past lives. Second is the Merit of Ferrying, such as giving, establish medication centers and support lineage dharma. Third is the Merit of Chan Ding. Entering into our spirit and recognize our self nature through Chan Ding. Fourth is the Merit of Connecting with our Master. Through out our journey, we are support by the power of our Master. It dissolves our karma and ferries our internal sentient beings from all spiritual realms. This kind of merit is immeasurable as well as benefit five generations. That’s the reason why the sixth Patriarch said to the fifth Patriarch, “Master ferries us when we were delusional. We ferry ourselves when we are awaken.” Practicing formless dharma and following enlightened Master cultivate true merits.
Encountering an enlightened master and lineage dharma are rare in our life. Heart Chan Dharma is the authentic lineage dharma directly from Shakyamuni Buddha, capable of ferrying all spirits back to Buddhaland. Heart Chan is a practice truly capable for every practitioner to be enlightened in one life time. The only requirement is to dedicate oneself without deviation, practicing the Six Paramitas, synchronizing with the Chan Master and witnessing Bodhi.
To Change Our Life
Somehow lately, meditation becomes a fashionable trend. Many still regard meditation to be somewhat mysterious. Why? Because Chan possess unimaginable power and wisdom? Actually that is just we all need. If we could truthfully learn the spirit of Chan, comprehend its essence, we could obtain its power and wisdom.
Some may think meditation helps us to be healthy and happy, or change our life. But there are those who worry, that meditation may redirect us away from God and be possessed by devil.
In fact, if you do some research, you shall find that Buddha is human and Buddhism does not mention God, nor does Buddhist asks anyone to have faith in anything. That is if you think meditation is only for Buddhist. Additionally, many Chinese martial arts practice sitting on the floor to cultivate focus and chi with their eyes closed. And that is actually what Chan meditation teaches.
Begin By Integrating Our Body and Mind
The first step in practicing Chan is to understand what Chan is. Chan could be regarded as a philosophy about one’s life from birth to death and all its ups and downs in between. Through this philosophy, we could understand ourselves better. Not too many people understand themselves. If you don’t understand yourself, how are you able to understand others. That’s why it is so easy to create conflicts. If you could understand the meaning of Chan, you would understand your true relationship with the society. You could manifest balance and harmony amongst conflicts. This is the power of Chan.
Every sentient being in the universe is composed of a physical entity and a spiritual entity. Or we could say that these two entities are one inside the other. So are us human. We also have a spiritual self inside our physical body. If we have no spirit in us, then we are no different from a vegetable. On the contrary, if we have only a spirit without a physical body, then we would not be able to showcase our life. Therefore, we must balance our physical and spiritual selves. This is the reason Chan practice begins by integrating our body and mind. That’s the only way to live to our fullest. It is especially important that we calm our mind during Chan meditation. Stop all motions of our body. Then we are conquering our habitual thoughts and comforts.
Practicing Chan also improves the quality of our health. We would become healthier and live longer, because through practicing Chan, we are to focus on the tiniest member of our body, our cells. When every cell in us becomes healthier, our organs would become healthier. In turn, our entire system, functions and energy would be improved. That’s why when we meditate, we focus on the tiniest changes in our body and its chi flow.
Entering Chan Ding to Let Our inner Potential Flourish
On the spiritual side, we would for sure feel joyful and cheerful. As we indicated before that we do have a spirit in our body. This spirit can also be call as our “self nature”. It is what the Christians called, “Holy Ghost” or “Inner God”. This spirit brings to us wisdom. Wisdom is not intelligence. We label the function of thinking or learning knowledge as “conscious activities”. No matter how much conscious activities that we conduct would not be as effective as just a little intuition from our spirit.
Have you ever been stuck on finding a right solution for many days? Then suddenly one day, out of the blue, an idea came to you completely unexpected, which gave you the perfect solution. That is what we called wisdom. This is wisdom from your spirit. This is true inner potential development.
And the only way to develop this true inner potential of ours is through Chan Ding. Through Chan Ding is the only way to surpass physical and biological limitations, as well as conscious interruptions, entering into the spiritual realm to let our inner wisdom unfold. Don’t just take my word for it. Just practice and witness yourself.
Chan Master Wu Jue Miao Tien
The Spirit of Heart Chan
What is Chan?
For majority of the people, Chan is just sitting quietly, contemplate, or retrospect. Chan is actually far beyond just sitting quietly. Chan is living in purity, ease and carefree all day. In other words, Chan is the essence and spirit of all existence in the universe. There is a saying, “walking, living, sitting and sleeping are all Chan.” We humans are part of the universe, and therefore part of Chan, both our physical existence and our spiritual well being.
The practice of Heart Chan is to comprehend the meaning of our life. What is it really about? Then we will be able to grasp its essence and key points. Chan is the study of the universe, therefore studying Chan can not be separated from living with all the universal relationships, which includes our relationship to animals, plants, solids, air and liquids in a very interactive way.
The Spirit of Heart Chan
Reduce our complex universe to oneness with our heart is “Heart Chan”. Then how do we carry out this oneness with the universe through our heart and be one with the One? Chinese scholar, Confuscius asked us to, “Integrated with the universe.” This is the spirit of Chan. Chan is more than just sitting there without moving. Mostly importantly, Chan is to integrate our mind and body. Balancing our mind and body is one of our tasks. Balancing our relationship with others in our family or at work, as well as with our possessions is also our task. Living our life without bias or conflict is Chan. Reaching a harmonious state for everything inside and outside of ourselves, in physical or spiritual relationships, in conceptual or practical mindsets or in lifestyles, is what the practice of Heart Chan is for.
The goal of Heart Chan is to reach Purity, Wisdom, Fulfillment and Enlightenment through wisdom beyond our knowledge and experience. Heart Chan manifests naturally, when wisdom surfaces, and when we surpass the hindrance of our consciousness. Because, the practice of Heart Chan contains the superior wisdom and ability of the universe. Simply practice according to our instructions, our wisdom shall flourish.
For instance, as we meditate without thinking, we are in essence surpassing the hindrance of our consciousness. We could then be in sync with our spirit. We could then receive the messages from our spirit. Because our spiritual inspiration is fundamentally wise as well as bright. This brightness makes us healthy, and integrates our mind. Heart Chan is the wisdom from Shakyamuni Buddha, which fine-tunes our physical and spiritual qualities. It enables a normal person to receive the essence of our life, to rejuvenate the cells in our body, to be healthy and joyful, to attain the spiritual wisdom, to elevate the spirit to a higher realm, to perfect a kind and beautiful personality, and powering a normal person to become a saint. In short, the spirit of Heart Chan is “Surpassing oneself and enlightening others.”
Chan Master Wu Jue Miao Tien
This Week’s Focus: A Refreshed View on Your Life
How long haven’t we been able to appreciate the sunlight when we get up in the morning? How long have we been rushing to work, to meet people, to play, to eat, back home, and to hit the bed without a pause, even a look into the sky? How long have we treated people or animals who we don’t know as objects?
* * * * * * *
Once after a lousy day, late in the night I got off from the car, walking to my apartment. To me, the life was difficult enough. Anything that would draw my attention away from my life crisis was considered a waste of time. However, my life wouldn’t have been saved if I didn’t get a glimpse of the sky through the trees at that night. I walked up, what unfolded to me was a vast expanse of splendid stars, by which I was astonished. Before that night, those stars couldn’t be more common to me – they are nothing more than the natural scene we see everyday. But at that moment, the sudden confrontation with the universe somehow liberated the something deep inside me from this very prison (consisting of my body and mind) and this mundane world.
We have long been confined in the limited space and time. We are so used to it and so numbed in it that we are entirely ignorant of the world beyond that. Did we come to this world to eat, to work, and to die?
The end of the Diamond Sutra is the Verse on Impermanence given by Buddha:
Everything is like a dream,
The dew or a bubble;
An illusion or lightning,
such is how one should reflect and perceive.
Everything will come to an end because it was begun. Our lives will end because we were born. The people we love, we hate, and ourselves will be dead and forgotten before we can blink an eye. Our life is preciously short. And it is its short span compared to the scale of the Universe that our lives are just like dreams.
Then, what did Buddha want to tell us about the purpose of our precious and short lives? If nothing is permanent and everything is going to vanish, do our lives still have any meaning? This you will soon figure out along this journey.
However, without having been told the answer, your life would already be completely different and refreshed by constantly being aware of the fact that our work and personal life will one day, end. And there is no need to be in an extraordinary circumstance or a faraway place to see your changes. The changes take place when you get up in morning, when you commute to work, when you see people on the street, and when you are alone. Once you are ready and prepared, the changes are happening right here, and right now.
Let The Brain Rest
Chan constitutes the whole universe and is embodied everywhere in the universe. The human body is also a little universe and intimately related to the outer universe. The changes in the outer universe such as the weather, temperature, humidity, pressure, etc. can have direct impact on one’s health and emotion.
Chan Master Wu Jue Miao Tien
The impact on the body can be easily sensed whereas that on our emotion is much harder to detect. For example, we can tell the weather is cold or warm or the air is dry or humid, but we usually don’t attribute to the weather or humidity when we are actually affected by that and become restless or short-tempered.
One who practices Chan is much harder to be affected by the environment because he/she has developed a sort of stillness imperceptibly through the practice of Chan meditation. Such stillness can inhibit the stimuli from the environment. Therefore, one who practices Chan is usually much less affected either in the body or the emotion.
The Universe is filled with unknown wisdom which cannot be explained in a scientific way. Today’s science only accounts for the ‘material’ part of the Universe. However, besides the ‘material,’ the Universe is filled with the power of the ‘spirit,’ which is its innate life force and wisdom.
Therefore, unlike the science is carried out with instruments in order to prove or to invent, Chan practice starts from the mind and the heart.
Why to simplify the thoughts and eventually empty them during the meditation? It is because emptying the mind is equal to letting the brain rest. If one knows how to rest the brain properly, the brain power can be maintained regardless of the age. However, most people are not able to let their brain get proper rest– most people usually do not sleep well when they really need to.
During the daytime we are busy for work and life. If the brain cannot get enough rest in the night, the cells in the brain will be exhausted. This might not be a big deal for young people. However, as we age, the brain will degenerate and lose the memory due to the constant heavy load on our brains.
The brain is very important to the human body – it is the center of the nervous system and where mental activities are generated. How to control the nervous system – use it with full attention when we need to while let it gain sufficient rest when we don’t need to use it? This would rely on the daily practice of Chan meditation.
Live Life To The Fullest
In a time of great change, instead of remaining in the old rut, our spirit should be elevated and transcend to keep pace with the wheel of the time. Nowadays some are content with the temporary ease and comfort, while some desperately seek after the fortune but ignore the cultivation of spirituality and their bodily health. There is nothing wrong seeking one’s fortune. But more importantly, we should reciprocate to the society as we gain more fortune. As our lives get better and better, we also want all human fellow live even better than we do. This is the spirit of Chan.
Therefore I have been encouraging our practitioners to constantly transcend ourselves, by which I mean to let us be healthier, more spirited, our knowledge be broader and deeper, and our wisdom shine through and encompass more. Once you are able to elevate and transcend yourself, you are essentially a millionaire or a billionaire. The purpose of transcending ourselves and pursuing more knowledge is to bring up more people – and make our lives meaningful.
Heart Chan is a practice of the wisdom of Chan. A Buddhist who can appreciate this practice should be able to elevate and transcend oneself and attain the ultimate state of Chan. After practicing Heart Chan, an ordinary one can not only gain the bodily and mental health but also grow in wisdom. As one’s wisdom grows, one’s mindset and action will be integrated with the need of the human being. And the purpose of life is no longer limited to the individual or the family. Therefore everyone should reset one’s value of life. In fact everyone has his or her gifted responsibility and mission, which is never meant for just the individual or the family only. After we have fulfilled our families, we should take on the larger responsibilities from the society, the nation, and even the world. If we bear such sense of mission in our mind, we are living Buddhisattvas.
Chan Master Wu Jue Miao Tien
