Hanshan Deqing

Teaching

Hanshan Deqing is regarded as one of the great scholars and reformers of Chinese Buddhism during the later Ming dynasty. He is renowned as a lecturer and commentator and was admired for his strict adherence to the precepts. Hanshan drew on the Chan and Huayan doctrine of the "One Mind" (drawn from the Awakening of Faith) as a way to unify all Buddhist schools and all of the three teachings (Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism). While Hanshan saw the Huayan teachings and the Avatamsaka sutra as the most fundamental and supreme teaching of the Buddhadharma, he also drew on the teachings of the Tiantai and Weishi schools.

Hanshan held that all the three teachings taught about the same ultimate truth of Mind, though they differed in how deep their insight into the Mind went. Indeed, Hanshan saw the study of all three teachings as essential and wrote commentaries on both Daoist classics (like the Laozi and the Zhuangzi) and Confucian classics (like the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean).

Ultimate reality

Hanshan's view of the ultimate truth is a synthesis of Huayan, Yogacara and Tiantai, with a focus on the ultimate enlightened mind (xin, or "One Mind") as the non-dual essence (體; tǐ) of all things, which is also empty, and is the source of all phenomena and characteristics. His metaphysics is thus similar to the syncretic view of Yongming Yanshou and the thought of Fazang and Qingliang Chengguan. Hanshan's view of the One Mind also strongly relies on the Awakening of Faith.

For Hanshan, the One Mind (i.e. the Buddha-nature) is the most important Buddhist teaching. Hanshan wrote:

The fundamental teaching of Buddhism is nothing but the doctrine of One Mind. This Mind is originally perfect and vastly illuminating. It is clear and pure, containing nothing, not even a fine dust. There is neither delusion nor enlightenment, neither birth nor death, neither saints nor sinners. Sentient beings and Buddhas are of the same fundamental nature (ti). There are no two natures to distinguish them. This is why Bodhidharma came from the west to teach the Chan method of "direct pointing" to the original true Mind.

Hanshan also describes the One Mind as follows:

This wisdom is the Buddha-nature that we originally possess. It is also called Self-Mind (tzu-hsin) or Self-Nature (tzu-hsing). This essence (t'i) is originally undefiled, so it is called "clear and pure". It is originally without darkness, so it is called "bright". It is originally vast and all inclusive, so it is called "void and empty". It is originally without delusion, so it is called "the one truth". It is originally immutable, so it is called tathata. It is originally illuminating everywhere, so it is called "perfect enlightenment". It is originally calm and extinct, so it is called "nirvana".

View of Buddhist practice

For Hanshan, all Buddhist methods are but skillful means which point to the One Mind and are to be seen as medicinal treatments to cure the sickness of samsara. They are not to be clung to as ultimate. Regarding practice, Jiang Wu writes that for Ming era Chan masters like Hanshan, meditative practice was seen as something that had to be combined with the study (chiang) of scripture and doctrine. Hanshan was a student of Chinese Buddhist thought, especially Huayan school philosophy. Indeed, according to Hsu Sung-Peng, Hanshan used Huayan philosophy "as the harmonizing and integrating principle of all other schools of thought and scriptures....his philosophy of Mind is essentially the Hua-yen philosophy, as he understood it."

For Hanshan, the study of Buddhist literature goes together with meditative practice, and he criticized those who only focused on one without the other. For example, Hanshan criticized certain Chan monks of his time who rejected study of the scriptures in favor of simply discussing koans and acting in bizarre ways which just mimicked koan stories or made use of witty remarks. According to Hanshan, these people "only know how to condemn scriptural studies, and do not know that the Mind expounded in the scriptures is the foundation of the Ch'an teaching." However, Hanshan also criticized those who studied scriptures without getting the true meaning, becoming caught up in language and solving intellectual puzzles. As such, he focused on the practical and meditative aspects of the scriptures over and above the theoretical elements.

Hanshan also emphasized the importance of the basic Buddhist precepts (for laypeople) and the full Vinaya precepts (for monastics) as an essential foundation for all Buddhist practice. For laypersons he recommended the bodhisattva precepts of the Brahmajala sutra.

Hanshan taught various means of Buddhist practice which he saw as useful. These include studying scriptures to understand the meaning, reciting the scriptures with concentration (which he saw as a kind of meditative practice), recitation of dharanis (like the Śūraṅgama Mantra), nianfo (recitation of the Buddha name), śamatha-vipaśyanā (zhiguan), Chan huatou - gong'an practice and even some esoteric methods. One of Hanshan's meditation methods was the Śūraṅgama Sūtra's meditation on hearing practiced by Guanyin, and it is this method which led to Hanshan's enlightenment in 1575.

On Chan practice

Regarding Chan Buddhism, according to Wu, Ming era Chan masters like Hanshan and Yunqi Zhuhong emphasized self-cultivation instead of reliance on "formulaic instructions from pretentious masters". Certain Ming figures like Hanshan also de-emphasized dharma transmission and instead lauded masters who practiced meditation and asceticism on their own. The idea was that one could obtain “wisdom without teachers” (wushizhi). Jiang Wu writes that Deqing questioned the value of Dharma transmission and believed that the enlightenment of the mind was more important than nominal claims of transmission. Due to this attitude, despite becoming a famous figure of Ming Buddhism, Hanshan never himself received formal dharma transmission (nor did he pass on any transmission himself). Hanshan also criticized the Linji lineage of his time, which he saw as a recent re-creation instead of an actual transmission of an ancient lineage.

Hanshan saw the truth of Chan as not being different from the teachings on Mind found in the Mahayana scriptures. He was also uninterested in the Linji school's "beating and shouting" teaching methods. While he made use of the huatou method, he did not see it as supreme like the Linji school did, drawing instead on numerous skillful means found in the sutras. Hanshan saw the fundamental method of Chan as "only to understand and realize your own mind." He saw this fundamental teaching reflected in the Lankavatara, which states "sitting quietly in mountains and forests, cultivate your-self in all aspects, and you can see the flowing of illusory thoughts in your own mind," and in a quote by Bodhidharma which states "you have only to stop all external sensations, put to rest all internal turmoil, and keep your mind like a wall, then you can enter the path". Hsu Sung-Peng notes that Hanshan saw the practice of huatou as a useful method for those who, in this degenerate age, were unable to make use of the direct method taught by the ancients of contemplating the Mind.

According to Hanshan, the Chan huatou method is useful because Chan students have numerous karmic seeds that produce endless trains of thought and without a tool we cannot cut this flow of thoughts off. So "a meaningless sentence is given to the student to "put his teeth on" (as a stabilizing point), so that all the external and internal conditions and thoughts can be put to rest. Since he cannot put them to rest at once, he is taught to hold the huatou (like a sword) and cut the web of illusion as he would cut a knotted net. The flow of consciousness is then broken down. This was exactly Bodhidharma's method..." Hanshan also warns that,

this method is not meant for you to think about the meaning of a kung-an as if the kung-an were a question for intellectual solution. Speaking of the hua-t’ou method, Ta-hui taught his disciples to kill the “sneaky mind” with a cold-blooded hand. According to him, the first principle of Ch’an practice is to empty one’s mind. One must first paste the two words “life-death” on the forehead, and regard them as seriously as if one owed a debt of a million taels. In day or night, while drinking or eating, traveling or staying at home, sitting or lying, entertaining friends, in a quiet moment or at a noisy hour, you must hold on to the hua-t’ou.

After much determined and uninterrupted contemplative practice, which Hanshan calls "a long fight", this method can lead to a breaking down of all concepts and illusions. Hanshan describes this enlightenment experience as follows: "suddenly you will find that the Lotus-mind breams with a bright light, illuminating the ten directions of the universe." Hanshan saw the Chan method as a way to awaken to the one pure mind in this very life (as opposed to seeing nianfo as merely a way to reach the Pure Land after death). Hanshan saw this method as something which could be applied to classic huatou or to the practice of nianfo (reciting the Buddha's name).

Chan and Pure land

Like many of his contemporaries, Hanshan advocated the practice of both Chan and Pure Land methods, the dual practice of which became known as Nianfo-Chan. He may have been influenced on this topic by the work of Yongming Yanshou (whom Hanshan praised) who likewise synthesized Pure-land and Chan from the perspective of the One Mind doctrine.

While Hanshan certainly saw the Chan way as the superior method for those of higher faculties, he did not reject the method of simple recitation of the Buddha's name with a wish to be reborn in the pure land of the Amitabha. While he saw this simple Pure Land path as a valid method which can enhance one's faith and purify the mind, he also saw it as a method for beginners (if it was practiced as a mindless oral recitation without greater understanding and insight). Hanshan criticized this lesser way of practice as follows:

The practice of nianfo seeking rebirth in the Pure Land aimed originally at penetrating the great matter of samsara. That is why it was phrased, "nianfo and penetrate samsara" (念佛了生死; niànfó liǎo shēngsǐ). People of today generate the mind to penetrate samsara, but they are only willing to nianfo. [They think that by] merely saying “buddha,” they will penetrate samsara. If one does not know the roots of samsara, then in what direction can you nian? If the mind that engages in nianfo cannot cut off the roots of samsara, then how can it penetrate samsara?

However, Hanshan also saw the Pure land path as the more useful and expedient path for most people of his time, which he saw as having entered the degenerate age. Since the Chan path was mostly for people of the highest spiritual capacity as well as for those who had the time to practice this under competent masters, Hanshan recommended the much easier pure land way to most people, especially to most laypersons. Hanshan describes this path as follows: "the primary method of Buddha-recitation, the practice of contemplating the pure realm, the guidance of reciting Mahayana scriptures, the determination of making the wish (to be born in the Western paradise), and the charitable deeds that bring about blissful reward." In a letter to a vassal prince, Hanshan recommends a simpler form of practice which entails homage to the Buddha, reciting a sutra (like the Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra), reciting the Buddha Amitabha's name (three, five, or ten thousand times with a mala) and then dedicating all the merit to be reborn in the pure land. Hanshan taught the use of niànfó (念佛), the Pure Land method of recitation of Amitabha's name and applied it to the Chan "critical phrase" (huatou) method. According to this method which Hanshan learned from Chan master Yungu Fahui (1500–1579), one recites the name of Amitabha and questions "who is reciting the name of the Buddha?", while letting go of any attempts to find an intellectual or conceptual answer to the question. Hanshan describes this nianfo Chan method as follows:

At the very moment the name is uttered, it must be the point at which all doubts and delusions are put to rest. At the same time, you ask "Who is it that recites the Buddha's name"? You ask the same question every time you utter the name. When you rely steadily on the hua-t'ou all illusions and confused thoughts will be instantly broken down as the in the cutting of knotted threads. When there is no longer any place for them to arise, all that is left is one thought (of Amitabha). The thought becomes to clear and brights that it is like the shining sun in the empty sky. When illusion does not arise and when defilement disappears, all is calm and transparent.

Hanshan also taught a pure land visualization meditation which he describes as follows:

In your quiet meditation, you constantly visualize the appearance of a large lotus flower as large as a wheel, no matter whether it is green, yellow, red, or white. Meditating on the clear form of the flower, you imagine yourself quietly sitting upright on it. Then visualize that the Buddha sends out his bright light on your body. In so doing, you can either walk, stay, sit or lie down. This goes on day after day, month after month, and year after year. You need only to keep your visualization clear and distinct. There should be no blurring of the image whether you close or open your eyes. Even in your dreams you can also clearly see Amitabha residing in the flower and flanked by Kuan-yin and Tai-shih-chih.

Hanshan says that through this meditation one will see Amitabha at death and the Buddha will welcome you to the pure land at that time.

Other practices

Hsu Sung-Peng writes that the way Hanshan understood the practice of reciting dharanis is similar to how he understood the practice of nianfo. He recommended various dharanis, like the Cundi dharani, which he saw as effective in clearing karmic obstacles since they are the "vajra mind seals of the Buddha" which can break all things into dust. While advising a Chan monk, Hanshan taught the recitation of dharanis as a huatou, a practice to be done in the same way the nianfo Chan method is done.

Regarding the recitation of scriptures, Hanshan similarly held that one should recite them as a kind of meditation or contemplation to realize the Mind. Similarly, the copying of scripture was taught as a contemplative exercise. In some cases Hanshan taught the recitation of the Buddha's name with each stroke of the pen.

Hanshan also practiced Buddhist rituals, such as the Shuilu Fahui ceremony.

Self-cultivation and enlightenment

For Hanshan, enlightenment could only be achieved through cultivation (xiū) of the mind. And this cultivation must be done before and also after the experience of enlightenment. As such, Hanshan follows the doctrine of Zongmi of sudden enlightenment, gradual cultivation. Hanshan explains the key points of self-cultivation as follows:

There is no fixed order for gradual cultivation. In our daily life, we need only to hold our mind in constant watch at the moment before the mind is stirred or a thought takes place. We keep our feet steady and introspect the inner state. When a thought occurs, we must thoroughly examine it and trace it to its origin. When it is found that the thought arises from the realm of no-birth, then all illusory notions, feelings, and anxieties will at once disappear just like the melting of ice. The only danger is the lack of great determination to stop the flow of thought as in killing an animal by breaking its neck. In this way, one continues to be in the unawakened state, and the flow of thought cannot be returned to the origin (of no-birth).

Links

An online selection of translations of Hanshan's works